Simply The Nest

Our New Garden Plan

2013-06-19T21:19:57Z

Appropriately, I'm writing this post about our garden design while sitting outside in our garden at 10pm WHILE WEARING SHORTS, A T-SHIRT AND FLIPFLOPS. Manchester only gets summer for about one week per year, so it's important to make the most of it. I'm also slurping a Cointreau in-between sentences, so please forgive any typos.

Our plan for the garden at our new house is a bit different to the garden at our first house. This is because we now have children who a) are quite hard on flowers, be that the over-zealous toddler pruning of any flower that dares to show its face in the garden, and, if my own childhood was anything to go by, the future destruction of flowerbeds by footballs, basketballs, cricketballs, bicycles, feet etc that is inevitably coming our way in a few years time and b) take up pretty much every nano-second of our time, meaning our opportunities to actually tend the garden lie in the region of slim to none.

So while we designed our first garden (pictured above) to include various sunny and shady spots for lazing around sipping coffee/cocktails, this time around we need something much more functional. Here's what we've got in mind.

So the idea is that the new kitchen-diner will open onto a wooden deck with an outdoor dining area and overhead pergola to the left, and a sandstone sun-lounger area (hopefully one day the kids will amuse themselves long enough that we can actually use them, right?). We'd like to have vegetables and herbs in raised beds close to the house, with a patio in front of them to make access easier.

We're hoping to build a treehouse (well, more likely a raised wooden platform) around the acers, and also one of those swing-set/slide/climbing frame/tower contraptions in the corner, slightly hidden from view by some shrubs and flowers (we already have a camellia, buddleia, honeysuckle, random bush with berries, and random bush with pink flowers in this part of the garden). And behind the acers, we're planning to lay a patio, similar to the Stone Circle of Servitude (shown below) from our old house, but this time with a basketball hoop fastened to one of the acer tree trunks. Hopefully the treehouse and the basketball patio will help to make sense of the two acers that are currently located fairly oddly just off-centre from the middle of the garden.

We've currently got a delightful wilderness in the far left-hand corner of the garden - the plan is to chop it all down and lay a new lawned area, maybe even artificial turf, which will become a cricket/football area. I have very fond memories of playing (small-scale) cricket in my parents' back garden, where anyone who hit the greenhouse was automatically given minus six. We may also enclose this area with trellis in an attempt to keep flying balls umder control.

What else? A trampoline, obviously. Some pretty clematis to grow up the back fence. A seasonal cutting border - daffodils, peonies, ranunculus, lisianthus, sweet peas, poppies and maybe roses too. Outdoor cold AND hot water taps (for filling up the paddling pool - I recently took the kids for a playdate at a friend's house who had an outdoor hot water tap for this specific purpose, which they actually had installed pre-children, how organised is that?). Compost, waste and recycling bins plus water-butt round the side of the house.

We're also planning to create a dog run down the side of the house by making access to the main garden by gate only from the deck and sun patio. A couple of months ago we installed a temporary wire fence and wooden gate system in the garden for trial purposes, and it works brilliantly at keeping the dogs from destroying the lawn every time they charge outside for a good bark, which they do about ten million times a day (sorry, neighbours).

I think that's about it. Probably enough, huh? I think the space is going to work pretty hard for us, which is exactly what we want. And although it's probably going to take us about ten years to get it all installed, it should at least be pretty low-maintenance after that.

Do tell me - what did you love about your childhood garden? What do you love about your garden now?

Hello, Sunshine

2013-06-11T20:37:15Z

When we moved into the house, we inherited three beautiful acers in the back garden. They're very pretty, especially in autumn, when the leaves turn various gorgeous shades of rust, amber and ochre.

Unfortunately, they're planted practically in the middle of the garden. And because the garden is south-facing, it means they cast a lot of shade. And by a lot of shade, I mean A LOT OF SHADE. The grassed area in front of them is permanently boggy because no light gets to it (we also have two enormous sycamores growing in our neighbour's garden on the left, which block all the early morning light, and several even bigger sycamores on the other side, which helpfully block the evening light).

