I’ve been feeling like a bit of a fraud recently. 

My post on the miraculous Soy Gel paint stripper had been picked up by various people, most notably Apartment Therapy and Not Martha, while all the while my fireplace was still looking like this.

So much for walking the talk.  Please note that this is not because of any problems with said miraculous paint stripper but because of sheer laziness on behalf of the fireplace’s new owners.

So, shamed into action, said owners spent last weekend slathering the fireplace with what remained of the miraculous paint stripper.

We again left it overnight, to be greeted by this the following morning.    I have to say that this time, because we used a lot more gloop, the smell was rather unpleasant, but not unbearable and certainly not like it might be causing you a nasty chemical-induced death.

Here’s close up of how the paint bubbles up and falls off of its own accord.

After a lot of peeling and a bit of scraping, this is what we ended up with.

As you can see, a 1 quart bottle got rid of most of the red, most of the white layer underneath and quite a lot of the greyish (primer?) under that. We’ve deliberately kept the upside-down brick pyramid thingies underneath mantel red, as we were thinking of painting them white, and likewise keeping the bricks at the bottom white (thought the Husband did mistakenly put paint stripper on the righthand upside-down brick pyramid thingy, so the paint has bubbled and needs to be sanded).

A new bottle of SoyGel has just arrived from Amazon, so this weekend it’s onwards and upwards.  Tune in for another gripping instalment (hopefully) next week.

Online ordering is now back on the site!  It just remains to be seen whether Lynx Internet has indeed lost the entire customer database (thank goodness most of it was uploaded into our separate email database) and the historic order database. It also remains to be seen whether I can sue them for all the additional grey hairs they helped create at the weekend.  

Of course.  It was Labor Day weekend after all.

And a fun time was had by all.  Especially the Minx who became extremely bored and crotchety and miserable until we put her to sleep on top of a pile of rugs in the rug department while the Husband rushed around the warehouse collecting large boxes.  If you were trying to buy a rug in Ikea Seattle on Saturday, I do apologise.

Like most people we have a fair smattering of Ikea around the house – funnily enough even more so here in the US than in London, as it’s our only source of cheap European design and we have a much bigger place to fill.

We only went in to get three sets of Alex filing drawers and some Lack shelves for the Minx’s toy room but I came away with a purchase that made me extra happy – a new desk! 

Until now the global behemoth that is mirrormirror has been run from an old wooden desk I bought in a junk shop in Islington about fifteen years ago. Which is actually a beautiful old desk – or would be if it were releathered – but is also ridiculously small.  And I am ridiculously disorganised. 

I’ve been looking out for a replacement for some time, but saw nothing I loved until I saw this, one of Ikea’s Vika Glasholm range of interchangeable glass tabletops and legs, which looks like nothing on the website or the catalogue, but which is gorgeous in person. 

It’s large, unusual, doesn’t show sticky fingerprints too much and throws wonderful shadows when lit directly from above.

It is the sort of desk that makes me want to be the sort of person who always has one perfect bloom in a vase on their desk.

 

I’m not exactly thrilled by the trestles it’s standing on – I hope one day Ikea will add some nice spiky aluminium trestles to its range, but they’ll definitely do.

Now I just have to address this lot.

Actually Ikea was the least fun thing we did this weekend.  On Sunday we held a brunch party for a bunch of friends up on the deck, which was huge amounts of fun, and on Monday we went to Bumbershoot  – Seattle’s wonderful music and arts festival – which was completely fab. We didn’t bother to queue for any of the headline acts, but really enjoyed boogieing to Lyrics Born and Soulive on one of the smaller stages. 

The best thing though, was seeing the Minx’s reaction to seeing the Pacific Northwest Ballet.  It’s the first time she’s seen any ballet – and this was pretty adult-orientated stuff – but she was mesmerised throughout and devastated when the hour-long performances came to an end.  I think a trip to the Nutcracker is in order this Christmas.

Are you bored yet? I promise this is the last garden-related post for now.

To the right of the tree is the area where the swing seat is supposed to be, with ground cover of mint and thyme all ready and waiting.

Speaking of which, thank you for all your suggestions.  I stupidly missed one of the eBay auctions you suggested which would have been ideal, so can only hope that something similar comes up again. 

Or what do you think of this? More within our budget than the egg chair in the same range but I’m worried it’s too dark a colour for such a shady spot. I think normal rattan would look better in this area.

Around the tree is a lovely shade garden full of hellebores, acanthus mollis and sarcococca, which looks lovely in the dappled afternoon sunlight

To the right of the swing area is a tangle of geranium Anne Folkard and a most beautiful dark purple heuchera which I found in the garden center this weekend and added myself (don’t tell the designer!).  I’m really liking the contrast between the lime green and dark purple leaves.

