Thrifty Stylish Home

Our kitchen...and our life is about to change

2011-05-27T12:04:00.013+01:00

It's been almost a year since I've written on here... shocking! And as I sit here typing our first baby is one day overdue (doesn't he know that his mummy likes schedules and good timekeeping?!) and so I'm trying to entertain and distract myself. I've cleaned and tidied and read books in the two weeks I've been off work on maternity leave, and the Boy says he can't tell whether I'm nesting or whether it's just my 'normal' tidying. However, as I was compelled to wash all the cushion covers yesterday AND iron them, I think we can safely say it's nesting. I've also been napping. I've always been a fan of the afternoon nap, but two hour naps most afternoons are new even to me. I wonder how I ever had time for full time work! I do realise, too, that I'm in the unusual position of only having myself to look after at the moment - no needing to take care of other children or even cook meals... I'm very lucky. Having said all that, I'm more than ready for our little one to arrive now!

Anyway, waaay back I posted a few 'to do' lists, including one about our kitchen.
http://thriftystylishhome.blogspot.com/2009/08/to-do-list-post-3-kitchen.html

In January our kitchen finally got the attention it deserved, and a bit of an update. We repainted, bought some new appliances, replaced the work surface and sink etc and I'm really thrilled with the results.

As ever, budgets were an issue so we kept costs as low as possible. We couldn't really justify new cupboards because our old ones were in good condition and the layout was fine so we opted to paint them instead (in Farrow & Ball's Pavilion Grey) and it makes such a difference.

I had originally talked about painting the walls in a bright pink, but I changed my mind and decided to go with simple white, which ties in with the rest of the flat. I thought that we could easily change it if we wanted to, and I was keen to keep things simple and uncluttered looking.

We bought new appliances (over, hob, hood and dishwasher) from Currys at very competitive prices; a beautiful iroko work surface from Kitchen Worktops direct (recommended by a couple of people I know) and a ceramic sink and tap from Kitchen Appliances Direct. It also had been recommended by a friend and we found the prices to be really, really competitive. Although we contemplated a belfast sink for a while we're really delighted with the one we chose - a double sink is handy, it's deep enough to hide the dishes before they make it into our new dishwasher and it also meant that we didn't lose the valuable cupboard space below. Our tiles were from Topps Tiles and we went with simple white metro tiles, but with grey grout, which I think makes them stand out a bit more. The other change, was a cabinet that we got built to box in our boiler, and provide some valuable storage (as we'd lost a cupboard and a drawer to accommodate the new dishwasher). We also added a bit of a breakfast bar, that I love. We bought some bar stools from eBay (which I need to stain still) and it's a lovely place to sit with a morning coffee. It's also a handy extra surface for serving up meals etc.

Anyway, here are some 'after' pics, which I do hope you like. (You can click on the link of the post above for the before shots).

Our new 'breakfast bar' area - and you can just see the still-to-be-stained stools, too. We want to stain them darker to match our Danish-oiled work surface.

The handy storage in our new boiler cupboard. Slightly messy, I admit...

And in case you can't be bothered to click on the link above, here's a quick 'before' shot of our cupboards, old work surface and dated tiles. Yuk!

Subscribe to Thrifty Stylish Home by email

Studio

2010-06-13T14:49:00.005+01:00

SO, as promised quite some time ago, here are some pictures of the boy's new music studio, which also doubles as an office space.

This room is the biggest 'bedroom' in our three bedroomed flat, so when we moved in it automatically seemed to be the one that we should sleep in. However, I just never really liked it. Part of is was probably the furniture - whilst we were in that room we never really satisfactorily sorted out storage, and so had too many clothes in far too small a wardrobe. Another big contributing factor was, I think, the light. That room faces east, and I just didn't like the quality of light if you ever went into the bedroom during the day. After some time we moved into the box room, which I love. Then we thought it was silly that the largest room was our guest room, so we decided to re-jig and use it for a studio space (as the the boy isn't nearly so bothered about light issues as I am); we'd move into the medium sized room (the former studio) and our guests would have to make do with the smallest room. The whole arrangement now suits us perfectly.

I've posted already about getting wooden floors laid downstairs (apart from the studio, because of the sound), which makes everything look cleaner and airier, and also, even though they're dark oak, seems to throw light around better than the old carpet ever did. I've also posted about getting decent wardrobe space for the first time ever. SO, here are just three pics of the new studio.

The boy is saving up for decent studio furniture, which would keep things much tidier than the current arrangement where he uses an ancient, battered old table that we bought from a man in the neighbourhood for just £20. We also need to get at least one office chair and I'm planning to paint the cheap little ikea stool (that you can just see under the desk, with a cushion on top) a cool, battle-ship grey.

A key part of sorting out this new space for to find a spot for my late Dad's fabulous old desk. My Mum is planning on moving house, and so didn't want to keep this ancient, heavy piece of furniture, but I've always loved it, and plus I couldn't see my Dad's desk going to anyone else. Dad rescued it from a pile of stuff that his work were getting rid of in the 70s. He just couldn't see it go to waste. Who knows how old it is, but its solidly made and I'm sure it will out-live me. I love that its old and battered and has a bit of a story. I also like that I now have somewhere for stationery, gift wrap, cards, ribbons, sewing things, old diaries etc etc

The studio is a very functional room, and also one that we've spent no money on, so it's not the most stylish room in the house by any stretch, but it's perfect for what we need it for. I love that we've re-used old things and also that it's a room we can all use - I'm including Millie the cat, as she has her cat flap in this room too, as it backs on to the garden!

Watching my garden grow...

2010-05-23T22:01:00.011+01:00

It's been SUCH a gorgeous weekend! I love the sunshine, and it makes such a nice change when it's here at the weekend rather than in the week when everybody is stuck in the office!

We have a shared back garden - us and five other flats, but only us and the next door flat really use it, which is great! I do any gardening that gets done, aside from the occasional grass cutting, which the management company does. I know very little about gardening, but I would like to learn a bit more. I love going down to Columbia Road flower market on a Sunday and trying to soak up some of the knowledge that those guys there have, and I always come back with bags laden down with plants. I did my window boxes last weekend - simple pink geraniums - and this weekend I planted some tomato plants and lettuce. I haven't grown either before, so fingers crossed in a few weeks we'll have some lovely fresh salad ingredients.

I planted the lettuce in a pot - they said that 3 plants could easily fit in a 12 inch tub, and I used a peat free compost too, so hopefully that will work. The tomatoes I put in a window box that I've got hanging from some railings, and I just used normal compost. I'll let you know how I get on...

Millie being curious about the lettuce -

Little tomato plants -

Some shrubbery -

Some bluebells in amongst the weeds (though as they're quite pretty weeds I decided to leave them there!) -

Some window boxes, which are actually on the back wall rather than the window ledge. Pictures of other window boxes out front to follow another time

An attempted return to the blogging!

2010-05-21T20:52:00.006+01:00

Sorry! I know I haven’t written for an eternity, and it’s for a mixture of reasons. I’ve been busy at work; we’ve been busy at home (with the boy preparing for the launch of album number two); we’ve been on holiday and also, I realised that when I was writing blog posts I found that they weren’t really coming out quite the way I’d originally intended when I started the blog!

