Well dear subscribers, I can only apologise but, in the first time I think since starting substack back in February, I missed a week posting!
It wasn’t strictly intentional - but as is often the way, I was monumentally optimistic around what I was able to get done in a week and ran out of both time and energy! There was also plenty that came up unexpectedly too that slowed me down, but still… my apologies!
But, that busyness meant I do actually have something new to share with you that I hope in some small way, makes up for not writing anything last week as 2 of the jobs I managed to get completed last week were firstly laying the floor in the butlers pantry, and then getting the first of the two wallpapers I’m using in there on the walls! Reveals are usually kept for big posts on instagram, but here you’ll find the progress shots below, behind the paywall for those paying subscribers!
On top of that it was Cot’s birthday and as usual we made life difficult for ourselves by hosting (we love it really!), albeit a smaller affair than usual due to aforementioned busyness! It was a very lovely day on Saturday… I cooked some simple bits over fire, and we used a bit of the garden we don’t normally use for anything, that Cot has been working on. It’s quite enclosed (and is where I’m hoping one day I’ll position my workshop), nestled in the corner of the tall walls with the trees creating some dappled shade… I’m hoping the workshop will be pretty enough to serve as a sort of rustic sitting and camp fire type area for cooking and gathering - it gets the last of the sun too so is a lovely spot in the evenings!
I was busy too with content! There’s some content that is lovely and relaxed… most of the renovating type content I do, I have to explain to the brands I work with, it might be a bit of a slow burn mainly because, I’ve absolutely no idea how long it’s going to take me to do a room given I’m unsure exactly what I’ll find… the lowered ceiling in the butlers pantry and the subsequent work needed to repair the ceiling and cornice and scrape paint and sand and all that jazz, is many, many hours of extra work I could never plan for… and thankfully, most are very patient (though I’ve certainly lost work in the past because of turn around times), and understand that whilst slow, ultimately this is the authentic reality of renovating something like Admirals single handed, and usually means when people do see the results, the anticipation is great enough that the content performs well, and everyone is happy!
But, there’s other work I do that is so frequently tight with turn around time - and I’m never quite sure why - but usually means dropping everything, working late into the evening and getting it done at the expense of everything else.
A recent campaign, that had taken 3 months of wrangling and negotiating (thankfully this is now done by my agency, rather than me as it had been for the 6 years before this!), once contracts were signed, gave me 48 hours to turn the content around for their approval. Obviously the nature of my content, usually, is very time consuming, and often filmed over a series of weeks as spaces change etc. so, it’s certainly a challenge for someone that makes content like I do vs. say someone that might be focussed around food or fashion or beauty. And being someone that always wants to do the best they can, it can cause a bit of stress that’s for sure!
But, if it was easy, I’d get bored haha so, it keeps me on my toes!
The second half of this article is for my paid subscribers. I hope you enjoyed the first half, and fear not - the pantry reveal will appear on Instagram at some point in the next couple of weeks if you’re not a full subscriber! If you would like to upgrade, click the button below (but please don’t do it through your app as it costs you more money! It’s cheaper on the desktop version - but still gives you full access through your app, it’s just apple taking a large cut that they don’t pass on!).
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