Au revoir Mai......

{image from here}

Today I feel like doing exactly this, just leaning back and enjoying the ride.

May has been a month that I am pleased to wave goodbye to. It has been a busy and also a sad month as we lost a dear friend of ours, and it gave us both a dose of reality.

Life is so precious and oh so short and we all need to make the best of every day.

On that note mes amis, I am off to start painting the kitchen cupboards as this is the week that we need to get our new kitchen finished and there is still lots to do...

Wishing you all a very happy week/

Je vous souhaite à tous une semaine très heureux,

L x

Joyeux Anniversaire Pink Saturday

I cannot believe that it is already Pink Saturday's 2nd birthday, it seems like only yesterday that we were all celebrating Pink Saturday turning 1.

I would like to say a big THANK YOU to Beverly for hosting Pink Saturday as it takes a lot of co-ordination to make sure that it goes without a glitch every week.

So please take a glass.....

And join me in raising a toast to the fabulous Miss Beverly and here's wishing Pink Saturday a tres joyeux anniversaire.....

Bisous, L

Fabulous coquelicots......

{Coquelicots growing just up the road......}

When I was a litle girl growing up in New Zealand, my nana used to give my younger sister and I flowers to take for our teachers. Straight after picking, she used to burn the stems as this is supposed to make them last longer. I adore poppies and think this is one of the reasons why as they conjure up such lovely memories.....

It is poppy season at present and the fields near our village are ablaze with colour. Of course Coquelicot as they are called in French sounds so much prettier and almost sounds as delicate as the flower itself.

Wishing you all a very happy Friday/Je vous souhaite un vendredi très heureux,

L x

p.s. will be back tomorrow to join in the celebrations for Pink Saturday's 2nd birthday...

Fabulous chairs...

A new shop has opened in our village, how fabulous is this?

I love their window display as I love chairs hanging in windows, I think they look much better hanging than standing. don't you?

L x

Breakfast at our house.....

As they say, sometimes a picture speaks louder than words......

A demain,

L x

Bonjour from a very sunny SW France....

{fabulous parasols in Sarlat, a village not far from Maison No. 20}

Today is going to be another hot day in SW France and the forecast for the next couple of days is for more of the same...

Tomorrow is a holiday here (Lundi de Pentecôte)so locals and tourists alike are making the best of the sun while it lasts.

Yesterday we went to the garden centre along with what seemed like 1/2 the population of France. I have bought some fabulous geraniums for our window boxes so my plan is to plant these this afternoon.

Last night we had a picnic dinner by the lake and tonight we are having a BBQ on the terrace at Maison de Poitiers.

What are you doing today?Que faites-vous aujourd'hui?

L x

Fabulous Friday fleurs....

Just around the corner from our house are the remains of a 13th century convent (couvent in French).

Most of the original building has long since disappeared with only the walls remaining.

I love the contrast of the fragileness of the delicate rose, against the ancient white stone walls which have been standing for over 700 years.

700 years, that equates to a lot of Fridays, where ever and what ever you are doing, hope that it is a magical Friday for you.....

L x

Do I have to get down?

{image from here}

We have, what seems like a million things going on at present and I have decided that I am staying here......

L x

Fabulous and french.....

{all images from here}

As soon as I saw these images, I knew that I needed to share them. They come from a French Textiles house called Destombes, who manufacture the most amazing range of French fabrics.

Love the oh so French ticking which when mixed with solid colours looks so chic. I love gray and purple together.

This photo caught my eye as I adore the ticking and love the attention to detail. I have a thing about freshly picked roses at present and the use of the candelabras looks stunning.

I have a thing about cupboards which are painted different colours inside as I think that it adds a little mystery to the object. This started when I first saw the black secretaire with the bright pink interior on the grange website.

Wishing you all a fabulous week, I am still working on "what" is going "where" in the new kitchen so that Mr FF can start building.

A demain,

L x

Flowers for Lene

Today's post is for Lene, the author of the wonderful and ever inspiring blog - essence of the good life blog,

Dear Lene,

With the sincerest of wishes
I send this note your way
And hope that you're doing
much better today.

Leeann x

Our neighbour's windowsill...

Hope that you are having a fabulous weekend. Thought that you might like to see a photo of our neighbour's (voisin in French)window sill - isn't it gorgeous?

A bientot,

L x

Another Friday has arrived......

{fabulous and oh so French mix of geraniums and chippy paint}

Another busy week for moi! Was it as busy for you?

