A little bit of fabulous.

Oh my. Oh me. It's all just tinkety tonk here at Chateau Debell.

The summer has arrived in style. Tweeps are most definitely outdoor types and care not about bring naked in the sunshine. Tan lines? Pah. They are for sissys, (for the record I am a sissy).

The sun brings out my inner entertainer, not the juggler type but the "lets eat and drink and be merry" type. The trouble is, I do not have the biggest kitchen in the world, check out my blog on 'The Marmite Kitchen' if you don't believe me. Really. Go look.

Pretty as my little, old English cottage is, it is no mansion. I would adore an enormous space with oodles of character(s?), a live in chef, housekeeper, butler and a chauffeur. Well, maybe for a day. As it is I love my little piece of England. I have some brilliant friends and last week the Husband and I decided to hang the expense and get us a new dining room. OK, less expense, mere tidying up!

So, a largish dinner party where we don't have to sit on each others knees? (I appreciate in some circles that may be desirable). How? Simple, a brand, spanking, new shabby chic dining room. For one night only. Utilising a stunning table, my collection of glassware, all my lovely collected vintage china, silverwear and (this was the hard part), lots of newly painted chairs.

Where? Why my studio of course. We all know how gorgeous just a simple empty Annie Sloan tin is, so a whole studio full of not yet started, started and complete projects? With all sorts of accoutrements? No problem. Shabbytastic dinner party. Picture below. The dresser is for sale by the way. Annie Sloan Versailles, £375 plus delivery. Email me fiona@debell.me if you are interested.

Much wine was golloped, much food scoffled and much fun had. It was just heaven.

I have also been privileged to work in the stunning home of one of my Painting Course students over the last week. She has the most beautiful kitchen. Actually kitchen is not really an accurate description.

Suffice to say, it is a stunningly beautiful home with georgous everything! The reason I was there was to add a little interest to the fridge / freezer unit. Which I did with this lovely graphic sourced from The Graphic Fairy. It is for an old St. Louis grocery. Painted over F&B Carnforth White I used ASCP Old Violet. As always it was a pleasure to work with and the result? Well I was delighted and my lovely client emailed later to say she 'Couldnt stop looking at it'. I think that was a result.

I followed up yesterday with an addition to her tiled backsplash behind the Aga. Now this one I'm super proud of. I will say no more other than I will be running a class on this technique in October and I'm available for hire!

Enchante.

M x

Almost definitely fixed. Oh, and a nice little teacher gift.

As you know I have been feeling a little lonely of late. I thought I had been abandoned. Put out to pasture. Chucked on the compost head of cyber chatter. Banished to the blogger bin of blah blah, blah.

Turns out I was wrong. It actually seems that you lovely people read my randoms. I have been inundated with emails: "YOUR BLOG IS BALLY WELL BROKEN". Thank you.

Being the Wifeling of a top notch Web Developer you might think it safe to assume I test my technology. Regularly.

That I am adept at the finer strategy of, ahem, web strategy. Apparently not.

I am very good at painting things though. Truly.

I am sorry. I am almost certain that my bloggywoggydodah is now actually allowing comments. Give it a try. Please. Or drop me an email to fiona@mariedebell.com telling me that I am a little fibber and the bally thing is jolly well not working. Did I say please?

Now the real business in hand. What I have been doing? Whilst NOT throwing my laptop out of the window I have been painting chairs. Lots and lots and lots of chairs. The car bootie also threw up this lovely little gem of a double tray last week. A bit of Duck Egg and Original along with a spruce up via blackboard paint and voila.

A very nice and useful thing. I can't name it, though I am sure there is some long forgotten little whatnot of a name out there.

Great for cake, (of course), cheese, plants, anything and you can write the name on chalk. Super duper.

Here you can see I have delicately displayed an array of amusingly shaped cacti. These will shortly be winging their way to school as end of year teacher gifts.

I am fairly certain that there is a landfill somewhere dedicated to very pretty, but entirely useless teacher gifts. I normally think a bottle of wine and a big sigh of relief (the latter from the teacher),is appropriate. This year I am in 'Craft Zone', apologies to teachers of The Tweeps.

Here is how it goes.

Mini Cacti: can be left in school all summer and won't die.
Mini Teracotta Pots: for said Cacti.
Blackboard Paint. Paint around the pots, all over or leave the rim paint free.
Brush. To paint on the paint.
Chalk. To write a lovely, yet personal message, such as "Thank you for helpings grow".
A label. In case your small persons writing is a little shaky. Simple. Straightforward. Hopefully not for landfill as the message can be erased as and when.

You could always use bigger pots and different plants, but remember they need care and attention and teacher has been lavishing both on your child all year. Do you really want to ask for more?

On that note I shall wish you a fabulous day and hope to see your comments on the blog!

