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30 Nov 2013

A twist on a classic

 
 
Mr W often teases me that I have fleeting commitments to well, pretty much everything - not to him I hasten to add. He's got a point. I often leap into new projects and hobbies with complete gusto, only to get bored quite quickly - particularly if DIY or any sort of cleaning is involved. I'm losing a little bit of steam with 'Project Breakfast'. Surely there's a limit to how creative one can be when it comes to simply making breakfast.
 
This morning, all I could think of was cheese on toast, but with the pressure of this post weighing heavily on my mind, and in the absence of beer and mustard, I substituted milk and onions, and voila! Sussex Rarebit was born.
 
A tad stodgy and rich, I may just stick to cheese on toast in future...

27 Nov 2013

Christmas Pud

Trying to embrace the festive period this year. I think the Sunday before Advent starts is supposed to be 'Stir-up Sunday': the day the pudding gets made. I've gone for getting ahead with a little help.
 
Does anyone actually eat the pudding anyway?
 
 
 

25 Nov 2013

Naturally Festive

We took a walk in Ashdown Forest on Saturday afternoon. A huge advantage of living in 'the box' is the forest is on our doorstep. It was bright, it was crisp, and it held some subtle reminders that Christmas is just around the corner and I need to get going with the preparations...
 
Cheers for the heads up, Mother Nature!
 
 

24 Nov 2013

Simply Scrambled Eggs

Sometimes on a Sunday morning, when you're running late for your riding lesson and only a few basic ingredients are required, scrambled eggs on buttered, white toast, really hit the spot. Bunging all your ingredients together (well, except the bread) and popping it in the microwave, simply adds to the speediness.

A happy start to the day!
 
 
 

23 Nov 2013

BLT


On Wednesday, I received a free Abel & Cole fruit and veg box after using a promotional code from a friend. There's something very seductive about their branding and I've definitely been experimenting more in the kitchen to ensure we use the entire contents of the box. 

The plum tomatoes and green battavia lettuce were crying out for a bit of carb and meat accompaniment, hence this morning's BLT.

I over-cooked the bacon and I don't even really like tomatoes in sandwiches, but washed down with one of Mr W's lattes, they were delicious!









18 Nov 2013

Parisian Pancakes




Yesterday's 'Project Breakfast' feast was a nod to a tradition from living in our Brighton flat. Saturday morning was quite regularly a time for pancakes. Mr W made them; I ate them. He's a lemon and sugar traditionalist; I'm a jam and fromage frais (stolen from the toddler) experimentalist.

Pancakes have a special place in the heart of Team Wayne. In the early days of our courtship, Mr W asked what my favourite food was. When I replied with sushi, he took me to a Japanese restaurant. For our next date I asked him the same question. He told me pancakes; I took him to Paris.

16 Nov 2013

Scandi breakfast sandwich


'Project Breakfast' continues to follow a somewhat experimental path. Being obsessed with all things Scandi, I thought I'd try a twist on the traditional Danish open sandwich for breakfast this morning. No rye bread and no following of what is apparently a strict set of rules in terms of sandwich composition - rebellious, I know. Instead, wholemeal toasted and buttered bread, smoked salmon, sliced cucumber and chopped boiled egg. Delish!

15 Nov 2013

Work space

 
This is where I spend four days a week. I am incredibly lucky; I love my job as a secondary school English teacher. This year, I feel even more fortunate. For the first time in my thirteen and a bit years of teaching, I have a day off. It falls on a Wednesday, so it's a total luxury to work for two days at a time. We don't know how long this will work for both the school's timetable and our finances, but for now, I'm loving it!
 
I get to spend more time with my boy and a much better sense of work-life balance. It is also allowing me the time and head space to be a little more self-indulgent, hence falling back in love with blogging.
 
Perhaps I'm getting ideas above my station, but I'm craving a real workspace of my own. My classroom workspace is a semi-organised and yet slightly cluttered place of technology, too many wires and the obvious need to have functional notice boards, displays and classroom equipment. I'm considering giving it a makeover which naturally, I'll document on here.
 
We're really lucky to have a room to call a study in 'the box'. It's the fourth bedroom and very much a 'box room'. Mr W is the techy expert in this house so the study is his territory, especially as he works from home once a week. Don't get me wrong, I like what we've done with the space. The French Tintin prints are a new addition and a sweet link with the vintage comics in Dexter's playroom. I love the Bisley orange filing cabinet; it's a zingy twist on traditional office grey.
 

 
 
 
 
I just can't help thinking I'd like to work somewhere prettier and hence have a whole board on Pinterest dedicated to my workspace dreams.
 