So after living with the acers for over a year (and two very shady summers) we decided to cut down the one on the left hand side.

First of all, Andre sawed off the smaller branches. Then he got busy with the chain saw, and removed the main trunk. And no, I don't recommend operating this kind of power tool wearing shorts and trainers.

A couple of swimsuit-clad daughters supervised proceedings from the executive paddling pool.

I chopped up the branches as they came off the tree, and placed them to dry slowly underneath a nearby camellia, destined for a variety of ends including firewood, coffee table legs, and those clever twig hook thingies that go on the back of doors.

The sun had moved by the time I took the photo below, so you'll have to take my word for it that removing the acer on the left (and trimming several of the lower-hanging branches of the remaining two trees) has made a massive difference to the amount of light that now gets into the garden.

Of course the main problem now is that although we have more light in the garden, removing the acer has revealed the unattractive wilderness at the end of the garden that was hitherto concealed from view. The remaining trees look kind of odd, planted randomly as they are in the middle of the lawn. And our neighbour's six year old kid popped his head over the fence and told us we now need to cut down the tall shrub to the left because "it looks weird". He's right. It does look weird. Don't worry lad, we'll get it sorted for you.

I tell myself that we're at the same stage with the garden as the one we reach during a room renovation when we've ripped all the old wallpaper off to reveal the ugly, disintegrating plaster below. And as with interior renovation, where you then need to re-plaster, repair the woodwork, sand and oil the floors, paint everything, and gradually fill the room with furniture and fabrics - well, it's clear the garden has a long, long way to go before it starts looking presentable.

But I have a plan! I've drawn it all out on paper and everything, old school style. Details to follow shortly...

Mismatched Dining Chair Roundup

2013-06-03T08:10:58Z

This post is brought to you in association with Argos.

When I think back to my childhood home, I have very fond memories of summer days spent falling out of trees and sliding down haystacks in the field behind my parents' house. But I also have very clear visual memories of the patterns and colours in the house itself - the sunlight streaming through my flame-coloured hessian curtains, the red poppy cupboard that my Dad painted for me, the blue and pink hexagon feature-wallpaper in the main bedroom (one afternoon Mum and I decided enough was enough and we ripped it all off and painted the wall white, which was a significant improvement design-wise, albeit distinctly less memorable). I have similar memories of my Grandma and Grandad's house in the North East - the owls and leaves on my bedroom curtains, the bluebell wallpaper in the little bathroom, Grandma's prized Wedgwood and crystal collection, and the floral china mugs in the kitchen.

I've written before about my desire to fill our new (130 year old) house with as much decoration, ornament and curlicues as I can, because I feel that children should be surrounded by pattern and colour due to the memories and impressions they create. My Pinterest boards are full of gorgeous, serene white spaces - but although I admire these types of rooms aesthetically, in real life they're just not for me.

So I've decorated our guest bedroom in hot pink and yellow, painted all over Eva's fuchsia wall and filled her room with different floral and animal patterns, and have just finished (hurray! it's finished! pictures coming soon) Natalia's mural, which is a riot of larger-than-life daffodils, buttercups, chickens, ducks, apples, stars, snowdrops... We're probably going to tackle our master bedroom next, and although I'm swaying towards the temptation to create a calm, neutral oasis of ivories, coffee colours, muted lace and silks - I just know I'm going to end up chucking a sunshine-yellow dresser into the mix to liven things up.

Something that we're planning to include in our future kitchen-diner is a huge reclaimed wood dining table with twelve mis-matched dining chairs. I love the idea of each of our children having a favourite chair that they insist on sitting upon - the curvy squiggle chair, the wooden chair made from antique boat wood, or the chair with blue legs. I'm also planning to rescue various unloved chairs from eBay, local charity shops (and of course our cellar!) and customise them with patterns, photographs hidden underneath the seats, secret messages carved into the wood and so on.