I guess in the beginning I was feeling all gung ho and inspired by a few things that I’d put together cheaply for the house that people had commented on, but then once I’d written about DIYing pictures; what a difference some cute cushions can make etc etc I was kind of stuck. We’re not great at the DIY, and so even though our floorboards, for example, are only from B&Q the fact that we didn’t lay them ourselves seems to preclude them from being truly ‘thrifty’. Luddite that I am, I don’t really fancy re-naming the blog as such, but maybe from now on in my own head I’m going to think of it more as ‘thifty stylish homes & random inspirations & some room reorganisation & the odd bit of decorating’. I hope this will encourage me to carry on writing, because I was really enjoying it when I was doing it, and also mean that I feel I can write about a broader range of things, too. Having just had 10 days off for example, I’ve also come back all buoyed up about some great books I’ve just read and longing to see our cat, who I realise hasn’t been pictured on here nearly enough! Books and cats – both inspiring in their own way!

Here's Millie, in the studio, sitting on the printer! (More pics of the studio to follow soon, as we've just had a little move around in there).

And here are 3 of the 5 books I enjoyed on holiday! I wasn't so keen on the new Maggie O'Farrell (not pictured), which I also read (though I adore After You'd Gone and The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox), but I loved One Day; Brooklyn and I also really enjoyed The Group by Mary McCarthy, which follows eight graduates from exclusive Vassar College as they find love and heartbreak, forge careers, gossip and party in 1930s Manhattan...

A floor lamp needed

2010-02-07T11:43:00.004Z

Meant to say in previous post, what we are still missing is some sort of lamp so that we can read in bed. I quite like the idea of something quite modern, to contrast with the more traditional wallpaper. What I'd really love is an anglepoise lamp, but sadly the budget won't stretch to that. I was looking online and saw this one from B&Q. What do you think?? (and sorry, you'll have to squint, because I can't seem to get the images any bigger!)

Subscribe to Thrifty Stylish Home by email

Our new bedroom... previously the studio

2010-02-07T11:09:00.009Z

Soooo, our wooden floors are done downstairs (B&Q solid oak floor); our wardrobe is up (IKEA Pax); the wall is papered and the curtains are hung (both Laura Ashley Heligan). Happy days!

Getting the floor done was actually more of an upheaval that we had anticpated. I don't think you realise how much 'stuff' you've accumulated, until you have to move it from one room to another! We basically had to clear everything from under two double beds (which included boxes and boxes of the boy's old singles)as well as the contents of the wardrobe and drawers etc etc. And because we were switching the studio and bedroom around (the new studio/old bedroom being the only room that wasn't getting the wooden floor treatment) we ended up piling all the studio stuff into the back bedroom (see pics on previous post) before moving it in order to enable us to get to the bed etc so we could move that into the new bedroom. Lots of heavy lifting.

Anyway, it's done now - aside from touching up the walls in a few places and re-painting our woodwork (which inexplicably always seems to go yellow even though we paint with good quality white gloss). I love our new bedroom (petite though it is), and I also LOVE having decent wardrobe space for the first time ever. We've kept our old wardrobe and put it in the small bedroom, so guests will have somewhere to hang their things too. Yay.

Hope you like!

Pictures of the new studio (complete with my late Dad's shabby old oak desk that I've always loved, and that we collected from home last weekend) will follow!

Wallpaper and curtains

2010-01-17T14:09:00.005Z

In a few minutes of rare decisiveness I've just ordered some wallpaper and curtains in the Laura Ashley sale for our new bedroom (the old studio). I've loved the Heligan pattern for ages, and actually thought about using it in the back bedroom (new studio)and brought a sample home. I decided against it, but took it around to a friend's house thinking it would look great in her guest room, and it does! So she has a heligan covered chimney breast and heligan curtains in her guest room, with lovely green walls. I think we're going to keep our walls white and just paper one wall... Hopefully it will look restful and lovely.

Floor laying is going on at a pace downstairs - though still no skirting boards in the bedroom, so we can't start moving stuff back in yet. I'm so impatient, and I HATE mess, so I just can't wait to get it all done! We're away for the next two weekends, so not sure when we're going to be able to order our wardrobes - I might have to bribe a friend to take us to Ikea one week night.

All promising progress though!

Pre-wooden floor chaos!

2010-01-16T19:21:00.003Z

A few snaps of the chaos! We spent last night clearing out the studio so that wooden floors could be laid today. They're looking great, but the skirting boards still need to be replaced. That will be done tomorrow, and then the work will start on the hallway... The plan is that by about lunchtime tomorrow we should be able to move the bed and wardrobe etc into the old studio / new bedroom. Hopefully we can then sort out the new studio / office. We've already moved the piano and so once the bed is out of the way we'll be able to sort everything else out. In two weeks time we're hiring a van and driving back to Dorset to collect a huge oak desk that belonged to my wonderful Dad. I can't wait to have it in our home, and have told the boy that he has to keep the studio tidy in honour of the desk!!

More soon....

Piles of music equipment...

And you can see the floor in the old studio / new bedroom!

Wooden floor excitement

2010-01-02T16:50:00.007Z

I'm very excited because on Wednesday our wooden flooring is being delivered!! We've already got dark oak flooring upstairs (in the lounge and hallway - our house is kinda upside down) and we're now doing the hallway and two of the bedrooms downstairs. We got the flooring from B&Q, but it really does look great (we're going for the same one again). I was a bit disappointed that we only saved 15% in the sale this year, 2 years ago we saved a whopping 30%. Still, 15% isn't to be sniffed at I guess.

We're going to move the boys music studio into the large bedroom (currently guest room and dressing room) and he's going to keep the carpet in there as it's better for the sound. Our new guest bedroom, complete with wooden floors, will be the medium sized room AND very excitingly once the floors are down we're going to order 200cm of wardrobe space - 2 double wardrobes worth. As we're getting IKEA Pax ones the rails will be double height so it should quadruble the pitiful wardrobe space we have at the moment.

Realistically I don't expect this all to be completed before the beginning of February, but I CAN'T WAIT! I'm slightly worried about all the stuff I'm going to find under both the double beds when we move them... but I guess January is the perfect time for a clear out!

Photos to follow soon...

A belated Merry Christmas!

2009-12-27T16:27:00.008Z

How terrible - I haven't written a blog since October. Crazy. I'm not really sure why - work was very busy, we've had quite a few visitors, I had nothing to say or show that was a patch on what fellow bloggers share... ANYWAY - practically new year, and hence the time for resolutions. I resolve to write more blog posts, and to do some of the housey things I'm always talking about!

We've been having a lovely Christmas break and, counting weekends too, I've got 17 days away from the office. Brilliant, eh? We had a London Christmas this year, with my Mum coming up from Dorset to stay with us. On Christmas day itself we went around to some good friends who conveninently live about 2 minutes away, and ate with them. So, Christmas without having to cook - even better!

To ease myself back into the blogging habit I just thought I'd share a few pics of our Christmas decor, our ever growing kitten, and the dining room table around at my friends house...I love decorating our tree each year, bringing out the big box of decorations, many of which my mum and I made together when I was small. We add to it each year too, and I love having a mixture of things on the tree. I'm afraid we don't have themes or colours just a big mixture of Christmas memories and campness (pear necklace wearing festive frogs, anyone?!) The big, slightly scruffy cardboard Santa (or Santy if you're Irish) on top of the tree came from the boy's childhood, so that sits atop each year too!

Our Christmas dining room table -

Lovely Christmas bunting - a present from a friend

Millie the kitten found the tree quite exciting, but to date has been very good and not pulled the whole thing over. She does like to play with the decorations though!

