Although our kitchen still needs the electrics to be finished, and the plywood frames need to be cut and placed, the kitchen looks good. It makes me smile. I am proud of Rich, he can do anything when he turns his mind to it.

Add to that the work that needs doing will cost, and we are saving for a treat for our 25th wedding anniversary we decided to decorate the sitting room. We were sick of it, with its chewed sofas, patchwork of paint swatches, and the two old doorways shut up, but not boarded up.

So, as is our want, we decided to change the living room, and what a change it is, not only to the room but to our lives.

Firstly Rich plasterboarded the old doorways, they now blend in to the wall. Something he had never done before, but he did it well.

We wanted all the rooms in our tiny house of love to link. The same colour palette of green, and blue, with pops of pink. A decision was made to go with a colour drench: walls, skirting boards, last remaining door frame, and the fireplace! All painted in apple blossom green, to link with the kitchen. It was time to make that change, and I knew it would make the room look, and feel bigger.

A big decision, but we love it.

One of the few things to come over from France was a huge bevelled mirror that I used to have over my mantel in Herne Bay. We bought it together, it was an impromptu purchase on a day out to the lovely Broadstairs. It turned out to be the perfect size for our mantel here, so we painted it as part of the colour drench. All memories, all part of our life together. The other was our beloved Chandelier. How it survived all our moves I will never know. But it now reflects beautifully in the mirror.

We worked our butts off. Rich painted all the walls. I renovated some of our old furniture. We have had to give so much away over these big moves, had to leave things behind. But now we are left with things that we cherish, that evoke a memory when we look at them: our cold cabinet, purchased from our first vide grenier visit in France. Now painted in Eide, a bluey green colour.

The small table, a €10.00 find in our local charity shop in Ireland. Painted in apple blossom green, and Eide.

The old chest, renovated many years ago in France, now part of the colour drench. My late mum bought it for me when I had Tom, it will be forever cherished. It’s been topped off with a lantern my darling friend Nicky bought me when she visited me in France. I changed the colourwash to blue, added the lights and created a vignette around it.

I liked the wall vignette I had created with my vintage French Rococo mirrors, so I kept that pretty much the same, but brought them back to life in the various colours of our scheme, their flowers brought out in the colours we have chosen. I added a few pieces too, the little clock given to me by a friend from years ago, Linda, to take with me on our adventure to France. I painted it a pop of pink, and I am so pleased with how it fits in to the scheme.

The two small wall units are from my old home in the U.K One painted apple blossom green, with an Eide interior. I salvaged that cabinet from an old tut shop, over 20 years ago, when we first moved to Herne Bay, and were still full of wonderment because we lived by the sea.

The pink cabinet was part of my scheme in our Edwardian home in Herne Bay. Both have had many colour transformations over the years. I know that won’t surprise you!

They are filled with treasures: from my mum and dad’s crystal glasses, to the vintage French glass that I couldn’t bear to sell on my Etsy shop, or the angel my old boss bought me, and finally to the beautiful wooden sculpture Karen just sent to me when she read one of my blogs. It is clearly me and Harley. It just arrived out of the blue, and it made me smile and cry. The Home sign was given to me by my sister, as we moved to France, its colour wash has been changed to blue. The heart bought many years ago by Rich, from Whitstable. Of course it has been painted! With a jaunty pink ribbon added.

It goes without saying that there are many things from Mary, everywhere…

She even helped me when I purchased my antique washstand, from a bootsale in Canterbury. It was the best bargain I’ve ever bought, Edwardian, marble top, for just £20. It is one of my most treasured things.

In fact she even gave me the little shelf, now painted in Eide, above it! On the shelf sits various little treasures that mean a lot to me: angels people have bought me over the years, an antique pot, that I often say I should get valued, as its top and handle are solid silver. It was given to me years ago by an elderly neighbour and has survived the seven moves I have made since leaving my family home thirty-nine years ago. At the other end of the shelf is a glass vase that was owned by my late grandmother. I have always treasured it, and believe it to be Murano glass. Priceless to me for it’s history. In the middle is a delicately decorated glass that was given to me by my dear friend Russell. Treasured over the past twenty-seven years.

I have coveted garlands for quite some time for my mantle. The colour scheme for this room lent itself to them naturally. I have tried to make it look like an overgrown garden, or even graveyard, full of treasured possessions: the bust my sister bought me for my 60th, the veiled lady looks both mystical and sad, almost like something you would find in Highgate Cemetery. The stars we made as part of our little business in France, one covered in small iridescent stars, the other now painted in a pop of pink.

The cherub came from Monpazier, in the Dordogne region of France. The light tower, a TK Max find from seventeen years ago. Now with a small star hanging from it, that reminds me of two wonderful ladies I spent three months of lockdown with in Jersey.

The shelves and the coffee table finally hold my books. How they have survived being boxed up in damp places for the best part of four years is beyond me! There are Nursery Rhymes, and poetry books I used to read to my son, all beautifully illustrated by Eric Kincaid.

In addition they hold my vintage French coloured glass, and my cherub, the second of my most treasured possessions, I bought him from Asda, 21 years ago. Left him in the garden in all weathers, and he aged so beautifully I had to bring him in and save him. Then there are my vintage hurricane lamps from Marks and Spencer. Of course our beloved Welshies are there, never to be left out.

Now believe it or not, the design for this whole room started with the fact that we are vinyl freaks. In fact have a huge collection of music in vinyl and CD format. Our plan was always to have music corner. With a vintage style record player, and a good set of speakers. As you can see we have achieved that. There is a space on the wash- stand for the stereo, the vinyl is in place, and we finally have a disco ball back in our house. Just like the old days, but with flowers to go with the scheme.

Rich loves it, he has his own corner, where he can keep his shit on the lower shelves. LOL.

We bit the bullet and bought a huge rug, to make the room look bigger, and a coffee table. The chairs were purchased last year, and we have learnt that having things in case someone comes to visit’ is the way of madness. So we purchased a small ‘love sofa’, perfect for us and the puppies. Extravagantly we also added some pops of colour in the cushions, bringing it all together. As you can see, the puppies love them. Especially the feather ones!

When I sit in this room now, I look around at all the things that reflect our life together: the tin French postcard sign, a charity shop find. The oval blue mirror a vide grenier find in France. One that will always remind me of Diddies, always.

The rusty sky hook from Montpazier, the crystal, vintage, candelabra, the witches ball, bought from a witchypoo shop in Herne Bay. The poundshop hare……the rose gold heart, another charity shop find. The angel wings, purchased during the pandemic, when we could not have our own things around us. The little mirror that had been left in this house, unloved. Given a new lease of life. My red heart of glass, given to me many years ago by Rich, he told me it held his love, and then he broke my heart. It was thrown, unceremoniously, into a black bin bag, and he saved it, a little broken, but still intact. Pretty much like us, all those years ago.

It is true that material possessions don’t bring you happiness. But treasures from your life do. All the things that remind me of all the people who love, and have loved us, over the years. The room is a tranquil haven, it is home.

So last of all there is, of course, the sign my sister bought me for my birthday. we have built a life together, a life we love.

Moisy