Pink,Roses & Rosewater!

Bbbbrrrrr! It was cold  at Shingle Cottage at the weekend,i mean oh so cold! 

Those rare little weekends of the temperature soaring and that wonderful feeling of  ooooohh Summer  is back she's not ready to leave us just yet are long gone! Dark mornings and chilly air are now the order of the day and it makes me happy looking at the picture below that i chose pale vanilla white paint for the cladded walls in the kitchen and a mixture of pink and green English china because even on those damp dreary days it looks fresh and bright in here and soon a string or two of fairy lights will make it a little dreamy on a Winter evening.

Pink Cottage Bouquet Of Roses from Steve to make my weekend a little sweeter,A great guy and a lucky girl!.....

We had coal and logs piled high and crackling away in the fire grate and an electric fan blowing cozy warm air across the bedroom as we worked over the weekend.

I spent Saturday in the attic rolling out loft insulation to wrap Shingle Cottage in a snug blanket and to stop the heat leaving downstairs and Steve worked away putting a new ceiling up in what will be the laundry room and prepared the walls for a boiler!!!! yes after two years and a lot of hard work we have worked room to room and we have arrived at that wonderful stage where in the next few weekends we will have running hot water and radiators warming every room,no cold spots,no shivering,no running from the shower down the hallway to dry in front of the fire!...

Am i complaining? oh no! i have had the best time with Steve waking our beloved  Shingle Cottage  from her deep sleep.

A little pile of radiators is oh such a lovely sight.....

I Sanded all the new plaster walls in the bedroom until they were nice and smooth and then gave them their first coat of pink Sorbet paint and as most paints tend to do it went on a totally different colour to what was on the tin but knowing this from a life time and slight obsession with painting anything that doesn't move i carried on right around the room...

The little chimney breast i was going to paper but i can not find a paper i love and i don't want to buy paper just 'for now' so i  will paint it antique white for contrast and when that elusive paper catches my eye i shall buy a roll,hurry home and hang it!

See above the wet pink walls looks like the pink around the big fluffy dog below and not the oval of Sorbet pink,If this happens to you just carry on as paint always dries lighter and the first coat not having full coverage will change your paint colour as whatever  shade is underneath will show through here and there throwing off the true colour...Two coats and you should have your chosen colour!

Below you can see the bottom right is drying to a lovely pale pink....i gave the ceiling another coat of Antique White and there are the wardrobe doors to paint this weekend along with the skirting boards and architrave around the door,wall lights and a chandelier to hang,ticking jobs off the list week to week...

I hung crystals on the wall lights in the main room and i ordered a fridge and a freezer to be delivered on Monday.....As soon as the heating is on i am staying at Shingle Cottage for a week,just me and my pup and i will be painting all the new floor boards right through the cottage white and then i can order my cream retro cooker and start to bring more furniture and lamps and pictures and then it won't be long before our new life will begin...

So there you have it,a little round up of the goings on at the cottage..... 

I wanted to ask you if when reading Shingle Cottage,

Do you see this style writing below?

Or do you see this one below?

I would hope you see the second as that is what i see but while at a friends i was shocked to see the first style show on their screen,would you let me know in the comments section if you don't mind? thank you! x

Oh and has anyone grown Gypsophila otherwise known as baby's breath? it was among the roses Steve brought home and i love it and would like to grow some in our cottage garden....I have seen girls on blogs who have dried it to a lovely sepia tone which looks gorgeous and really old fashioned,so i would like to give it a go next Summer,any tips? 

I am going to finish my order of goodies on Lakeland i have Star Kay Rose Water in my basket for making Sophie Dahl's  Rhubarb And Rosewater Eaton Mess,I asked Sophie on twitter yesterday which rose water she used and she replied! really don't we live in a fabulous era where things like that are possible?  

Lakeland have a special offer at the moment which is worth checking out where you buy two bottles of Star Kay and you get one free,so i grabbed a white rose and a  gold star vanilla too! oh and plenty of other bits and bobs for my baking cupboard at Shingle Cottage.

Here is a little about Star Kay

Star Kay White, a New York family firm established in 1890, are renowned for the purity and intensity of their extracts and pride themselves on their unrivalled quality. Made with the finest ingredients to guarantee an authentic flavour, they’re versatile and highly concentrated – lasting a long time, just a little makes a big difference to baking and cooking. Their extracts are used by some of the biggest ice cream companies in the world, but cakes, pastries, drinks, marinades, even stir-fry and savoury dishes will be transformed.

Sound lovely don't they? well as soon as i'm at the cottage baking on my lovely cream retro cooker i shall tell you all about the taste of Star Kay's Rosewater and Sophie's Rhubarb And Rosewater Eaton Mess.

I have Sophie's book titled Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights and i picked mine up on Amazon but if you don't have the book here is a little snippet of the Rhubarb and Rosewater Eaton Mess and the fabulous Sophie....

I really loved this series did you? I loved the music,the poetry,Sophie and her accent and of course the recipes...

Ooooh this has turned into rather a long post has it not?

Join me next time for more tales and goings on from Shingle Cottage...

XxX