What a beautiful weekend. The weather was just perfect, lots of sunshine and warm too. I spent most of the days in the garden and around the house. I also bought some new clothes for my holidays... Today we went to the lake and the forest for a walk. I love being at home when the weather is good... Below are a few images from around the house this weekend. Sorry for the messy kitchen...

Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend. We had sunshine here in Ireland so I spent most of my time outdoors. The daffodils in my garden haven't bloomed yet but I picked these ones from the fields and put them in my hallway. The cherry blossom is in bloom too so I have some in the house as well. I love Spring time when everything comes back to life, the days gets longer and it begins to get a little warmer and sunnier. Did you do anything nice this weekend? 

I spent most of the day tidying and cleaning the house. Where does all the dust come from??? The dust fairies are always around my home... Below are a few photos from around my home (apologies if you have seen some of these before). Hope you are having a nice weekend.

Hello everyone. Imagine it is June already, the year is flying by. The first day of Summer here in Ireland has been a wash out, lots of rain and wind. At last the sun has made an appearance. It was so bad with rain that I have spent most of the day indoors. We even had to light the fire as it was so cold. I am really looking forward to my holidays this year as I need sunshine!! For June I hope to do some decorating around the house. We also have family coming to visit so that should be fun. Today is a bank holiday here in Ireland so I have a short week at work and I am even comtemplating taking some days off later in the week too. Have you any nice plans for June?
Below are a few photos from around my home today as I have spent most the time indoors.

Those of you who read my blog will know that I have attended some flower arranging classes and I love them! They are finishing up this week though so I will then have to keep putting all I have learned into practice. The clocks went forward last night which means we have longer evenings. I like getting out and about in the evening time particularly now that spring has really set in. I have some extra days off work this week and the week after for Easter. Below are a few images from around my home this weekend.

From top left; Over my wood burning stove in the snug, the picture is from the Spanish Arch in
Galway and the rest of the photos are my Easter/Spring flower arrangements in my entrance hall

From top left; my dining room table with lilies and greenery and the rest of the photos are my other flower arrangements.

Is the kitchen the hub of your home? Well in my house, it really is. I am not the best cook or baker for sure but I do spend a lot of time in the kitchen. I like to think it is a country style kitchen with oak details and cream units. The canopy over the hob is french style and the lights are all from IKEA. I love the fisherman's lamp over my dining table. I generally burn Yankee candles in my kitchen after cooking.

Sorry the above photos are  a bit dull, it was difficult to get the light right when I took them.

Here is an image of the dresser in my kitchen  you will spot some Cath Kidston mugs, my Wedgewood teapot and some other accessories. My notice board is to the right of the dresser- you can just see the edge of it here.

So is your kitchen the hub of your home, what does it look like? What style is it? 

As some of you may be aware IKEA House Call contacted me earlier in the Autumn time through my blog. I was very surprised when their marketing section asked me if I would be interested in featuring my home on their online Live Magazine. So I took them up on their offer and submitted my details, information and photographs to them. I was a bit sceptical about submitting my photograph but I thought I might as well... So here are a few of the images they used. My camera isn't great quality so I really didn't think they would ever feature my wee home. It is still very much a work in progress but here are some of the images featured;

 

My kitchen

 

 

My Dining area

 

 

To see more of my home, visit IKEA Live Magazine February Edition.

 

 Do you enjoy Kirstie's Homemade Home, Homemade Christmas and Vintage Home, they are full of homemade crafty inspiration which I love.

For those of you who haven't heard of her, you should visit her website. She also has a few books too. She loves all things vintage, craft and homemade :)  

 

Hello everyone,

Hope you are all well. Apologies as I have been busy and haven't had much time to blog. I have completed my review for the magazine and have the interior design photos taken of my home, fingers crossed some of them will be used. I will keep you updated on them anyway. Here is one of the images I have taken of my kitchen.

The weather was lovely and sunny here today in Ireland but this evening is getting dull again, the rain is never far away. What have you all been up to?

The Farm Chicks....

Serena is the face behind Farm Chicks. She founded The Farm Chicks Show, established thefarmchicks.com, and authored The Farm Chicks in the Kitchen and the Farm Chicks Christmas. 
She is a wife, mom, entrepreneur, author, and Contributing Editor for Country Living Magazine.

Are you a farm chick? Well firstly what defines a farm chick? Serena defines a Farm Chick "as a girl who sees the world through rose- coloured glasses. Shes loves her family. She laughs alot. Shes farmgirl meets Fifth Avenue and with a little style, she'll change the world".

{Images: The Farm Chicks}

So let me know, do you think you are a farm chick?

Images from around my new home... Top left; my kitchen dresser, top right; light in my double height hallway, middle right; images of fruit and items on my dresser, bottom; pretty china teapot I received as a wedding gift, window in my downstairs shower room (this photo was taken at night hence the darkness outside and finally print of owls in my study.

