Small alcove shelves

I feel like I’ve done three aerobics classes in a row after all that drilling, but I have finished building the shelves in the small alcove. I’m not 100% pleased with them. I wanted to fit four into the space, but because of the need to fit the TV on top of the cupboard and the fuse box above the top shelf (both on the other side of the fireplace), I could only squeeze three shelves in. And to top it all off, I miscalculated and the middle shelf is 1.5 inches lower than it should have been. But there is no way I’m doing any more drilling into that wall (seriously, it was horrible - I spent most of the day wedged in the alcove with my back against one wall and bracing my legs against the other in order to get through the brick), so it’s staying as it is.

As I’m going to have to move everything over from the other side of the fireplace in order to build the large alcove cupboard and shelves, I thought I’d prime and paint these ones this weekend. I really can’t face the thought of any more woodwork for a few days, so I’ll leave getting the wood for the other side until Monday.

Postcards

I’m just taking a break from decorating. Today I have been painting the alcove ready to build the shelves tomorrow. I have also finally found the perfect grey paint for the shelves and cupboards. I’ve lost count of how many tester pots I have been through, but the winner is Moonstone Grey by Craig & Rose.

On a more fun note, I’ve had a flash of inspiration regarding the space above my new landing strip table. It sits in a narrow strip of wall between the front door and a large sash window, and there is light switch to one side of the wall. I had thought I’d need to find a long narrow painting to hang there in order to avoid the light switch, but then I remembered about Royal Mail stamp postcards.

I have always loved stamps and postcards - anything to do with post and letters, really - and what better to hang in my landing strip, where post arrives and waits to leave, than giant stamps? I got a bit carried away on Ebay this morning and bought a few lots of postcards, each of which had one or two designs I really love. I just totted up exactly how many postcards I have bought and it is a grand total of 82 which is probably about 74 too many for the space. Oh well, it’s good to have a choice! I plan to find a mish-mash of frames for the cards and also hunt down a couple of large real stamps to put in mini-frames to create a little themed display.

Small alcove cupboard

Christmas preparations have taken over these past few days, but I have made some progress. Firstly, I have fitted the trim to my cupboard carcass:

I’m quite pleased with it. The handles are some original 1930s ones I got from ebay and I have also fitted magnetic catches to the doors. It should look really smart once it’s all painted a pale grey. I couldn’t do the shelves, though, as the plaster is still not dry at the top of the wall. Andy told me today that a plastering job he did a couple of weeks before ours has only just fully dried. It’s just too wet and cold at the moment, so I’ll just have to be patient.

I also hoovered and dusted throughout the house. I really noticed how much easier it is to clean already, even in the rooms I’m not officially ‘curing’. I think I’m just paying more attention to creating and maintaining space around furniture and putting things away when I’ve finished with them. There’s still a long way to go, but it’s good to see some improvement.

Anyway, I’m signing off now until next Thursday when I’ll have a full clear week with no work to really get stuck in.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Week 5 Progress

This weekend has been a bit of a wash-out, what with Christmas preparations (I’m frantically trying to finish all the homemade gifts I started months ago…), a friend with an essay crisis and general tiredness. But I did make some progress:

This is the carcass for the cupboard in the small alcove, and the shelves are lying on top of it (soon to go on the wall above). I don’t know what happened with the doors. They looked square before I put them in. Oh well, I will sort it all out with the wonders of trim. A bit of trim applied in the right places and nobody will know it’s not Chippendale. Honest.

I plan to get that cupboard (and the shelves above) finished by the end of the week, but have also decided that I’m going to extend my eight-week cure and spread week five over the next fortnight or even three weeks, otherwise I won’t get a chance to relax during the holiday period.

Down with mould

Having spent so long scrubbing mould off the walls by the front door, I am determined that it is not going to come back. I spent some time today doing some research and am now 100% convinced that the mould was due to condensation. A large part of the cause must be the fact that draughts come in through the front door and so the front wall is always freezing.

So, I need to draught-proof the front door. I checked it this morning and there are draughts coming in through the top and the sides, along the bottom (even though we have a brush seal attached), through a crack in one of the panels, through the letterbox AND through the cat flap. Frankly, it’s more like a colander than a door.

The budget just doesn’t stretch to a new front door (which we would need to get custom made, as it’s a funny size, and also get planning permission for, as we’re in a conservation area). Instead, the solution I have come up with is this:

Top and sides - install sprung copper draught strip (I have already ordered this)

Bottom - make a fabric draught excluder for now and later, in the spring, fit a threshold compression strip (requires taking the door off the hinges)

Crack in panel - scrape out old filler and seal with silicone and more filler

Letterbox - fit an internal brush seal

Cat flap - give it a good clean and check the magnetic strip closures as there might be some gaps I could fill.

Curtain - when I make the new curtains, I will include a thermal lining

I find all this draught-proofing and wotnot rather dull, but I must remember it is just as important - if not more so - as making the place look pretty. The whole point of Apartment Therapy is to make your home happier and healthier. And mould isn’t healthy. Or pretty.

Landing Strip progress

Today, I finished painting the wall in my new ‘Landing Strip’ area. It needs another coat, but I have decided to do the final coat on the whole room at the end, rather than bit by bit. This is partly because I don’t know whether I will want to change the colour of the walls, yet. White reflects the light well, but maybe I need a warm off-white to make it a bit cosier.

The table for my landing strip also arrived earlier this week. The photo is a bit brash, but gives an idea of what it is like. There’s no room for coats and shoes in that area, but at least the drawers will be a place to chuck keys and other pocket stuff. I’m on the look out for a letter rack to go on the top, and I think a small vase of flowers would go well there, too.