She also loves paper...and ribbons...so wrapping presents took a bit longer than normal

A cute garland with wooden hearts and pegs, that holds some of our cards

Our own table - we had friends to dinner on Christmas Eve

A huge renovation

2009-10-11T18:18:00.004+01:00

A friend of mine has just bought an ENORMOUS house, around the corner from us in North London. He's going to be renovating it over the next few months (estimates from builders suggest it'll take about 5 months, but I can't see how it'll be that quick) and I'm going to try and keep track of his progress on this blog. The house really is in quite a state, and it smells very badly of damp and other nasty things. It will however, be amazing when it's done. It's 3 stories, plus basement, and is going to have 3 bedrooms, a study, 2 large bathrooms, 2 reception rooms and a kitchen (which he's going to extend slightly to the side of the house).

The first thing I'm going to tell him he should buy is this -

I can just see it hanging in the front reception looking very elegant!

A bedroom reorganisation

2009-09-30T22:57:00.004+01:00

Sooooooo, it struck me yesterday, whilst at work and taking a mini break from hammering the phones and nagging journos, that maybe the solution to the big bedroom dilemma (I'm forever whittering on about hating the decor but not knowing what to do) was to switch our rooms around. My slightly mad proposal is to move the boy's music studio into the large bedroom, and move the guest bed and our clothes into what is currently the studio (the medium sized room in our three bed pad).

The benefits are:
it's at the front of the house so get more sun than the back;
it's cosier and would suit some fantastic wallpaper I've seen (Osborne & Little Foxglove!);
we could fit a double bed, a double or quadruple wardrobe and maybe even a little mini dressing table area;
the boy would feel so guilty about snagging the biggest room that he has agreed another wardrobe could remain in the new studio space;
the boy would have space for music stuff and another desk for freelance design and marketing work (the perfect live/work solution).

The wallpaper I like -

Anyway - the change won't happen before Chritmas I wouldn't have thought - when we can take some time off and switch things around. I also think if we're doing that we might as well get wooden floors downstairs (maybe in January sales...) Pictures and more dull musings on this issue to follow, I'm sure! ;-)

Shopping in Bruges

2009-09-28T20:23:00.005+01:00

We went to Bruges recently, which is the prettiest, prettiest place in the world. We also found a brilliant shop there called Maisons Dumonde. As it was my birthday the boy let me browse for as long as I liked! It's a little bit like Zara Home, and was really reasonable. I bought some great distressed looking silver tea light holders and a couple of presents for a friend for Christmas (yes, Em, that's you!).

Here are a few of the other delights I liked -

http://www.maisonsdumonde.com/

Subscribe to Thrifty Stylish Home by email

Pretty things on stones

2009-09-23T21:47:00.004+01:00

I'm often talking about how I like to snap things I notice as I'm walking about the place, so thought I'd share these two additions to my file of 'pictures-I-must-print-and-do-something-with'! The first we noticed whilst on a brilliant clifftop walk in the south of France, and the second was on the side of one of the buildings we saw this weekend, in Bruges.

A reminder of these two great images as well, taken near my home in North London.

As I've probably said before, I really like using this sort of thing to make a great, cheap picture for the wall!

Subscribe to Thrifty Stylish Home by email

More bedroom inspiration

2009-09-17T23:21:00.006+01:00

No posts for weeks, and then two in one evening! Who'd have thought?!

My mind has been turning yet again to our large bedroom, which I still haven't re-decorated. I realise that there's a problem with these pictures - my eye is often drawn to bright and white, and sadly the east facing bedroom can't carry this sort of look off. I don't think. However, you can never compile too many inspiring pictures! What do you reckon?

Images from Living Etc

Subscribe to Thrifty Stylish Home by email

Mille the kitten ventures outside

2009-09-17T23:07:00.005+01:00

Sorry I haven't been updating very regularly recently - everything has been very busy...with no change in sight for the next 6 weeks or so!

We have had time, however, to take the kitten for her first trips out to the garden. She was soooo terrified the first time she could barely walk her legs were shaking so much. Here's a little picture of her once she go into her stride, and realised that the outside world was full of exciting things to look at.

And here she is looking just a little bit evil - on the stairs!

Subscribe to Thrifty Stylish Home by email

Cushions - and a resolution

2009-08-31T21:05:00.012+01:00

As I've said before I'm not great at DIY (and neither is the boy) and so I love the fact that it can be so easy to update a room quickly and cheaply by adding some new cushions and other accessories.

Cushions are a fantastic way of adding a bit of colour to a room, or character to an old couch, or interest to a bed. I’ve bought lots of our cushions online - there’s a lady in Cornwall who makes cushions with popular fabrics and so I have cushions to match the Summer Palace wallpaper in the small bedroom and also the Erin wallpaper in the larger room.

I think that my favourite cushions are these Designer’s Guild style ones that adorn our Barcelona chair.

And just visible in the corner here is my cushion with russian dolls - it adds some fun to our sofa.

Here are the summer palace fabric cushions...

And the erin fabric one...

Here are a couple of cushions that are on my wish list (from Grey Loves Pink and Karen Elton design) -

It would of course be fairly easy, I'm sure, to make your own cushions. And this is where the resoultion part of this post comes in! There's somewhere in Islington called The Make Lounge and they run day courses in various crafts - you can make cushions and many other things. There's lots more information on their website. They say - For the price of a night out or less, we’ll teach you to sew, make jewellery, work with leather, crochet or embroider, create your own bath and body products and much more.

http://www.themakelounge.com/

Subscribe to Thrifty Stylish Home by email

Cox & Cox Birds - thank you!

2009-08-27T22:08:00.005+01:00

Thanks so much to Huma at http://herlittleplace.blogspot.com/ who ran a competition to win a few pairs of friendship birds from Cox & Cox. How cute are they?

I've got one in our bedroom, and I intend to give one to my mum whose birthday is in a couple of weeks.

Whilst we're on the subject of birds I finally snapped this cool pigeon that I'd been looking at every morning on my way to work! Maybe I'll print it out and frame it.

Subscribe to Thrifty Stylish Home by email

To do list, post 3 - the kitchen

2009-08-25T20:16:00.010+01:00

Kitchen

*Paint kitchen cupboards . Sadly we can’t justify getting a new kitchen, but I would like to get the cupboards painted. I hate this dated pine look, and instead would like a shabby chic distressed white finished. I’d also like a new work surface. This kitchen has been here since the our home was built, about 10 years ago.

Here's the far corner of the kitchen, as you're looking from the door.

And the other side - as you come in the door on the right hand side, next to the fridge freezer.

Our lovely tea and coffee caddies, and cake stand / fruit bowl (minus either at the moment!)

The view out of the kitchen window to our little garden.

*Paint the walls pink. The boy thinks this is plain silly – but I saw a picture of Sophie Conran’s bright pink kitchen in a magazine once and fell in love. Our kitchen might be too small to pull off such a strong colour, but I’d like to give it a go. Although it would mean changing our pictures, which are there to bring out the blue of the current kitchen.

Here's Sophie Conran's kitchen (in a photo from Red magazine) - isn't it gorgeous!

And another pic I found on the Living Etc site that I loved!

Subscribe to Thrifty Stylish Home by email

A small bedroom digression - I want, I want some yellow art

2009-08-20T23:00:00.004+01:00

Have just been browsing around blogland and have come across www.madebygirl.com.

How would this rather wonderful yellow print look on the wall to the left of the bed? So, as you look at the bed in the previous post, the white wall you can just see. It's the wall with the window on it.

I think the typography of this print would be in strong contrast to the prettiness of the wallpaper, but maybe that doesn't matter... Opinions welcomed! x

To do list, post 2

2009-08-20T21:00:00.010+01:00

Small bedroom

I do love this room, especially since the introduction of the ‘LOVE’ pillow cases, but we could do with a few more things.