Mr FF continued with laying the tiles in the new kitchen last night and I started to list some more items on Fabulously French including some fabulous antique fashion prints.

I will be listing more items later today, including some more napkins, a couple of candelabras and something that I think would make a fabulous bed crown.

What are your plans for the weekend? Tomorrow we are hopefully going to collect the new kitchen cupboards and I will continue with working on what is going where. Sound familar? As most of you know I am a bit of a magpie so came hope with two fabulous shelves the other day so now need to decide where to put them as at present they are in the hall and I must move them before our guests arrive later today. They are old but fabulous carving, I will take a photo of them later.

Wishing you all a fabulous weekend, I hope that the sun is shining where you are as we have had a gray week and at last have some gorgeous sun shining down on us today in SW France

Je vous souhaite un fabuleux week-end et j'espère que le soleil brille où vous êtes...

L x

Look what's arrived.......

{image from here}

It has been a long wait but I have to say that it has been worth the wait.

I adored this panel from the moment that I first saw it on the 2 girls in Avignon website and knew that it was destined to come to France.

Around 2 months ago I ordered one but it got lost between the US and France so I waited incase it was delayed as a result of the volcanic ash but still nothing. So I contacted Jamie, 1/2 of 2 girls in navignon and we agreed that it would be best to courier the panel in view of the other not making it to France.

Now all I have to do, is decide where to put it! This is coming from the girl who decided to paint her kitchen cupboards an off-white colour and took 2 days to find the perfect colour and has yet to purchase the cupboards.....sound familiar to any of you out there in blogland?

A demain,

L x

p.s. I have just fed Mr FF his dinner aand he is now tiling our new kitchen! Think that another cake maybe required.....

I love the colour rouge....

{image from here}

I love this photo as it has all the colours that I am going to be using in our new kitchen/dining room. At present I have a thing about rouge, white and taupe. Note it took me 3 hours yesterday, to select a colour for the kitchen cabinets and I now have the test pot so will be trying it out this morning, just need to decide what to test it on.

A bientot,

L x

p.s. the package did not arrive yesterday and has been rescheduled for delivery today!

A weekend of shopping..........

{image from here}

Hope that you all had a fabulous Mother's day and got very spoilt yesterday.

It is 8h40 in the morning here in France and our French electrician has come and installed the cable to connect our new oven - very efficient, I think.

Our poorly plasterer dragged himself from his death bed and worked the whole weekend, so a big merci beaucoup to Mr. T, your efforts are much appreciated.

Our weekend was another busy one as whilst the plasterer was doing his thing, we were busy sourcing items for our new kitchen/dining area at Maison No. 20.

You may think that this is a straight forward enough task but in France, shopping takes on a whole different meaning.

For example we went to a large shop that sells building materials etc and wanted to order a shower fitting.

We already knew from previous experience that these have to be ordered in as they are expensive so they order on demand.

Fortunately Saturday was a public holiday hence most of the locals were sleeping in and the shops were relatively quiet.

I manage to find a sales assistant and tell him what we want.

I am then taken to a very upmarket area with high stools and computer. We go through the usual formalities, name......spell name.......such a pretty name.......where do you come from....NZ - that is a long way.......had some friends that visited Australia and New Zealand......it is a beautiful part of the world.......where do you live in France........do you like it?..etc.

As you can tell from the above, buying one object takes a while hence if you have many items to buy and all of which require a visit to a different shop, you are in for a long day.

Our next call was a fabulous shop called Castorama which sells pretty much every thing that you need to renovate/build/decorate a house.

This is where I bought two of the hanging lights that you see in the photo above. As soon as I saw them, I knew that I had to have them.

Would you believe that they are Danish, I googled the brand "Nordlux"and found the most fabulous lighting website so will have bookmarked this site for future use.

They have a fabulous range of lighting, all of which is simple and chic in design.

Today I am expecting a package to arrive from America so am very excited as it is something that I wanted from the minute that I saw it and it is very fabulous and oh so french....

Back later, here's wishing you all a happy week/Je reviendrai plus tard, je vous souhaite à tous une semaine heureux,

L x

Happy Mother's Day

{image from here}

To all Mothers out there in Australia, New Zealand, America and anywhere else that celebrates Mother's Day this weekend, wishing you all a fabulous day.

Put your feet up and enjoy being spoilt as this is your day!

L x

p.s. Mum, hope that the flowers arrived in time!

