Here’s the front of my home. I have 3 levels: ground floor, 1st floor, & second floor. Lots & lots of stair climbing. I don’t have a garage, but am lucky to have 2 parking spaces in front. My house is connected on either side by another house. Very, very close contact with one’s neighbors. However, until recently both houses were used as a second home, so I was blessed to be able to blast my music and piano as loud as I wanted. I also don’t have a garden (backyard), but before you feel bad for my kids, don’t worry. My kids played constantly in the front of our house. My son seemed to have his own private football pitch in our car park (parking lot).

Ground Level Floor

Entry way

I have a small toilet(bathroom) on this level. My son’s room is on this level, certainly the most bizarrely placed room in the whole house. His room is smaller than my closet in the U.S., but bless him, he has grown to love his small room. It’s decorated in NYC & now football (soccer) pictures.

My kitchen is not your typical Welsh kitchen. It is open with lots of space and opens to the eating area. Every square inch of my house was carpeted expect for a small tile area in the kitchen. Luckily I like to vacuum.

 I love to give things a new life by painting them white.

The only “closet” I had in my house contained my washer. I crammed it full of other junk too…my makeshift “laundry room.”

In the UK if you want to dry your clothes you either:  use a line to dry them, use a tumble dryer where you have to vent it (usually out the window), or have a condenser dryer which sucks all of the water out of the clothes and you can place anywhere. I have a condenser & have hidden it in the kitchen behind a screen.

First Level

Landing

Old spoons from granny, photos by Brad, & the random plastic antler. I love the light fixtures here. Usually you have a hanging light bulb and can find fancy stuff to attach to it. It is genius in my mind.

My daughter’s room is on this level. Hanging umbrellas and a Mexican heart from New Mexico, Will & Kate flag, antique horses from a shop my grandfather once worked at, and some more things spray painted white. Would a British home be complete without a “Keep Calm & Carry On” picture?

On the back of the house is the lounge. I have a blue cuckoo clock that I love & several pieces of furniture that were once my grandparents & I have painted them. Lots of artwork comes from Steve Keene who is an artist based in NYC. I was able to buy a beautiful print by British artist Mark Hearld while here.

This is Brad’s work area. As you can see, our motto regarding pictures is, “Why put up one picture when you can put up 10?” Bless him for embracing my style.

I have another toilet on this level. The only thing worthy of photographing is another plastic deer head.

Second Level

Our bedroom is on this level. I forgot to take a picture of our large metal Eiffel Tower that was originally supposed to be yard art & a huge crest that I spray painted white. Here is our bed with ottoman in front. I am blessed to have another toilet on this level with a shower. Since we don’t have closets we have wardrobes. I have actually come to love those. They make you simplify your life and get rid of anything unnecessary. And cleaning them out is simple unless you are my husband who only does that once every 5 years.

This is the view from the back of my house. If you know me, you have probably seen a gazillion photos from this view. It is one of the most beautiful places in the world to me & where I have seen a swan nesting for the past four years. The national rowing team also practices in this river. And to throw in a little reality, this is where the local youth like to throw rocks at ours and our neighbors’ houses. There’s always adventure along the path behind our house.

And this is the back of the house from the nearby bridge. Ours is the second brick house from the right under the left arm of the stadium.

So there you have it. A little tour of my house. It will be fun seeing where everything fits in my next house. I can be assured of a couple of things though. There will be lots of pictures & more spray painting of things white. Cheers.

Goodbye store bought sushi…..hello homemade!

You can click on the thumbnails to see the larger picture.

-Julie

Last week we took a brief visit to see the Welsh Annual Portrait Award. And as every trip to a museum should be, we had a little fun too. They always guide us to their favourites at the end explaining why, and every visit involves some sort of posing. Since our kids have grown up with art I notice how they love to participate in a dialogue about what they see and about what they think. They do a lot of the talking and I just ask a few questions. We don’t stay long, but they always have lots to say. My two little critics.

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Cheers.

Cheers.

The pictures in the slideshow are from a recent visit to a local castle.

If you can guess the name of the castle we’ll take you out to dinner when you come visit. (Hint: it’s local…that means we didn’t have to travel very far at all to see it.)

Cheers.