Decor - Hearts in the Study

For decoration in the study (and given that its only me that uses it), I wanted to inject a bit of girliness and had been browsing online and settled on a hearts theme - awww...

I had already got these hearts from The White Company at Christmas time...

but hadn't really come up with any ideas that I could use them for, so they were my first candidate for the study. They're too small on their own though, just about 3cm, so I needed some more options.

In the end I found exactly what I was looking for all on the same great website, Bliss and Bloom.

I got this one...

and this one...



and finally this one...




and here's what they look like in situ:

I HEART THEM!!

Our Home - Kitchen Teaser

I am painfully aware that I need to get my act together and get on with the posts about the kitchen. I'm such a slacker!!

In my defence, there is a LOT going on here right now!!

As a little teaser, here's a pic of the kitchen (I'm sorry its such a rubbish photo as it was taken at night - I've been waiting for a sunny day to get a better one, but its been miserable here lately):

When we were having it designed, the company kept referring to each wall where there would be units as a "run" and this became known as the hob run (the others being the sink run, the larder run and the oven run).

One of my main design aesthetic requirements (woo hoo get me with the fancy words!) for the kitchen was that it was to resemble a kitchen as little as possible - I'm sure the designer thought I was slightly insane!! I just meant that I wanted as much of the kitcheny paraphernalia stored away in cupboards/drawers where possible, leaving more space for decor items. I wanted it to feel more like a living room that happened to have some kitchen equipment than a full on clutterville kitchen gadget gone mad dust magnet (not that I'm OCD about this or anything, no no no).

Right from the start even before I knew what kind of kitchen I wanted, I knew what kind of accessories I wanted - matt silver, matt white and deep aubergine purple. I also carried that through as much as possible into the kitchen equipment itself, but that's another post waiting to happen!

I think the hob run best demonstrates my design thinking (except for the ugly microwave in the corner!) - no kitchen clutter, just lovely (well I think they are) accessories. Another thing you'll probably notice is that we've no wall cabinets - I was adamant about that! I can't reach 'em so I ain't having 'em!! Picture lots of  metaphorical foot stamping and you get the drift.

I think this is my favourite of the 4 "runs".

• I love the flowers, they look black in the pic above, but they're actually a lovely inky purple (and I know I'm biased but I think its quite unexpected for a kitchen - and I like that!): 

• I love the simplicity of the white vases.
• I love the artwork, which was a lucky find at the framers who we'd gone to to get a COMPLETELY different print framed up (Hubs chose the one on the left, I chose the one on the right). They're originals, not prints and were super expensive, but to us worth every penny! 
• I love that the lack of wall cabinets makes it so much open and airy.
• I love that the induction hob blends seemlessly into the worktop so its almost invisible - I also love that the hob is only 1 pan deep, so no stretching to get the to rings at the back!
• I don't so much love the extractor - I wish we'd chosen a less obtrusive one or more design conscious one - this one's too functional looking.
• I don't so much love the wall colour - I'm not sure we've got it right. The worktops are weird, we thought they were grey, till we tried to put a grey colour with them and it so didn't work. Neither did  cream or any brown-toned neutrals, so that's how we ended up with this colour. It was the only one from hundreds (no exaggeration!) that didn't make the worktop look weird.

Just in case you were beginning to think the kitchen I keep banging on about it was a figment of my imagination!!

Our Home - Dining Room Progress

I introduced the dire state of our dining room in this post. We lived with this for a few months, even over Christmas as we had major problems with the unit that we had bought - it was the dearest piece of furniture we've ever bought and it was also the most troublesome and for a long time we felt it was the WORST piece of furniture we'd ever bought and wished we'd just gone to Ikea - so much for trying to get a bespoke solution - ick!

Anyway fast forward a few (lot!) weeks and finally the replacement parts for the unit arrive, we get a masterclass in German flat-pack building and ta-da the unit was built. I gave a sneak preview of it in this post.

So finally here is the unit that caused us so much hassle, drama and ruined our Christmas (I didn't even wait to clean it after it was built before taking the photo, I was just so excited it was done!!):

Like I said, we went for a bespoke solution, mainly because of the size of it - each section is a metre wide and its 1.5 metres high. Also the doors slide which is a much easier choice for me rather than negotiating round pull-open doors in a limited space (when the table and chairs are back in place).

