cultivate the artistic side of me

bursting to get out.

with daughter.

Enjoyed recognising several pieces – but rather liked an installation entitled ‘thirty pieces of silver’.

Hand made by an illiterate woman in Limpopo province.

I hope that Elijah and his mom love it.

Sibongile, as the bench is named, is large, in your face, unmistakeably African, beautiful, quirky … I LOVE her.

She was named by our gardener,Ben,who penned the label that states: ‘Hello. My name is Sibongile. Thank you for having me. I shall watch over the house day and night. Thank you.’

Ben has decided that Sibongile is 45 years old. The name means ‘thank you’.

to do this, something different.

Well, this is definitely something which I enjoy looking at a lot…a HUGE book called The Art of Looking Sideways with loads of different things in it – such a hotchpotch of things…difficult to explain but definitely creative and arty :)

The easy decisions are about style and colour. The hard decisions are finding people to do good, but not exhorbitantlyu expensive, cupboards.

Also, should I go with a sleeper couch or a bed?What will be the best decision?

Then my visit to see a collection of hand carved whacky wooden benches is a step in the right direction. Off I go!

A semi-circle shaped bed of primulas and aquilegias massed together. Soft pink, mauve, white and mauvey-blue.

Very Monet.

As a multi-purpose room (guest room/ sitting room/ extra study).

It’s a small, square box, south facing (cold side of the house, as we are in the Southern Hemisphere).

Challenges: small size, lack of any architectural interest in the room, must be in a warm colour palette, should tomne and not clash with the ochre colour on the passage walls, one wall consists of built in cupboards – definitely need a good, classy solution there, should not be either ‘feminine’ or ‘masculine’.

Good feature: The floor is pale -ish wood.

Will start by doing a mood board of ideas.

Budget: Only the ratio of payment determined as yet: I will pay 40%, my husband 60%. (I negotiated down from me paying for 100%!)