Here's a fantasy round-up of mis-matched dining room chairs. You'll also see from this what kind of colour scheme I have in mind for the new extension...

Row 1: Steel and Mango Wood Industrial Tolix Chair from Frog Furniture, Talia yellow dining chair from Habitat, Nordal Countryside Dining Chair from Idea Home Co via Not On The High Street.

Row 2: Vivid Eames-style Chair from Atlantic Shopping, Louis-style Ghost Armchair from MyHaus via Not On The High Street, Vitra Wiggle Side Chair from Nest.

Row 3: Magis Flux Chair from Nest, Shipwood Natural Chair from Fashion For Home, Ikea Antilop Highchair.

Row 4: Jackson Ripple Dining Chair from Dwell, Habitat Hester Dining Chair from Argos, S-style Moulded Retro Chair from Ciel via Not On The High Street.

Argos asked me if I'd like to choose an item of furniture to review, so with the future kitchen-diner in mind, I had a look at their dining chair options. I knew (of course) that Argos sell dining chairs, but what I didn't realise is that they sell Habitat dining chairs. I was distraught when Habitat went into administration, and was delighted to discover that they are now selling furniture through Argos instead.

I chose the chair with blue legs, also known as the Habitat Hester dining chair in Airforce Blue. Our dining room is still an architect's drawing (yes, we've hired an architect! more on that to follow...) so in the meantime, the chair is living in our guest room, where it provides a very pleasing streak of blue alongside the yellow curtains, and the hot pink socks of the nearby table.

It's lovely quality, very comfortable, and delivered ready-assembled which is quite the novelty for this affirmed DIYer. Thank you very much, Argos! As soon as Eva saw the chair she announced it was her "special chair" and immediately climbed aboard, so I think it's a good choice for my grand 'inspiring childhood memories' plan. She's not the only fan, mind...

Which is your favourite chair from the roundup? I'm bagging the crazy cardboard squiggle chair, okay?

Disclosure: Argos provided me with the Habitat Hester chair for free. All words, opinions, layouts and photographs are my own.

How To Create A Miniature Vegetable Patch

2013-05-27T19:07:39Z

When my parents were visiting one weekend last summer, my Dad eyed up the triangular flower weed bed we inherited with the house, and stated confidently with the ease of one relaxing under a parasol with a Peroni in hand: "That would be the perfect place for a vegetable patch, you know. It's the only part of the garden that gets the sun all day long."

Yeah. Thanks, Dad. Turns out the raised bed was chock full of tiny pieces of gravel. And had a flagstone base where the patio had been extended underneath it. A base that that was laid on soil full of - you've guessed it - tiny pieces of gravel. Along with, naturally, huge chunks of brick and assorted rubble. A few curse words and a quick trip to B&Q later, and we were equipped with a gardening sieve.

So we dug. And sieved. And dug. And sieved. By this stage it had gotten personal - sweaty, filthy and exhausted as we were, there was just no way we were going to be beaten by a freaking vegetable patch. Fortunately we had the able assistance of Enrique, who had his beard stuck into the soil at all times, opportune or otherwise.

I'd forgotten how much this dog loves to dig.

One tonne of stones later (literally - we emptied as many wheelbarrow loads into the pond as we did when we were in the process of filling it last year) and we now have a very simple toddler-tastic vegetable patch, with wooden plank walkways and soil as delectable as crumbled chocolate cake. We're growing salad leaves, rocket, dwarf green beans, strawberries, herbs (oregano, chives, rosemary, mint and thyme) cherry tomatoes and sweet peas.

Our two little assistant gardeners seem to approve - Natalia literally rolled in it the other day. She was very pleased with herself.

Now I just need to dissuade the head gardener from digging the seeds up too frequently to check on their progress...

