Back for more…

Hi Everyone,

Welcome back to Green Plum Design’s blog.

Thank you so much for all your comments and thoughts and glad you like the pictures because if there is one thing I am not short on, that’s pictures.  Before and afters galore.

Let’s face it they are just so satisfying…that immediate gratification of jumping from the miserable drearily lit “before” shot of some moulding piece of junk to the “after” transformation you can only long for.  And absolutely nothing in between.   Because who wants to see you in your fat-painting-jeans covered in sawdust and masking tape?  I so prefer that little leap of magic.

And talking of that leap,  here is a corner of our little bungalow, roofless and bare with the beginnings of the stairs…

and hey presto…

And here’s another of those lovely stair bones…

and abracadabra!  Not a word or a hint of blow away tarps on rainy nights…

And if you’d made your way up those stairs back in that cold wet winter you would have found the open air space that was eventually to become our bedroom – the roof was actually delayed a few weeks as it didn’t fit…

but eventually it founds its rightful place on top of our house…

And here we are now…

We have had this lovely old wooden bed for so many years.  My husband bought it when he was a student back in the old country.

And the bedside table is a family hand-me-down filled with books and diaries that I don’t want cluttering up the side…

I got the other bedside table from a yard sale…now a quick word about yard sales, I know that those of you who actually live in the U. S. of A.  get the picture about them but to a Brit fresh off the boat like me, they were an entirely new concept.

The idea that a person can  just spread out all the stuff they don’t want any more across their front garden on any given fine Saturday morning was a joyous ruse to me.

And that’s before I’ve even mentioned the Estate Sale…

A whole new ballgame…

For scavengers like myself, these babies look like the jackpot… everything is for sale and furthermore, it’s all in situ so you get to indulge all of your curiosity and walk around every inch of a total stranger’s house.

But they are a bittersweet affair as more often than not an estate sale lets you know that that total stranger has finally given up the ghost.  My joy is almost completely sapped by a growing grubby feeling of picking over someone’s personal possessions…and the deep and dark fear that maybe, one day, hundreds of strangers will be rifling through a dark corner of my house looking for a find…

Yes,  I know, back to the pictures… as I said, I picked up this bedside table from the safety of a yard sale overseen by its happy-and-in-the-mood-to-off-load living owners…and a quick lick of paint later…it’s as good as new.  I got that lovely cherub lampshade from the amazing Alameda Fair – as you can see, I do love the combination of glass and silver…

And then there’s the light.

Oh my goodness, the most beautiful Californian light pours into our house at no charge to us whatsoever and never more beautifully than towards the end of the day.

I remember reading about San Francisco before I moved here and hearing a description of the enormous skies…now how could that be, sky is sky surely?  But somehow, when the sky above you features no clouds whatsoever, it just seems a whole lot bigger and the sun manages to radiate light that seeps into every nook and cranny and most beautifully of all when it puts its head down for the night…

It has such a warmth to it…

and combines with the shadows in such a lovely way…

Definitely my favorite time of the day.

So I hope I have given you enough immediate gratification in the before and after department and know that there is quite a lot more coming…

Please keep commenting, it is so lovely to hear your thoughts and go ahead and subscribe and you won’t miss a thing!

Bye for now,

Ros

About Ros

My name is Ros Wyatt and I live across the bay from San Francisco. I moved here from England fifteen years ago with my husband, two children and a dog. Since then I have had added one more child to the line up and work as a painting contractor, color consultant, blogger, and screen printer.
This entry was posted in Bedroom, California, Green Plum Design, Interior design, Stairs and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

8 Responses to Back for more…

  1. victoria says:

    Love it all, Ros! And I love that pink area rug – where is that from?

  2. admin says:

    Hi Victoria, lovely to hear from you and thanks for the kind words. Still figuring out the world of blogdom – and learning something new with wordpress every day. It’s just me and the instruction manual so any tips gratefully received! As for that rug, I got it from, wait for it…a yard sale…and for a snip at that! I did spend a lot of money having it cleaned but it was all worth it. xxx

  3. harriet garbers says:

    your house looks like a little slice of heaven. and oh to be bathed in san fran sunshine! lovin’ the blog, harriet

  4. admin says:

    You’re a sweetheart!xxx

  5. neil says:

    LOVE the blog
    keep it up
    could you pop over here and give us some advice ros? we need more sussex light in our home. and your expert eye. it’s only a few thousand miles…

  6. admin says:

    the ticket is bought!

  7. Penny says:

    Ros! again, stunning!

    i am so curious how you keep silver on display from tarnishing and also where you put all your clothes? i love how clean and simple all the lines are in your house–and no clutter, which i cannot bear but have had to in our tiny space–so where does it all go? Your dresser seems so small. Is this just a sign that i have too much stuff? hmm, maybe a garage sale is in order.

    loving your blog. such a little bit of loveliness to warm up a chilly day… xo, p

  8. admin says:

    The trick is the large closet which you can’t see! And I am trying to do a lot of purging at the moment, taking pictures definitely helps me see things in a new way, less is definitely better. You won’t know yourself in the new pad – think of all that space. Can’t wait to see itxxx ps as for the silver, it does tarnish but I quite like it a little tarnished, if things get really bad, I wheel out the silver polish….

Comments are closed.