Living with a spiral staircase

One of the main and most obvious features that you see as you walk into our house is our spiral staircase.  It certainly has the wow factor, and now I wouldn’t have it any other way, but to start with I wasn’t so sure.  In fact I wasn’t even sure about viewing the house as I didn’t think I was keen on spiral staircases.

That went back to growing up and being afraid of falling through “slatty stairs” as I called them.  I remember the Whitgift Centre (a 1970s shopping centre in Croydon where I grew up) had these and I’d edge up them cautiously to get to the upper level.  Pretty crazy, huh? Especially as there was no way I’d ever fall through that gap as a teenager.

But anyway, back to viewing our house.  MOH couldn’t understand why I wasn’t keen to see it as otherwise it sounded perfect, and so he said he’d view it on his own. Err, hang on, I don’t think so were pretty much my exact thoughts.  I wasn’t sure that this was a decision that could be made without me being present, and so off we went, together.

It was just as well I went, as even on that first visit we were mentally placing our furniture in the house.  And you know what, somehow it didn’t matter about the stairs at all.  Now some fifteen years later we’re very much used to them and forget that others see them as something more unusual.

But are they unusual?  I don’t think so, maybe I’m just in tune with spiral staircases whether they’re wood and steel like ours or the classic steel spiral stairs that you most probably thought of when I mentioned a spiral staircase.

If like me you’re a fan of the many home shows on TV, such as Grand Designs, Building the Dream and The Restoration Man and many more you’ll know that staircases no longer need to be purely functional.  There’s plenty of options to buy beautiful and stylish stairs online in the UK of all designs, and no doubt you’ll be spoilt for choice.

I’d never have guessed how much our spiral stairs would feature in and embody life in this house, but they have, in ways I’m not sure either of us would have predicted.

They were decorated with flowers, which matched my bouquet and table flowers, for our wedding back in 2007, and last year were very much a part of the paper cut that told the “story of us” to celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary last year.

WEDDING DECORATIONS

THE STORY OF US

So ultimately there’s a life lesson here, don’t rule things out because of an irrational fear or because you’ve no experience of them.  Give things a try, and like me, you could be pleasantly surprised.

* This is a collaborative post but all views are my own.

Our space in space

When I saw this at Gardeners' World Live I hadn't fully appreciated the concept as I have a terrible habit of taking a snap of the bumph alongside things to read later, simply enjoying the garden (or whatever) for what it is on face value at the time.  Not always a bad thing, as how often are we 'told' to live in the moment, but sometimes (and for me often afterwards) you realise the intentions had a much deeper meaning and purpose, and this Beautiful Border is one of them.

On the face of it, it's a pretty space and totally worthy of its inclusion in this part of the show, but at the time I couldn't help but notice its starkness, and stripes in comparison to the other beds.  I did spot the blue tardis though.

And I really enjoyed the almost lime green succulent 'balls' around the green phormium and against the grey pebbles. Striking aren't they?

What I hadn't realised was the greater significance of the blue dot - or tardis - and the connection to the photos taken from Voyager on 14 February 1990.

Look again at that dot.  That's here.  That's home.  That's us.

- Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A vision of the Human Future in Space

Which in my book makes it a very clever - and bold - garden, which clearly works on a number of levels. And who knew that a garden could be so deep? And educative?  Certainly not me, but I'm glad it has.  Talk about inspiring. 

But not only on that deeper level, but also on the planting.  Just look at the succulent, and what looks to be a coleus and a heuchera with its lettuce-like leaves against the dark pebbles.  It's certainly striking, that's for sure...

A succulent picnic

Well you know me and succulents, so imagine my delight when I spotted this display in the middle of the Floral Marquee at Gardeners' World Live.  I know.  Who'd have thought to have used these containers in such a way, and with great effect.  When I saw these, my own succulents were happily set to remain in their mini-trough and the small army of new plants I have in the green house would be joining them.  However now that we've given up the allotment, I'm having a rethink on where my succulents go as their position is now needed for veg growing.  It's not all bad, and they will be staying, in fact they're more likely to be moving to the patio, so I'll get to see them even more - which feels like a great result.

I'm not sure their new home will be a picnic basket though, or even a 'castle bucket' although that would be fun.  The one below in the colander (number 621) reminds me of sprout-like vegetables - I think the number is because it had already been sold, and the new owner would collect it at the end of the show.

That was one of the main differences that I noticed at the show, that there were many more plants to buy than at Chelsea.  Not a bad thing at all, because Gardeners' World Live is aimed at real life gardeners and so it makes sense to make real life plants available to feed the inspiration available.  And I'm sure it makes it a lot easier for exhibitors to close down at the end of a show.

I'm not sure if MOH had sussed out the raffle ticket approach but I think he clocked that I had and quickly moved me along at that point, or tried to anyway.  We never got as far as the prices for any items in the Floral Marquee, and I suspect he knows me well enough to know that asking the price means we're well on the way to emotional commitment, and therefore more likely to purchase.  I'm guessing he didn't fancy carrying any of these home on the train, and I can't say I blame him!

It would be relatively easy to replicate this look though wouldn't it?  And I think charity shops would quickly become your friend and hopefully a good source of vessels.  The thing to remember is that succulents need good drainage, which should make the colander ideal.

They also don't like wet roots so mixing sand into the compost works well.  I discovered my aloe vera turning brown again after I'd successfully revived it, and then realised it was sitting in a pot of water unintentionally.  It's still drying out but is recovering again, thankfully. It's back in the house too and seems more comfortable there than in the direct sunlight of the garden table.

Their roots are pretty shallow which helps when it comes to alternative planters, and why you'll often spot them in saucer-like pots.  I like the densely packed approach and looking back at these photos now feel quite inspired to redo my planting arrangements, though of course I think I'll need another one or two types to add to my growing collection...