The front of the house needs some tidying up after the summer- but I couldn’t resist sharing a picture of our Virginia creeper. We planted it about 2 – 3 years ago and it’s starting to really take off now.
I was worried that, with the work still needing doing in the kitchen before the plumbers come again, I wouldn’t have time to fix it before the leaves disappeared.
After my Art NouFaux stained glass front door and update of the front of the house I’m adding additional details. I absolutely love these signs, as the post shows, and I thought of a way to get a similar look for our house. It’s normal in France to have your name near your door so, even though I already had the iron number on the door, I thought this would be a good solution. It’s sooooo simple. Honestly, one of the easiest crafts I’ve ever done. Here are the simple steps…
We have a French glass porch, so I’m not expecting the weather to be able to get at this too much. However it always pays to weather proof. Mine started off grey, but I thought it would blend too much with the stone, so I chose black and gold throughout.
Spray front and back. I intend to attach mine and try and seal it to waterproof it from behind, but just to give it a bit of extra protection I think it’s advisable.
As my frame is round I spray painted the insert that goes behind the picture gold too. I didn’t know how see through the colour would be and didn’t want the mirror like shine to be diminished.
I originally thought of doing this with an actual mirror, but then realised there might be accidents outside my house with glare from the sun 🤭 😆. I wouldn’t have been popular in the village!
So this mirrored finish gives the same feel, but without the danger.
I used a frame from the graphics fairy and a monogram. There’s obviously no point in my doing a print out for this. Follow the instructions on your packaging, but you can see my how to here for this craft. This is a picture of the image before sealing and the decal clearly stands out from the backing. The mirror image looked super shiny too.
As I’d cut the decal out too small you could just about see the edging in the one above, so I redid it. But, like pinning your hair in a chignon, finding a couple of stray hairs and attempting to make it perfect, it wasn’t to be. I had the decal équivalant of a messy chignon, because it kept puckering. I don’t know why. I tried a couple of more times to no avail. Tant pis!
So, on my slightly less satisfactory, final attempt I used this really thick craft varnish to create a waterproof finish and seal the gaps between the glass and the picture edge. Make sure it’s glossy to keep the mirror shine.
On the second image i don’t know if you can see that the letter is slightly raised from the backing giving it a 3D affect. I haven’t put it up yet, but I’ll update you when I do.
The front of our house isn’t finished yet and I’ve had a change of mind about what I’m going to do with it since writing this post here. Since then I’ve bought an old marquise, a French glass porch, and I’ve been spent some time refurbishing it. It needed a professional to put it up outside the front of the house, and the putty now needs to dry prior to another coat of paint. So I’ll post again towards the end of the summer when it’s completely painted, I just couldn’t resist sharing now.
Here is the house when we moved in…..
…..and here is the main entrance now….
Here is a better shot of the lavender colour I painted it……
As you can see it was damaged as it was put up. The colour is unusual, but I think it compliments the grey of the ancient stone really well; it brings out a mauve hue don’t you think?
You can see the Art NouFaux stained glass that I recently finished (how I did that is all here). I’m really pleased how this has turned out and think it’s compliments the marquise really well.
I’ve added this period doorbell….
as well as the brass door handle and iron house number. If you look back in the original photo you can see that the door handle was a plain white and I managed to find this brass one which adds a lot more character. The house number is attached with no more nails. The fleur de lys design goes with the art noufaux and period of the house I think.
The doormat is just a simple rubber one that I settled on instead of the iron one I originally wanted. I saw it in a shop and it did the trick for a fraction of the price without the worry of rust.
Apart from the marquise I’ll be painting the garage doors in the lavender, as well as an external light to hang from the porch.
Outside the main door is this twirling topiary, which I think is so French. In fact these are the second set I’ve bought. My first was a set of topiary with two ball shapes. One of them was snapped in half by last year’s snow, then one of the others were burnt, literallly in parts, when we went away over the summer vacation last year. There was a heatwave here in France and the ball on top died. I ended up cutting that off and it’s now in its own seperate pot; I hope to shape it as it continues grow (perhaps I should take the label from that pot? 😳 😆 ).
