Saturday 28 January 2012

Daydreaming

I do spend probably far too much time imagining what life would be like in my dream house. Nothing would really be any different of course but I can get lost in my head for ages conjuring up what china would be on the dresser, how many tea towels would be hung in front of the Aga to dry, what paraphernalia would adorn  the wooden airer over the kitchen table, how the light might fall on the landing stairs on a summer morning and the view down the garden through a pair of, most probably, very rickety French windows.
Now it's important to know that I have never seen this house of my dreams, never set foot in it either, but  inside my head it is very real indeed and sometimes I feel I surely must have lived there. But I haven't. Although last week I thought I might have finally, actually clapped eyes on it, on the telly. You know, on one of those sell up and move to the wilds and spend the odd few hundred thousand (plus more) on a little place for the weekend sort of programmes?

I was babysitting at my sister's house at the time and sat for ages with the screen on pause, all goose-bumpy and shivery, thinking, "That's it - our house! And it's Cornwall, a pebble throw from the beach - it must be mine!"
Well of course it's not but I could hardly bear to press play again so I decided to draw it. I am a very childish, amateur sketcher and don't get around it it very often at all but I could think of no other way to capture my dream home and a scrap of paper and an old Biro I found were the only tools to hand.
Later I added a little colour. Just a few touches with my treasured "sorry boys these are mummy's", naughty pencils. Don't they look beautiful in this adorable roll I won on Nicole's Pay It Forward blog post. It came on my birthday a while ago and is absolutely just what I needed to keep my precious colours nice and safe and I think now they're so easily to hand I may have a go at sketching something else. Thank you so much Nicole, I love it enormously and will be running my own Pay it Forward soon.
Now I know this is quite hopeless as far as drawings go and the only reason I have posted a picture is that I'm sure the paper version will get creased, torn, covered in juice etc etc so I wanted to have a permanent reminder of my dream home. So on the blog it must go, embarrassingly.
Until the day I find my dream house, buy it, tidy and replant the garden, cut flowers from it for the kitchen table, open the windows and let the sound of gulls and the waves stream in, stack muddy wellies by the back door, hang our laundry on the line, bake bread in the Aga and slump on a comfy old sofa by the fire with my boys and look out of those rickety French windows down the garden for myself. Xxx

42 comments:

lavender attic said...

Hi Steph
I do the daydreaming thing too...I have a scrapbook with pictures/photos of all my dreamy houses and interiors... but more and more actually realise how lucky I am to live where I do. I would love to hear the sea from my home, but unless we have a lottery win will have to look forward to camping later this year!
x Sally

Sara said...

Bonitos sueƱos espero que se hagan realidad.Un saludo de Sara

Please may I? said...

Well you draw it well and it looks like it would be stunning.

X x

Bluebells and Lavender said...

Lovely picture! We all have our dreams - I've kept a journal for years and described my house in detail...I'm still dreaming... Sharon

Katy Noelle said...

Ooooo! May I come and live in your dream, pretty please??? It's perfect!

and, your drawing is ADORABLE (so, you just stop hrming and harrring about it, now. geesh! =D)

There are just a few of us silly girlies who dream of simpler dream houses and not mansions and the ability to put whatever old rickety thing in it we want.

Actually, don't we just make castles out of wherever we live? =]

Always so very, very fun to visit you!

Katy xo

Mad about Craft said...

Your picture is beautiful and you should put it in your memory box, don't let it get spoiled - dreams are precious and we all need them.

The Fairy Glade said...

What a wonderful dream and you should frame your little picture and hang it some place where you can see it to keep the dream alive. Dev x

Miss Holly said...

First..it is absolutely not a bad drawing....it is a fantastic drawing!!! I could get right in that sweet house...and you never know what is in store....I love your home.. at least what we... out here see.....it is wonderful..and I have to say again....I have listened to the movie on your little mans blog site " barneys wildlife diary" at least 50 times.....it is the sweetest thing ever....it makes me happy every time I hear it! Never stop dreaming!!!

June said...

The house looks lovely! The way you sketch it makes me imagine the inside - a wealth of character features but not too much an attic window with a view of the sea and the gulls calling on a warm summers evening! Cornwall - there's nowhere quite like it!
June

Anonymous said...

That has to be my favourite posting ever! Love it! I too would love a house like that. I think you captured it beautifully.

Rose H (UK) said...

Yes, I agree you need to frame that lovely picture :o) Remember dreams CAN come true :o)

Karen said...

Steph its a lovely drawing and such beautiful colours. Hope your dream comes true in the not too distant future. Hope your new job is going well too. Karen X

Anonymous said...

that is a lovely daydream house and i kind of got lost in it right along with you...and your drawing is very nice.

sorry for the anon comment...it wouldn't let me leave it any other way... claire

http://www.ffhfarm.wordpress.com

Heather L. said...

I love it! I could be quite content in that house too!!! And I'm so glad you posted a drawing! I think more of us need to start drawing and not being ashamed of our "amateur-ness".

Donna said...

So charming... but no more so than the pictures you already post here of the lovely home you've already created!!

Sandi said...

You have drawn my dream home, complete with climbing rose over the door, veggie and chickens out the back along with the wellies. Beach just a short stroll down the road, ooh I can see it, I can smell it and I can hear it.....bliss.
xx Sandi

fleur said...

