Tea with Purdey

Industrial kitchen styling

Industrial kitchen styling.

Its fair to say my old kitchen was rather dull and in need of a serious design makeover.

I wanted to do something really different that pushed me out of my comfort zone. I'd studied interior design a few years back and knew what I needed to do to make my new love of moody hues work. Good lighting and textures play a key role in my new design.

My old dated kitchen.

I painted the whole room including the ceiling in +Farrow & Ball railings. It was a bold move and I didn't bother doing a tester. My kitchen is always a dark room and the light is always on, you may wonder why I didn't paint it white? Well, it wasn't far off white and I figured if I have to have the light on all the time anyway, then it really isn't going to make that much difference.

Gone is the chintzy china and pretty tea towels as my taste in vintage has taken a shift in style.

I am loving hand thrown pottery and anything with real texture. The industrial shelving was made from reclaimed factory roof paneling and a blacksmith forged the brackets.

Texture is continued with nature, I wanted a very organic feel. I am loving having everything in easy reach and it has made me really organised, which for someone that lives in a constant creative mess is kind of a blessing.

The last remaining floral plate in the kitchen. I love this one so it's a keeper!
I've also added vintage tins and coloured glass to bring another level of texture.

Now add some green, I love how zingy green looks so fabulous with inky moody blues and dark greys.

Is your style evolving right now? Mine tends to change every five years or so, I'm amazed at myself sometimes with what I fall in and out of love with but thats all part of the fun with interior design.

Emma x

Hello my dear friends,

I must apologise in advance for the sound quality on my video, please stick with me as I'm new to this whole youtube thing and still figuring out what kit I need. Anyway, back to todays post in creating a seasonal mood board.

We all know the benefits of getting out in the fresh air, maybe doing a little gardening or going for a walk and spending some time being creative, just switching off and being in the moment is sooo good for the soul. So I thought I'd set a lovely little hashtag project over on Instagram called #myseasonalmoodboard_month and I'm also kicking off my first mood board post on the blog with a little tutorial on how I put together a mood board/flatlay with seasonal elements.

Will you have a go and join me over on Instagram?

Hello my dear friends,

I just love September and wanted to share a little dried wreath tutorial as it's one of my favourite things to do this month. Over the summer I collected flowers for drying and bent pieces of fresh wisteria to form into a basic wreath, now is still an excellent time to make wreaths from either wisteria, fresh honeysuckle, fresh willow or other types of vine, you just need it to still be green and supple as it's easier to bend into shape then leave it to dry or start adding to it already. I like to tie things in with a bit of natural coated wire twine which I buy from my local floristry wholesalers but i'm sure you could get it online. It's a great way to connect with nature as now is a lovely time to go out and collect seed heads.

I've put a little video together of the process, I'm rather a newbie at youtube but I hope to do a lot more tutorials this way.

What do you think?

I'd love to see if you have a go, remember to tag me in on your creations on Instagram, I'm at @thevintagegoodlife

Emma x

Hello,
So I wanted to make my first post a flowery one, after all I am a flower grower. And I want to say hi, thanks for popping over. I've decided to start this blog for a couple of reasons, one: to share with you my creative projects and home, two: to keep myself motivated with my diy (I shall be using the blog as a journal) and three: because I wanted to create something that was more personal to me than an app. I love Instagram and Steller but my grandmother always told me to never put all of your eggs into one basket, she is very wise.

I've been blogging for years and used to have a vintage lifestyle blog 'The Vintage Good Life' whilst I still retain that name on my Instagram things do move on and as I turned 40 this year I felt I wanted to start a new, my tastes have changed a lot over the past ten years as I can imagine yours have too and priorities change. However one thing has remained the same and thats my love for eclectic interiors, DIY and craft. The name Tea With Purdey came to me whilst I was literally sitting down and drinking tea cuddled up next to my dog Purdey, she is a great listener and always thinks my ideas are fabulous, which is nice as I can talk over decorating ideas with her instead of the rest of the family and she'll always agree.

I hope you like my dahlia pics, there is something incredibly therapeutic about flowers, growing them, cutting them and styling them. I often just snip the heads off of the dinner plate varieties like these cafe au lait and style them flat as I think the petals are so dreamy when fanned out against a beautifully textured surface. They do last a surprisingly long time like this outdoors but if you want to bring them in then they also look lovely styled on pretty plates with just enough water to cover the stem at the back. It's a bit different to popping them in a vase and looks lovely on a coffee table.

Emma x

Hello,

If you're following me on Instagram you'll know that I've been trying to rid my old farm house table of its orange hue. I've done quite a bit of research on youtube on the subject of yellow pine, actually went a bit nerdy over it. Did you know that pine natural gets more orange over time? So I wasn't just imagining it! And nearly all forms of wax will make it worse. A lime wash came up as the most obvious thing to do and I was able to take this to nerd level too as I used to mix dye to cover red when I was a hair stylist and now as a painter I work with a restricted palette. So I decided to go with a white ash wood stain mixed with one part water, one part white acrylic paint (I used my artists acrylic) and for an extra hit of ash I used about 1mm of blue/black acrylic paint.

I started by sanding down the top working to a fine grade paper at the end to smooth it evenly, then I used an old cloth to dust it down. I then liberally coated it with my white wash mixture and as soon as I'd finished applying it I went over it with a wet cloth to remove any excess. There was a point when I thought I'd thoroughly mucked it up but I just kept smoothing over the table in one direction with the cloth until it started to look even. I left it to dry for half an hour then worked a bit more of the wash into the top and wiped immediately with the cloth, I built up a bit more on the corners then left it to dry thoroughly, I guess the whole thing took a couple of hours in total.
I'm pretty pleased with the results, I'm not sure how long it will last so I'll keep you posted. I could varnish over it but I'm never one to stop faffing so I left it off for now.