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