And Dad was right. It is the perfect spot for a vegetable patch.

An English Country Garden Inspired Mural For A Child's Bedroom

2013-05-21T19:04:23Z

Welcome to any Findettes visiting this morning! I'm Alice, and I like sanding things with power tools and then painting them. My husband and I live in a leafy South Manchester suburb along with our toddler and baby daughters and two Jack Russells, where we've recently decided not to move to France after all and instead are busy DIY renovating our Victorian house. You can view our house tour here , check out our main before and after gallery here , and our plans for the house here .

It's done! Two weeks of hard work and Natalia has a magical English country garden on her wall, complete with rose-covered thatched cottage, duck pond and a unique apple tree bearing a couple of rogue strawberries, cherries and pears. After months of visualising it in my head, I'm so happy with how it's turned out.

I ended up replacing the second, smaller tree shown in the rough design with a large sun, moving several of the animals around, adding lots of extra flowers, and filling the sky with stars, birds and butterflies.

Now it's done, we've finally been able to move her out of the spare bedroom and install her cot under the watchful eyes of the nocturnal garden creatures - a badger, owl and bat (plus moon and stars).

Here's a close-up of the badger:

And the owl:

Eva loves the giant bunny perched on the cottage roof:

Two familiar Jack Russells also make an appearance, one with obligatory tennis ball:

And here's the mural in animated form, from the initial watering can to the final birds and chimney smoke.

You can view a larger image of the mural here, if you like.

Next on the list for Natalia's room - putting the final touches to her chair, making curtains, and buying some Annie Sloan paint to *finally* paint the wardrobe that's been languishing in pieces in the cellar for the past six months.

Designing The Perfect Family-Friendly Kitchen

2013-05-13T15:38:25Z

Natalia's mural is well underway! I've painted the cottage, apple tree, watering can, pond, roses, bluebells, frog, squirrel, ducks, cat, chickens, rabbit, daffodils, badger, mouse and hedgehog. Everything I've done so far has passed the toddler identification test ("is a bunny! is duckies! is pretty flower!") so that's a relief.

Work on the mural is taking up all my evenings and weekends at the moment, so I haven't had much time to blog or work on other projects - but I have been giving a lot of thought to our forthcoming kitchen renovation and ground floor extension. Because the kitchen will be housed in the new side extension, I need to work out exactly how much space we're going to need.

Here are some of the things on our wish list for creating the *perfect* family-friendly kitchen.

Drawers rather than cupboards - we had these in our beloved scarlet red gloss kitchen in our first house and they were fantastic. We even had a drawer under the sink for all our cleaning products.

Laundry basket for all the filthy towels and baby bibs we seem to accumulate on a daily basis.
Conversely, somewhere to store clean towels, tea towels and bibs.
Drawer in the kitchen island to be used for storing random items and sweeping contents of island into it in order to tidy up quickly.
Filing cabinet and shredder - this may sound like an odd thing to have in the kitchen, but we end up with paperwork hanging round in the kitchen for days before it gets taken upstairs and either filed or shredded - it would be much more efficient to deal with it immediately.
A floor that won't smash everything that gets dropped on it (so no tiles, stone or slate). Anything in a pale colour or with pale grout is also off the list thanks to our mud-lovin' dogs. If it's cold underfoot, we'll also need underfloor heating.

