Happy 1st Birthday Kind Designs!
A year ago today Kind Designs went live! A big thank you to all our customers over the past year, and here's to welcoming more in the year ahead.

The grand unveiling!

The time I've been promising you is here - I can finally unveil our new Kind Designs products! They're up on our website, and all packed (well, mostly!) for our vintage fair on Saturday, so they're now ready to show to the world!
We have added to our range:
Natural slate fingerplates:

A bright blue boat fingerplate - perfect for a little boy's room:

A pretty pink flower fingerplate - turn a little girl's room into her boudoir;

A natural stone doorstop with stainless steel ring - it's heavy!:

Another natural stone doorstop with stainless steel ring - this time a tower:

A vibrant WC doorplate sign - let your guests know how to find the smallest room in the house!:

And an oblong wooden doorstop with stainless steel ring - made from rich and durable Iroko wood:

All of our products are inspired and created by ourselves to the highest quality and standard - we wouldn't produce anything that we wouldn't be happy with in our own home!

We hope you love them as much as we do!

A busy Jubilee weekend!

Chaotic but fun - getting all our stock ready for the Crikey Queenie It's Vintage fair on Saturday! Don't know why we've left it all to the last minute - or so it seems!
Please come to the Thistle Hotel in Exeter on Saturday from 10.30am to see us - we are unveiling our new range of Kind Designs fingerplates, doorstops and vintage hook boards. It's very exciting and we hope all our customers like them as much as we do. Slight delay on launching them on our website (our web guy is busy busy busy too), but hopefully it'll be soon.
A canoe trip on Friday evening gave us a chance to relax and enjoy our beautiful Devonian scenery (although cold, windy and choppy on the journey home!):

Really looking forward to the vintage fair on Saturday - and looking forward to meeting our fellow 'creatives'! Hope to see you there.

Kitchen update: fair stock has taken up most of our time, but floor sealed for the final time (phew) and skirting boards on! Jubilee party here we come!

The Olympic Torch Relay was flaming brilliant!

Well. yesterday our small Devonian town had it's 5 minutes of fame when it played host to the Olympic torch. Actually it was more like 6 hours of fame, fun, and frolics!
We left our house half-an-hour before the flame was due, thinking we would be 4 of only a handful of people on the small road junction where we planned to watch it.
We could not have been more wrong! We came out of our road and heard the buzz of thousands of voices! I have never seen so many people congregated either side of the roads, in a snake-like pattern along the entire route. Do all these people really live in such a small corner of south Devon?!
We actually had a bird's eye view on a balcony overlooking the estuary - half our family went down to the roadside to get the 'on foot' atmosphere, and half stayed up on the balcony, getting a special mention from the commentary (that may have had something to do with our homemade Olympic bunting, flags and posters!) and a direct wave and grin from the torch bearer!
A memorable event full of atmosphere - thoroughly enjoyed it! Here are some highlights:

 

For those of us who don't live near an Olympic venue or, for various reasons, can't get to see any Olympic events, I think it was inspired to do the torch relay, to take the Olympic 'buzz' country-wide. It has certainly created an interest on my part, which otherwise may not have been there!

On to business news - Kind Designs is having a stall at the Crikey It's Vintage fair on Saturday 2 June - another patriotic weekend! It's going to be an amazing event, held at the Thistle Hotel, Exeter.

We are looking forward to seeing everyone there!

Music festival hits the right note!

Last weekend we headed over to Dartmouth Music Festival and it turned into one of those lovely weekends where everything went right - gorgeous weather, brilliant atmosphere and happy family!
Here are a few highlights:

Have spoken to the web designer today and Kind Design's new products will be up and running on the site by the end of next week - it's very exciting! I took the final pictures yesterday, so it's all systems go.
Our town is looking very pristine and bedecked, awaiting the arrival of the Olympic torch on Sunday. I have never seen so many road sweepers out in force, people frantically hedge trimming and hanging bunting - it all looks amazing! Luckily it doesn't come right past our house, as our old Victorian railings wouldn't be up for scrutiny yet!
We will be flag-waving with the best of them, and turning it into a little party. I do however have one question - what happens if it rains? How does the flame stay alight? I know when I've tried to keep candles going in a shower (of the rain variety, not in the bathroom!), it is a no-go. I guess the Olympic flame will be a bit more technical though, and ready for any eventuality!
Kitchen update: tiles are grouted, and floor will be sealed for the final time this weekend.

Apparently we're still in drought! Who are they kidding?! My run today was carried out through thick fog, drizzle and gale-force winds! Birds were literally taking off from the path and being whipped away in the opposite direction they intended by the blustery conditions! My usual 'markers' - ie once I get to the white house, I'll be halfway there, once I get to that amazing sea view, I'm on the home straight - were shrouded in mist, and it was hard to tell where I was!
The Olympic torch is passing through our town next week, which is very exciting - quite a momentous event. Apparently it's travelling on the bus too, which could be quite amusing - I thought they were non-smoking journeys with strictly no naked flames! But we will be flag-waving and cheering with the best of them!
Also exciting is picking up a vital piece of 'kit' for our new products tomorrow - then I can finally unveil them to you. I hope it's worth the wait! We think it will be, and it opens Kind Designs up to a whole new marketplace.
This was created yesterday (still in our old ancient tiny kitchen sadly) to lift the spirits on yet another mizzly day - it perked up 'cup of tea' time!

Kitchen update: Tiles are all up and looking fab - just awaiting their silver-grey grout.

A Devon holiday!

Well, I started this blog with all good intentions to update it regularly, but it turns out life is far too manic to actually carry out that threat! However I do intend to contribute as often as I can, so don't give up on me!
We had a lovely Easter holidays in sunny (sometimes) Devon - an Easter Sunday/birthday lunch at our house, followed by an energetic game of cricket, where the combined age of participants totalled 325 years! And none of us out for a duck!
We utilised our National Trust membership by visiting lots of properties and participating in their Easter Egg hunts, which brings out the competitive side of our children! We also met some very dear friends who we don't get to see often enough and tried to catch up a year's events in 5 hours! Turns out it's not possible! Counting down to the next reunion already!
Take a look below at various shots of our 'downtime':

Now down to business. In my last post, I promised you news of my latest Kind Designs products - well, they've all been sent to the web designer today, so I'm hoping it'll all be live in the next week or two. There are a couple of photographs outstanding, which I'm hoping to get creative with at the end of this week - fingers crossed for some brighter weather to do the job of the studio lights for me! Then I will showcase them on this very blog!
Kitchen update: tiling is nearly finished, units are all in - we are nearing completion!