*curtains - at the moment we have the cheap, rough cotton curtains we got when we moved in, as a quick solution to privacy. I would like something much prettier, and floatier. No inspiration pics yet, but I will look for some soon.

*vintage mirror on a chain - I think this would add interest to the wall opposite the bed, the one that also contains our bird pictures. It would also reflect the lovely bird wallpaper. I love this collection of mirrors.

And here is our little bird gallery.

*a bedside lamp - to sit atop our little 40p-spray-painted-blue bedside table. Isn't this vintage number cute? (via flikr)

And here's the table it would sit on.

My 'to do' list, post 1

2009-08-16T14:14:00.007+01:00

Today I’ve decided to share my ‘to do’ list. Or part of it at least, otherwise I think the post might become far too long.

I’ve always been a list-maker, so the little moleskin notebook that I carry around in my handbag is always full of lists of some description – shopping lists, present lists, card lists and, the biggest list of all, ‘things to do to the house’. The list is broken down by room, and some of the tasks seem rather big for the un-DIY couple that we are, and so I think that that they are, sadly, destined to stay on the list for quite some time. However, I’m going to try and ensure that’s not the case. At the moment the list is something like this –

Large bedroom
I’m not sure if you remember, that although this should really be the ‘master bedroom’ in our three bed maisonette, we prefer to sleep in our tiny little room, and so this room is a guest room, and our ‘dressing room’.

*Buy a new wardrobe (this is the most important thing in the world…just look how terrible the situation is at the moment. I considered getting something built in, but I think that the credit-crunch-savvy option is a trip to IKEA for a PAX wardrobe. You can get ones in an l-shape, so hopefully we’ll be able to hugely increase our storage. I’d also like to get an old fashioned, tall, wooden chest of drawers – to counteract the modernity of the wardrobe)

I'm embarrassed by this - look how awful it is...

I like the look of this light, airy clothes storage solution (via Desire to Inspire)

Realistically, I think this is what I'm aiming for (although slightly smaller, and I think with glossy white doors)

*Sand bedroom wall – and repaint sanded area (before we got a glass shower screen in our bathroom we had a bit of an issue with leaking water, and it managed to get onto our adjoining bedroom wall and has bubbled the paintwork. This task just requires borrowing / buying / hiring a sander, and will probably only take 5 minutes)

*Repaint (as I’ve said before I’m not happy with this room, and think that unfortunately it might be the white paintwork in the East facing lower-ground floor room that is the problem. Am still undecided as to what colour to paint.)

Here are three rooms that I love (via Ideal Homes magazine and Desire to Inspire)

*Shorten curtains (I love that they sweep the floor, but still need a good few inches taking off them. This is, I think, a job for my Mum next time she comes to visit)

A kitten update

2009-08-12T22:35:00.004+01:00

I thought it was high time I shared a couple more pics of our little kitten, who isn't nearly so little anymore. We're still completely smitten and spend far too much time talking about the cat and her wellbeing! Isn't she gorgeous though?!

Subscribe to Thrifty Stylish Home by email

My new pillowcases!

2009-08-11T23:03:00.003+01:00

How could I forget?! Here, proudly displayed on our bed, are my new pillowcases. The boy really couldn't believe that I spent £32 (from Cox & Cox)on pillowcases, but I think they're worth every penny. The pink of the 'LOVE' nicely sets off the pink of the birds on the wallpaper... The boy, rather unromantically I thought, suggested we could also switch them around and have 'VELO' if we preferred!

Subscribe to Thrifty Stylish Home by email

A couple more things to add to my wish list...

2009-08-11T22:39:00.006+01:00

Do you ever get days at work where you work flat our for a bit and then need to reward yourself with a diet coke from the canteen and a little rest? This was me this afternoon, so after putting the world to rights with my colleague I spent a happy little ten minutes or so browsing the Graham & Green website. I do love their stuff, even though some of it is quite pricey. I'd like to add these two little things to yesterday's wish list -

These lovely, lovely mirrored butterflies - so cute.

And also one of these pouffes. We really need to sort out extra seating in our lounge. With a three seater sofa and a one chair as soon as we have more than one guest we're either sitting in a row (not conducive to great chats) or otherwise someone is sitting rather awkwardly on one of our wooden dining room chairs. One of these pouffes would mean that an extra (albeit small) person could be accommodated!

Subscribe to Thrifty Stylish Home by email

I want, I want

2009-08-09T23:06:00.008+01:00

Alongside the long 'to do' list of things I'd like to do to our home, I have a list of things I'd really love. Of course none are urgent or necessary, just things that I like very much! Here's a selection...

Charles Eames RAR Rocking Chair
If I didn’t have my Barcelona chair, I would buy a white eames rocker and have it in the same space. I’d also like one in our spare bedroom, to offset the beautiful white build-in wardrobe, that exists in my head - but sadly not in reality yet. I'd probably buy a white one, but I think this yellow one is just lovely too.

Portmeirion love and peace crockery
Because it is very lovely. I think I would smile every time I sat down to my dinner, or my cup of tea.

A starburst mirror
I haven’t really got space for another mirror, but these are sooo lovely. I always see this one from Next in magazines, and every time I vow to pop down to Tottenham Court Road and take a look in the shop.

A car
Living in London I can't really justify getting a car, but sometimes I do miss the flexibility it can give you.

I’m a bit over the Figaro and the modern Beatle, which I used to covet, but I’ll never tire of the cute-as-a-button Fiat cinquecento. The old ones of course, not the new one, which I don’t think has the heart and soul of the original. I also like Morris Minors. However, for someone who has never changed oil or a wheel ( the most practical thing I’ve done with regards to car maintenance is adding petrol, and once I checked the tire pressure) a vintage car wouldn’t be a sensible choice and sadly I just can’t get excited about modern alternatives.

Papilio ulysses telegonus Butterfly Print from Rockett St George
http://www.rockettstgeorge.co.uk/papilio-ulysses-telegonus-butterfly-print-s1-1445-p.asp
I will get one of these prints soon, and put it in a white frame and hang it in our bedroom. I love butterflies and think that these are just stunning.

A window seat
A less achievable (for now at least) thing on my wish list... I'd love a window seat overlooking a lovely garden, covered in beautiful cushions, with space to place a cup of tea. This picture is via Apartment Therapy

A collection of birds

2009-08-03T22:07:00.007+01:00

Sorry for the long absence! We had a lovely holiday, and were then away this weekend as well, and as a result I'm very behind with lots of chores, and also haven't written a blog post for far too long!

We've had people staying in our home recently, to look after Millie the kitten (who's not so much of a kitten any more), and it's always interesting what people notice. A friend commented that we had quite a lot of birds cropping up throughout our home, which made me have a good look around at everything, and I realised that she's definitely right!

I don't know why I sound surprised, it's definitely me (and not the boy) who has sourced and placed all these little creatures around and about the place. I decided that to complement our fabulous Laura Ashley Summer Palace wallpaper (my boyfriend was incredulous that we had to share our bedroom with an entire flock of pink birds) we should have a gallery of bird images. I bought a few cards gradually, and then just framed them in Ikea‘s ribba frames. Lovely, cheap and yet very attractive art work I think. I’ve tried to hang the pictures in a casual-yet-perfectly-spaced way!

I liked the effect so much, that I did something similar in the bigger bedroom. I might change these though, as I think the pictures are a little lost on the larger wall.

We've also got a few little bird ornaments cropping up about the place...