 
The reality is, there isn't room in 'the box' for me to have my own study. I may have to be creative with commandeering a corner of my own, even if it's just an attractive mood board tucked away. In the meantime, I could always dream big and dream pretty in my classroom...
 

14 Nov 2013

Tree Love


I have a major crush at the moment; my Instagram feed seems to be featuring it quite regularly. Trees. There's something about this time of year that renders these wonders of nature quite magical. When they're not flouncing their branches in the best colours imaginable(always borrow from nature if you want to know if a colour combination works), they're stretching bare skeletal branches against early winter skies like some spindly goddess.

Perhaps it's the very beautiful rural setting of the school I work at, or the joys of living on the fringes of Ashdown Forest, but I'm in danger of becoming a tree-hugging hippy!
 
 








My favourite tree-based view? That from Dexter's bedroom window in 'the box'. He's right up at the top of the house, on the front. The developers have deliberately left a patch of land right opposite our house totally undeveloped and free of houses. It's rather romantically referred to as 'the meadow' and only gets mowed once a year. It showcases the changing seasons and judging by the totally unfiltered iPhone snap below, taken by me hanging out of the boy's bedroom window, now is its time!
 
 

13 Nov 2013

Living in a gift-wrapped box


News flash! I'm hosting Christmas this year: in our new home, for my parents and the three of us. I am a heady combination of terribly excited and massively anxious.

I'm a total domestic failure and complete Christmas Grinch, but ironically, I want to go 'all out'! I've already leafed through various festive special editions of food, interiors and lifestyle magazines.

Step 1: I've decided to make Dexter's advent calendar. *gulp* I've bought most of the supplies as pictured above.

Watch this space...

12 Nov 2013

Tasteful Toddlers

Style and small people don't always work together. So much kit and caboodle for babies and toddlers has to be functional and hard wearing which sometimes can lead to compromising on aesthetics. And sometimes, product designers seem confined to pink, blue and character-based designs.

I would say that for me, building 'a look' around having a baby boy and subsequently rambunctious toddler has been most influenced by the online world.

When pregnant, it took me a while to find my style mojo for dressing both my baby and his environment. All those broken nights and lengthy feeds opened up the world of Twitter and blogs to me. Discovering Poppy Norton's Baby Style File was a real result; it's a visual treat, and a pertinent reminder that having a baby in the house needn't mean Disney, teddy bears and sky blue colour palettes.

Dexter's fortunate enough to have two rooms in 'the box': a small playroom on the front of the house on the ground floor, and a sizeable bedroom with a lovely view of the 'meadow' (patch of land they're not going to build on) opposite. His bedroom was one of the first rooms to be sorted to help him adjust to the move, although he did have large cardboard boxes piled on top of each other in the window instead of a blind, for a number of weeks! As with the rest of the house, there's no real 'theme' to either room.

The playroom is still in need of some additional low-level storage and window dressing; a trip to Ikea beckons. Again though, we've tried to mix old and new. I love the vintage two-seater lidded desk and French school chair which I bought from an antiques shop in Lewes. There's some fabulous bunting and matching reading cushion made by my very talented friend, Jo, from a lovely cowboy-themed fabric.

In both the bedroom and the playroom, we've gone for the Pinterest favourite: Ribba picture shelves from Ikea as bookshelves. The playroom shelves are home to my brother-in-law's collection of 35 year old Tintin comics which make for original and instant wall art. The playroom actually looks more appealing when, well, it's actually being played in. The boy's bedroom tends to retain more style when it's tidy!















11 Nov 2013

Seeking inspiration...

I love Pinterest! It's totally addictive, stress-free, wonderfully visual and utterly inspiring. My boards largely focus on interiors, with the odd bit of food, fashion and four-legged beasties thrown in for good measure.

It is such a useful resource for any sort of project, and my 'Blank Canvas' board was a soothing and welcome distraction from the actual stress of a house move, although it remained 'secret' until we completed as I didn't want to jinx the move!

One of the first rooms I was keen to tackle in our new home was the guest room. It is such a luxury to have a double room where family and friends can stay without any sort of chaotic sleeping rearrangements. Plus, it's on a separate floor to our room, but the same floor as the toddler, so any late night wake-ups, well...

The look I went for was completely and shamelessly copied from a pin I found on Pinterest. I think it is a room in the stylish Selina Lake's house, and whilst I haven't gone all out like-for-like, I'm sure you can see the resemblance. I was particularly won-over by the idea of a plain white duvet cover with mismatching pillow cases; I never would have thought of this myself.

