On Friday my paint workshop partner in crime Maxine, and I drove to Oxford and went to Annie Sloan's shop and warehouse to collect our precious consignment of paint and wax. These fabulous chalk paints are specifically designed to paint furniture. They are totally matt and stick to anything, shiny wood, metal old pine, varnish even plastic! They come in handy one litre pots so you can experiment with lots of colours without breaking the bank.

There are 27 fabulous colours to choose from range from the pale and subtle greys of an English sky to the deep colours of a Cezanne painting

I will also be increasing my range of fabrics, and developing my garden range so very soon you will be able to have the Thomas and Lucia look for your whole home.

Now all I have to do it stick 27 paint samples onto every paint chart and I'll be ready for action!

Yesterday was the last chance for the menfolk to get their act together and buy Valentine’s gifts. I have had beautiful displays or hearts and scented soaps, candles and cushions (basically all that any woman would want) sitting in my shop for weeks just waiting for them to come in and say, ‘what gorgeous gift do you suggest for my lovely wife, girlfriend, mistress?’ and hardly a chap have I seen. They just don’t get it – that soap, hearts, candles and cushions make us feel happy, and a happy partner is a really good idea.

Yesterday however things changed and I had a fairly good stream on men looking for gifts which i was pleased to wrap for them.

 

 I haven’t had a valentine’s gift since 1985. My husband would point out that I haven’t given one since then but I don’t think that’s at all relevant. In 1985 we were living in rural Wiltshire in a converted barn with no insulation. I was pregnant with my first child. It was a very hard winter and the toilet froze- not ideal when you have to pee every half an hour. After two days of peeing in a bucket Matt whisked me off to Mudeford to stay in his mother’s cottage while he went back to Wiltshire for work. By Valentine’s day the loo had recovered and we returned to Wiltshire but it was still jolly chilly. The evening before Matt had come home late and grinning like a Cheshire cat. His smugness was short lived however as next morning I was awoken by him cursing and slamming the car door which he had had to prise open due to the ice. Peering out of the bedroom window I say him bring out a lovely bouquet of flowers. At least it was once a lovely bouquet of flowers, now it was brown and dead looking and looked like Miss Haversham’s wedding flowers having frozen in the car overnight. Poor chap was obviously traumatised as I haven’t had so much as a daisy on Valentine’s day since.

As the week goes on, inevitably cooler weather will be back. At Thomas and Lucia, I have been unpacking lots of new product for autumn. Autumn is probably my favourite season and I have gone a little crazy buying things with this great season in mind.

To give you a little inspiration for making the most of this season’s treats  here is a perfect (imaginary !) autumn day with Thomas & Lucia.....

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Maud's tomato sauce is a legend in our house. This sauce should come with a warning, because anyone you give it to will instantly fall in love with you. It is not for the faint hearted as it is packed with chili and ginger. My favourite way to serve it is with bacon and potato pie, or scrambled egg, or baked potatoes, or sausages or welsh rarebit, or .....

 

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I have just returned from France where I have been house sitting for my friends Felicity and Tony. Matthew and I had the arduous task of sitting by the pool, wandering round markets, and sampling Perigordian cuisine and walking the aging Labrador while we looked after their beautiful house in the Dordogne. My love of painted furniture and all things French also meant Matthew was dragged round more than his fair share of vide-greniers (car boots sales) and Brocante markets

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I have been in love with France for a very long time. I can remember the day this love affair began as vividly as if it were yesterday. I was sixteen, nearly seventeen and I had set off hitch hiking round Europe with my boyfriend. (Yes I know, what was my mother thinking!) We had reached Rouen and been for a coffee. In those days I didn’t realise that a ‘grande tasse de cafe au lait’ outside on the pretty terrace was a whole heap of francs more than a simple glass of vinegary white wine taken up at the bar. As a result we had just blown half a day’s allowance on said coffees. We walked a little hang dog to the outskirts of the city and started to try and hitch a lift. After a while, not long as in those days hitching was pretty easy, a battered 2CV pulled up. With a certain amount of difficulty we managed to clamber in with our giant rucksacks. These rucksacks could have been strapped together to form a serviceable raft if necessary. The guy who had picked us up spoke some English and our O level French had not yet gone rusty, so somehow we cobbled together a decent conversation. It turned out that the driver lived on a farm in the Normandy countryside and he offered us a bed for the night which we gladly accepted.