Finding a bit of a theme (and creating your own pictures of course) can be a good, budget way of getting continuity throughout your home, and accessorising whilst you're at it!

Subscribe to Thrifty Stylish Home by email

Holiday

2009-07-18T14:34:00.002+01:00

In the morning (or middle of the night... cab is collecting us at 4.15am) we're off on our holidays, so no updates for about 10 days I'm afraid. I shall be perusing flea markets, swimming in the sea, reading books and generally chilling out in the sun. I hope.

I'm on a different computer today, otherwise I'd post a new picture of our little kitten. She's not so little any more, and getting very cheeky. She's worked out how to climb up the curtains and swing from them.... Also, she's trying to chew everything at the moment. Do cats teeth? (sp?) I hope all her baby teeth don't fall our whilst we're away. That'll give our lovely friend who's moving in to care for Millie a real shock!

Have a lovely couple of weeks! x

The wonder and joy that is Ebay

2009-07-17T17:09:00.002+01:00

Ok, so I acknowledge that it's harder to get bargains on ebay these days, now that everyone is at it, and knows where to look, but it's still unbeatable if you know exactly what you want. We managed to get a car radio part for example, which was so much cheaper than buying a whole new radio, after our car was vandalised for a third time...

Other ebay purchases in the Thrifty Household have included a victorian settle; a barcelona chair and footstool; six cushions; some vintage fabric that I'm going to use to cover a small footstool and numerous music/recording bits and pieces. Having written that long list I realise that perhaps I'm not quite the ebay novice I thought I was, but I haven’t quite worked out the sneaky ways of bidding that ensure I beat off competition every time! However, a while back the Guardian Weekend magazine had some useful tips -

How to win on eBay:
1. The best interiors bargains can be found in the categories Antiques, collectibles (50s, 60s and 70s) and Architectural Antiques (best for old tiles and salvage)
2. When searching use buzzwords such as ‘retro’, ‘old’ and ‘vintage’. For example, search for ‘old French bed’ rather than Corbeille bed - a seller who lists is as Corbeille will know its value.
3. When you’ve found an item you like, check the ‘completed items’ search. This will give you an idea of its market value.
4. Ask the seller questions, request more photographs and check postage or pick-up distances if the item is big.
5. Look for misspelled items - it’s a great way of finding a bargain no one else will see.
6. Be prepared to do a little work: if a sofa has a good structure, you could re-cover it or dye the cushion covers to bring it up to date.
7. Stick to your guns: have your top price in mind before you bid.
8. Bid with obscure prices like £5.51 - it gives you more chance of pipping someone to the post for a few pence.
9. Remember, you can always resell your buy on eBay if you don’t like it.
10. Have a clear out yourself, and turn your clutter into cash to fund your new buys.

Bookshelves galore

2009-07-14T17:58:00.008+01:00

Books are very important in our house, and we're lucky that when we moved in the previous owners had already fitted brackets to wall in the downstairs hallway and added some shelves. So, we just got three extra shelves cut at the local hardware store, painted all the shelves white, and voila we had a home for our books. Here's a picture of our mini library. It's actually twice as long as it looks here, but the hallway is a bit of an L-shape, so extends to the right a few feet further.

We're running out of space now, so I'm considering adding shelves above the doorways downstairs...

Here are some pics that I found on flikr that made me drool!

Bedroom help needed

2009-07-07T23:31:00.004+01:00

Have you ever had one of those rooms that just doesn't seem to look right? Individually things look ok, but all together it doesn't look welcoming or cohesive or cosy or stylish... Our large bedroom is one such room. I call it the large bedroom, rather than the master bedroom, because we don't actually sleep in it. We much prefer our cute, small room (with the lovely bird wallpaper), so this room is actually our guest room. It's also where we keep our clothes, so I suppose that for all intents and purposes really it's a dressing room. Although if there has ever been a dressing room with worse storage then I'd like to hear about it. I must get the camera out and take more shots, but imagine this - one double ikea leksvik wardrobe and one ikea chest of drawers. In total. For the two of us... I have lots of my dresses actually hung on the side of the wardrboe, and the boy's work clothes spend most of their time in the ironing basket, which frees up a bit more space, but still, it's far from ideal.

Anyway, there are a few pictures below...I'll take more tomorrow, with a view of the whole room, and the window and curtains etc. I realise I took these trying to make the place look as nice as possible, rather than the reverse!

The problem, I think, is the white paint. I love white, and it seems to work well in the rest of the house, but maybe it's just too harsh in this room. I'm wondering whether a pale grey might look nice, to coordinate with the Laura Ashley Erin wallpaper (in charcoal). Also, maybe the pictures aren't quite right... Are the frames too matchy matchy?

The look I'd really like to go for is a little bit vintage, or a bit quirky. It's a bit too late (and way past my bedtime) to be very articulate about this, but what I don't really like is the sparse hotel look.

Anyway, any thoughts or advice would be much appreciated! (Although please don't tell me to paint the furniture!)

thanks x

We're off on our holiday soon...

2009-07-05T09:55:00.005+01:00

I'm very excited that we've finally booked a trip away. We were considering doing a big trip to Australia and New Zealand in December, but because of one thing and another (mainly the fact that the boy is making the move to go freelance) we thought it might not be the wisest idea after all. Instead we're going to the South of France for 10 glorious days of swimming in the sea, drinking wine, eating yummy food, reading lots of books, pottering around markets, taking clifftop walks and travelling about on the train that goes all along the coast. Brilliantly we've managed to borrow an apartment too, so the trip will also be tres inexpensive.

A few little bits that I found on Flikr and that put me in the mood for France!

2009-07-03T21:36:00.010+01:00

Thank you to Poppy (http://poppysprettyplace.blogspot.com) for the tag...how exciting!

THE RULES
1. respond and rework; answer the questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your invention, add more one question of your own.
2. tag eight other people

Marmite or Jam It would have to be jam I think. Strawberry jam, eaten with a cream tea, whilst overlooking the sea. YUM! Scones, jam, cream and a cuppa - what's not to love?!

Coffee or Tea? I will have to say coffee.... even though technically I prefer the taste of tea. I love drinking coffee whilst chatting to friends, or with the boy whilst reading the papers...or if I'm feeling peckish in the afternoon then a coffee does wonders, instead of a piece of cake!

Whats for dinner? Well I've eaten dinner already, and it was a veggie Spag Bol. My mum is staying this weekend, and so I felt the need to make a 'proper meal'!

Champagne or beer? It would have to be champers I'm afraid - unless it's an afternoon in the sunshine, and then you can't beat a nice cold beer.

What would you eat for your last meal? Hmmm, tricky. I suppose it depends on the time of year that I was to go and meet my maker, but at the moment I think it would be a simple meal comprising of lots and lots of different salads, some potato wedges and lots of cheese. Yum. Cheese.

What was the last thing you bought? I bought two small birthday presents for the boy today...We're on hols this year for his birthday and so the pressies have to be things that I can squidge in the suitcase. And before that it was two flights to the south of France. YIPPEE!!!!

Whats the best gift you have ever been given? For my 30th birthday my Mum gave me a stunning blue enamel ring with a diamond in the middle and pearls around the edge. It had been my grandmother's, and she had given it to Mum on her 30th birthday, so that was a pretty special present. A weekend away always goes down very well too.

What is your favorite ice cream flavour? Chocolate - with proper chunks of chocolate in it.

What do you think of the person who tagged you? I really like Poppy's blog, and can't wait to read more of it. I think she started writing at about the same time as I started thriftystylishhome.