A few photographs of my new home. The first one is my retro radio which I got in Argos of all places and beside it is one of my dolls. I picked up two of these in a second hand market for €5.00. The second image is of the shower room window, note tiles on the right hand side need to be finished. The third image is of my large light fitting in my entrance hallway which opens all the way to the roof as you can see the sky light at the top. This is a major focal point in the house. The final image is of my dining area, it still looks a bit bare but I will add to it. I got the fishermans light in IKEA.

Hello everyone,

So I eventually have time to blog. Since the New Year, we have moved into our new home, we're really settled now; kitchen, snug, utility and shower room are all completed. I have a few accessories to get but that is on hold for a while. I have also got a new job which I am really happy with and enjoying, my office is small and really cosy :) So next thing on the "to do list" is get married. The wedding is in three weeks time! I have the dresses sorted, just need to get mine altered a wee bit. All invites are out, flowers sorted, cake sorted, food sorted, cars, rings, etc. I just have to buy my shoes soon and get my hair sorted. No honeymoon planned as my other half is a farmer and has a lot of work on with cows calving. So in three weeks I will be a farmers wife! I'm living life to the full in the countryside. I'm looking forward to getting married and have time to relax and also do some more work around the new home. At last I got the lead to charge my camera so here are a few photos from around my new home. The snug still looks a bit bare but I will upload more photos again for you all!

Some more images of my new kitchen and utility. The middle photograph is the utility and the other two are of my new kitchen. I am still awaiting the legs for my canopy and my washing machine. Hope you are all having a nice weekend. It's a bank holiday here in Ireland so I'm really pleased about that :)

Here is the double doors leading to the sun room and the snug from the dining area in the kitchen. My table will be positioned under the fisherman light fitting. At the minute the electrician has the light up high but when work finishes it will be lowered to go over the table. Sorry for the poor quality photographs.

Here is a photograph of my new cooker and canopy. I am awaiting the hob to go in yet and then it will be tiled at the back

Here is a view further down of the kitchen. This photograph is taken from an unusual angle but you can see it anyway. Again there will be tiles under the units and there are some bits of the walls still to be touched up with paint.

Here is a photograph of my island, again the lighting needs to be fixed to the right height.

Here is my dresser on the opposite wall, it will have glass shelves in it. 

So that's a quick tour of my new kitchen. Once the hob is in and the tiling is done, there is just a bit of touching up on the paint and that's it complete.

Hope you are all having a nice week. I took this week off work as I have a lot of planning to do. I bought my wedding dress today, it will be ready in January. My kitchen is almost installed now and all the interior doors are hung in the house. We bought all the tiles for the bathrooms yesterday. My wallet is getting a good bashing this week.

I also booked my wedding venue, it will be a traditional church wedding with a castle reception. I am having three bridesmaids- two close friends and one of my new sister in laws. Our Church is very small and is located on the lake shore. Have a look at the reception venue where we will have an arrival reception with canapes and drinks, then 5 course meal later in the evening, followed by a band, then evening buffet, then a dj to finish the night off at which stage I will be exhausted. That's the norm here in Ireland. I hope you like my venue. I think it's fit for a princess : ) The venue was expensive but I have cut back on many of the other items. I am not having a video, my friends will drive us, my wedding dress was a total bargain, I am trying to get a photographer for an hour or two and need to arrange invitations which I might do myself. I have looked at Wedding Chicks DIY invites and I like them. Tomorrow on my to do list, I have to go and suss out bridesmaid dresses and invitations. Hope you are all having a nice week and you have better weather than us- it has rained non stop all week!

What have I been up to lately?? Well where do I start. I had to work from 9 in the morning until 10 at night three nights this week and work the 5 days. I am trying to organise the wedding, I have the hotel provisionally booked and the band booked. I am taking this week off work and have lots of things to do. I have to look at a wedding dress on Tuesday to decide if I'll buy it. The house is really coming together, the kitchen is fitted, just the counter tops and handles left to put on. The utility is ready too. So myself and my boyfriend have to buy tiles tomorrow for the bathroom walls. 

At the minute I am trying to decide on wedding invitations. In Ireland we don't use Save the Date cards just the invitations. I am in two minds as to buy them or make them myself. Below are a few invitations from Special Day Direct and Wedding Paper Divas which I like, but I have also been looking at Wedding Chicks for their free DIY Invitations. Do you know of any other free DIY wedding invitations template I could take a look at, if so please let me know. I will update my blog with some photographs of the new house this week too so you can see the progress. Hope you are all having a nice weekend!

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At work last week I had to go to the National Ploughing Championships which is a showcase of Irish agricultural and rural industry. You can see all types of ploughing at it but some people go to it and never see any ploughing as they just visit all the stalls and exhibits. Last year around 180,000 people visited this three day event and it is now in its 80th year. It is one of Europe's largest outdoor exhibitions and agricultural trade shows with around 1,000 exhibitors. If your looking for anything agricultural related you'll see it there! I bought a few handmade items including one of these lovely handcrafted contemporary jugs by Thomas Diem in the food and craft village. It will look lovely on my new dresser!