M x

Is there anyone out there?

I am writing this mini blog from the bath. That's how awesome I am at multi- tasking.

I am gently poaching myself to a prune like consistency whilst tapping away on my phone. Brilliantly simple though not too relaxing on my shoulder and arm muscles, which, lets face it are the ones that need to chill.

So floating around in my own grime I wondered about you. I wondered if anyone other than my mother and those I pay to read it, (Tweep pocket money well earned and reading practice to boot), actually read it?

I see lots of page views and lots of clicks, but do you enjoy it? Is it interesting?

I jolly well wish you would say "Hi" or pop over to my Facebook page and pump up the likes, pump them up.

So please drop me a nod, or a wink or a like https://facebook.com/MarieDebell.furniture?id=393567610736303&_rdr

I would love to know who you are and how you found me or even if you would like to suggest a blog topic.

All by my self, don't wanna be...

Oh, and here I am, so you know what I look like now.

Xx

Wanted. Life Saver. Excellent Benefits. Honest.

I'm in a flap.  A panic. An ostrich egg sized omelette of a scramble.  I have too many plans, and thoughts. and stuff running through my soggy bread head.

It is a minced beef life I'm running through.  Everything is all mashed up and squished together and I don't know if I'm a burger, a bolognaise or a shepherds pie!  Notice all the food references?  I am a bulbous, preened eating machine.  IT HAS TO STOP!!

Hmmm, shopping / painting / shopping / painting?

Someone told me that once I started this furniture business full time I would lose 20lbs and be fit as a .......(fill in for your own pleasure).  It hasn't happened.

What has happened is this.  I am so deliriously happy.  So obsessed. So engrossed in the paint and the effects and the next thing I can make, that I forget to go shopping.  Actually forget is not the correct word.  I re-order my priorities and the painting or glueing or cutting out wind up at the top of the ranking.  Food - pah who needs that?  Kids?  What are school dinners for?  Attention?  I am very attentive. To my stock of brown furniture.  My poor, poor Tweeps. My poor, poor waistline.  My long suffering husband.  But worry not.  It all pails into insignificance in the face of a pot of Antionette or Louis Blue or French Linen.  Oh, oh, oh.

The problem is, (note the self obsessed,  I concern myself only with my vittel intake nature of this concern), I now eat crap.  I reach for a packet of crisps, or a chocolate bar, or a cupcake.  All things which under normal circumstances would be low in availability in this house.  Yet this is not all.

My house.  My lovely, pretty, Frenchy cottage has lapsed.  The laundry piles up, the dust motes tumble and tease, the spiders are having a party in my pantry.  It's just not me.  What to do?  Being the genius I am, I have a solution. A brilliant idea, one that is sure to solve all home management woes in one fell swoop.

A Housekeeper.  A 5 days a week, (The Husband can deal with Saturday and Sunday).  It's an easy ask.  8am - 7pm, Monday to Friday, duties to include, but not limited to, all household and child related chores, including cleaning, laundry, shopping, homework, entertainment and all other things that a real adult, (who also happens to be a parent), does on a daily basis. The pay won't be massive, but I will be grateful and nice.  You won't see much of me, though my Tweeps and Husband will feature regularly in your day.  You need only interact with me 3 times a day.  Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.

I have taken a spreadsheet and worked out that if I paint furniture and make my other accouterments for 9 hours a day, 6 days a week, 360 days, (I can take the day off for birthdays - organised by the Housekeeper - and Christmas Day), a year.  If I do not interact with the children, do not spend any time being distracted by The Husband, ditch all my friends, (the ones who have not already ditched me), and paint like a demonic gremlin, I could afford it.  I may need a small bank loan too, but that's OK because any profit I make can pay off the interest.  You see. I knew there was a solution.  What a perfectly balanced life that would be.

Oh, I forgot to mention, the housekeeper must also be a top notch chef with the ability to prepare for me perfect and tasty healthy meals and snacks as and when required that enable me to lose weight with no effort whatsoever from me.  Win, win!

If you would like to apply please email me Marie@livingonanotherplanet.com or Marie@worklifebalancegotitsorted.com

So all this time I have recently spent not shopping, or cooking or cleaning I have spent making and *HOLD THE PHONES* selling some pretty special pieces.

As always I will let you take a little peek at some recent work and there are plenty of newbies in my Etsy Shop.  Enjoy, my friends.

Until next time.

M x

Georgous pink cottage kitchen unit

Lovely Stag TV Entertainment unit with decoupage

Tweep helper 

Close Up of transfer technique over paint

Little Blue Desk with Iridescent Stripe

Vintage typewriter keys
on knobs using Image transfer

Steampunk Cats using transfer technique 

Steampunk Dogs using transfer technique