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour where would you go? I think I'd go to Whitstable, and sit on the beach outside the Neptune pub and have a lovely white wine spritzer. In the morning I'd mooch around the cute little shops and then go for a nice long walk.

Which language do you want to learn? I'd like to learn Italian. My grandfather, who was killed in the war (so obviously I never knew him), was Italian and we have family in Milan. It was always quite embarrassing at gatherings with that side of the family that everyone would have to speak English just so I could understand!

Whats your favorite quote (for now)? "The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned." Maya Angelou

What is your favorite colour? I think it would have to be green - a nice pale green, bordering on lime green, but not quite. I have a few little knick knacks in that colour. I also love turquoise - especially if it's jewellery and I've got a bit of a tan.

What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe? I think it would have to be a yellowy, mustardy coloured jacket. It's quite Jackie O, and no one ever believes how cheap it was!! I love jackets, they're just the best way of making an outfit look a little bit different. I also love a blue fifties style dress that I've got, with white spots.

What is your dream job? I'm quite lucky with my job, but I do like the idea of doing something in a freelance capacity... Maybe a little bit of PR, a little bit of writing, and maybe helping organise a literary festival or something.

What is your worst habit? I suppose it could be said that I can, on occasion, be a little bossy. I just don't see the point of keeping quiet if you can think of a better way of doing something. The boy doesn't like this.

If you had £100 now, what would you spend it on? I think I would treat us to a nice night away in a lovely hotel...I'd love to go to the George in Rye, or the Bull in Bridport.

Do you admire anyone's style? Audrey Hepburn. Always. I also think that Laura Bailey always looks stunning! I love her boho-chic look, and she always seems to wear amazing jewellery.

Describe your personal style? I've got a little bit of a boho vibe, and although I rarely wear it I do love vintage stuff. I'm quite an accessoriser - so have lots of jewellery, pretty bags, jackets and shoes. It's an amazing what a difference a cool necklace can make to an outfit.

What are you doing after this? Possibly having a glass of wine and playing quiddler. And Australian friend introduced it to me and it's brilliant. A word came but soooo much better than scrabble, which I always find very frustrating.

What are your favorite movies? Breakfast at Tiffanys, Roman Holiday, Charade (or pretty much anything with Audrey Hepburn in it), Brokeback Mountain, Into the West, Pretty Woman, Gosford Park, Some Life it Hot and... now don't judge me...Mamma Mia!

What is your favorite fruit? Berries of most kinds... raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries.

What inspires you? Great books, or wonderful pictures tend to be what do it for me.

What is your favorite book? Too, too hard. I have to read LOTS of books, and just think I can't pick only one.

Do you collect something? I seem to collect birds. I have small glass ornaments, some metal ones, some wooden ones... And, in our bedroom, wallpaper that is covered it birds!

What is your favorite smell? Freshly laundered linen, coffee and lilies. Though now we have a kitten we can't have lilies. They cause liver failure apparently!

What are you most proud of? Maintaining some really brilliant friendships.

How many times do you press the snooze button before you get up? At least three times. And the boy gets cross and wishes we could just set the alarm later and then leap straight out of bed, thus getting more sleep. He just doesn't understand that I need to wake up slowly!

Cats or Dogs? Ha! Until about a month ago I'd have said dogs. Without question. But then we got our kitten, and now I'm so very smitten...

What's your biggest fashion mistake? I think my baggy batik style dungarees were probably the least flattering thing I've ever worn. Plus they always seemed to dye my skin blue. Not a good look.

Complete the following: Love is...? absolutely essential!

I'm going to tag: Homebug, Making It Lovely, Patchwork Harmony, Her Little Place, This Young House, Poppytalk, sfgirlbay

Mantelpieces

2009-06-26T19:42:00.004+01:00

I'd love to have an old house, with stunning fireplaces and other period features. I've had to make do with shelves, above the TV, as a kind of fireplace-equivalent focus!

I particularly like these two mantelpieces, very different in style, but both tres stylish in their own way.

The first is from Martha Stewart, and the second is an image from Living Etc.

Subscribe to Thrifty Stylish Home by email

More online art...

2009-06-24T20:14:00.003+01:00

I don't know how I forget to mention this site (http://www.advicetosinkinslowly.bigcartel.com/) in my last post... most remiss. The picture I got from here is hanging in my hallway, and gets many compliments. AND it was only a fiver. Bargain!

(Sorry for the slightly crooked picture...And I'm still trying to decide whether or not to fill this whole wall - which is over the stairs - with pictures, or leave it quite plain and simple.)

Subscribe to Thrifty Stylish Home by email

Online art

2009-06-22T20:17:00.009+01:00

Always on the search for nice pictures with which to decorate my home, I decided to look online. It can be overwhelming at first, because there are just soooo many places to look, but I found some great sites!

The Keep Calm Gallery (http://www.keepcalmgallery.com/) has some very cool stuff. I’ve bought a fabulously retro “Keep Calm Carry On” poster from there. Annoyingly it was a bit of a strange size, and didn’t seem to fit any of the frames I saw in the shops. Framing things professionally can be a costly business, and if you haven’t paid much for a print it doesn’t always seem worth it. However, on this occasion I ended up buying a large ribba frame from Ikea and just getting the mount cut. It was still £22, but much better than the £70 odd they quoted me to frame the whole thing.

Also from the Keep Calm Gallery I bought a limited edition print of these Russian Dolls by Hazel Nicholls. I did splash out and get this professionally framed, and am thrilled with how it looks. It also ties in nicely with our little collection of green ornaments.

Easyart.com is a saviour if you want to get a print and you know exactly what you want (otherwise the choice is rather too overwhelming for an indecisive person like me)! I bought a large poster of Picasso’s Don Quixote from this site, which with a tiny bit of trimming fitted into a great wooden frame that I found in a junk shop for next to nothing. It was my Dad’s favourite picture, and I too love it’s simplicity. It’s propped against the wall at the top of our stairs and I think looks great.

Some other online sites I’ve come across that it might be worth checking out:

www.canvasetc.com

At Canvas Etc they say ‘we don't mass produce our canvas art, in fact we don't even carry any of the canvas prints on this website in stock. Instead we individually print and lovingly hand craft each canvas to order in our own studio.’

www.mailorderart.co.uk

Original artwork costs between £200 and £400 on this site, but there’s a huge range of cheaper printed canvases to choose from too.

www.tate.org.uk/shop

Adorn your walls with a masterpiece from the Tate’s collection, a limited-edition print from a St Ives artist or an exhibition poster that one day might be a collector’s item.

www.bookishdesign.co.uk

You know I love my books, so I think this site is brilliant. Liha Okunniwa adores vintage book sleeves, so she sources her favourites and then scans them in and turns them into posters.

www.diy.com/artomdemand

B&Q has launched Art on Demand, an online service that lets you choose a picture, decide if you want it as a framed print or canvas and then see how it looks on screen before you buy it. There are more than 140 images to choose from, in a range of sizes and frames.

Subscribe to Thrifty Stylish Home by email

Mirror, mirror on the wall...