The unit is the Mega-Design from Hulsta. The carcass and the shelves & drawers have a lacquered finish in Sand (I call it Kelly Hoppen taupe), the backboards are a walnut veneer and the the doors are glass, again in Sand. I love that it goes so well with our existing decor (apart from the yellow pine picture rail - the yellow pine in our home is the cause of an ongoing battle between Hubs and I - he likes it and wants to keep it, I hate it and want rid!).

We wanted a combination of decorative open shelving plus closed storage so that the not so pretty stuff we needed a home for wasn't out on permanent display, turning the dining room into an eyesore.

The section on the left is for Hubs. He uses the dining room as his office and needed a home for all his papers and archery equipment (our bows live under our bed!):

The drawers are a handy addition to keep smaller items neat and tidy:

The middle section has a small closed cabinet that we use for our delicate wedding china:

The right section is for additional crockery and glass storage - we decided when we did the kitchen remodel that we didn't want to keep all our dishes in there - space was precious in the kitchen and every inch counted for useful and often used storage, so there was no room for occasionally used items:

I know I'm a bit sad, but I do love my organised glasses shelf:

We also have a couple of drawers in this section, for candles, table mats, napkins etc:

When we had finished filling the unit (from 5 massive containers) we were shocked by how much space we still had. Given the amount of boxes we had to empty we were so concerned there wouldn't be enough room but we couldn't have been more wrong. We even have an empty drawer!

We're off on a shopping trip at the weekend to get some decor items - here's what I'm planning:

                               

                                 Handkerchief Vase           Handkerchief Bowl

However, knowing me I'll come home with something completely different.

They are to go with the items already bought and at home in the unit (which were not the items I had set out to buy on the day!):

   

           Wire Swirl Bowl                               Lustre Peony

                               

                                       Nassjo Candle Holder

We also have to get a new table and chair, new light fitting, lamp and curtains - but I have lots of ideas (and I love that I can pin all these ideas onto the wonder that is Pinterest:

      

        

    

   

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Decor - Here Comes the Sun in the Study

8th February - Sun

So there is a complete absence of sun here today. 

The UK is in the grip of some arctic cold and its hovering just around freezing. We've been spared the snow - up to 10 inches in England (for a change as its normally here that gets it - last two winters - nightmare. Reminds me I should post about my Christmas Eve 2009 broken leg drama someday, but I have to be in the right frame of mind as I'm still suffering the after-effects of it and talking or thinking about it depresses me (or totally p***es me off if I'm more truthful!)).

Anyhoo I had to put my lateral thinking hat on, and as its a work from home day my options are limited. At the risk of sounding like I'm completely unobservant, today's pic is along the lines of yesterday's in that it was staring me right in the face!

This little guy is on the wall in my Study - above the desk where I sit and work - for 8 hours a day, up to 5 days a week... my only excuse is I'm too busy to look at the wall lol.

I got it years ago (for a birthday in my 20s and I'm now in my 40s gulp) from a long-lost Uni friend. Friend gone, sun still shining - even if I forget to notice!!

Decor - Meet Bertie

I am planning to do an epic series of posts about the kitchen as its the area of the house I'm most proud of in terms of organisation. I want to show as much detail as possible and explain our choices and why it works so well for us now.

We spent a lot of time and effort (and money!) to make sure that the kitchen was organised to work as effectively as possible for me, given that working in the kitchen had become such a nightmare for me since I'd been in the wheelchair and my constant calls of "could you get that for me", "I can't reach", "Would you mind just" etc, etc, etc finally became unbearable and we'd saved enough to really go all out and get the best we could afford so that everything was totally customised and bespoke.

In the meantime I thought I'd introduce you to Bertie who lives in the kitchen on top of our larder unit.

He's a garden ornament from B&Q but when we got him he was a strange distressed matt grey colour which we didn't like too much, so we spray-painted him a more mellow silver which coordinates with the kitchen decor.

He needs a new friend on top of the units, we have a vase up there too in the corner:

but I'm not convinced (and my Mum say its like having a full moon glowing in our house!) so I'm still searching - he seems pretty chilled out in the meantime though.

In case you're interested, I have a board on Pinterest where I've posted loads of info about the products in our kitchen.