So we are finally back in the bathroom with the tile cutter! Rich spent most of Friday and Saturday while I was at work cutting tiles and banging his head on the cistern, this side of the room was always going to be a sod to tile as their are so many right angles and or course as this is an old cottage none of the room is square and we discovered the ceiling slopes too!

'Fraught' I think is the word that sums the last few days up, this is a small room with not a lot of space for manoeuvring and no room for equipment (and of courses certain people having to pee every 20 minuets, naming no names!).

It took us all of sunday to do around this window, sooo much fiddly cutting!!!

Still a ton of work to do before its done, I need to clean all the tiles up and remove the spacers ready for grouting (which is horrible and messy as we're using grey grout!) not to mention sorting out lights, refitting the sink, plumbing in the shower and radiator and don't even talk to me about the floor. I think we are both throughly fed up with this room now and just want it done, right now I would sell my grandmother for a working shower!!!

I am consoling myself with a little fantasy shopping...

Come on lottery ticket, mamma needs a shower curtain and a vintage luggage rack to keep her towels on!!

These seem to happen so rarley these last few years that it is compulsory that you spend ever available minuet outside soaking up the sun. Or in Rich's case lying under his car all of Saturday getting cover in petrol as he tried to fix a leaking fuel line.

While he was enjoying himself I got as many garden jobs done as I could, cutting the grass as its seem to be grown like mad at the moment, taming the fruit trees and easing them into odd shapes which nature never intended, planting more flowers and of course having a few friends round and chatting in the sun!

Sunday was exactly as gorgeous but instead of the normal car booting we went off to a Cortina Club meet/show in Hereford. Rich has been working his little socks off in-between everything else to get his car ready for this, a whole field of Cortina's, Rich was in heaven!

We had a good time, he got to spend money of various items that he assures me are vital to the running of the car and are actually a total bargain, I got to sit in the sun and read my book while he talked about alloys and pearlised paint finishes with other chaps who all seemed to be carbon copies of Rich! 

Anyway a very good weekend, no wonder I still haven't finished tiling the bathroom!

I havent updated on our recent bargains gleaned from boot sales and antique (junk!) markets. Now we finally have some good weather the local boot sales are getting into their full swing which is good, it generally means you get a good mix of people clearing out their garages and attics and the inevitable traders who charge too much!

I got this cute metal 'r' last weekend, its from an old shop sign, these are getting pretty hard to find these days as they have become quite popular. Luckily this one was lurking at the bottom of a box of junk I was rummaging through, and even better that it was an 'r' and only £2. It now has pride of place on our mantelpiece with all my favourite stuff!

More 50's plaes! I have recently cleared out our china collection and given to chartiy lots of the old plates, glasses and cups I no longer like. These days I have to operate a 'one in, one out' policy with kitchen ware, so I feel fine about buying these 3 side plates after the cull. These are Midwinter Cassandra from 1957 and design by the brilliant Jessica Tait. I manage to get them for £2 for all 3.

Rich bought this yellow storage jar, the lid is a vacuum which we both through was cool, also Rich really likes yellow so it came home with us for 50p.

He also got himself this old industrial lamp, we both have a bit of a thing for old industrial lamps, Rich is planning to use quite a number of them when we fit out the garage and build the garden studio so this one will be added to the collection. £9 to you mister!

Another thing that is bloody hard to find these days (if you don't want to pay crazy money) is old suitcases. I remember when people used to give these things away, now you'd be lucky to get one for under £30! This one came from a junk market for £4 which is much more my budget, it will be used on top of our wardrobe to keep some of Rich's winter hoodies in.

This last week has seen both Rich and I celebrate our birthdays (which are only 5 days apart), we have been very lucky and had so really nice presents. A big thank you to my Mum for getting me this lovely little sewing box.

And Richards Mum and Dad who got us a very cool fruit bowl.

We've had a really nice week apart from the rather large amount of work we both have on, at least the sun if shining and we can have our new windows open and of course large amounts of cake!

I started collecting taxidermied butterflies when I first moved to Bath nearly 12 years ago. I found a case of 3 for sale in a charity shop, apparently they had been in the window for weeks as no one seemed to want them ("I think people find them creepy" the lady said as I handed over the fiver they where asking!), at the time when I bought these back to my little rented flat I didn't realise I would end up become slightly obsessed.

These days taxidermy is officially cool again and featured in every home mag out there, this has caused what was once fairly easy to find pretty cheaply to sky rocket in popularity and price (for some reason this always seems to happen just when I have decided I really like a particular thing!). You can still find nice specimens at ok prices, eBay is always worth a look but butterflies really don't post well! I think the best examples I have have come from junk shops and car-boot sale (although they are getting rarer these days).

Which was way I was amazed to find a nice case of 3 butterflies on Sunday and for only £4. The frame is slight naff and I intend to sand the gold paint off!

I realize taxidermy isn't everyones thing, many people do find it creepy and think I'm a bit weird for having so much of it. I really can't put my finger on what it is I like so much, I think maybe being able to see these amazing creatures so close up has quite a bit to do with it, what nature comes up with totally blows me away... 

What had started off as 3 little butterflies in a box has now expanded to most of the rooms in our little cottage!

 I do try to buy old butterflies, I am aware that there are companies you can buy 'fresh' butterflies from but I only buy old specimens, many of which are Victorian as this seems to have been something of a hay day for taxidermy.

At this rate we are probably going to have to buy a bigger house...soon!

Wow, sunshine at last! Its so good to be able to get outside and get some of that list of jobs underway. One of the many things that needed sorting was the outside living room window sill, which has been in a bad state since we moved in. Its is a bath stone lintel that at some point had been patched with concrete, which is about the worst thing you can use on bath stone! This has had god knows how many winters pecking away at it with the result that most of the old concrete was falling off and taking large chunks of the original stone with it.

So Rich spent last Saturday  reshaping the sill with the composite bath stone mix which we used when rebuilding the fireplace last year, this is the recommend stuff and we found it to be great and dried back to a good colour last time. It is however a bit pricey so you have to be quick when using it so as not to waste any!

As Rich was busy I did all the other boring jobs like cutting the lawn and the box hedge which I always enjoy as it make the garden look so much nicer!

Even Stella is enjoying the sun!