Just before we moved in on the 20th December 2017 there was a Christmas fête here in our village and we went as a family. I took a photo of the house and it looked all sad and gloomy; I was already imagining how it would look the next Christmas. Lights in topiary were part of the Christmas decor I wanted to introduce. So when the previous topiary was damaged by the weather I wasn’t happy. When it was damaged again…..I saw it as an opportunity!
To be honest I’d always wanted the twirling ones, but they’re expense had put me off. I’d decided to throw caution to the wind and hope that they would fare better. We’re through another winter and so far they’re doing well.
At the moment the topiary are pared with these standard bushes and roses. My plan is to have some seasonal pots that I change in keeping with the year.
I’ve also been working on the planting outside of the house too, with more or less success. It’s amazing what a difference this makes. Whereas before it was very plain, with just a few hydrangea at the end of the house this is what it looks like now…
Not everything I saw in bloom yet, so you don’t get the full effect, but you can get the idea.
The hydrangea really grows well when it’s in flowering and has an ever increasing patch of daffodils surrounding it in the early spring – unfortunately I didn’t take a photo this year, but I’ll be sure to take a photo of the hydra again when it’s in bloom.
Under the dining room window I’ve planted this Camilia which has a pink flower. This year I hope to prune it so it fills out as it’s a little tall and spindly so far.
Next to them is, I think, a marguerite daisy which is on the verge of coming into it’s own. I chopped a lot back a few days ago and it’s looking a little sad still.
The other thing that I’ve planted were two Virginia Creepers, either side of the house. They’d just started to climb the walls last year, as you can see from the image above). However the second one has been cut off in its prime!
The village is very clean and the gardens well maintained and a few weeks back I noticed that early spring had brought weeds as well as daffodils. I’d deweeded my boxes, but not the edges of the step area or pavement and intended to come back and do them too. However they’d been removed, evidently by our villages groundspeople, and I was delighted. However when I spotted the lopped off Virginia Creeper I realised that that must have been culled too!
The creeper is what determined how I’d paint the marquise. As it will go from green to red I was wary of a colour clash and too much of a colour blend. I’m hoping the lavender will tone in nicely.
I intend to let the creeper grow to the bottom of the first floor or top windows to keep it in order and wait with anticipation when it’s in its glory. I love Autumn and it will be a wonderful sight!
As you can see I’ve mainly planted in grey pots, to give uniformity. The large, rectangular ones were my way of avoiding digging out paving slabs to create beds. In the centre is a rectangular box with a white blooming flower and a heather like flower….
I’m really not a gardner and can’t tell you what the name of the white one is, but it’s doing well. The heather flower is doing ok, but I’m aware that at some stage I may have to move it elsewhere as the white expands and takes up a lot of room.
These heather flowers are really popularity in France and people plant them in solid masses in banks. I love lavender (you could probably guess that from my interior colour schemes) and it was my attempt at recreating that look in a shadowy area. Alas for me they didn’t take well, so I’ve moved them out the back. Here’s what’s taking there place….
Just a long shot of my wisteria peeping through – it’s been there since we moved in, but I love it!
I’ve got more to do at the front, so when the marquise is painted and the flowers are in bloom I’ll post again.
Although I’ve mainly been posting about the potagère I’ve had some projects bubbling away in the background and I want to share this one with you today.
I’ve posted some of the stained glass doors that I love here, but as I said in my post about our house front it’s uniform, drab exterior was one of the down sides of our otherwise wonderful home. I’ve racked my brains to make it more ‘us’, whilst not spending a fortune or opening up our house to the elements. Having rented in an old, Normandy farm house with traditional wood windows I treasure our double glazing!
So when I saw this video of a couple creating a stained glass window effect on their doors I bookmarked it for later.
I really would take a look at this, anything I’m writing here is an add on to this helpful video.
First to my inspiration…….
I love it and as we have white, double doors it seemed to fit perfectly. I approached the project a bit differently than the couple in the video as I had a design to work from. There are loads more photos of stained glass on Pinterest as well as designs for you to copy.