My favourite things are: the 1970s quilt from the wonderful Winter's Moon; the Ed Carpenter Pigeon Light from Adobe in Brighton; the 'Love' print from Dandy Star. I really enjoyed 'sourcing' the products I had seen in the original picture. Check out my 'Best for Guests' board for some other ideas I may include.

The bed from Habitat was purchased after we moved; it's super comfy and weighs a tonne!

This room still isn't quite finished. It's another room that still has a bare light bulb! It also tends to be a bit of a dumping ground for bits and bobs that are yet to find a home. I'd really like some vintage wall hooks for guests to hang the contents of their overnight bags on.

Might just have to check out Pinterest for some further 'Pinspiration'...


10 Nov 2013

Personalising your space

A new-build box with little character needs to feel like it belongs to someone - like it's a home and part of the family. I've always been a fan of fonts, lettering and names appearing in interiors and it's a really easy way to personalise a space.

Having an almost three year old at home is the perfect excuse to display his name, notably in his room. Dexter's nursery staff tell me that he's been able to recognise his name from amongst others for quite a while now, and I swear it's partly as a result of seeing it displayed at home - that and the fact it has an x in it.

The name Rye is also pretty special at Wayne Towers. It's where Mr W and I got married, features in the title of one of my favourite novels, and it's Dexter's middle name (it was so nearly his first).

The cute onesie below declaring that my son does indeed rock, was a new baby gift from a dear friend and is one of the very few items of clothing that hasn't been passed on to a younger child.


The letters in Dexter's room were bought, whilst I was on maternity leave, from a shop in Brighton called Mamissima. They weren't cheap and I remember the shop owner expressing surprise at the fact I bought the whole name when most customers only purchase the initials. My maternity pay didn't last long...




I'm a huge fan of the massively talented Rob Ryan. The print below is on the wall in our bedroom and was my anniversary gift this year to Mr W. It's actually a tea towel and it was hard to find a frame to fit its slightly peculiar size. The frame we chose actually cuts off most of the beautiful Rye skyline at the bottom, but I just love the words, so for now, it's staying; I hope it feels at home.

Breakfast in a bun

Breakfast this morning was a bit of an experiment: a very successful experiment. Who knew that a toasted bun, a thick layer of mashed avocado, yesterday's left-over bacon, sweet chilli sauce and a poached egg could be such a winning combination?

So far in 'Project Breakfast', this is the King of Breakfasts!






9 Nov 2013

Sweet and Savoury

Still not doing terribly well with breakfasting properly in the week; have managed porridge, breakfast 'biscuits' and a crumpet this week. I'm therefore still predictably ravenous by about half past ten most days.

This morning's seemingly small but massively filling combination was therefore very welcome on a very grey start to the weekend.

Combining sweet & savoury, there was something very delicious about thickly sliced white bread, fried in a sticky mixture of egg, milk & cinnamon and topped with bacon and maple syrup.

Doubt I'll be hungry until about 4pm.


8 Nov 2013

Modern Vintage


One of the tricky aspects of deciding what 'look' to go for in a new-build, is balancing a space that has barely been standing for two years with a love of design from yester-year.

I'm a huge fan of 'vintage' - yet I do tire of its overuse as a label for anything that isn't straight out of Ikea - but a new-build full of items older than me may not quite work.

We've decided therefore to go for a mix of eras and styles and to simply have what we like in our home! A common theme is colour (there seems to be a lot of orange in particular), as it's a welcome contrast to the standard cream the whole house seems to be dominated by. Until we get round to painting/papering walls, it's our accessories that are going to do the talking.

The living room is proving to be my least favourite room to give some character to. It's on the first floor, which I actually really like, with a lovely view and three windows giving great light. However, it's a bit of a funny shape, it feels tucked away and we hardly spend any time in there, favouring the more character-filled kitchen.

A relatively new addition is a Uniflex Q-range sideboard, designed by Gunther Hoffstead that probably dates from the 1960s. We bought it from the amazing Godfrey's in Brighton; I would definitely recommend a trip there if you're in the area and you like sideboards! It seems quite at home in the shiny new living room and is happy residing underneath some less aged Habitat CD racks.

Despite having lived here for seven months now, there are still 'naked' light bulbs in need of shades. The two lights in this room have been bare for months and it's really been bothering me. I have become super-fussy about light shades and dislike most of the ones I see in shops.

