Paint It Black

Happy Monday! I hope you've had a good weekend. Here's what we got up to.

Having plans to makeover a room seems to have a domino effect and we've been looking at other areas of the house with fresh eyes. On Saturday morning Jon decided he'd had enough of the bathroom cabinet, after shuffling around pieces of furniture from elsewhere in the house and nothing looking quite right, it hit me like a thunderbolt...paint it black!  

Sorting out the Shit Tip (aka the middle room) we rediscovered the photograph in the brass frame that you can see on the freshly painted cabinet. Back in 2011 at The Big Chill, along with 698 other volunteers, we participated in award-winning American photographer, Spencer Tunick's photoshoot (read more about it HERE). 

Jon and I were team yellow.

We made the national press (The Sunday Times & The Guardian) and the BBC news. It was such a wonderfully life-affirming experience but man, it took days to wash that body paint off!

We also unearthed this gorgeous Victorian woman's head carved oak shelf, which was my Grandma's. Isn't she gorgeous?

Leaving Jon to the painting, I rummaged through my fabric scrap stash and made some scrunchies. Yes, I know all of us long-haired lassies wore them in the 1980s but they've had a huge revival in the last couple of years and I'd forgotten how much better they hold my hair than a bog standard band (no damage or pulling, either).

If I make a few every week I should have plenty for the festival season.

The eagle eyed amongst you might spot a William Morris Acanthus print amongst the velvet and West African waxed cotton...

These pyjamas were going for a song in the Next New Year clearance sale (£10 down from £45) but they were miles too long so, rather than waste any of the fabric, the excess became scrunchies. These are for lounging in, I never wear clothes in bed! 

 On Saturday evening we headed to the Black Country Arms (the BCA) on Walsall's High Street to celebrate Tony's birthday. Liz and Al are currently sunning themselves in Tenerife so it was just the six of us.

Formerly The Green Dragon, the BCA is the oldest pub in Walsall, dating back to 1627. It has a mind-boggling array of real ales, several of which we sampled on Saturday night. 

After a couple of hours in the pub we walked around the corner to Salt 'n' Pepper on Freer Street (situated next door to what was Boy George's squat back in the 1980s),very accurately described as a Turkish Fine Dining Restaurant, the fare is mighty fine.

We ordered vegetarian moussaka, mixed grill and chicken guvec. We didn't opt for starters knowing how big the portions are and how generous the owner can be and, true to form, we were given flatbreads, olives, dips, various mixed salads and slices of baklava. The staff brought out a birthday cake complete with candles and sung Happy Birthday to Tony.

I can't recommend Salt 'n' Pepper highly enough but, be warned, it's extremely popular and booking is essential. 

We didn't wake up till gone 8am on Sunday and that was only due to a very hungry William! We popped round to Tony's with his presents - which included a freshly baked (by me) banana and organic plain chocolate loaf. I wore a vintage tissue silk Treacy Lowe Indian-printed maxi dress and a 1960s suede waistcoat along with Thursday's charity shopped El Naturalista green nubuck boots.

You've seen the dress and waistcoat many times over the ten years plus that I've owned them so here's a close-up of William on the Seat of Judgement instead.

Talking of Thursday's charity shopping, here's the haul of vintage vinyl Jon snaffled....dance classics Let The Music Play and I Thought It was You. Laxton's Superb were a local Brit Pop band (and a bunch of lovely lads), hailed as the next big thing by the Melody Maker back in 1996. 

Girl Power! Paula Abdul's The Promise of a New Day (still with the free promo poster), Zoe's Sunshine on a Rainy Day and Birmingham's finest, the legendary Fuzzbox. 

 

A limited edition of Spagna's Every Girl & Boy in lime green vinyl!

With the exception of Janet Jackson I'm not sure about this lot, I think they were just too cheap not to buy them! 

Someone's obviously fallen out with Stevie Nicks as all three of her albums were in the same charity shop. Back in 1985, when Rock a Little (the album in the centre) was released, I had an almost identical dress and was told I looked like her (I wish!) 

I managed to finish both of the books I'd started last week. Here's this weeks' reads....

More English Civil War intrigue in Bernard (Sharpe) Cornwell's gripping bestseller, A Crowning Mercy and what's been described as the quintessential guide to all things mythological, Edith Hamilton's Mythology: A Guide to Gods and Heroes, which is still in print, 82 years after it was first published.

To mix things up a little we popped down to the clearance charity shop on Monday morning rather than our usual Sunday. I wore my Levi's denim shirt (the sleeves are very Poor Things), a Dilli Grey block printed maxi skirt and Thursday's charity shopped Fly London black leather biker boots. Following our ruthless sort out of the middle room, we had several bags of donations to drop off (mostly books) and, very unusually, I didn't find anything to buy!

But never fear, I still managed to add something different to my wardrobe, this navy velvet military dress which I'm sure I was only admiring in Monsoon a couple of months ago, it was inexplicably listed on Vinted as "suede dress", it was mine for £2 (RRP £75!)

Thanks for reading, see you soon!