2009-06-17T22:41:00.007+01:00

A sure fire way of making a room seem bigger than it is, is to place mirrors strategically, so they reflect light around the rest of the room. I’ve also seen lots of pictures in magazines recently, of displays of vintage mirrors, and I think this always look really lovely. These ones are from Kim Johnson's house, from Desire to Inspire

One of my best purchases of recent times is this huge gold mirror (below). There are some guys who sell junk on a street corner near our house and every so often you can find something great. They seem to be missing a trick because they don’t tend to do the furniture up before selling it on, which means that it really is cheap. We got a dining room table there about three years ago for just £20. It’s currently used in the studio for lots of recording equipment, so we haven’t got around to doing it up either yet, but one day we will and it’ll look great! Anyway, they said this mirror was £50. I offered £40 and they accepted it, AND they delivered it for free. It really was a bargain. I have a friend who paid more than £500 for something quite similar (albeit twice the size) recently. The only place that the mirror really fitted was outside the bathroom in the downstairs hallway, but it’s perfect there, and a good last chance to check out your outfit before leaving the house!

We have a nice mirror in our lounge too, and as it is above the dining room table, I think it helps to distinguish between the dining and lounging part of the room!

I’m currently looking for a vintage style oval mirror on a chain, to hang in the small bedroom.

Subscribe to Thrifty Stylish Home by email

Kitten time

2009-06-14T18:44:00.007+01:00

The most exciting thing to happen in our home in the last week (or ever, in fact) is the addition of our gorgeous little kitten! We're completely smitten... even if she is gradually ripping the sofa to bits!

Alas, this little furry ball of cuteness does mean no more lilies for me - the vet told us yesterday, when we took her to get her first set of injections, that the pollen from lilies causes liver failure in cats. Who knew?! It also means that the place is covered in cat toys and bits of shredded tissue, but no matter, we adore her. She is a very stylish, and thoroughly loveable, addition to our home! Her Selfridges cat bed is quite cute too! (Slightly obscured in this picture by a rather horrible old cushion cover that she seems to quite like)

We've had a steady stream of visitors all weekend coming to play with the newest, and most entertaining, member of our family!

Subscribe to Thrifty Stylish Home by email

More pictures...This time graffiti

2009-06-11T18:29:00.004+01:00

I always like looking out for cool graffiti, and actually at the moment I keep trying to remember to take my camera with me when I go to work because every day on the way to the tube I pass a stencil of a pigeon on a white wall that looks very funky. What I have taken a photo of is this rather cute ‘love’ image that's on a wall in a park near our house. We’ve got it on a canvas, I’ve recently got a black and white one printed and put it in a black frame for a friend’s anniversary present and I’ve also made a couple of wedding cards out of the same image. I wonder who the artist is!!

One of he most famous graffiti artists is of course Banksy, and I love this copy that I bought from a stall in Spitalfields Market - http://www.visitspitalfields.com. It came in this cool frame, which I think looks great alongside our arco style lamp. And, a mere £25. Bargain.

Contact me

2009-06-11T11:58:00.003+01:00

If you'd like to drop me a line to say hello, comment on anything on the blog or even ask a question, you can email me here: thriftystylishhome@gmail.com

If you'd like to subscribe to my blog via email, you can do so here: http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=ThriftyStylishHome&loc=en_US

Transforming some drawers...

2009-06-10T13:22:00.009+01:00

I was looking at meggetscrafty earlier today and I was mightily impressed by Meg's AMAZING transformation of a chest of drawers. Who'd have thought that something from Ikea or Argos could look so thoroughly stylish and fabulous?! A perfect example of breathing new life into an old piece of furniture, and being very creative about it. I was amazed that Meg managed to hand paint the swallows too, but I'm sure that for the less steady-handed amongst us you could use a stencil or even bird stickers (there are some great ones at www.rocketstgeorge.co.uk).

http://meggetscrafty.blogspot.com/2009/06/drawers-before-and-after.html

Subscribe to Thrifty Stylish Home by email

Crafty, crafty - making a picture

2009-06-07T15:06:00.007+01:00

I love pictures, but I surprised myself by finding them the hardest thing to buy when we moved into our flat. To me pictures should be personal, they should mean something, and if not, they should be especially stylish and amazing to make up for it! I intend to run through lots of the pictures in our house at some point, but thought I'd start with credit-crunch-crafty-pictures! The ones you can make yourself. Again forgive my complete lack of practical artistic ability...

If, like me, you’re not a dab hand with a paint brush or a pencil, then don’t despair, you can cheat. I love the effect achieved here, and it really was very, very simple. I just bought a sheet of this cool Penguin books wrapping paper (for £1.50!), and cut it to fit a simple Ikea ribba frame. As you’ve probably gathered I do love my books, so this seemed appropriate. And hopefully not too many people will have the same thing.

You could frame lots of things like this - a nice piece of wallpaper, a scrap of fabric, a funky tea towel…

My boyfriend has a recording studio in our flat (sadly we don’t have soundproofing…) and we’ve made some great pictures for the walls, again using Ikea Ribba frames. You can buy ones that have CD sized mounts, and so we’ve framed artwork from his singles and album to make very personal (and quite professional looking) images. His musician friends are always envious. We also took a few pictures of the precious recording equipment, and framed them too. They look really cool, and are personal too!

Crafty ideas from the Guardian

2009-06-07T14:59:00.003+01:00

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/jun/06/space-crafts-home

I quite enjoyed reading this in the Guardian Weekend magazine yesterday. I was a bit unsettled when they said the frame they were showing was £150 from the Conran Shop (!), but then I read it properly and saw that they were actually encouraging you to go to charity shops and pick up old frames and create a similar look. Much better!

I love the cushion idea too... must try that!

I wish I could hide away with a good book!

2009-06-01T20:48:00.004+01:00

Isn't this just the nicest little nook? (Although I think I'd have added some different coloured cushions!) I found this picture on the Living Etc site, and I imagine that it looks out over a pretty garden. Aah. Annoying day at work today and I'm wishing that I could have curled up on this nice green cushion and read a good book, cup of tea in hand!

No matter, tomorrow is a new day!

Side tables and a little DIY

2009-05-30T14:10:00.010+01:00

Having a fair-sized, but not huge, lounge has meant that I’ve decided to do without a coffee table. I think it would just clutter the place up and become a dumping ground for all the weekend papers… Instead, I have three small side tables (one shown above, and one below - if you look closely). They were an ultimate bargain – £3.50 for the three, picked out of a charity shop by my eagle eyed mum. They’re oak, and so complement the rest of the furniture perfectly.

Another side table purchase was again spotted in a charity shop – this time for a mere 40 pence. I’ve spray painted it a rather fetching pale blue (good ol’ plasikote) and it now complements our new Laura Ashley summer palace wallpaper rather perfectly. It will hold our books, and a small lamp. Perfect.

You could of course customise your own table with wallpaper, or even pages from magazines, or old newspapers. I’ve covered this telephone table (which is actually advertised as a stool, rather than a table, in Ikea) with the same wallpaper as is on the wall behind it. It means it doesn’t stand out too much, and again, is just a little bit different. It really was easy to do, and as I varnished it afterwards, it’s very hardy. What I need now is a cool phone - I love the old fashioned looking ones that come in a variety of colours, but I don't think I'd be able to live with a phone that wasn't cordless. Although that would stop my boyfriend dropping countless phones in the bath - he likes to chat whilst he soaks!

wallpaper creativity

2009-05-26T21:07:00.003+01:00

I just wanted to share this cute pic I found on the Flikr photostream 'lutterlagkage'. An ikea unit has been covered in a selection of vintage wallpaper and I love the result... See, the wallpaper possibilities are endless!

Wallpaper

2009-05-23T17:28:00.005+01:00

I know that people have mixed feelings about ‘feature walls’ but I find them a great way of adding a focus to a room, and also of using fantastic wallpaper, that would be overwhelming if on every wall of the room.

