Workwear with no frills

Hello lovelies, how's tricks? I'm still knee deep in artworks, battling my way through the art upgrades in our holiday cottages. Today it's been Wigeon that has come under our attention. Mel and I have been planning the distribution of paintings across the final six cottages and this is certainly testing the grey matter as we try to balance the needs of each house with what we have at our finger tips. Here's some examples of rooms we've dressed so far -

This trilogy is by Ellie Verrecchia - see more here. 

On the right is a painting by Chris Hankey (more here) and on the left, one by Iona Sanders - more from her here. 

These three are by Cornish artist Maggie Matthews see more from her here.

Art for interiors is always fun as you sweep in at the last hour adding colour and character to each room, hopefully enhancing the soft furnishings and making the best of the room. No two rooms are finished to look the same and of course the gamble of adding bright contemporary art into old houses may not be to everyone's taste, but we love the finished looks.

My outfit of the day was very plain and simple. My turquoise corduroy dungarees are from Enjoy Clothing in Truro and have been aired on the blog previously. I've paired them with a bright orange roll neck, second hand from Vinted at only £5. My third addition are my white patent boots, quite old now, from TK Maxx. No rings (totally impractical when hanging art) and no necklaces for the very same reason. 

Sunglasses are my old favourites from Quay Australia.

I'll leave you with the spectacular view afforded from the lounge in Puffin Cottage. We'll be working our magic in there tomorrow - wish us luck!

Anna x

Workwear for this week

Hi there! Another week, another work outfit. Yes, I'm still working on my big art project, that of renovating all of the individual art collections held within almost 40 holiday cottages on Tresco. Today's photos are from the patio outside Maiden Bower which sits on the banks of Farm Beach. My new assistant Mel was keen for me to showcase my tool kit too. I laughed when she called me #bosswoman!

I've worked on over 30 cottages so far, removing old faded prints and replacing them with lovely original pieces of art, befitting of these luxury cottages, many of which have had new soft furnishings and fabrics added recently. These will all be shown on the Tresco website in due course. The challenge for me is to not only find the right paintings but also to hang them in the right spot. Navigating wonky old ceilings and heavy beams adds to the challenge of getting them to look right and of course, hang straight! My trusty spirit level has become a good ally and duly given a name - Betty. Where's Betty? is my constant cry in Mel's direction as I stand clutching the frame of a large painting as I try to find the sweet spot. 

And so on to the outfit of the day. Steve bought me this Love co-ord for my birthday. I'd seen this worn on Gogglebox (one of my favourite programmes) and had mentioned this to Sasha. Before I knew it, she'd tracked it down on Vinted. I've managed to do the same - if you'd like to buy it then there's one right here. The brand is Never Fully Dressed and they seem to make lots of outfits along the lines of Love. Cute, eh?

My boots are new, purchased from Vinted too. The brand is Zara and they were brand new with the labels on for £20. Terrific value for a pair of leather boots. I love the shape and the big chunky sole. Steve informs me that these are in fact farmers boots and that you'll see them on many a tractor across the land. Always ready with a compliment is my dear hubby!

The island is open for business now and the Gallery opens on Tuesday the 7th. I've called in lots of favours to cover the first week of opening while I continue with the cottage art. Hopefully I'll be back at the helm soon and in due course you'll be able to see the fruits of my labours when the photos go live on the website.

Many thanks for dropping by!

Anna x

All Buttoned Up, our SNA challenge for Feb

Hello again my lovelies! Can you believe it's the end of the month already? Well, the last Monday of the month at least, which means it's time for our Monthly Style Not Age Challenge and this month our theme is All Buttoned Up as chosen by Gail. I found this a very inspiring challenge, one that ties in with my latest news hobby-wise, but I'll share that in a moment. First, let's see how my fashionista friends approached the task in hand, shall we?

Emma is looking pretty in pink in this button featured trouser suit. The fact is that it's not even a suit, but a thrifted jacket and perfectly matching trousers. Catch up with her on her blog The Style Splash here for all the fashion details. 