A dedicated cupboard for all the recycling.
Kitchen bin in cupboard - maybe the kind where the lid opens automatically when you open the cupboard door? We also need to make sure that if we have underfloor heating, we don't extend it underneath where the bins will be located...
I like the idea of having some kind of small round hole (with a lid) in the kitchen island with the green recycling container below, so vegetable scraps can be swept directly into it from the worktop.
Induction hob with flexinduction zone. After years of cooking only with gas, I'm planning to be converted to the 30 second pan boil.
Ideally a French-door style fridge-freezer. It doesn't need to include a water and ice unit (which take up valuable space inside) because we also plan to include...
... A separate cold filtered water tap that isn't located within the main work triangle.
Pop-up sockets in kitchen island with USB port.
Two dishwashers!
Various places for storing oddly sized things like tall cereal boxes, baking trays, cookery books, and long rolls of tin foil and clingfilm.
An extractor fan with an external motor.
Plate warming drawer.
Pull-out sprayer attachment on the kitchen tap for rinsing things off more easily.
Belfast sink.
90cm integrated oven.
Separate 60cm integrated oven.
Countertop combination microwave (yikes, have you seen how much an integrated version costs? No thanks!).
Worktops at a comfortable height so you don't have to stoop over.
Tall larder cupboard with individual pullout shelves (rather than one single pullout unit)
Wire basket storage for potatoes and other vegetables.

The washing machine, tumble dryer, wine rack and overflow pantry items will all be located in the cellar so we don't need to worry about those.

Right. I think that's it. Blimey! Now all I need to do is rationalise all the above into one single, efficient, beautiful design that we can DIY install for not very much money once the builders have constructed the shell. Ha!

So, readers, I need your help. What do you love about your kitchen? What drives you mad about your kitchen on a daily basis? Please let me know!

How To Design A Child's Mural

2013-04-29T19:03:13Z

Eva's pink paradise of a bedroom (and mural) was one of the nine finalists in the Home Love competition! And the overall winner drawn out of the hat was Hannah from Away With The Fairies - you can see her lovely vintage-inspired bedroom here.

I'm happy to say that I've *finally* started on Natalia's 'English country garden' themed mural. I've had the design in my head for months now so it's immensely satisfying to get the first brush strokes up there on the wall. To get to this stage, I followed the same steps that I took with Eva's mural. First of all, I drew a very (very!) rough sketch of the design showing the main features - a cottage, a pond and a tree. I also made a list of everything I wanted to include, from watering cans and plant pots to ladybirds, foxes and owls.

I then switched from paper and pen to the tinternet (not least because any paper that gets left lying around is pounced upon and cut into tiny pieces by Eva, who has just learned to use a pair of scissors and is highly delighted with herself). Using Google Images, I downloaded simple line drawings of all the different elements.

Finding the right images took a little effort - for example, to find a suitable hedgehog I had to search for "pencil drawing hedgehog", "simple drawing hedgehog", "kids drawing hedgehog", "child pencil sketch hedgehog", "cute drawing hedgehog", "hedgehog drawing -sonic" and so on. Google Images also has an option to search for line drawings only.

The following images are all returned by the search term "hedgehog line drawing" - the one on the left is far too detailed, the middle one is nice and simple but isn't cute enough! And the one on the right is perfect :-)

Next, I measured the wall and created a new blank image in PhotoShop with the same measurements (scaled to a manageable size). One by one, I added all the different elements, each with their own layer. In most cases I had to erase the background of the individual image with the magic and background eraser tools so I could layer it on top of the others without obsuring the ones at the back. I also used the brush tool to add some rough lines for the cottage (I searched and searched but could not find a suitable line drawing of a cottage so had to use a photograph instead), pond and hills.

Here's the finished design. My aim at this stage is just to work out roughly what to put where - chickens on the roof, bluebells at the foot of the tree, and so on. I find it easier to add the detail straight onto the wall without drawing it all out precisely in advance.

I printed off the design, drew grid lines onto it, and then replicated them in chalk on the wall. And finally, working from the main design to get the right location and a larger image of the item itself, I painted on the first element - the watering can on the left.

The paint is going on with quite a chalky finish so I'm to have to go over it a couple of times to get the right contrast.

Natalia woke up from her nap just in time to supervise progress. Apparently the paint I'm using met to her satisfaction.

I hope you enjoyed this little behind the scenes peek at how things get started around here. And now it's time for beef stew, homemade limoncello (well, why not!) and Netflix. See you again soon!

