House Archives - Felicia Thomas

In Craft/ House Love

Home is the Nicest Word.

According to the dictionary it means, ‘House or other dwelling’. To me it means love, family, comfort, safety, coziness.

I am a home bird. My favourite place to be is home. Going on holiday is fabulous, but the day we’re returning i’m frantic to get back . It’s where my kids are (sometimes) & my dogs are. The word ‘home’ makes me happy.

It comes out a lot in things I make. There seem to be wonky roofed houses popping up everywhere- cards, paintings, notebooks, even necklaces. They make me smile, so I keep making them in the hope that they make someone else smile aswell! The obsession extends to real houses too, but until I get to build my dream home (a four bedroom bungalow , sounds fairly ordinary right? wrong- It’s going to freakin amazing!!!) I’m just making imaginary ones.

So, after making notebooks and painting pictures I moved on to wood. These houses are beyond quirky, they have been personalised with house numbers, family names, initials, but each one is made to bring a little magic into your home.

This one stands on the hearth in my sitting room, its 22″ tall and is nothing if not a conversation starter!

This one is available at The Beach House gallery in Dungarvan.

And you can find this one in Craft Makers, Tralee.

(Here is Miss Boo photobombing my house picture!)

I hope to have them on my Etsy shop soon, so if you want the perfect ‘new home’ gift for a friend or something made just for you and yours, you know where to come!

Felicia xx

16/08/2016 By felicia

In Felicia the Artist

Home made part 2…

Home made part 2…

Home is the nicest word there is….

The finished house.

I hope you had a lovely weekend,
Felicia xxx

24/01/2016 By felicia

In Felicia the Artist

Cottlestone Pie – let the renovations begin!

My Mum moved again…(her 10th move, but she promises that this is the last one)

For as long as I can remember my parents bought houses that needed a bit of love and made them beautiful. It might have been just a lick of paint or it might have been re wiring, re plumbing, build a wall, take down a wall – always a new kitchen and more wooden floors than I care to remember laying!

I’ll give you a quick background story to get you up to speed……

My Dad was in the army when my brother and I were born so we lived in barracks in England and Singapore. Then he left, got a job in the middle East which took him away for three months then home for one until he took early retirement in 1996.
We lived in one house in Kent for about ten years while we went to school, then when I went to college they started the “moving, re doing, selling ” dance and on and on it went. They actually had boxes that they didn’t unpack so they would be ready for the next move!

They moved to Ireland about 16 years ago and have had three houses in that time. This move is different though – this is my Mums first (and last) move without my Dad who sadly died nearly two years ago.
She has downsized to a 1974 bungalow in the perfect location – close to town but still in the countryside. It has three small bedrooms, a small kitchen and living room, a bathroom and an add on at the end which is being used as a store room at present.

Did you get that it is small? She calls it her Dollhouse, well, actually she called it “Cottlestone Pie” (its a song that Winnie the Pooh sings, she’s quirky like that!)

She chose it for the location, the garden and the fact that the renovations were only cosmetic…. or so we thought!

The first room to be tackled is the sitting room – its about 14x14ft with a chimney breast and a large window.

Here is the photo from the estate agents blurb:

I think whoever took this photo was outside with the camera sticking in the window because this photo makes it look bigger than it is!

That fireplace is very grand…. its actually very nice, but she felt it was a bit overpowering for the size of the room. “Wouldn’t a wood burning stove look nice there?” she said.

So, out it came.

The list of jobs turned out to be, take out the fireplace and back boiler, re line the walls because they were so uneven, take out the fitted shelves, take up the carpet and lay a wooden floor, put in new skirting boards and architrave, lay marble tiles instead of a hearth, have the stove installed, add lining paper to the walls and paint it & get new furniture.

We have traveled far and wide to find the furniture, I wanted this but I was outvoted….. look at how pretty it is!!!!