When we got the wallpaper in the lounge hung, the guy doing the work (as I think I’ve mentioned we’re not madly practical when it comes to DIY, and that includes hanging paper) was so shocked that I would actually choose to have this rather loud pattern, that he promised to stay and take it down for free, if I didn’t like it. Fortunately for him, I loved it, and still do!

I was worried that this ‘Summer Palace’ paper in the small bedroom might look a bit overwhelming, or make the room look too narrow, but I think it works really well.

In the large bedroom, this charcoal ‘Erin’ paper, also from Laura Ashley, just adds a bit of interest to a small alcove… I’m still wondering if we should go all out in this room though, and get the whole thing papered.

Wallpaper’s not just for walls - it looks great hung on sliding wardrobe doors, too. And if you’re using it on a limited area, you can use a bolder pattern that you might choose for a whole room. You could even frame particularly lovely wallpaper, and make your own art!

If you don’t fancy covering an entire wall in one print, you could utilise your favourite scraps of fabric, mis-matched wallpaper, book jackets or postcards and create a patchwork wall. This can look very chic, and you know that no one else will have the same. You could have a rough colour scheme, or a theme (birds or flowers or, when we papered above our fireplace at university, men!), or alternatively you could do something completely mis-matched and unique. If you were doing this in a kitchen or a bathroom, you could even varnish over it…(although that might make it difficult to change, if you go off your chosen design!)

A great place to go to search through some of the thousands of wallpapers designs available is http://www.wallpaperdirect.co.uk/

I’ve just been browsing through a couple of magazines and seen a picture of a bedroom decorated in ‘Fleur pink’, from the Sophie Conran range at B&Q. Only £24.98 a roll, and soooo pretty.

Chairs, chairs (and a dining room table)…

2009-05-21T21:17:00.010+01:00

Soooo important for both practical and aesthetic purposes...

I’ve never (or maybe not never, but ever since I’ve had more than 2 beans to rub together) been one for purely functional purchases. To me, a chair must complement the table (if for dining) or the couch (if for lounging) and the style of the home, which of course, when it comes down to it, reflects on its inhabitants. Soooooo – in a couple of short steps, the purchase of the humble chair has become all about me, me, me!

I was delighted to acquire my four church chairs for the bargain price of £15 each, a year or two ago. I saw an advert in the local paper, in the town where I grew up (London just doesn’t seem to do and use local papers in the same way), and leapt in the car to a restaurant that had just been refurbished. I scrambled around in their dark attic, selecting the four chairs in the best condition and that matched each other colour wise. I’m delighted with the shabby but oh-so-chic result, and they perfectly compliment my battered old dining table, which was a junk shop find. The knocks and scrapes add character… I hate things that look too shiny and new. (Unless they’re my shiny new laptop, on which I’m writing this. Or maybe a shiny new pair of shoes). The other thing about cute church chairs is that they’re quite easy to decorate – either at Christmas, or for other special occasions, or even just when having friends over to dinner. I could pop a little menu in the bit meant for the hymn book…. Or stuff it with dried flowers…or dangle baubles from the back. At Easter, for example, I have some rather lovely, and extremely camp, felt bunnies, from Paperchase! You could also accessorise with a lovely cushion, should you, or your derriere, require.

I was sorely tempted to get more ‘dining chairs’ last time I went to give blood. Odd you may think, but I give blood in a church hall near where I live, and whilst we were all waiting (it’s always hugely busy, which is a good thing, but quite a pain if you’ve forgotten to fix an appointment time, as I had on this occasion) the vicar walked around the room offering chairs to anyone who wanted them. No one took him up on the offer. A great shame, because the chairs were traditional old wooden ‘school chairs’, with a green metal frame. Had I had a bigger house, or a garage, or a shed, I’d definitely have taken a few home. Who knows what I’ve have used them for, but it’s always good to have back-up chairs. Or maybe I could have sold them on at a huge profit. Yes, I should have had more foresight!

Whilst we’re on the subject of chairs, an important purchase has been my Barcelona chair and footstool. It’s the piece de resistance in my lounge, and may be sat on by almost anyone (so long as they’re not drinking red wine!) It’s stylish and comfortable, and with a little side table and a lamp next to it (although the pic below in pre-side table!), creates the perfect little place to read. I’ve always wanted my own reading chair… to feel stylish as I’m devouring my books. As I was justifying the cost of this particular purchase I had to remind myself that the Barcelona chair is a design classic, that will never go out of fashion.

My next chair purchase will, I hope, be a white eames rocker. Another classic. Sadly I don’t really have anywhere to put a rocker… aside from possibly in our small bedroom, but then I know that it would constantly have clothes thrown over it, and possibly lose some of its classic stylishness as a result!

A little introduction to my new blog

2009-05-17T19:04:00.002+01:00

As the credit crunch is upon us, I think it’s important to remember that it needn’t cost a fortune to make your house a home. You can make your house or flat look original and very homely with just a little imagination and an eagle eye for a bargain.

This isn’t a design blog, so much as an ‘accessorising your home’ one! I’m not well equipped with practical skills, or a large budget, but I do love personalising our flat. It gives me pleasure to find (or even make) nice pictures, arrange a few ornaments or hunt for perfect cushions. I don’t like everything to look too new - I much prefer furniture that has lived a little - and most of all I like our flat to be a reflection of us. Or rather, of me. Luckily my boyfriend isn’t too bothered what’s in our home, so long as there’s room for his guitars!

We’ve been in this flat for about 2 ½ years. Sadly we don’t have any ‘before’ pics, but suffice to say that most rooms were yellow. Bright yellow. With yellow doors and skirting boards and window frames… And a brown carpet. It was like 1973 threw up in our front room. The smallest bedroom was a nursery, and painted sky blue with white clouds. It was cute, and perfect for the 2 year old boy, but not so great for us. The downstairs hallway (which is lower ground level) was painted chocolate brown - quite a cool colour, but not in a basement as it sapped what little light there was. The large bedroom was exactly the shade of terracotta I loved in the mid-nineties, but have since gone off… The bathrooms were a kind of quite dark cream colour, which made them feel a bit like Travelodge bathrooms. I feel I’m being mean to the previous owners, who were absolutely lovely, and had managed to instil the flat with a feeling of happiness and homeliness, in spite of our difference of opinion when it came to the dulux colour chart!

When we moved in we painted everything white (aside from the kitchen which we did in pale blue and the downstairs bathroom which is light green), but I was anxious that the place didn’t feel too clinical, and we’ve been gradually adding character since then. Apart from the painting we haven’t done many major jobs - just tiling the kitchen and bathroom floors and getting wooden floors laid in the lounge and upstairs hallway - but I like to think that our home now looks stylish and a bit original. Maybe it doesn’t….other people can be the judge! The other thing I should point out is that we didn’t have much money - so after buying essentials like a washing machine and a fridge-freezer we tried to do everything as cheaply as we could. This sometimes meant getting inspiration from somewhere like Living Etc, but sourcing (or even making*) a much cheaper alternative.

In this blog I plan to talk about most aspects of our flat, and then also draw on inspiration from blogs, designers, photos, friends homes etc etc. I’ve always been one for pulling out cuttings of houses I like, or décor that appeals - who knows, one day when we win the lottery (which we must start doing!) we might buy a big house where there will be plenty of space for all the extra things I’d like to do but haven’t got space for here!

*I should also add that I have no practical skills. I haven’t sewn more than a button in my life, or tried to draw or paint since school. We also don’t own a drill or any other very practical tools, so the things I suggest really can be done by anybody!