 

We duly arrived at the farmhouse which to me looked more like a chateau. We were introduced to various friends and the farmer’s grandmother who appeared to look after everyone. She was dressed head to toe in black and the prerequisite blue floral apron. We spent the evening listening to J J Cale and Eric Clapton, drinking wine and homemade cider. Dinner comprised several courses, none over filling but simply served on the same plate with traditionally salad as a course on its own. This was my first experience of a real French meal and I was falling fast.  Eventually we were ushered up to a room we could sleep in. No old z-bed with bri-nylon sheets and a pink candlewick in here. Instead there was an ornately carved oak bed with thick linen sheets and layers of bedcovers topped off by a huge fur throw. The walls, and typically French, the ceiling were covered with floral wall paper. In the corner of the room behind a screen was a bidet. I had led a sheltered life and had never seen one before and had no idea of its purpose. I spent a blissful night under the heavy bedclothes and slightly rough sheets and fell head over heels with every idiosyncratic aspect of French life.

 

We were never entertained in such a grand house again, but there were many times on that trip and subsequent visits to France, hitch hiking, walking or cycling when we asked if we could camp in someone’s field and instead were given bed and board and a very generous welcome. It was a wonderful way to really get to know a country  and I treasure those experiences. I doubt whether that openness towards total strangers would be quite so available now.

 

And what has that got to do with cushions? Well you may well ask. I have been busy unpacking stock over the last few weeks since our visits to the annual trade fairs. I have been very influenced by my enduring passion for France and have bought lots of cushions with stripes on them which are so evocative of France. I have been making cushions with Toile de Jouy and then finally there is a little cotton and linen cushion with a dainty sprig on it which I just adore and takes me back to those rustic interiors with wallpaper on the walls and ceiling. I know it is crazy but I can get very excited by cushions. (Kirstie would understand!)

 

To put my cushions on in the shop I have a French daybed which is my pride and joy. At home I have a tiny spare bedroom with a French day bed in, where I can go and lie down guiltily with a book and feel completely decadent in the middle of the afternoon on occasional days off.  I think I should paper the walls and ceiling with tiny sprigged wallpaper and dream of days in French farmhouses when I was sixteen nearly seventeen.

 

 

My second new year’s resolution was to get fit and lose weight. (Nothing original there then!) The first seven weeks of 2011 have seen me resolutely eating biscuits, being too tired to go to classes and finding reasons why I can’t walk to work. Last year I took part in a study with the Chiropractic college www.aecc.ac.uk  to see the effects of Nordic Walking on levels of fitness and spent weeks pacing along Boscombe promenade with other middleaged women and Nordic walking poles. The effects were amazing – I managed to lose a stone, my fitness improved dramatically and even my upper body strength improved. They run courses from the college so check out their website.

 

As with many things my enthusiasm waned by the Autumn and although I asked for Nordic Walking poles for Christmas and got them, they have stayed in their plastic bag under the stairs until now. Yesterday however was different. I got the poles out adjusted them correctly, donned my trainers and set out across the Stanpit marsh and behind the council offices and walked to work.

 

It was a glorious morning and I was immediately struck by how many signs of spring there were. When you walk you have time to notice the emerging buds, daffodils coming through and by the council offices great swathes of crocus (or is it crocii?) about to burst. The birdsong was lovely and the breeze was almost warm. It was a great way to start the day and one I will try and repeat most days.

 

Spring has come to the shop as well. I have been and bought lots of pots of daffodils, primroses  and hyacinth. I have also bought lots of wicker baskets with zinc linings to put them in and these make a lovely little arrangement. When the flowers have done their best inside, you can just pop them into a corner of the garden and get pleasure from them for years to come. I don’t make hardly any money on the bulbs and primroses, as if they go over I have to take them home, but it is worth having them just for the joy their cheerful blooms give. People frequently come in, buy one primrose pot. I wrap it in pretty tissue and we have a chat. We both feel great and they go off with a little bag of Spring sunshine all for £1.50.

 

My new favourite thing is to buy vintage cups and saucers and pop in a primrose or other small plant. These pretty arrangement make a great gift for Mum.

 

As well as all the fresh flowers, I have been busy buying faux flowers. I trained as a gardener and for many years ran a gardening and garden design business so hopefully I know my flowers. I have bunches of paeonies and fritillaria and lily of the valley which are so realistic I can barely tell. The stems of pussy willow are completely believable. I know that faux flowers are expensive but have several advantages. You can put them in places that real flowers just wouldn’t work, on hot window sills, in conservatories, bathrooms. They are a complete godsend for holiday homes. Plus the lack of mess can be a real advantage, for example real pussy willow  continues to develop in the vase and you end up with yellow pollen covering everything. I try to keep my faux flowers seasonal, so I put away the Narcissi and snowdrops once spring is over and bring out corn flowers an poppies. I am not advocating getting rid of fresh cut flowers from your home, far from it, but as an addition they can be really useful.

