What does colour mean to you?

When Calibre Office Furniture got in touch and invited me to write a post about my favourite colour I thought I'd got it sorted.

I mean, anyone who's seen my instagram feed lately - or who knew me as I grew up - won't be surprised to learn my first choice of colour was yellow.

But then I thought about it some more and remembered when MOH and I got engaged several of my friends said they just knew I'd have a pink ring - I have a pink sapphire in my engagement ring - which shocked me, as I didn't even really know that's what I wanted until I saw it. But they were adamant and said pink was obvious as it was a colour I wore a lot. Looking in my wardrobe at the time - and now - they were right, but I knew that I didn't wear as much pink as some, so that was perhaps my benchmark.

And then I thought about green, it's a colour I'm often drawn to and (along with pink) it's a colour I wear a fair bit of.  And red, we do have a lot of it in our house, despite persuading MOH we shouldn't have red dining chairs (which btw I still don't have an ETA for - not so happy about that).

So what is my favourite colour.

I've decided that I am simply a fan of colour. I wear colour everyday. If I wear an all black outfit then well I feel, well I just don't feel myself.  I guess I'm just used to me in colour.

And looking back this week I outdid myself on colour one evening; I needed to drop my bike down to the bike shop to get my brakes checked before our Easter cycling break.  For this I wore red trousers, matched with pink and cerise striped socks, the orange vest I'd worn during the day with a purple and lime green running top over it; to top that - and to keep warm - I chose a white sweatshirt, because it was getting dark and I wanted to be seen!  When I realised quite how many colours I'd combined - mostly through circumstance it must be said - it was the white top that I thought might have been OTT!

But if you pushed me to choose one colour, right now I'll stick with yellow.

Have you considered how colour affects us, and how important it is to us - scroll down, and take a look:

This is a collaborative post but all opinions are my own.

Signs of Spring

Wasn't it a lovely day on Sunday? It was also the first day this year that I got to potter in the greenhouse, but more of that another time. As I wandered up the garden I couldn't help but notice the signs of Spring in our garden. And already it was looking different to a month ago. 

I did manage to get a shot of one of the daffodils, but only after I got hold of it. It's such a delicate colour and the frilly edges are equally as delicate. 

It's also the start of euphorbia-time in our garden. I love their acid green cheery flowerheads, MOH is less keen but he puts up with them. For the first time this weekend I heard him say there was more going on in our garden than he thought, but that you have to get up close to see it. I think that's progress because up to now his main beef has been that "it's just green."  I do wonder if that's because he's getting more involved with the garden and the allotment, could be...

The roses are starting to grow as well, the photos above and below are different plants but both have that red new growth thing going on which I'd not noticed before. Below is my Getrude Jekyll rambling rose which was my fourth wedding anniversary present from MOH. I'm pleased to see it looking so healthy as last year I moved it from its original position - probably at the wrong time - and while it lived, there were no flowers.  So hopefully I'll be luckier this year and it'll become the prolific flowerer that they can be, and it'll ramble up the fence and bring some colour close to the patio.

Further up the garden the sun was on the currant berry - which is usually one of the first to flower in the garden. This year though it's had plenty of company and I wonder what it thinks about that.

Our red camellia continues to be a late developer, compared to our neighbours anyway. Their camellia's have been flowering since Christmas - seriously - but ours, which is in a much more sheltered spot, has only managed a few flowers so far.  Let's hope it carries on. The new white camellia which I bought last April and is planted at the end of the garden is doing well.  I was surprised to see just how well when I looked back to how small it was when it arrived. It looks a bit healthier too, I think.

But the real winner for me, was the pear tree against the sky - ah the colours. It's not quite at the blossom stage yet - and it rarely gets to edible fruit stage - but it's a pretty tree, and especially when the sky is that colour behind it.

Let's hope there's more blue sky this weekend (and beyond). Is your garden starting to wake up?

Looking back at our stay in a snug Dorset cottage

I'd been umming and ahhing about writing this post about the cottage we stayed in on our trip to Dorset last year, and I'm not sure why. It was a beautiful cottage and we had a great time there, but whether it was time or something else I hadn't shared the pictures of our stay. Then last week the owner got in touch to say they no longer owned the cottage but had another holiday let cottage in the same village if we felt like a Dorset break again.

I realised then the cottage we stayed in probably looks completely different now, so whatever reservations I had about sharing its interior were gone as well.  So today I'm looking back at our stay in what was a snug and comfortable cottage, with a log burner that was very welcome in a very chilly January.

Throughout the cottage there were some fabulous touches, like these wooden fish above the dining space.

The kitchen was in a single story extension at the back of the cottage with a stunning skylight, which let in light but also gave you a glimpse of the outside. It was a well stocked kitchen and one that had been cooked in - so often for self-catering holiday lets, there's basic equipment but not enough to cook as if you were at home, not the case here!

Upstairs the bedrooms were light and well accessorised. The single bedroom was very cute and the wooden hangers on the wall were a lovely design touch and practical too.

A PICTURE THAT'S SIMPLE BUT ONE YOU KEEP LOOKING AT

SIMPLE, EFFECTIVE AND PRACTICAL

And I thought that if I was going to be in the shot - I might as well be in the mirror - not sure what caught my eye though!

The main bedroom was full of character too, and a large comfy bed. After staying here I seriously considered buying a fluffy mattress topper as it was so successful here. In the end we bought a new mattress later in the year, but having never really been a fan of mattress toppers, here I was sold!

ANOTHER TRADITIONAL DOOR WITH IRONWORK

QUIRKY SIDE TABLES, WHITE BED LINEN AND A SPLASH OF COLOUR

So a great stay in a fabulous cottage, which is now moving onto its next chapter. And looking back, I'm not sure why I didn't share before!