I used one of these for my upper window…..
the centre is obviously intended for a house humber, but having just been to La Basilique du Sacré Cœur I’ve included that in the centre
So, studying the door, I made a plan of it on squared paper. I used the kind of stuff you cover school books with as it has a plastic backing. This meant that I could just stick the plan to the other side of the front door to follow and if it did rain there was a little protection whilst I got it inside.
The first thing I did was to measure a piece of it so it matched the door’s window area. This meant I had something to scale.
I found if you look at the door design it naturally fall into thirds, so having marking off the exterior border, I divided my door plan similarly. You can see by the series of photographs I took below how I made my version section by section….
The circles were made by drawing round a glass pebble as I intended to use these in the final design. There were occasions when I made mistakes, but any time I did I just went over that area with a red line so I knew to ignore it.
The final design wasn’t perfect, and the end result I adapte a little, but it was a good place to start.
I just stuck mine to the outside window with masking tape and followed it internally.
Unwrap a length of ‘lead’ to the size of whatever part of the design you’re copying and cut it with scissors. It pays to add a little extra on to ensure you have enough. Unpeel the backing then attach that strip to where you want to start applying. Using the tool given rub the strip really hard to get it to stick well. Continue removing the backing, following the design and rubbing until the entire length is applied. Be prepared for a sore arm! Once you reach the end, if you need to, trim the length to fit the design.
Whenever you come to an overlapping part press down and rub really hard to ensure it’s stuck before continuing.
On the video she scores the tape prior to cutting, but I found I couldn’t cut it in half as it was difficult to be sure I wasn’t at an angle. So I just ended up cutting with a sharp pair of scissors and that worked fine.
With half the thickness the tape is more flexible and easier to create the line you want.
When you’re approaching a point when you need to apply a glass bead add a little glue to the bead base and some to the point you want to stick it. Continue working leaving the bead to the side so the glue becomes tacky, then stick the bead on. Keep an eye on it to ensure it doesn’t fall off, pushing it back in place when necessary.
Just go over any joints with it to ensure it’s secured well, and encircle the beads too.
When I did this I wasn’t entirely satisfied; this is what I saw….
I suddenly realised the design I was copying was on a slimmer door and mine looked squatter. I chose to broke up each section by adding dividing details as you can see in the final section.
My husband, who is never one to hide any scepticism of my decorating projects, kept coming and going throughout giving me funny looks. However when I took the plan down from the door and called him over he looked so pleasantly surprised it was comical!
Painting the glass with glass paint is relatively easy but be careful not to overload the area with the liquid as it will seep into the leaded areas and will show up on the other side. So lots of light layers.
I used these colours…..
I’d sometimes add layers of different, complimentary colours after one had dried. Sometimes I’d do this more towards the base or top or outer edge depending on the effect I wanted. Add several layers to get a more authentic look.
It looks good from the outside too, but I’ve got another little project currently being worked on so I’m going to post some pictures of that later. In the meantime here’s some close ups…..
I love the way it compliments the chandelier.
Some men came to deliver something to the house the other day. It was nearly done at that point, but I still had most of the colour to do, so it was evidently an ongoing job. He asked if I’d done it and seemed impressed. When the second man came over and they thought I was out of earshot they were discussing the window. In French one was pointing out the intricacy of the design in seemingly glowing terms and the other was saying he loved the colours. So between them and my husband I’ll take it as a job well done.
If you have any questions drop me a line and I’ll do my best to answer them.
I’m coming to the end of decorating our dining room which, thanks to the fabulous floor I’ve found, hasn’t taken as long as I expected. The valance for the curtains I’m sewing our a little tricky and I expect they’ll take another week. Then I want to finish painting the cornice I’ve put up. Yes, that’s right, me – all be myself! I’ll tell you about it and the curtain valance later.
But at the moment their are daffodils outside our house; a sure sign hat spring is on its way. So my mind is turning to the front of the house and the plans I have for it.