Merci mon cher.......

{Bedroom - Maison No. 20}

Yes I finally persuaded Mr FF to hang the "other" chandelier for me. Please excuse the quality of the photos as they were taken in a bit of a hurry as I took them before I opened my wee shop yesterday morning.

This is a "before" photo, although I adore this chandelier I just thought that it was not strong enough in colour when compared to the other objects in the room.

This is the "after" shot and I much prefer this chandelier and now will be looking for a home for the other one.....

I think that I may just make Mr FF a gateau today to show my appreciation.

He went to see our plasterers last night as we wanted to know when they would be back to complete the plastering of the room that will be our new kitchen/dining room.

They are both malade (sick)at present with a terrible tummy bug so I am hoping that they get well soon.

Well I had better fly, I have a busy day ahead as I need to go and see a lady about a "maison".

Wishing you all a fabulous Friday and an extra fabulous weekend/

Je vous souhaite à tous un fabuleux vendredi et un week-end très fabuleux,

L x

Today I love......

......these fabulous photos by Selina Lake. I adore the first photo as it has a bottle of my favourite perfume in it. Her attention to detail is fabulous!

I do not think I need to say anymore, the books and roses are simply divine together. If only these were easier to find these days, it seems that everyone wants them!

The same applies to old eiderdowns as these are also highly sought after in France. Love the mix of colours and the flowers are the perfect finishing touch.

Cannot wait to see Selina's new book "Romantic Style" which has a fabulous french chair on the front, will be released in August 2010.

For more fabulous images, click here.

I have a busy day but will try and post a photo of the chandelier that I finally got Mr FF to hang a bit later....

A bientot,

L x

Today I wish.....

....that Mr FF & I were here staying at the very Le Couvent hotel which is about a 4 hour drive from where we live so is perfect for a short getaway.

It is cold and wet here today which is most unusual for this time of the year but the forecast is for warmer temperatures tomorrow.

We spent a few days staying at Le Couvent late year and we loved it as all the rooms have kitchens and they have a spa and fabulous lounge with lots of gorgeous books - a lot of which are interior design or travel focused.

I love the colours that they have used as the suit the style of the building and also the area in which the old building - an old convent, is situated.

Some of the bigger suites come complete with fabulous and oh so comfy lounge area, perfect for cosying up whilst the rain is beating down outside.

Back to reality, I have to go and tidy up the shop, iron some more antique table cloths and start cleaning my typewriter which is still sitting on my desk and will make the wrapping of my cutomers purchases difficult tomorrow as we are open every Thursday morning.

I have not seen the plasterers yet but am hoping that they will return soon to complete the plastering of the kitchen.

I wish you a fabulous day and hope that it is warm and sunny where you are....

************
Je vous souhaite une merveilleuse journée, j'espère qu'il est chaud et ensoleillé où vous êtes..

L x

Monday and it's May already....

{see below for details...}

April seemed to pass very quickly for moi, did it do the same for you?
The weekend also disappeared in the same fashion and I am hoping that this weeks passes a little slower.

What did you do for the weekend?

We spent Saturday at Maison No. 20 where Mr FF worked on the new electrics for our new kitchen/dining room and I made lots of tea and coffee for him and our lovely plasterer. Note I am being especially nice to the plasterer as I would like him and his son to come back and do some more this week .....

Yesterday we went to a local vide grenier and I bought a couple of items, neither of which Mr FF was to happy about as both were heavy and one of which almost broke my lovely french shopping basket.

Here is a photo of the first object that I purchased for the princely sum of 14 euros......

The keys do not work but I am hoping that Mr FF will work his magic and get it working for me.

I adore it and I love the fact that it looks old and slightly rusty.

This was my second purchase.........

Note it has what looks like the initials C.E so if anybody knows anything about antqiue sewing machines, please let mw know as I would love to know what brand it is and where it came from.

I thought that it was a bargain for 10 euros but am not too sure that Mr FF shares my point of view as he was the one that had to squeeze it into our car.

Fortunately the other purchases were rather small and a lot lighter...

Thought that this Vierge Marie wall hanger was fabulous and loved the wee glass bowl that it contains. Note this is will be available on my online shop later today, it costs 20 euros + postage.

Another purchase was this vintage necklace with "Lourdes" medaillion

It come with extra long chain and will be available later today in the fabulously french online shop, for 10 euros + postage

So what did you all do at the weekend? Did you also find some bargains?

a la prochaine,

L x