Jacqui from Mummabstylish has opted for pinstripe sailor trousers as her buttoned up feature, a classic style that never goes out of fashion. A chunky roll neck and matching grey across the body bag completes this weekend look.

Hilda's lean and leggy look features her much loved jeans from Next with a buttoned up cardi/jacket from Zara which she confesses to hardly wearing, but goodness knows why not - it's very pretty! Read more from Hilda on her blog Over The Hilda. 

Gail does indeed have this month's challenge All Buttoned Up. Oh how I love all of this look! Black and white with a pop of orange makes for a stunning combination and her shoulder buttoned sweater is fab. See her back story here for all the style details. 

My buttoned up item is a thrifted linen pin tuck blouse by Jaeger which cost me £5. It was only when I got it home that I discovered a scorch mark on the sleeve. My bargain maybe wasn't so much after all and I relegated it, in rather bad humour, to my mending pile. Fast forward to last year when I had a bit of a creative moment and decided to try to cut and create some applique to cover up the offending area. 

The addition of another mulitcoloured sunflower bloom at the back of the blouse helped it look more of a feature than a cover up job.

The final alteration took place when Gail announced this month's challenge and I decided to remove all the rather boring white buttons and replace them with whatever I could find in my button box. My white linen blouse has become a quirky and unique addition to my wardrobe, another slow fashion item. I do feel rather pleased with the end result.

The rest of my outfit is made up from these lilac wide legged jeans from Primark and my old floral Converse boots. The day was a real bonus allowing me to find a spot out of the wind which looked like a perfect summer's day in February!

The day was quite a breezy one, a definite jacket day! Mine is by Pull and Bear purchased for £30 at TK Maxx last year. It's super cosy and I just love the colour. It makes me think of the famous poem by Jenny Joseph entitled Warning which starts with 'When I'm old I will wear purple'... Read it in full, here. 

I sat on the outcrop of rocks at the end of Saffron Bay and enjoyed the view on this blustery day, pleased to have my padded jacket on to beat the chill wind.

Oh, and finally, the news that I mentioned earlier, is that I've joined The Very Scilly Sewing Bee, a new course being run on St Mary's for the next five weeks. I'm excited to say that I'll be trying to make a dress for the very first time. As you may know, I've done bits of sewing in the past, but never made anything from a pattern. Hopefully I may have a dress to share with you sometime soon! Thanks for joining my friends and I for this month's challenge and please do pop across to see more from them on their own blogs if you have a moment.

Have a super week!

Anna x

Last week

Hello again! Yes, this was me last week at work, outside Norrard Cottage which is having an art upgrade to complete the recent refurb that's taken place. Apart from managing Gallery Tresco, I also curate all of the artworks in the 100 cottages on the island which can be quite a juggling act. This winter I've been tasked with the refresh of over 30 houses to make them ready for a photo shoot for the Tresco Island website. It's a joy to do, to find the perfect pieces to suit colour schemes and layouts of rooms. My new gallery assistant Mel drives us around on a little golf buggy loaded up with armfuls of art wrapped up in bubble wrap and off we hurtle in every direction most days. 

Workwear has to be practical on these days and for me that often means lycra to offer stretch and ease of movement. This camo two piece was from ASOS a couple of years ago and has been a great buy. I've paired it with these comfy boots from TK Maxx.

The orange puffa gilet was a purchase from Primark last summer (yes, shame on me for succumbing to fast fashion, especially after last week's post!). I'm a sucker for anything orange... Sunglasses are by Radley London.

You can check out some of the views from the holiday cottages on the Gallery Tresco Instagram account here. This back door view may not look terribly inviting, but just see the wonderful view from the loo here! Mel and I will be dodging about from cottage to cottage over the next couple of week as we add the icing to the cake in each of these holiday homes ready for the summer ahead. I'll post a link once the images are live on the website.

Have a great week!

                                                                                       Anna x