As I said in my introduction to our French home the house front was not a selling point for me. I’d dreamed of something like this…
and got this…
Now, I’m one of those people who love, love, love to decorate. Since I’ve had my own money I’ve bought Country Living Interiors magazines and pored over them ,as well as any other similar magazines (two things to note here: firstly, I mean my first Saturday job money, yes that obsessed. Secondly Pinterest has saved me a fortune). So it wasn’t the lack of shutters or any kerb side appeal, I can do that, but it was the door. UPVC. No scroll iron work. Can’t paint it my own colour (little sigh, reminds herself that there are people actually suffering and we’ve just got our dream home).
Anyway….
I think you need to be wise with both your money and the earth’s resources; it’s one of the reasons why I post about up-cycling and repurposing. There are so many things just thrown out; better to invest some time in them rather than let them go on the scrap heap, yes? So no new front door.
Prior to buying our home we rented an old farmhouse to find out if we liked living in the country and an old house. I’m so glad we did, although I think that was more God’s design than mine as I was impatient to buy. Our dream of rural living was isolating with two young children and a second language to contend with.
The house was lovely, but it was ancient and the windows were weathered, wooden ones. We spent about 700 euros a month on fuel and as soon as the fuel went the house would freeze. Not a great way to live with two small children.
When we were waiting to move and I was pinning away, making my plans, I had lots of images of wooden, French doors on my site. I’d even made a deal with my husband that we’d get a new one. But gradually over time I started to reconsider; surely the money would be better spent elsewhere? If not given where God wants it to go.
Then when we moved; heat! Such luxury. The double glazing in the house has made such a difference to us in a cold, wet winter. I actually went ahead and ordered more fuel the other day as we’d moved in over Christmas and had only ordered a half load and I fully expected there to be an empty tank. I didn’t need the full load at all, unbelievable.
So I may not like the UPVC as it stands, but comfort and bank book is coming first and I’m making plans about what to do to get a more ‘wow’ look (I’m using a lot of the images I found or stored onto Pinterest, follow my boards for more ideas on the links above).
My plans had, of course, involved painting our front door various shades. However although I’ve researched painting upvc it’s a daunting prospect, so I’m sticking with the white. Nevertheless if you look at these examples a white front door doesn’t have to be boring.
At the moment not only is our door white, but our handle is too. Although I can’t get a black handle for upvc (I don’t think) the gold makes a difference yes? I can’t get the detail on these either, but I think that just the contrast between the door and the handle in conjunction with my other planned changes should make a satisfactory difference.
Again a white front door with contrasting hardware, but all of a sudden the lighting either side adds something, yes?
I’ve been hunting various styles on Amazon to give me further inspiration and they are relatively inexpensive. I’ve chosen brass, Victorian or Edwardian era styles as the house is so old.
To accompany these changes and the period I’m considering just a simple upgrade of the doorbell. Very inexpensive, but can add to the impact significantly.
I’d always wanted the metal grillwork of a French front door, but seeing this picture made me think I could have the same feel..
I’ve found this lace curtains or even this transfer from Laura Ashley that would reflect the period I’m going for.
Uploading this transfer from Laura Ashley to my pins led to similar pins emerging of decals for transfer windows. How amazing are these?
I love the ones with the street name as well. Very Sherlock Homes. Classic, not Cumberbatch.
An additional image gave me the idea for an iron mat.
I found this one, which I think is perfect..
Topiary
Of course as well as framing the door with external lights I want to have some topiary, I especially like spiral clipped ones, but any good evergreen will frame the door well and add character.
I love that colour purple for our shutters by the way.
Plantings
As well as specific topiary plantings I want to have additional plants along the front of the house. There are some areas that have had the paving stones removed from of the house, so I’ll be using a mixture of in the ground and planters to get this type of effect.
I can’t find an image of the type of purple I like, but you get the impression of purple shutters with this image
As well as the dark purple and colour scheme I like here (the greys I’m thinking of as the stone used for the house, the blue grass for planters, garage door etc).
We only have a letterbox at the moment, but I’m hoping to persuade my hubby to get one of these in the future.
Considering the door would have cost 1000s, and I would have wanted all of these to dress the house front anyway, I think I’m basically just upgrading the door with a handle, lace curtains, transfer and bell. So that will be about 100-150, not bad.
Any ideas? I’d love to hear them.
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