Fortunately, the magnificent Winter's Moon interiors website came up trumps. Based in Chichester, they sell a combination of vintage, recycled and handmade items. My last purchase from there was a seventies-tastic patchwork quilt which lives in the guest room - I'll blog about that another time. Their products are beautiful and their customer service is fantastic - do take a look. I chose two of their Nasturtium small pendant light shades having seen the fabulous print on my lovely friend, Stella's, Pinterest board. Although new, the print has a wonderful Scandi-vintage feel and they're already making me want to spend more time in this funny little room.



5 Nov 2013

I heart Instagram!



Like many other avid social networkers and bloggers, I am a huge fan of the natty little app that is Instagram. I would go as far as saying I have an obsession with this clever technological gizmo which means I am one of those people who documents, well, basically EVERYTHING!

Despite the fact I am a complete over-sharer, as I'm a teacher, I do have my Instagram account (and personal Facebook page) set to private. However, I do love the fact that having Instagram on my phone reminds me to capture life's special little moments, whether they involve family, friends or a particularly delicious lunch.

A distinct downside to digital photography is the lack of photos I have in print and therefore on display. It was with this in mind that I took advantage of a special offer with a company called Polargram which meant I got 48 Instagram prints delivered for just under £8 with free postage - thanks for the tip-off, lovely friend, Hannah! They're really good quality and mimic the Polaroid style. This is not a sponsored post by the way; I was genuinely impressed with the quality, service and price.

A quick browse of Pinterest generated some display ideas and I was particularly taken with the idea of displaying the prints in the shape of a heart; it seemed to fit my ethos for using Instagram in the first place. In the spirit of personalising the new-build box, there can surely be no quicker way of feeling at home than to display favourite photographs.

It's up on the playroom wall. I'll admit to having some help with the straightness and symmetry from Mr W, but we're both quite pleased with the results. I have thus far resisted the temptation to Instagram my Instagram - how very meta!

4 Nov 2013

Living in a box


As a self-confessed 'blog-junkie', I guess if I had to pin down what I like to read about, and, more significantly, look at pictures of, it's home interiors. I cannot get enough.

I have a long-standing love of nosing at beautiful surroundings. I recall poring over the Ikea catalogue as a teenager; in fact, as a fully-fledged adult, I still love to hang out in the mocked-up apartments in the Swedish warehouse of flat-pack dreams I've bought 'Living etc' for years and was thrilled to receive a subscription for my birthday this year. My Pinterest boards are largely interiors based.

My taste is entirely aspirational.

In April this year, we moved from a two bedroom flat in a converted Victorian house in Brighton to a three storey, four bedroom, brand spanking-new 'new-build box' on the edge of a village in East Sussex.

Through my rose-tinted glasses, I now live 'in the country' in a Scandi-esque, modern piece of architecture. With my actual prescription lenses on (which I increasingly need as I get older), I live on a housing development/estate amongst lots of very similar looking houses in a home that has no quirky features: living in a box.

I thought I would share snippets of how we're trying to stamp some character and style on what is a completely blank (and beige) canvas. My ideas will undoubtedly have been inspired (copied) from somewhere else, and my iPhone photographs won't hold the same seductive appeal of the professional designers, bloggers and stylists I love, but heh, I like our home and I'm enjoying bringing it to life. Perhaps you'll be interested in observing the process...

3 Nov 2013

Sweet Sunday Banana Smoothie

If there's a worse idea than trying to be inventive in the kitchen on a Saturday morning, then it's trying to create breakfast on a Sunday morning.

The cupboards and fridge had a distinctly Old Mother Hubbard feel to them today. However, there were some over-ripe bananas and plenty of milk. I like to eat bananas when they're un-ripe, green and hard, but freckled and distinctly squishy is perfect for a smoothie with the addition of some store-cupboard sweetness.







2 Nov 2013

Savoury Saturday Muffins

Saturday seemed like a good day to start 'Project Breakfast': no early morning alarm and no urgency to be anywhere. The downside to Saturday morning kitchen experimentation soon became clear this morning when there was hardly any food left in the fridge.

With a bit of imagination, some improvising and some checking of 'best before' dates, I managed to create 'Savoury Saturday Muffins'. They are a variation on 'Egg Parcels' from The River Cottage Baby & Toddler Cookbook, but the addition of potatoes makes them a little more substantial, and the use of a regular onion lends them a more savoury kick.

They were super simple and required: olive oil, an onion, some cold cooked new potatoes, 3 eggs, a knob of butter, a splash of whole milk, some shredded smoked salmon, chives from the garden and the dregs of a packet of grated mozzarella. They looked a little like mini frittatas and would be equally tasty hot or cold. I didn't even eat them with ketchup - almost unheard of for me. Project Breakfast is off to a flying start!










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