Home Love Contest Entry

2013-04-17T19:30:12Z

This blog post is an entry for the Home Love contest at Fashion for Home. To enter, submit a photograph of a room, corner or vignette that you love in your home. Thank you to Kimberly for the tip!

I've chosen this particular image because creating this room for Eva was quite literally a labour of love - I completed the mural wobbling at the top of a stepladder while 38 weeks pregnant with Eva's baby sister, Natalia. In addition to handpainting the mural, I upholstered the chair, sewed cushions, curtains, a pillowcase and beanbags, sanded down the bed (which naturally we found in the cellar), customised an Ikea toddler table and chair set, and made tissue paper pompoms. And of course we re-plastered, painted, and sanded and oiled the floor.

All worth it though - we created the room with love, we absolutely love how it turned out, and if Eva's enthusiastic insistence that all toddler visitors come and play upstairs in her bedroom immediately upon entering the house is anything to go by, she loves it too.

In fact Eva isn't the only one who loves the room - while big sister is away, a very small lady likes to sneak in and throw all the toys around...

Front Garden Update

2013-04-10T19:30:21Z

Finally, we have spring in Manchester. And about time too - I'm not sure how many more days of waking up to a frozen snowy ground our poor confused daffodils could have taken.

Here's how the front garden is looking - the first wave of yellow daffodils and purple crocus is out in full bloom.

I did a quick map so when autumn comes and all traces of the bulbs have disappeared I can remember what's planted where.

1. Daffodils 2. Crocus 3. Allium 4. Bluebells 5. Gladioli.

It's long way from the unruly jungle we inherited (yep, the picture below is the same border shown above!) but there's still a loooong way to go before everything looks lush and pretty.

Next steps - plant evergreens (vinca, euonymous, lavender and box) and sow grass seed. I'm tired of looking at all that soil!

I've also been hard at work on Natalia's chest of drawers. Here's a sneak peek:

It's coming along very nicely - the flowers on the front are finished, and I just need to add the top coat of protective oil. I'm also dallying with the idea of painting the sides of the drawers to give an extra flash of colour (yellow?) - clearly this would be too much if the chest of drawers were intended for a grown-up space, but I think a child might like the novelty.

Variations On Eggs And Lamb

2013-04-02T19:36:33Z

Well, that was a lovely bank holiday weekend. Baking, egg-hunting, three-hour lunches, mini eggs in the bath, goat wrestling and floor oiling were all enjoyed by various members of the family.

First of all, we headed to Paupers Wood on Good Friday to hunt for wooden eggs (which were then exchanged for chocolate bunnies). Eva went round it about seven times.

Easter Sunday breakfast - featuring some pretty new things (Portmeirion jug and cake stand), some homemade things (hot cross buns! I actually baked hot cross buns!), some toddler baking (chocolate rice krispie nests, obviously) and an assortment of stickers. I long for the days of reclaimed wood dining tables and pinnable tablescapes but we're not *quite* there yet!

An Easter egg hunt in the back garden with a little friend, with the foil-wrapped spoils collected in toddler-decorated baskets - you will notice that one toddler collected ALL THE EGGS *cough* Eva *cough*. I hasten to add that I was busy in the kitchen with a garlic and rosemary leg of lamb at the time, otherwise increased efforts towards parity would have been insisted upon!

Easter Sunday lunch - roast lamb, buttered new potatoes, Greek salad, aubergine ratatouille and roasted butternut squash with chilli and coriander. The toddlers lasted about five minutes and then disappeared, being discovered sometime later carefully sharing mini eggs from the comfort of our turquoise Victorian clawfoot bath on the top floor!

An insanely delicious Easter dessert! Thank you :-)

And from lamb to lamb (that's going to be a tricky conversation in a couple of years) - feeding carrots to the sheep (with some bonus goat wrestling) at Reddish Vale Farm.

Happy Easter, one and all!