 

Next blog, new fabrics and sewing ideas.

 

Hi I’m Sue. With my husband Matthew I run Thomas and Lucia.

 

One of my New Year’s resolutions, or aspirations as we are now to call them, is to finally start a regular Thomas and Lucia blog. So here we are almost at the end of January and I have finally put fingers to keyboard.

 

There is a quiet revolution going on in this country, started I think by Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow when they took up knitting and now it has reached all parts of the country. It is a return to crafts and appreciation of craftsmanship. I am not just talking about crafts in the sense of knitting and decoupage etc I am also talking about a return to home cooking, growing food, the craft of baking, jam making and upcycling furniture and even green housekeeping.

 

I am thrilled to see this revival and particularly pleased to see those of my children’s generation in their twenties embracing the home-made culture. We were in danger of losing the skills that our mothers and grandmothers took for granted, skills which in these cash strapped times come in very handy. But now students are learning to make proper stock, scour second hand shops for vintage clothes and furniture and even grow a few veg. I bought my daughter Lydia a sewing machine for Christmas and she is delighting in making cushions and other items. I was taught to sew by my grandmother who was a seamstress and now I am happy to pass on what knowledge I have to my daughter. There are several books in the shop which will help inspire: Cabbages and Roses Natural Housekeeping, Homemade Vintage, and the Homemade Home.

 

 

Last Autumn I went on a furniture painting course run by Annie Sloan www.anniesloan.com . She was one of the crafts people featured in Kirstie’s Homemade home  www.channel4.com/4homes/on-tv/kirstie-s-homemade-home/

Ever since then I have been painting, distressing and gilding everything in sight. I have teamed up with a good friend of mine, local artist Maxine Marsh and we now spend a day a week in her chilly garage painting furniture both for ourselves and to sell in my shop. My bible reference book is ‘Quick and Easy Paint transformations’ by Annie Sloan which I also sell. We currently sell the Neptune paint which is great for furniture painting . It is available in both waterbased eggshell and emulsion. I am very happy to talk to you about your own painting projects and offer advice in the shop. As the year progresses you will start to see a steady stream of hand painted items coming in to the shop.

 

Another trend that is allied to this is the move away from the disposable to the craftsman made furniture which will last for generations. The Neptune furniture that we sell is all hand painted and having the paints available means you can paint existing pieces to match. You don’t have to ditch all your old pieces and start afresh, you can add new knobs or handles and a lick of paint and create a whole new look.

 

There is something very satisfying in doing crafts, there is no way I am an artist but being creative if good for the soul. So bring on the knitting!

 

 

We like to start the New Year off with a bang which is why we are having such a HUGE January sale!  We've discounted some of our most popular products with up to 50% off selected items and up to 20% off selected furniture with NO VAT increase! 

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If you've never heard of Neptune furniture, then your house is really missing out on these beautiful pieces of hand painted furniture.  Neptune makes quality furniture for every aspect of your home, with ranges of interior, kitchen and garden furniture.  They are passionate about design which is reflected in the quality of their products. Thanks to their skilled craftsmanship, your furniture will last a lifetime and probably two!  Not only does Thomas and Lucia supply this fabulous Neptune furniture, but we are also a Neptune Premier Partner so can do much, much, more...

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It's that time of year again, Christmas is just around the corner and you'll want to do something special to make your home look festive and create a wonderful Christmas atmosphere.  Decorating your home is one of the most exciting parts about Christmas and is something the whole family can really get involved in whilst having fun at the same time.

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We're really getting in to this social media lark and would like to announce that Thomas & Lucia now have our very own Facebook page!

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We believe every home should have a touch of seaside magic, helping you reminisc about those wonderful lazy days by the sea, whatever the weather.  Find out why Thomas & Lucia love the beach so much and what you can do to create your seaside themed home...

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We have finally joined the Twitter 'Twibes'!  Please follow us if you'd like to keep up to date with everything going on at Thomas & Lucia with our latest news, products, discounts and special offers.  Find out why we've joined...

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With Father's Day fast approaching Thomas & Lucia are here to help make things easier for you.  We have put together our Top 5 Father's Day Gift List to help you find the perfect gift he will truly appreciate.  

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