Hello; your dreamhouse sounds cosy and warm; your drawing looks good.
Also here in Holland my favourite tv program is Escape to the Country;
Most of all I like those old cottages and farm houses, but I also do like to watch the scenary+ the hills or mountains, the lakes, the castles+ England is ver beautiful! I´ve ben once in Shropshire and visited the victorian farm and some gardens.
well; keep on dreaming, but on your pics your own house also looks very nice!
greetings from Fleur from Holland

Jill said...

I simply loved reading your post, the dream house and all it conjures up, I think we all have one of those and each house has an element of it but something is always missing. But keep dreaming and I am sure your home is just as happy as it is!!
have a great week.
Jillx

KC'sCourt! said...

You too have drawn my dream home. It is just perfect!
Julie xxxxxxxx

Lx @ Twelve said...

Bless you! I'm always having day dream and wanties of houses, especially on Cornwall..
Hey Hum, perhaps one day?!

Lx

melanie said...

Your not the only one who dreams about her dream house a lot :) I do too, I have quite a few books stuffed with pictures cut from magazines, making up a mish mash of what I would like our dream home to be, and I often just sit and look through these books, nothing wrong with dreaming :) xxx

purple-roses-country-cottage said...

Dear Steph, what a lovely post and what a beautiful drawing - you are really of great talent.
Everybodsy of us needs to have daydreams. Pls. put this drawing into a frame to show yourself every day quite plainly that sometimes dreams may come true....
So happy to see that you are using the pay it forward gift! Take care.
Hugs Nicole xxx

...Nina Nixon... said...

Such a beautiful dream Step and one day - I'm sure - it will be one that becomes reality.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and day dreaming.

Nina xxx

ps. I forgot to reply an age ago and say I didn't realise how close you lived to the dales. It is such a beautiful place and you are very lucky.

Also no we didn't get into Cromford - just visited the old mill, but there were lots of little shops that we perused.

N xxxx

SAS said...

Absolutely no apologies accepted for such a charming sketch. You captured it for all of us to see.

May I be in charge of the housewarming?

I believe we are wired to have the desires that we do so your dream house is on its way.

You would make a lovely home out of a cracker box!

Country Rabbit said...

awww steph your picture tells a happy dream...I love to doodle...i'm always recreating a beach house a family friend had and we'd stay there as children...oh' it was such a lovely place, quite rustic and full of old warn furniture...but in my head it was the stuff of dreams!.
one day id love a little place by the sea, waking up to the sound of crashing waves and beach combing before breakfast. its not much to ask for is it? hehe x

pinkgreen said...

You dream house sounds very much like mine! Your sketch is lovely - I'm very impressed and you should be proud to show it on your blog. I'd love to live near the sea, with an aga, a boot room and a veg patch at the end of the garden. Well, a girl can dream! XX

Rebecca said...

What a beautiful post, your dream house sounds a lot like mine.... I can just imagine it as I read your wonderful description!
Your sketch is wonderful by the way! x

Mum said...

Sorry, you can't have that house - it's mine! What a coincidence. Mind you, I'm sure many people will be able to identify with this dream. I can tell you the exact layout of the cottage plus its orientation in relation to the sun. I know what furniture is in each room. I can describe the road that it's on, what's at the end of the garden and what the village is like down the road. Oh, and it's in Cornwall too!

bellaboo said...

Your dream house is out there somewhere...just waiting for you.
I bet you watch 'Escape to the Country'! ;0)

Madelief said...

I hope you will find your dream house one day. It looks lovely on the drawing!

Happy new week!

Madelief x

Fi - Teacups and Tiskets said...

Well, Steph, the clearer the vision, the more likely it will become a reality one day.

My, my, my, you do turn a lovely phrase. The drawing you did was nothing to be ashamed about, but the picture you painted with your words was 'picture perfect'.

cheers
Fi

Emily said...

You've gotta have a dream - and yours looks spookily similar to mine! I love your embroidered cushion, it's beautiful.
Emily x

Alchamillamolly said...

Hi there so I am not alone then. I have been dreaming for years like you and I have scrap books of all of the things I will do to it and put in it.
I think we all need a little bit of a dream in our heads don't we, and mine isn't far from what you drew.................................

my4lilgirls said...

Great sketch, that house looks very dreamy .........like my dream house :D
Karen x

Coco Rose Diaries said...

I spend my life in a daydream thinking about the perfect house and home. I have two...the one where I would self build if I won the lottery (would have to play it though first!!!!), and then the slightly more realistic one that would tick all my boxes. It's nice to dream, and it's even better to dream about a house!

Have a lovely week!

Vanessa xxxxxxx

Patricia said...

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Bess said...

I think your drawing, both before and after, is fabulous! Hope someday you will have the real thing.

Ruth said...

Yup that's pretty much my dream house too. I second all the commenters who say frame it. It's such a pretty drawing and it would look lovely on a wall. My other dream home is the little white cottage in the children's book Each Peach Pear Plum by the Ahlbergs!
I do think the inside of your current home looks like a dream country home too, cosy and inviting.

Hayley said...

I doodle my dream house on my notepad at work all the time....I have doodled it hundreds of times. Once after I had gone home, a colleague on the night shift found one of my doodles in the recycling and saved it for me- he said it was too cute to throw away!!!!
I think its nice to have something to dream about.... what would there be to dream about if we had everything we wanted all at once?
xx

Emma Herian said...

What a perfect way to daydream, I succumb to looking on the property for sale websites and daydream.... Love the look of your house, seems idyllic!
Carry on dreaming...

Barri-Jayne said...

We all have to have dreams and yours is a beautiful dream house. Love the drawing!

Barrina xx

Ayala Westgrove Heights said...

This place is SO beautiful. I absolutely love it.

- Lanie