Creating Campanile

A lot of time has passed since my last post - I can hardly believe it has almost been 4 years since we first called Maun home. In that time a lot has happened, jobs have been changed, friends have been made, pets have been lossed and gained, our wonderful son Oliver was born and we have bought out own home.

This is probably my largest project to date and one that will take a long time to complete!

Our new home is not uninhabitable but every time we visit we see something else that needs work or improving or just change for the sake of making it our own. As a result I have decided to blog this experience and rather than start from scratch resurrect this blog with its lovely photos of Oscar and a reminder of how far we have come in creating a home (those Parson shelves are still going but no longer the only thing we own!).

I need to remember to record everything. We have already started and the before photos are few and far between as I got so excited to start I forgot to snap first.

We kick off with some basic internal renovations before we move in at the end of March once the dust has settled.

So please follow along as we create Campanile over the next few months!

T

Oscar

We have had a busy last month and I have one big excuse for not putting something up recently - his name is Oscar.

We had an amazing, crazy busy, fun filled trip South at the end of June. Claire had so kindly timed baby girl Mckenzie's christening and her 30th to tie in with Georgie's 21st birthday. In the middle of partying, shopping for things not available here and falling off pavements we took a trip down to Harrismith and collected Oscar.

He is my birthday present from my wonderful hubby but this little boy is not only mine and is defintely OUR new fur baby. He is a seal point siamese and such a wonderful character. Getting him to Botswana became it's own soap opera with refusal by South Africa due to invalid rabies innoculations, dispensation from the wonderful Dr Seretsi in Gabs, mess up by Air Botch and to top it all off - customs demanding to know his 'value' - how could I explain that he is beyond value to me..... (and not let her know what we really paid for a pure bred siamese).

Next up was deciding on a name for a cat of such spunk - we had thought of Oscar (Oscar being a radio call sign and all) a while back before we got him, but that is a big name for a cat and we weren't sure if he could handle it. We narrowed the list down to 3 through the help of a family poll - Askari, Kipling or Oscar and once we had him back with us we tried them out and Oscar it was. He definitely has the energy for it.

Now this little guy is charming our socks off day (and night.... although his nocturnal antics are not so charming) and is very cute. He is super smart and fetches. I made some toys for him but his favourite is scrunched up paper - which he brings to us when he wants us to throw it for him. Like a typical siamese he has a cheeky voice with a particular miaow for when he is frustrated and not getting what he wants (which is to climb the curtains).

Taking a walk on his leash

Tess x

A busy weekend

We have been hard at work over the last week, cutting, sanding and painting to create our new best loved item. For a while my favourite site has been Ana White. She is a genius and at last we have had a chance to try our hands at one of her knock-offs!

So here it is - step by step - our brand new parson's style shelf.

Pieces cut, joined and ready to be made into shelves

shelves all made up (a little wobbly but looking good)

and finished! no longer wobbly and nice and white!

a close-up of the distressed edges

We made it slightly taller than the plans to get it to more of a console height. We played with paint finishes and decided that we would go with stained edges and white acrylic paint over that. We sanded down the edges to give a worn look and a little shabby chic. 

We are so desperate for storage but I didn't want to load it up and ruin it's lines - we will be looking for baskets to increase storage and keep it neat.

(The table we are working on was our first project - folding tressle legs with a door as a table top. As you can see it has already become very useful!)

This was all hard work so needed a fortifying breakfast to start the day - and we ended it with a delicious Indian dinner.

from back left - murg makhni (butter chicken), dhal,  a roti on the go and paneer palak (spinach paneer)

Gnocchi- a love story

I have been a gnocchi lover since first enjoying a plate of beautifully soft potato balls on the hills outside Sienna, aged 13. Up till now I have religiously searched every Italian menu placed in front of me for their gnocchi dish, no more as I have now started making my own! I have tried to make them before, without much luck, but yesterday I got it right (boet, you would be proud!).
My dear husband is now converted and yes, they are a fair amount of work but when there is nothing going on what is better than potato covered fingers and making little balls of goodness. Potato pasta - mmm my 2 favourite foods in one! Last night the sauce of choice was nepolitana with a chilli kick, whizzed down to puree and a dash of cream added.... too good.

new starts

My husband and I are slowly decorating our new home. Furniture is coming in slowly and based on the fact that we live in a small town it looks like most of it will be coming from our own four hands if we want something unique.

We are also enjoying putting our pots and pans to use and experimenting in our tiny kitchen.

I look forward to sharing this process.

T xx