Ode to Orla

As you well know we have finally been getting on with the pretty stuff after the mayhem of putting the subsidence back together. And as you well know Orla has been featuring rather heavily in the whole process.

I didn't really mean for the house to turn into quite such a homage to Orla. But in many ways it does mean there is some unity to the house. It feels cohesive.

I'm not even sure which is my favourite Orla room. I absolutely love our bedroom. When we decided to use the wallpaper there, I was slightly hesitant, but it seemed like a good idea to save the compromise on style we would have had if we had gone with any of the others. And it's actually alot more restful than you would think.

I am totally in love with the living room. Again, it works. The grey pulls the room and the house together and the wallpaper with the fireplace is just a dream. I am convinced I am in someone else's house when I look at it.

The final Orla touch is the towels in the bathroom. This wasn't exactly planned. I was buying this phone for Matthew's birthday, when I happened upon...as you do...the towels. As you can see they fit in perfectly and to be quite honest, we had been wanting new towels for ages, so it wasn't quite as impulsive as it looks.

The house is just about done. The hallway is to be completed (no Orla there) and quite a few finishing touches are needed, but I promise, for those of you who don't quite share my love of all things Orla, this will be the last posting on the subject.

Today was supposed to be a productive day. Today was supposed to be a great day. Instead I've been a bit miserable today. And apologies to those of you on Twitter who have born the brunt of it. And thank you for your attempts to keep me upbeat.

The cause of my misery is this...

...and this...

It's fair to say it's been a challenging Half Term. We are 3 weeks in with the building repairs and typically the worst week coincided with Half Term. I've been a little bit stressed. I was however so looking forward to today. Matthew had planned to take today off to give me a much needed work day. The builders had also planned to rub sand down the entire stairwell of the house. This entailed covering the entire place with a layer of dust that you have never seen. it also entailed ladders everywhere and making going from A to B in the house virtually impossible.

Consequently I have got absolutely nothing done and sat amongst a Sahara equivalent of dust in the process.

However all was not completely lost. I decided that I wasn't fit for anything constructive and the only thing taht was going to cheer me up and take my mind off it all was to lock myself in the attic studio, turn the music up loud and play with my new Orla fabric.

So all has not been completely lost.

Not so much a TGIF...TGFO...thank goodness for Orla ;-)

At last it's started. Finally the builders are in and the day I was both dreading and relishing has arrived. You know when you anticipate how bad really can it be? And it takes less than 10 seconds for the first rubble of plaster to be removed and instantly the house is filled with dust? It's a bit like having your second child. All thoughts of how awful it was the first time have instantly disappeared and whilst you know it was the worst experience of your life, you can't quite feel the pain anymore so you forget...just a little bit. Ok, I'm not comparing having builders in to childbirth! It's the sentiment!

We have been monitored for nearly 3 years for suspected subsidence and finally it was agreed it was and the go ahead was given. Fortunately it is all covered by insurance and so it's a matter of grinning and bearing it and focussing on the end result (Orla, Orla, Orla)

As many of you know I've hated the decor in the house we moved in to more than 5 years ago and so this is quite a blessing to have it redecorated from top to bottom and a few rooms imbetween. So what's a few weeks of (major) inconvenience if we get a little help in getting the house how we want it. I have big plans for this hallway. It is so grand and beautiful, but is desperately crying out for a bit of 'Wow' factor. I am slightly nervous about getting it right though. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity and we need to choose carefully. Because I got my way with the Orla paper in the living room, I've had to give Matthew final say out here. Or at least let him think he's getting final say...

As you can tell we have a long way to go and there may be a lot of tears, a fair amount of moaning, but hopefully it will all go as smoothly as possible and before we know it will all be a distant memory...