Kati Bushell Interior Design

What is this bright light pouring in through rain dirtied windows? How I am loving the lighter evenings, and this sunbeam over the G Plan dining set is the icing on the cake!

I don’t want to appear ungrateful as Lindor are my favourite chocs but… in this age of environmental awareness and recycling etc. the excess packaging on this egg is eggstreme!!! The internal support packaging was at least card rather than plastic, but a box of a 1/3 the size would have been more than sufficient to house the contents comfortably. We are all being encouraged to consume less… I would not have wanted more chocolate, but a lot less box! Come on … it’s up to manufacturers to make more effort too. None of us are taken in by the huge box… are we?

Happy Easter Chicks! I’m not one for cheap plastic seasonal decor, but stuff you can eat? Well that’s different! Enjoy the long weekend whether you’re chilling or drilling. # # #

In the late autumn we planted the new bank in our front garden, which was created out of the spoil from the driveway. Today we added the final flourish. We have really struggled to find a multi stem Himalayan Birch, that a/ did not cost a year’s salary, b/ was small enough to grow with the immature shrubs and c/ was not mail order so we could choose it personally. Got there in the end and Max thinks it looks really smart!

A few days old now, but it’s been a hectic week! Beautiful sunset showing over the many trees that surround our garden. How wonderful it has been to get glimpses of the sun this week… some hope we will emerge from the gloom eventually. A lone giant snowdrop braved the weather too.

In our quest to find the Christmas Spirit, everything in the world just seems so bleak, we spent a few hours this afternoon wandering around and its colourful xmas decorations. It was spectacular and the choir singing in the courtyard, plus a cup of mulled wine, helped us along. Getting there slowly.

Less stuff, more joy! Shop used and save money every day of the year… support small businesses who can’t offer massive discounts because they weren’t overpriced in the first place.

Todays mindfullness activity for the ocd designer…. Log stacking is a very satisfying activity. In Austria they say you can judge the state of a marriage by the tidyness of a man’s log pile. I’m not not sure what this says about us, but job done and the logs are drying for next winter.

Who would believe that in 48 hours time we will be being battered by 60+ mph winds? Better put the glass topped table away! Stunning morning after so much rain…

Welcome to winter! 5pm and it’s really dark already… but time to appreciate the log burner and the funky shadows from a lamp while dreaming of next summer.

Every time we prepare a bit of ground for grass seed, this muppet goes and lies in it!

The first job that happened on site when we started this bonkers adventure, was the installation of yellow plastic sheaths over the power lines that supply our house. Today, they were removed by . Hooray! A big landmark ticked off.

Good day for washing and drying using the solar pv’s. 2 loads done and the dishwasher lined up to go next. Good news from Octopus this morning that rates are going down soon. The night rate will be roughly equal to what we get back from the feed in tariff at 15p per unit. During the summer when we are generating a surplus, we use as much as possible saving electrical chores for sunny days. In winter we use delay functions and utilise the Economy 7 night rate wherever possible. As we are all electric, we don’t tend to generate a surplus in the winter as anything produced goes straight into heating the house. If you’re thinking about installing solar…do it! Shop around for the best deal, but do it.

Dodging showers this afternoon, but the most intense rainbows I’ve ever seen over the A27 near Chichester…. Just stunning!!

So happy with these pots at the front of the house. I bought the pots from FB marketplace and all the bedding plants were on death row reduced table at the garden centre. Luckily they matched the pink grasses that I had already picked out. The pink grass looks great in a flower arrangement too! (No idea what they are called though).

I wish I’d seen this 2 years ago!!! Could have been a game changer. 🤔

Such a joy to see the gorgeous sunbeams streaming into the hall, a far cry from the dreary original entrance which did all it could to sap any light from within the house.

Latest upcycled addition to our eclectic furniture collection. This G Plan Astro nest of tables was looking a little the worse for west when I found it offered for free on a local Facebook group. MWC has given it a bit of tlc and it now adorns our landing with our Cintique chairs (set 2) which I reupholstered. I’ve not liked the tables with tiled tops previously, but when they go really well with your curtains… why not?

Enjoying an early evening beer on the balcony. As we are surrounded by trees, much of the terrace is in shade for a while, but there’s a lovely sunbeam on the balcony. The view’s not half bad either.

The drive is done! The cherry is on the cake and all the big jobs are now completed… what a great feeling!! Swipe to see the progression, when we first moved in we wondered how on earth we were going to get building materials up the drive… well, we did it and with each delivery the drive got slightly wider (thankyou Mixamate for a big widening!) now for a bit of gardening…

Builders gone!!!! 2 and a half years of our lives have been poured into this ugly house, now a stunning home! Of course we still have stuff to do, but I am happy to say “we’re done!”

Totes emosh day today! The builders who have been with us on and off since February 2021 are leaving site for the last time (apart from a thankyou bbq). The cement mixer which had taken root is on the wagon, the ladder which we assumed they had gifted to us is leaving too! Tonight, for the first time in I don’t know how long, there will be no dumpy bags of ballast decorating the driveway. It’s been a journey all right and I can in all confidence assure you dear reader… we will NOT EVER BE DOING THIS AGAIN!!!!!!!!

Lovely morning for a bit of drive laying… thank goodness that rain has stayed away, it’s pretty messy work. “Sunbeams through cement dust” as the kerb stones are being laid this morning.

More inspiration and homework for the garden planning. Gotta love a new book and is certainly inspiring!

Ready for the last big push! The decrepit tarmac drive is going tomorrow, soon to be replaced by lovely, crunchy, free draining shingle with new kerb stones. When we first moved in, you could barely get a car up the drive! With the removal of 120 huge leylandii and the movement of many building related lorries over the last three years, it is now a very functional access. Can’t wait to see it finished!

We had a “day off” yesterday and as we’re looking for garden inspiration we popped over to garden on the recommendation of . The house was featured on grand designs house of the year as a RIBA finalist (should have won!) and the gardens are stunning!

Reduce, re-use, recycle! There’s an awful lot of waste in a full refurb and where possible we have tried to minimise the amount of muck-away generated. Whether it’s by banking up soil, giving away rubble or moving the old stone fireplace to an outside wall. So, what do you do with a 50 year old patio that’s past it’s best? Use it to hold back the new bank of soil generated by digging out the drive, that’s what! And it’s looking great… no stone was wasted, no expensive grab lorries and no material costs incurred… I call that a win!

The black petunias in my pots have flourished,➡️, but I never predicted this … tie dye design on the patio daily as the blooms get drowned by the rain! Fortunately, it washes off easily, and I think it’s quite pretty! -petunia

Time to pop a cork!! Building control have signed us off today, roughly 3 years since all this chaos started. Of course we’re not completely finished, but we are fully certified and some would say certifiable!!

Here we go again… again! The patio was finished back in June and we knew there would be a break before the drive was started… it’s a big job! Surprised on Monday by the builder showing up and he started today. The 50 year old tarmac has had a tough life and three years of building work hasn’t helped, so it has to go. Surprisingly, when lifted there is no hardcore base beneath it, just the sand of the quarry that we live in… amazing it’s lasted as well as it had. We’ll be going for a porous gravel finish to try and overcome the tidal state we previously enjoyed! It’s getting a lot worse before it gets better!!!