Wednesday 9 March 2011

Spring has sprunged...



Everyone else has posted springly pictures on their blogs so I decided to hurl myself on the bandwagon..
The tulips are from my ever-so-stylish friend, Sharon, who came round and spent the afternoon with me on Monday. And what a lovely afternoon it was. The sun was shining. We had lots of tea and cake and a little explore in Windy Bank Wood.
Windy Bank is my new place to explore and its literally on my doorstep. I'll post some pics here soon....
Bye for now x

An ongoing saga... bathroom continued

Here are the results so far in the bathroom or the room off the bathroom - its a strange little configuration....
I painted the walls black. Yes folks I did say black. And when I'd just finished painting I looked at it and I thought: " have I just gone completely mad? Have I??"
I just couldn't decide if it was completely mental or total genius... I do think it will probably divide people's opinions but once I'd gotten my mirror and candle sconces on the wall I was totally in love with it..

Ive spruced up the candle sconces - they were a gold pair that I'd had in my old house in the living room. I painted them white with an almost dry brush so that some of the gold would still come through and I nicked some of the crystal drops from the chandelier that is just visible in picture one. I used these on the sconces and the mirror. Same mirror that was black in my last post.

And finally:- the line between the old and the new... All woodwork is going to be done in brilliant white and tiles are going to be mainly brilliant white with a black border..

To be continued.....

Wednesday 2 March 2011

Bathroom Makeover - back to pimping...

I've started to tart up my bathroom... We were really spoiled in our old house as we'd been able to afford to have the bathroom completely gutted and done out and it was probably the nicest room in the house.
Now dont get me wrong - the bathroom in the cottage is perfectly serviceable
it is totally fit for purpose but... its.. well its a bit embarrassing really. We had to get the ceiling dropped and replaced in there and there are drips down the walls from where the plasterer was smoothing the plaster. Not great big lumps, mind - but dribbles. As if someone has dribbled tea down them only you cant really scrub it off. Nice yellowy brown dribbles from the ceiling.

And the tiles are mismatched. It looks as if originally- there was a layer of tiles up to the middle of the walls and then someone came along later and thought (quite rightly) that tiles up to the ceiling were in order along the side of the bath and shower. But I'll bet pound to a penny that they trotted down to the DIY place and they just couldn't find the exact same tiles as the ones that were already in situ. And I'll also bet that (just like us) money was an issue so.... they decided that they would get some tiles that were the same size and dimension as the old ones - only plain white. Because white goes with everything doesn't it?? Right? White does go with everything? Well sort of...

And another thing.. The border tiles.. theyre ok.. They're not offensive or anything but they just look kind of like they would be in a child's bathroom. If there is such a thing. Nothing wrong with that as such but - well - our bathroom in Mossley, Lancashire was gorgeous - it was boutique hotel style. Everyone commented on it. "oh what a lovely bathroom" or "Oh what a gorgeous bathroom" or "Oh I WANT your bathroom!" or (my personal favourite) "I know I've said it before but... What a lovely bathroom". There's nothing like repeat compliments.
I was proud of it. I would pour people copious beverages so that they would be forced to visit it and once they did they were always smitten. I CANT FIND ANY PHOTOS OF IT!! I know we had some but I cant trace them. Maybe its a good thing.. I'm bigging it up so much - they'd have to be pretty damn good photos wouldn't they....
Do I sound a slight bit mad? I must apologise. But I cant help it. I WANT PEOPLE TO WANT MY NEW BATHROOM!

Problem: I dont have 'Make people want your new bathroom' money. And I've been to the local library and they dont seem to stock 'How to make people want your new bathroom without 'Make people want your new bathroom' money.'
Solution: Tile paint and second hand mirrors and spray paint. Ok so these things are probably not going to make people want my new bathroom but they might help me to want it. And that's the first step so..
Phase 1: The anteroom...
I decided to spray paint the louvre doors white...
Coat number one - ooo Shabby... (I did move the towels and little chair whilst painting - I just put it back in shot for composition purposes - oo get me: all la di da!)

And here's the mirror I bought from the local charity shop which had my husband scratching his head... and making polite ''I'm sure it'll be lovely when you're done'' type noises...

Complete with those lovely yellow dribble marks...

To be continued... cue suspense music