BEDROOM ONE: BOOKCASE

A part of the Alcove project was getting the MDF cut at the same time to build a bookcase in my bedroom. I knew I wanted something floor to ceiling but ended up following the same design as the alcove units - but with a slight difference on the shelving supports, which in the final version below, I reversed the design.

   




















There's not much depth to this unit around 10 inches.  It's enough space for a layer of books with about 2 inches in front for a picture frame or slim ornament.  I find a lot of the shop bought bookcases the depth is often too deep and there is a lot of wasted space.  

I wanted to get a picture before I started filling it with books, although a mini hifi unit has already been cabled in.  Above the unit was enough space to install a pair of IKEA bookcase lamps.  Since the mirrored wardrobe doors are at a right angle to the bookcase the lights will also be useful for dressing.

LIVING ROOM
Still in progression but a little more work has been done:  The Venetian blind has been hung and the chandelier installed. 

All that's left now to complete the alcove units is to order the custom made doors.
 

BEDROOM ONE: FURNITURE IDEAS

While it may still be too early to be thinking about buying furniture it is good to see what's out there. 

I've always been attracted to Bauhaus & Art Deco design styles which in their era (1920s & 1930s) were the epitome of modern design: Clean sharp forms, economy of detail, functionality, elegance and glamour.  Even today some pieces from that time can look extremely contemporary, stylish and evocative, such as the pair of armchairs below:-

Art Deco Birdseye Maple Leather Armchairs at Regents Antiques

Photographs by Regents Antiques

Available from http://www.regentantiques.com

THE CONVEX RANGE

As an alternative to scouting around antique markets, house clearance sales, Ebay, etc for unusual and striking pieces - CPW Furniture have produced the Convex Range which has a distinct retro but modern feel.  Crafted from Birch wood and stained rich and deep tones, the gently curved fascias and silver handles give it an almost Art Deco-ish vibe.  The Convex comes in a wide range from cabinets to dining tables to bed frames to bookcases - to TV units - the usual components you might need to furnish your living room, dining room and bedroom.

Convex Dining by CPW Furniture

I realise that these unusual hefty looking retro pieces may not be to everybody tastes, but I love them.  For me, they conjure up images of black & white movies from the 1930s.  I will certainly be considering the bedside cabinets, console table for Bedroom One.

Thanks to Ebay I've just bought the CD storage unit (RRP £300) for a steal at £75 ex-display.  How resourceful is that!

The Convex Range available from various retailers.

http://www.cpwfurniture.co.uk/

COLOUR LIMITS: CHOOSING PAINT

Who would have thought that choosing paint colours would prove to be such a challenge.  I know what I want but I can't seem to find it anywhere.  Furthermore, I've learnt an important lesson: A paint colour swatch and what the paint looks like on the wall seem to be two different realities.  Sometimes it's quite alarming how something called Hay Bale ends up being more reminiscent of a tangerine. That's why it's always best to buy & try a colour tester before you commit yourself to an 10 litres of mistake that you may have to look at for a while.

Not a Kazimir Malevich artwork but the testing wall

 

If you are using wallpaper for a feature wall or a feature colour, you need to think about how this is going to tie in with the rest of your colour scheme and that includes flooring, furniture, upholstery etc.

Beiges, Creams and Hints of White seem to fall into various categories: Red hue, yellow hue, green hue, etc.  Some Off-Whites seem to be very off.  Dulux Almond white sadly seem to be more brown that white.  Overall I'm finding a lot of colours to be darker than they suggest. I prefer rooms to be light, bright and airy or elegantly muted in dusky pales.  B&Q's Soft Cream was really an Apricot trying hard to pass for a cream.  At the opposite end, Dulux Jasmine White seemed to be practically non-existent.  You have to look really hard to work out that it isn't white.

If walls had ears that would blush at the language used...

The bad photograph above doesn't reflect what's really going on here!   I'm hoping for Ivory walls with a muted green - somewhere between moss & olive as an accent colour or maybe something more vivid.  The feature wall will be papered to provide a textural finish.  The black lines represent picture frames.  Woodwork will be brilliant white. Will it work, who knows?

Take the rough with the smooth

Dulux Natural Calico for walls; suede-like wallpaper for the feature wall; with the inset back wall of the TV recess in a vivid purple (which mistakenly looks blue here).  The accent colour is a very small area and will also be echoed in the choice of fabric colours.

It's good to come back to your testing wall at various times of the day so you can see the paint in different light.  You also need to see how it will look at night with electric light.  Most importantly you need to think about the space:  Will it make the space appear smaller / larger / brighter / darker?  How will this colour effect my mood?   The rest is down to personal tastes...

FEELING BREEZY: A FAN OF FANS

Several people have asked me about the bowl-like lighting fixtures hanging from the ceiling, in the bedroom photographs. 

These are actually ceiling fan lights with their blades temporarily removed.  Nobody likes a hot, muggy bedroom at the height of the summer (not that we have too many of those!) when they are trying to sleep.  During the winter you can use the reversable blade action to circulate warm air around the room.

These fans come with a remote control which allows you to select one of  three speeds, as well as allowing you to dim the lights to a comfortable level when relaxing and watching TV in bed.

