hurray, i'm back

Hello everyone, what have I missed?

Our broadband is finally connected and we have re-joined the modern world. Meanwhile, we have been busy settling into our fantastic new home and I will now happily concede that having to leave Purl Cottage was the luckiest thing that has happened all year!

Would you like to take a little peek through the door of number 52?

Due to a combination of the rubbish light in recent days and my ancient old compact camera, it's been a challenge to take photographs that do the place justice, but these will give you a bit of a taster.

This is my favourite room in the house- the living room. I'm really pleased how our furniture has fitted in so well...

 

The woodburning stove has been so cosy in all the really cold weather we had in the week that we moved in.

The kitchen is a galley-style extension on the back of the house...

It's not your typical country cottage kitchen with an Aga etc, but it is the nicest kitchen we've ever had and I think the dark units go well with all my 60s and 70s bits and bobs. The appliances are all cunningly hidden away behind cupboard doors and we are especially excited about having our very first dishwasher- I don't know how we ever managed without one!

Another bonus is that there is a separate dining room, which we didn't have in the other place. I have reserved a corner for setting up as a crafting area, where I'm going to put up some shelves to store my stash of yarn and fabric.

In the fireplace, there is a funny old iron bread oven that I've been too scared to try out so far...

The bathroom is so shiny and posh- it still feels like we're living in a hotel suite at the moment...

I need to keep an eye out for bathrooms nick-nacks during my next charity shop trawl, to go on top of the fireplace, as it's looking a bit bare at the moment (although in an ideal world I'd have a long row of multicoloured bottles of Molton Brown bubble baths!)

but I have allowed myself one little extravagance (thanks mum!)....

There are some shelves above the staircase- I'm not sure what to put on them at the moment, so I have made a 1950s toy cowboy display while I think about it a bit more...

and last but not least is the girls' room.

My brief from Flora for this room was a Nanny McPhee-style nursery (crikey was I glad that she didn't want Hannah Montana or something pink and horrid!)...

Their room in our last house was smaller than a shoe-box and it was a squeeze just to fit in the cot and toddler-bed, so it is lovely that they now have proper beds and plenty of space to get to all their toys.

How fab is the vinyl atlas frieze I picked up in habitat?
 

I haven't bothered taking any pictures of our room yet, as it is looking very plain and boring at the moment. I need some inspiration for what to do with it as it's an attic room with sloping walls and not suitable for conventional bedroom furniture. The sloping walls also mean that we can't hang pictures up, so I'm keeping my eye out for some grown-up vinyl decals to brighten it up a bit.

Unfortunately, there is no garden, but there is a back yard which I'm also still thinking about what to do with- pictures to follow in the Spring.

I'm off to try and catch up with a snippet of what I've been missing in your blogs- oh how I've missed you all xx