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  • Casa na Terra - a unique holiday hideaway in Portugal's Alentejo | These Four Walls blog

    Casa na Terra – a unique holiday hideaway in Portugal’s Alentejo

    August 4, 2020August 3, 2020

    How does everyone feel about travelling at the moment, given the ongoing restrictions and quarantine rules? I’m still nervous about it, but that hasn’t stopped me browsing the net and…

  • Ferm Living's new showroom & concept store | These Four Walls blog

    Ferm Living’s new showroom & concept store

    June 30, 2020

    Today I’m taking you on a virtual trip to Copenhagen, where one of my favourite Danish brands, Ferm Living, has just opened the doors to its brand-new showroom and concept…

  • The TypeO Loft - a brand-new B&B in Skåne | These Four Walls blog

    The TypeO Loft – a minimalist one-room B&B in Skåne, southern Sweden

    June 19, 2020

    Today I have a bit of travel inspiration to help tide us over until we can head off on holiday in real life: a peek inside the just-launched TypeO Loft…

  • Rustic minimalism in Italy with Tine K Home | These Four Walls blog

    Rustic minimalism in Italy with Tine K Home

    May 18, 2020May 18, 2020

    Fancy heading off to a sun-drenched Italian villa? I certainly do – and although we might not be able to travel very far in person at the moment, we can…

  • ALIUM - a brand-new Copenhagen gallery | These Four Walls blog

    ALIUM – a brand-new Copenhagen gallery

    April 1, 2020April 1, 2020

    Travel might be out of the question for most of us at the moment, but today I want to share some inspiration for when we can start exploring again –…

  • Exploring Finnish Lapland in winter | These Four Walls blog

    Exploring Finnish Lapland in winter

    February 14, 2020

    [Advertisement – this post is based on a press trip, but all words and opinions are my own] Few places have captured my heart the way Finnish Lapland did. I…

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Some moody flower photos, taken at @gchalfield (al Some moody flower photos, taken at @gchalfield (always one of my favourite National Trust places) last weekend. We're gradually gathering inspiration for our little cottage garden, and slightly wild-looking white blooms will definitely feature (these are some of my favourites - climbing roses, Japanese anemones, guara). It's a next-year project though, as replacing our leaking bathroom and fixing our broken drain will have to take priority. 

#gardeninspiration #cottagegardenflowers #flowerphotography #moodyflowers #naturephotography
Some stills of our beautiful new kitchen with time Some stills of our beautiful new kitchen with timeless slim-framed Shaker units and oak interiors from @nordiskakok.

The room isn't very big (3.4 x 3.2m), but it is roughly square - a big change from the narrow galley-style kitchens we've had in the past. We've kept the layout largely the same as it was, partly because it makes sense and partly because it meant we didn't have to spend money moving services around and could instead focus our budget on the units themselves. We did get rid of the upper wall-hung cabinets though, replacing them with a long open shelf that makes the space feel much larger and airier, and hid our boiler inside a tall worktop-mounted cupboard.

On the other side of the room, we replaced a huge radiator with a smaller one, making space for an integrated fridge-freezer and a full-height cupboard with pocket doors. The latter is perhaps my favourite feature in the whole kitchen, as the doors slide back into the frame and don't stick out into the room. This gives us valuable prep and storage space that we can open up or hide away as needed, with a fully usable section of worktop inside. 

The pocket doors also freed up enough floor space in the centre of the room for a small freestanding island unit. I liked the idea of something rustic made from gnarled wood, to reflect the countryside setting and provide an element of contrast with the smooth units and worktops. It took a lot of internet searching, but eventually I found a salvaged prep table that’s exactly the right size. We’re planning to add a couple of stools where we can sit down with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, but we haven’t found the right ones yet.

#shakerkitchen #shakerkök #cottagerenovation #cottagekitchen #moderncountrykitchen 

Shaker kitchen | Cottage renovation | Neutral kitchen | Minimalist interiors | Cottage kitchen | Pocket doors | Minimalist kitchen | Freestanding island unit | Kitchen renovation | Rustic minimalism
Pics from a wonderful day out in Shaftesbury in Do Pics from a wonderful day out in Shaftesbury in Dorset, and a beautiful drive down through Cranborne Chase to get there. We had a wander down the famous Gold Hill, explored the ruins of Shaftesbury Abbey, had a delicious pub lunch and accidentally bought three candles in @thebotanicalcandleco. See if you can spot me in one of the photos...

#thisprettyengland #visitdorset #shaftesbury #visitengland #dorsetlandscape
Here it is: our finished kitchen! The kitchen we Here it is: our finished kitchen!

The kitchen we inherited when we bought the house was tatty and dated, with broken appliances, ripped lino, chipped laminate worktops and cracked unit fronts (some of them literally looked like they'd been kicked). Now, it's a calm yet cosy room that channels the soft, rustic-minimalist mood that we're gradually adding throughout our little cottage. We've used timeless slim-framed Shaker units from @nordiskakok, which we've paired with white-pigmented oak interiors, quartz worktops and splashbacks with subtle veining, a long open shelf and a freestanding island unit made from salvaged wood. 

I'll share more details in a future post, but here are some before-and-after photos showing how the space has changed. We put most of our renovation budget into it, which means some other projects will have to wait, but we now have the kitchen we've always dreamed of and we couldn't be happier with it. 

#cottagekitchen #shakerkitchen #minimalistkitchen #cottagerenovation neutralhomedecor 

Shaker kitchen | Cottage kitchen | Minimalist interiors | Cottage renovation | Neutral kitchen | Soft minimalist interiors | Rustic minimalism | Neutral home decor | Freestanding island unit | Open kitchen shelves
[AD - PR products] Summer light falling across the [AD - PR products] Summer light falling across the dining room, our oak @quickstepfloors flooring and our lovely Carl Hansen Wishbone chairs from @hollowaysofludlow. I've been working down here for the past few weeks as it stays cooler than the office upstairs, and the chairs really are comfy enough to sit on for hours at a time. Bring on long, cosy meals and board games in here once the nights start drawing in!

#neutralhomedecor #scandinaviandecor #minimalinterior #minimalistdiningroom #cottagerenovation

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