Bedroom Two

Bedroom One

For the ultimate in ceiling fan lights, Litecraft have launched the innovative and supremely stylish 'Fanaway' featuring the unique design feature of retractable blades which tidily tuck away leaving you with an Art Deco style lamp.  But you might need more than a fan to cool off after looking at the £400 price tag - sadly way out of my budget.

Fanaway available from:-
http://www.litecraft.co.uk/p/7923/fanaway-chrome-retractable-blade-fan-light/

BEDROOM ONE: WARDROBE WALLPAPER

For some weeks now I've been thinking about wallpaper to line the insides of the two wardrobes I have in bedroom one.  Since the newly plasterered, smooth walls will be painted in a neutral colour, I think it's quite interesting to slide back a door and find a different surface /colour /contrast behind it.

Not wanting to spend a great deal of money on wallpaper that would be rarely seen, I couldn't believe my luck when 4 rolls were found in a B&Q clearance bin by my favourite interior designer, Kelly Hoppen, reduced from £19.99 to £5 per roll.  Naturally, I bagged the lot while practically howling with glee! 

This gorgeous wallpaper has very subtle textured lines in contrasting colours. Washable and with a slight lustre to the texture.  The colour is more of a cream / ivory than in the detailing below.   

Bargain!

Kelly Hoppen Wallpaper at Graham & Brown
http://www.grahambrown.com/uk/product/30-160/Linear



KELLY HOPPEN INTERIORS
One of the things I love most about Kelly Hoppen's interior designs is her palette of neutrals and the calm, relaxing and understated elegance that they create - almost Japanese and Zen-like.

BEDROOM ONE: GETTING READY TO GET PLASTERED

The last couple of weekends have been intense non-stop work, so much so that I’ve had little time to blog or to do anything else.  The end result is as you see below: It doesn’t look like much but the alcove closet frame was ripped out and completely rebuilt for sliding doors, and all the major holes and cracks around the room have now been filled.  You really don’t want to be wasting your plasterers’ time & skill with crack filling when they could be obsessively focussing on getting surfaces level with the best finish that they can possibly achieve - well that's my thought.

New Frame

Old floor to ceiling closet doors

 

 

Built-in Wardrobe

Chris, the plasterer who did such an excellent job on the bathroom ceiling is back this weekend to work his magic on the walls and ceiling.   Actually as I post this, he's already made a start.

The Pepper (kitty) has developed a fixation with water and it’s been hard keeping her away from sink, bath and basin.  Despite having a bowl of fresh water daily, the moment you run a tap, she is there!   I know when she’s been playing in the kitchen sink by the tell-tale trail of wet paw prints that she leaves behind.  She is currently obsessed with watching me washing up and has now taken to sitting at the sink and occasionally dipping her paw in the suds.  I’m hoping that she’ll master the technique and wash the dishes for me…  Look and learn little cat.  She's also become much more vocal.

As we enter Spring, I’ve now resumed having my morning coffee in the Garden of Anxiety.  Despite the erratic winter, all the plants seemed to have survived and are showing the beginnings of new growth.  Due to the success of the two existing ones, I’ve gone Clematis crazy and bought three more, including the evergreen Winter flowering, Cirrhosa Freckles (which sounds like an unfortunate liver disease).   The roses seem relentless and have bounced back nicely.  I think I’m getting the hang of them now and will subject them to a harder prune next winter.  There is still a bit of hard landscaping to be finished but I’m looking forward to sunny days working outdoors.

CLOSING GAPS

I've been lazy about keeping the blog updated but weekend work is still going on:  Back in the August we started the laborious task of ripping out the door & frames and rebuilding them so they would all be the same height throughout (the size of a standard door).   Three of the original doors had transom windows - my Bedroom, the Kitchen & the Bathroom while the Living Room, Second Bedroom  & Office were without.  For the sake of consistency I've decided that apart from the Bathroom to convert them into wall.

Transom windows were originally designed for purposes of cross ventilation and light, but if you've ever had a transom window above your bedroom door you'll understand the annoyance of being woken at night everytime somebody switches the hall light on.

A Big Hole

Framing out

Behind the plasterboard face - sound insulation board...

then polystyrene and another sheet of sound insulation

Finished with plasterboard & mesh

Next job is to plaster the edges and seal the cavities around the door frame in prepartion for the final plastering.

WORKS IN PROGRESS: BEDROOM ONE

The last few weekends have been busy working on my bedroom, here referred to as 'bedroom one': The built-in wardrobe is now in situ - constructed out of stud work and plasterboard, and ready for the plasterer to render the final coat and turn it from a skeletal framework into a solid wardrobe.  The tracks are in place for the mirrored sliding doors.  These types of floor to ceiling wardrobes are relatively easy to construct - although you have to sure where you position them because of their permanence (obviously), but I love the way that once they are finished, they will blend into the walls.

The sub-floor has also been laid.  All the old carpet and underlay cut up and thrown out.  I was suprised to find that beneath to floor boards is solid concrete which seems unusual for a first floor apartment but I guess that's how they built in 1936.  I had to check just to ensure that when I was screwing in the sub-floor that I wasn't going to hit any wires for downstairs' electrics.  Between the sub floor and floorboards a fibreboard underlay has been placed to act as a sound-proofing barrier as well as helping to flatten any uneveness.  The bamboo flooring won't be laid until the rooms have been plastered and painted, but already without the ugly carpets that the previous owner left behind, the place seems cleaner and fresher.