a little taster

Well, I am trying to put together an open day for Border Oak, it just takes so much arranging - which I am rubbish at!

The plan is that Ben and I are going to open our house and possibly our neighbours oak framed farmhouse too. And we are also going to open the doors to the cottage Border Oak have been building about 10 mins away. It's nearly finished with just a bit of landscaping, snagging and carpets left to do. I will do a professional photo shoot there next month too so have to collect (beg, steal and borrow) furniture and props to fill it. Luckily I have found one of our lovely past clients now has a 'cottage industry' (pun intended!) making roman blinds and cushions etc so she is making blinds from beautiful fabrics for us. But to tease you I am posting some pics here to give you an idea of what it looks like. I think it is very pretty and am very pleased with the end result - what do you think?

And when I have the 'real' photos I will post lots and lots so you can see what a difference a professional photographer makes!

I'm really pleased with the kitchen - its a smokey grey with a hint of green in a simple but detailed style and continuous kick board. It also has a matt granite work top and an induction hob....oooh I really want an induction hob in my fantasy kitchen - I thought I wanted an Aga but an induction hob is the way to go- with a boiling water tap and a concrete and rough oak counter.......sorry what was I saying? Oh yes, the kitchen, it has a slim line dishwasher, fridge, washing machine and to compensate for storage there is a dinky dresser too. Very smart.

And there is oak flooring throughout. very very smart.

The outside is sooooo pretty - and attracts a lot of attention from passers by. The windows are lovely and made by a fantastically talented joiner - he made my windows too - who sadly and suddenly he died last month.

Can you see the little oak window hoods? My dad really likes window hoods and so I like them too. And they have been very practical as there are three birds nests in the eaves (see - Border Oak houses are VERY eco friendly) and the hoods have stopped the passers by getting pooped on. Maybe I need an oak bird table to encourage the birds to poop somewhere else?