Paint pots and flower pots, going potty !

Last night after days of hair pulling and soul searching I finally finished ONE wall ! It's the back hallway wall with the door that leads out to the back garden. The door will be a Dutch Door as I've always wanted one in my own house. I painted the woodwork in the 'stone' colour which dried a sort of 'flesh' colour, rather unhealthy I must say. I put some Burnt Umber and Drain pipe black into the mix and it came out the colour I had imagined, even dry. The blue grey for the walls I wasn't sure about but ALL  the stairwell is that colour it had to be right. 

I had always wanted to patina and age my house finishes so last night I got out the sludge and some dry brushes to blend it all and after some sanding I finished the wall. It doesn't sound like a big step but for me it's the beginning, now I can get on with it. This section of the wall will be screwed to the base and I will then be able to install the first stair against it then the main left wall against that wall and so forth. Its a puzzle. You cannot really see it the photos and of course doing fiddly painting at night in artificial light is not the best solution but I couldn't put it off anymore. 

Seeing just how far along other bloggers houses are is pushing me forward. Thank you for that.

 The differences are rather subtle but above is 'before' the ageing and below is after.

Below in more detail.

More details. The red hole is where I shall pass the cable from the first landing light out to the back of the house where I will then fiddle with electricity at some stage and wire it all up.

I thought that I would show the back of this wall. As I wanted some depth to the windows and door I decided contrary to the internal walls, to externalise the depth. This gives me enough depth for the Dutch door and a window sill on the first floor landing to put some tiny plants on. The top cut out is the future third landing window which will continue up part of the roof like an artists atelier window. Its part of the history of Ramsay house that the owners have modified it when they inherited it from the mothers mother. I will close in this space and make it all neat but removable because it will contain the wiring and junctions with only switches on the outside to illuminate this or that part of the house at any one time. THAT is the plan for now. Electricity terrifies me.

On a lighter summer note I wanted to show you my Peonies, that sounded a bit strange!

They are wonderful this year after a tricky start. As you might know, peonies hate being moved so last year I had two blooms only. This year they are all out in full splendour. 

Dora cannot see what all the fuss is about and I am sure that she thinks that she is the subject of the photo. The gnome stool on the right was a gift from Philippe Starck who designed it, I have a pair. I only said to him that I loved the stools and next day he delivered them to my office!

This 'David' statue once adorned the doorway of a smart gay club in Paris St Germain before they discarded it. Luckilly a friend was passing and he dragged it to his home before dragging it to mine. I am not sure about it but for now it nestles in a corner.

Dora vying for camera time, she is usually shy or should I say 'doesn't see the point, where the food'!

 I sit out on these chairs when I try to make sense of the universe. I live in a dark village so I get a good starry night to contemplate.

Lady is herself here contemplating her own universe, thinking should I go burst another ball or run after pigeons, décisions décisions. The old iron chair was on its way somewhere else two years ago and I plopped it there and forgot about it!

Ending on weird. I saw this at a Junk shop whose owner I know in Paris and fell in love with its surrealness. The owner gave it to me as a gift and I couldn't find anywhere relevent to put it so it ended up here in a branch that I was going to paint coral white one day. The lovely landscape behind is by someone good, cannot remember. I saw it in a Junk shop for sale with two biggish tears in it which meant that it was fairly cheap. An easy repair as they were recent tears and all the fibres were there in place. Well that's my day, wishing you all as nice a day as today.