colour madness

We are still in the middle of our bedroom makeover, these things certainly take more time than anticipated. I think amongst the white walls, woodwork and floors I am craving colour, thank you LivingEtc gallery for these vibrant shots!

The floor in the bedroom is nearly finished, once dry we can hang the wallpaper and move our furniture, and ourselves back in. The kitchen on the other hand is another matter, thanks to the insurance company this is going to be a long process. Oh well, one more colourful shot by Stefan Thurnmann, just because I'm greedy!

summer holiday ... sort of

I have been forced to take a bit of an impromptu break from blogging due to a very unexpected leak in the kitchen. Our plumbing under the kitchen sink decided to turn itself into a bit of a water feature, soaking everything in its path. Base units, plinths and floor have all suffered the wrath! As such, kitchen improvement plans have had to step up a gear. We have had some very helpful tradesmen and a very unhelpful insurance company and despite that I'm still a little confused about what exactly it is that I want!

Along with this we were making really good progress in the bedroom. All the walls are prepared for painting and while I was on a hen weekend to London poor Mark painstakingly sanded all of the floorboards. I'm amazed how good they look considering the layers of soot and dirt that had to be removed to reveal that they are, as expected, wood. While doing the room we removed all of our (large) furniture from this room and have rehomed it in our two spare rooms which means that we have one big empty room and two smaller rooms full to the brim.

With most of the rooms in the house currently out of action my kind mum has taken in our little family while we work on finishing the bedroom and getting things sorted for the kitchen. More blogs to come soon about the bedroom update and of course what I actually decide to do with the kitchen!

freebies

Thanks to freecycle, Mark and myself are now the proud owners of an Ercol Windsor lounge set. We have been given two armchairs and a two seater sofa for absolutely nothing. The frames are in excellent condition and still have the Ercol seal, the cushions are original and in need of some TLC. I'm thinking of covering them in this Lumimarja fabric by Marimekko.


Here is a lovely photo from Kokor Hekkus' flikr photostream to keep me going, plain purple looks good too ...

orla kiely madness

I love this picture from LivingEtc, the chair is amazing and I need to find myself a bright yellow light. Maybe I'm not destined to live in a white house.

Also the striped petal wallpaper is fantastic ... I think if the cats stayed still long enough in this house they would get wallpapered too.

sofa quest 2009

Our M&S sofas that we got when we moved in to the house are looking quite sad and tired now, especially with all the work that is going on around them in the house. As such, the search for new seating has begun, or as I like to call it sofa quest 2009 (we had so much trouble choosing our first ones that we are dreading doing it all again). Thankfully we have settled in to the house and we know how we are using the space, unlike choosing sofas days before exchange on our first house together. My obsession with white continues, as does Mark's with ease to care for so despite having cats (with claws) we are exploring the possibility of leather.

There are so many fantastic sofas out there, I find myself in another confusing situation, similar to that with the kitchen (update coming soon) its so hard to settle on what I really want. Here are some of my favourites so far.

This is the cube sofa from Heals, it has lovely simple lines and a great button detail on the side. I really like it and thought that the shape reminds me of something ... then it came to me klippan (with a bit more detail!).

Oh habitat, it is reasons like the days forum sofa why I cannot allow myself to pass through your doors too often. I love the walnut sides of the sofa, they are fantastic.

This has to be my favourite, the tufted white leather karlstad from ikea. I think this one will be hard to beat for price and I love the quilted chesterfield like back.

... And then I go full circle and ponder whether staying with washable covers would be the best option for us, I hate it when I get into practicalities. What about you? What are your thoughts on white furniture with pets?

Just for fun here are some lovely sofas from urban outfitters, unfortunately you can only get them in North America, otherwise I would be running round the house trying to find a spot for at least one of them.

(Antoinette Fainting Sofa and Mid Century Sofa both Urban Outfitters)

Paul Massey's latest project

This renovation is in the current issue of LivingEtc, or as it has now been renamed by me the bible. I love these images, light and airy and lovely white floors, what's not to like? Head to LivingEtc to see the full 30 images, including some with his lovely dog.

Also, while I am on the topic of LivingEtc, they are currently running a competition where the lucky winner can paint their entire house in LivingEtc paint for free. Needless to say I have entered!

weekend off

What a lovely weekend it was here, we made the most of the bank holiday weekend and downed paintbrushes for a well earned rest. On Saturday we went to Beamish Museum, a brilliant outdoor museum which depicts typical life in the north east in 1825 and 1913. It was great because we got to see what our typical miners cottage would have looked like at the time and I got to indulge my obsession with fireplaces, I am desperate to reinstate the cast iron range which would have been at the heart of our home, I got to see plenty of them in action at Beamish. This is the Edwardian town at Beamish, the sun had gone and the clouds had gathered by the time I took this photo but it was still a lovely day.

On Sunday, Mark went to the final football match of the season and thankfully, as a Sunderland supporter, the results went the right way for the team and they remain in the Premier League. I on the other hand spent the day with my Mum and we took the opportunity to enjoy the sun and relaxed in her beautiful garden. I wish ours was half as nice, tho only thing that we can successfully grow is weeds, its official.

Finally, on Monday I had some bridesmaid duties to attend to and met one of the girls in Durham to do some preparations for the forthcoming hen weekend in London. After this my lovely husband took me for lunch. Durham is a really beautiful city.

Back to reality now and we have started getting organised in advance of tackling the bedroom makeover, why do I have so many clothes?