Against the old wooden fence you can see some penstemon Blackbird.  This was originally specced but the landscapers couldn’t source it and brought along penstemon Sour Grape instead which is a slightly bluier purple and which we planted anyway.  But then I saw the real thing in the nursery and had to have it – the slightly redder purple goes so much better with the russets of t echinaceas.  So we spent the weekend replacing the Sour Grapes with the Blackbirds and planting the Sour Grapes in the front garden.  I tell you, it is a curse being fussy about colours.

As you can see from the pictures the lawn is a bit of a disaster.  We couldn’t afford new turf, so it has been dressed and re-seeded, but it still seems to me to be entirely composed of weeds, clover and moss, so I’m not sure how good we can get it to look.  A mow would help as well, but we need to buy a new mower first.

This part of garden is also looking the most autumnal with the reddening nandinas against the oak-leafed hydrangeas, which are just starting to turn.

 

 

In this corner I’ve also planted the fabulous Chocolate Cosmos – again found during the weekend’s trip to the garden centre.  Not only is this flower the most fantastic deep, deep brown, it also smells of chocolate!  No, I didn’t believe it either but it’s true.

It wasn’t part of the design, but I have to say it’s looking good against the crocosmias and the fabulous rusty pink echinacea Big Sky we’ve got in this part of the garden.

Behind this bed is the new bit of patio which we created at the weekend, where the bins used to be.

We’ve salvaged the arch, which was one of the only features in the original garden and which directs the eye to the trellis on the back fence, which I’m also hoping will turn less orange over time.

We still need to create a raised bed at the end (not entirely sure how we’re going to do that) which will then give us scope to grow lots of climbing plants.  Since the arch was not part of the original design, nothing has been specced to climb it either. 

I’ve been told that roses don’t grow too well in this part of the world, but I’m tempted to try an old-fashioned rambler nevertheless.  Can anyone in the Pacific Northwest recommend a climbing rose that they’ve seen grown successfully round these parts?  

The rest of the patio is also looking somewhat bare. I really wanted to include low growing lawn camomile between the flagstones.  I can find the dwarf chamomile Treneague everywhere on UK websites but nowhere in the US (I think the idea of a camomile lawn is a peculiarly English romantic dream).  If anyone can suggest somewhere we can find it then I’d be really grateful.  I’ve Googled it to death and the landscapers can’t find it either.

The patio also needs some seating and possibly a firepit.  I like this one, though I’m a bit worried about it’s compatibility with the Minx.  I think we’d be most likely to use it in the evenings after she’s gone to bed though.  As for chairs, would you believe I’d never seen an Adirondack chair before I came to the US?  I know they’re absolutely everywhere here, but I feel we ought to get some – just because it will be fun to have them as a reminder of the US when we finally get back to the UK. Will keep you posted.

Last but not least here is my little herb garden, outside the wall of the house and next to the steps leading up to the patio.

I’ve currently planted sage, rosemary,  thyme and oregano with Italian parsley and tarragon in other, less dry, areas of the garden. I cannot describe how happy it makes me to have a herb garden at last.

I also cannot believe how deeply I’ve been bitten by the gardening bug. (I think we’ve noticed – Ed).  Much looking forward to watching everything grow and develop over the seasons and now keen to get started on the front garden.  And now I have vegetables seeds to plant with the Minx and bulb catalogues to go through….

Echinacea ‘Big Sky’

Come in!

The garden gate and fence is looking a bit clunky and orange at the moment, but it should gradually fade to grey over time and be covered with climbing plants. 

As well as jasmine the garden designer also suggested an ampelopsis which I’d never heard of but which looks very pretty and unusual.

On your left as you come up the steps you will see a berberis Royal Cloak .  I wanted to have a barberry in that position and I’m glad we put one in as it echoes beautifully the purples and pinks of the garden beyond.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Continuing Continuing on your left are two espaliered apple trees which form a fence and mark the boundary of the tiny vegetable garden that the Minx and I are going to create.

This part of the garden looks a heck of a lot better when there isn’t an electric blue PT Cruiser parked in the driveway.

 

I first came across the idea of using espaliered trees as fences when we went to visit the bulb fields in the Spring (here they are fencing off a carpark, not in my garden), so I was thrilled that they could be incorporated into the garden scheme. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m very excited about these trees as they have each have four types of apple on them – Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Gala and Fuji.  Only the Golden Delicious look like they’ll be fruiting this season though.

The area to the left of the tree is currently one of the most colourful parts of the garden as it includes a very happy croscosmia Emily Mackenzie (and a very unhappy brown specimen beside her)

and some echinacea purpurea magnus behind her in the raised bed behind the tree.

Unfortunately there are a few plants missing from the scheme as it is late in the season and the landscapers were unable to source them. For example, there is supposed to be a filipendula where the bright green flag now is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The spiders love this part of the garden too.

I’ll show you the rest of the garden tomorrow otherwise this post will explode due to sheer weight of pictures.