Coat Rack made from an old piece of Drift wood

On a visit to Cumbria to see the inlaws, I found a piece of driftwood on Silecroft beach.  I brought it home with no idea how I would use it...

I had been trying to find a coat rack for the downstairs cupboard but hadn't seen anything I really liked and that fitted the space....then I remembered the piece of driftwood and decided it would work beatifully

This old scaffolding board has probably spent several years floating around the worlds oceans! I got the hubby Chris to cut it into two sections to fit the space; then we fixed 10 cast iron school label frame coat hooks.

Here's the finished article ready to hand coats!

Fabulous Silecoft beach, where the drift wood was found!!!

Curtains, Pelmet & Roman blinds fitted at the Sterns in Ridgeway Court, Chosley Meodows. Wallingford. Oxfordshire

I was commissioned me to do all the window dressings for this four bedroom house at Cholsey Meadows.  We started with the ground floor, paying particular attention to the huge bay window in the lounge. They were keen to have as much as possible of the window frame and original panelling  showing when the curtains were open.

LOUNGE BAY WINDOW

Bay window curtains with pelmet 

The fabric is a Jane Churchill 'Banbury' in pink. The curtains were 5 widths each side with a cartridge heading, which although not seen as its behind the pelmet, gives a lovely even pleat. Curtain fitter Kieron Prendegast installed the ceiling fixed 'Evaglide' track and pelmet.

Dressing the bay window

This is me dressing the curtains so that the folds are retained when the curtains are drawn and closed.  It shows how long the drop is! I had to push hard to get these finished in time for Christmas

HALLWAY

View of the two windows in the hallway

This is a lovely light hallway with windows on both sides.  We wanted to retain a light and airy feel so this Sayuri 'Mimosa' fabric works really well.

Roman blind made up in Sayuri Mimosa fabric

ENTRANCE HALL

Difficult stairwell window

This window was a challenge as It starts high up on the top of the stairwell and drops down into the entrance hall.  We used the same Sayuri 'Mimosa' fabric as in the hallway.

TV ROOM

The two windows in the TV room

The two roman blinds in the TV room were also made up in the Sayuri fabric but in the darker colour 'Pewter' which works well in creating a more cosy feel.

Curtains in Ipsden Court, Cholsey Meadows. Wallingford. Oxfordshire

The high celings and large windows at the Fairmile development in Cholsey require particularly large curtains or blinds.

The drop of the curtains shown below is over 3.5 meters!

This pair of curtains are interlined and hand finished with a cartridge heading. My client Julia wanted something special so again we went for cartridge headings...they are beatifully simple and sit nicely in a contemporary or traditional decor.

Roman, Roller and Venetian Blinds - Basilden Court, Cholsey Meadows. Oxfordshire

This project was done for Georgina's two bedroom apartment.  She wanted to maintain the light airy feel to the flat, so she chose linen textured neutral fabrics and the simple clean lines offered by Romans, Rollers and Ventians.

At the kitchen windows we fitted Ivory roller blinds with matching pelmets.  When up, the roll of fabric, usually visible with rollers, sits neatly behind the pelmet giving a cleaner more contemporary look.

These rollers can be lowered in bright sunlight to diffuse the light without blocking it out completely.

A white wooden Venetian blind was fitted in the bathroom to give privacy whilst still letting in the light.

The large arched top original window of the hospital conversion is shown off beatifully by enhancing the arch with a recessed pelmet in matching fabric.  The Roman blind with chrome side winder works well in this Ivory linen with silk embroidered tree branch detail supplied by Georgina.

Fitting the blind.....you can see just how big these windows are.  Chris who fit them is 6' 5" tall!

The bedroom Roman blind was in a simple biscuit coloured linen with the same arched detail pelmet as in the lounge.

Roman binds installed in Wallingford, Oxfordshire.

Six roman blinds made for the kitchen and dining room of my client Laura in Wallingford...The fabric selected was 'Parme' from Casamance, it's a linen based fabric with a lovely vertical curling woven thread pattern.

One of the side windows in the dining room.

This blind was fitted in the kitchen window recess.

This shows the bay window and the two side windows together.  We made the folds shallow enough not to block out too much light...

Curtains and Roman Blinds at Ridgeway Court in Cholsey Meadows, Wallingford, Oxfordshire

The fluted Ivory wooden pole fitted and ready for hanging the curtains.

The pole was fitted with one large wooden ball finial only, as the door is right in the corner.  We wanted to have the curtains drawn back as far as we couldo let as much light in as possible.

Me dressing the curtains after hanging.

Finally installed, dressed and furniture replaced.  Fabric was a rich striped chenille, chosen and supplied by client Liz.

 Roman blind with continuous sidewinder chrome chain.

Detail of the fluted Ivory wooden curtain pole.

Panelling Project

We wanted to do something with this corner other than a wall of wallpaper....so I had the idea of making it look like it was panelled.  Some of the other flats and houses on the Cholsey Meadows Fairmile development have the original panelling and I definitely had 'panelling envy'.  But not anymore.  

One wall panelled, the other wall tomorrow

After a quick undercoat, I applied Farrow & Ball Purbeck Stone modern emulsion 

all finished and a perfect backdrop for our Christmas Tree......very satisfied with result.