Decorating

Last week I was trying to choose a colour for my hall, stairs and landing. It was a mine field of magnolia, cream, off-white and shades of latte in Homebase. Isn't it incredible how many colours there are? A paint colour chart is just scratching at the surface. Think of the size of a Pantone book, incredible variety that are almost imperceptible to the human eye.

Princess wants a feature wall in her bedroom in a shade of pink. Fuscia? Bubblegum? No, the colour of this dress, mummy. Only a bit more pink.

In our old house we had wine red walls in our bedroom. I loved the colour and thought about it for this house. Too dark though for the much lower ceilings. Red curtains then? Tried it but looked like a theatre and not in a good way.

We are covering up the yellow that we've lived with for 7 years and hated for every single one of those 7 years. Buttercup yellow is very unforgiving.

We considered grey, as it seems to be very popular at the moment but it seemed too cold, too school playground for us.

World chess champions give less thought to their next tactical move than we gave to our next hall colour.

And some just gave up and walked away while we continued to pour over colour charts. 

In the end we went for soft latte, a subtle pale coffee colour (you'd never have guessed) and we are almost done.

My concession to colour... an Orla Kiely wallpaper for one small wall. I'll use a 'tadaa' photo for one of my 365 photos next week. 

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Reds and pinks and oranges

Reds and pinks and oranges, fading to brown.
I have an art project in my mind for the kids to do, to collect a bucket of leaves and make me a picture in all the autumnal shades they can find. I would enjoy it. They would possibly enjoy it too. It would make for a great IG post ;-)
But so far we haven't managed to squeeze in enough time for a walk in the woods. I'm foraging for leaves in my own garden and off the bonnet of my car, but the sun burnt canopy of autumn's riches at the top of the trees has so far eluded me.
Perhaps I'm a bit premature, and the leaves haven't really turned yet. Impatient as always. I'll park my art project and soak up the colours that this week has given me instead.

 The willow is still green.

 Those adorable pink toes.

Rose lips pursed in concentration

A rich orange circling the heart of these flowers.

Brilliant brilliant red

Plum jacket, plum throw, waiting for his bestie

And all under a beautiful blue sky. How lucky are we?


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And with Make Do And Push - The week that was Instagrammed!

365project Week 12 2013

We are all so fed up with the cold and greyness seeping in through the windows and under doors. It creeps silently, sapping the energy from your bones and leaves you drained, empty, begging for colour and light.

So we have had a few treats this week to lift the spirits.

We went for a walk
Colourful pens
Sugar, dough and oozing jam
Whisking up a Danish Apple Cake
Wotsits
Dreaming of travels
New knickers

Go on, treat yourself x

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GreyBeGone

Once upon a time, I found a grey hair. It would defy gravity and stick up and wave at me in the mirror, brutally resistant to hairspray, gel or superglue to keep it in check. This stubbornness was a new concept considering every other hair on my head was fine and skull clinging despite all my attempts to create that elusive 'volume'. Why was it that I would spend hours on trying to create a little height, a little air space between my brown fine hair and my scalp and yet I would also spend hours trying to reduce the air space of this one solitary grey hair?

Actually, not grey. White. brilliant white. Of course it is white, given that every other hair on my head is dark brown.

Oh, I look back on those hours of tending to that one white hair fondly. I long for that one white hair. Actually it's still there but now indistinguishable from all the other white hairs.

There comes a time when instead of trying to straighten each hair, tease it into submission or just pluck it out (we've all done it so don't give me that look), I just reach for the bottle. No not that bottle, the other bottle. The one marked permanent, with promises of soft tumbling curls and flicking silkiness just because you change it's colour.

Except those stubborn gravity defying hairs, are still stubborn and gravity defying. Just a slightly different shade of annoying.

Joining in with The Gallery and the theme of Colour at Sticky Fingers.

Capture the Norfolk Colour

We spent the last week of the school holidays in Norfolk, land of big skies, Cromer crabs and some of the countries loveliest beaches. In the same week I was tagged by BavarianSojourn to join in with 'Capture the Colour', with the colours being red, green, white, yellow and blue. This was originally a competition held by TravelSupermarket.com which is now closed (!) but you can still go and see the stunning travel photography of the winners.

I love that little bundle of red huddled up against the unseasonal chilly wind.

Why the variations in colour and texture of seaweed surprise me I do not know but this lime green variety caught my eye on Cromer beach.

After a hard days crabbing there is nothing like a glass of chilled white sauvignon blanc to help you unwind.

I am astonished at how many months of child benefit I would have to save to be able to afford a beach hut so in the meantime I will aspire to a bright yellow one, just like this.

And given Norfolk is the land of big skies I had to include one of the sky. I was very lucky to see a big blue sky, and how fortunate that The Wee One was wearing blue on that day too.

I'm certain that you have got some colourful shots from the summer holidays, so why not join in and stretch out your summer holidays with photo memories.

365project Week 16

This week was all about seeking a little colour in my otherwise grey days.

The little dot of red on muddy wheels.
A dumper full of coloured balls, tipped.
Sparkles through rain drops precariously suspended on a yellow washing line.
Colourful umbrellas marching to school.
A golden torch.
Vintage lego in vintage faded colours but still bright enough to raise a smile.
A rare glimpse of the sun's rays on the back door.

Where did you find colour this week?

Now over to The Boy And Me for more 365projects.

Colour

We have a tin of colouring pencils that Grandma gave to The Big One.

They originally belonged Daddy when he was a boy and have been sat waiting in their box for a new owner. I can only imagine that Daddy was not the budding artist that The Big One aspires to be, given that only a couple of them were worn down at all and all the pencils are still there, nestling in a row in their tin.

The Big One uses them almost everyday to create one master piece after another, a robot, a pirate and machine that shoots out fire and has a holding cell for when the big claw catches baddies. You know, that sort of thing. He loves those pencils and makes sure they all go back in the tin when he has finished. They sharpen really well, not like those cheap ones that break as soon as you have sharpened them to a point, mocking you as you waste half the pencil.

When I look at his picture though, I don't see pencils lined up. I see moles, little multi-coloured mole noses, peaking up above ground before they dig another multi-coloured hole in your garden.

Their eyes are shut.

Now why don't you take a look around Sticky Fingers' Gallery.