In general, though, I’m feeling a bit disheartened. Everything seems such a mess, and I’ve got such a long way to go. Maybe I’m just tired. I’ll be starting week 5 on Friday. I’m still determined to get this room shaped up by the end of the eight week period, even if it still needs finishing touches. I can do it… I can do it…

Shaping Up

I think my decision to leave any colour work (choosing fabrics for reupholstery, etc) until the New Year has been a good one. Instead of getting distracted by colours and patterns, I have been focussing entirely on shape. I bought another chair yesterday pretty much solely on the basis of its shape:

I love the roundness of the seat and squat little back. This chair just calls out to you to sit and drink tea in a cosy corner. My only reservation is that it might be too small (although please note that the fur cushion in the photo is in fact a very, very big tomcat of the type that will send your legs to sleep if he snoozes on your lap for too long, so he’s perhaps not the best accessory for this chair - I’ll have to train him to nap somewhere more spacious).

I was looking for something quite compact but I don’t know if I’ve gone a little overboard by choosing this chair. The seat height is only about an inch lower than the other seats, so that’s not a problem - it’s just the height of the back. But maybe I can do something clever and optical illusion-y when it comes to choosing fabrics. I’m sure that different colours and scales of pattern can make chairs seem larger or smaller. I’ll have to look into that. If not, and it ends up looking ridiculously small whatever I do, I’ll simply replace it. It only cost me £10 anyway, as it has a wounded leg which needs fixing.

Books, books, books

Creating a relaxing and cosy space in which to relax and read is an important part of my plans for the sitting room. Books obviously play a major role in this, and today I spent some time weeding out my collection. I have always found it very hard to let go of books, but today was different.

The sense of space and opportunity that I have gained after only three weeks of the Apartment Therapy process has made me see things in a very different light. It was so easy to let go of novels I won’t reread (and even some that I may want to revisit but that I know I can get from the library) because I was eager to make room for new books and new ideas into my life. I also got rid of a lot of non-fiction books, often finding myself thinking ‘I’ve learned everything I want to from that’. It’s satisfying to realise that you have internalised something and no longer need an external source to turn to for advice.

I have also started a small list of beloved books that are battered paperbacks and which I would like to replace with hardcover versions. Now I just need to build the bookshelves, but I’m still waiting for the plaster to dry in the corner before I can start. Still, I am looking forward to arranging things on them, even if they don’t actually exist yet.

Of the many images of inspiring bookshelf arrangements I have gathered, my favourite has to be this:

I can’t remember where it came from, but it has the qualities that I want to achieve. I have already chosen a grey paint for my non-existent shelves and I really like the warmth of the orange next to the grey. I bought a little amber bowl at a car boot sale the other weekend which should go perfectly, especially if filled with flowers.

This afternoon, I also went looking for advice on the web for arranging bookshelves. An article at Real Simple about weeding, organising and displaying books proved to be very interesting. It contains the tip, also in the AT book, about displaying books with all the spines lined up a little bit back from the front of the shelf, instead of shoving them all to the back. So simple and so effective - and so obvious, as it’s what libraries and bookshops do, that I don’t know why it never occurred to me before.

I have also reserved a book from my local library which has received rave reviews on Amazon. It’s called ‘At Home with Books: How Booklovers Live with and Care for Their Libraries ‘. It’s probably full of pictures of very grand libraries not suited to my little home at all, but I’m sure I’ll enjoy drooling over it.

No more shame…

Well, after a long process involving various chemicals and paint, I have conquered my Corner of Shame. It still needs another coat of matt white, but it looks 100 times better already.

I haven’t bothered doing anything with the skirting boards yet, partly because I need to stick to my priorities, but also because I don’t know if I’m going to keep them. My plans for the floor (which will be laid after I have redone the kitchen) are to use Wicander’s cork flooring in ‘Mele’ and it might be nice to rip out the existing skirting boards and replace them with new wooden ones stained to match the floor. I love this cork floor. The sample below (which is probably close to life size) shows the lovely wood burr effect it has. Another plus point is that it comes in 30×60cm planks, so you don’t get the square tile look, which might be a bit too bathroom-y.

I think it will warm up the place considerably. Because it is PVC coated, it will also make the downstairs so much easier to keep clean, which is important as the front door opens onto this room. From what I’ve heard, I’ll simply need to buy a swiffer and swiff every day although, to be honest, I have no idea what that means.

Other plans for the Landing Strip are coming along nicely, too. I’ve got a bid in on Ebay for what I think will be the perfect hall table, so fingers crossed for that. I’ve also decided against having a mirror, because I quite like downstairs to be mirror free. There’s only so much narcissism a girl can take.

Going, Going, Gone

I have finally lost my auction virginity, which is a relief as it was hanging over me somewhat. Yesterday, I went to our local monthly sale which is held at the livestock market. The viewing was such fun, rummaging through boxes of junk and prodding furniture, accompanied all the while by the lingering odour of cattle and sheep.

I had been very nervous about actually bidding, so I went to the auction from the start, even though the lot I was interested in was near the end. The auctioneer was great - speedy patter, full of humour - and the bidders were the usual mix of farmers, dealers and random people. By the time it came to my lot, I was accustomed to the speed and style of it and bid with no problems at all.

What I came away with was a lot of pictures, four of which I want to keep. Two of them were paintings on silk in this style (excuse the slightly wonky scan):

I’ve no idea how old they are or what the style is called, so if anyone can give any clues, please do leave a comment. I also don’t know where I’m going to hang them yet. That’s a decision for later.