Chrysanthemum

Part of what keeps my spirits up is “House Doctor Make Believe” – imagining what the house will look like when it’s finished… The kitchen (with units, and a floor, oh but without a shower!) with our big round table set up in the corner, and the dresser with Mrs Smith’s china on it. A couple of sofas in front of the insert, and maybe another table that I can do baking at. It’s all real; it’s just not happened yet, but it’s real to me…

I plan to clean up the old iron bedstead we bought from M. Lorin (might even paint it Wild Sage?) and use it as a day bed in the entrance hall. Most of that room will have exposed stonework, but I might paint the exterior wall a buttermilk/golden sandy colour. I think that a light colour will go with the green of the windows & door. I’ve also chosen the fabric for the curtains (in winter when we’ve stayed at the gîte the cold gets noticeably fiercer as you open the curtains, so heavy lined curtains for winter are a must!). William Morris has long been a favourite – I was a child in the seventies, and it was popular to have huge prints as soft furnishings, I guess it just rubbed off, so I was trawling through my books, and wanted a large flower print in shades of green and gold/cream/beige.

Chrysanthemum it is then! Now that’s not something I ever thought I would do – voluntarily choose a chrysanthemum!

Not that things can’t change…