A New American Resident

Old Bathroom Door

Well it's been a long time since the last update and that's very likely due to the fact we haven't done all that much to the house in the last few months. We have been saving up for some of the big stuff to be done (last week we got plumbers in to give us quotes on a new boiler- at last!) and we are at that stage now where we need those things to be done before we can do anything else.

But we have made a few minor changes, new doors and handles upstairs to replace the horrid original chipboard doors and sagging handles;



Bedroom Door Before

Bedroom Door After- with new handles

 New Bathroom door with new hooks



Bargain TK Maxx Hooks

Well according to my husband hanging doors is no easy task, but I think he did a good job especially since all our door frames are wonky...and he did have a helper;

Apart from the doors we have got rid of the small fridge and half freezer in the cubby hole in the kitchen, purchased a huge American Fridge Freezer (eBay bargain!) which has meant a bit of a kitchen jig around;

We have got rid of about 1 metre of work surface and moved the wall shelves over to make room for the new beast. The shelves may disappear when we re-do the kitchen, it is as yet undecided! So in the cubby hole Max is in the (slow) process of building a pantry:

 

And finally we have been gathering some sample tiles to work out what we will be having on the kitchen walls a few months down the line

Choices, Choices...

Succulent Love

Ever since I saw this picture on Pinterest i have wanted to do something similar and put it in the kitchen or living room.

So I have been keeping an eye out for a suitable glass container to star my succulent collection, checking my favourite place for glassware TK Maxx quite regularly

Well it just so happens I was in Ikea (shock horror!!) and I spotted this little beauty for the princely sum of £6- and it has been sat on the kitchen sideboard for nearly 2 months...

 It's a bit shallower then I would have liked but nevertheless it does the required job.

Next was a trip to the garden centre to pick up 3 succulent plants (absolutely no idea what the actual name is for them- on Pinterest they are called succulents!) and some decorative stones. The plants cost £1.99 each and the stones were £1.99 also! We already had some mud in a bag in the shed (not sure of actual gardening term) because that's just what homeowners do- they own random gardening products. 

Then quite simply I took the plants out of the plastic pots, arranged them in the glass bowl and filled around them with the mud. I probably shouldn't have done it on the dining room table - but i did clean it afterwards!

Then i just topped the mud with the stones to make it look more pretty! Only problem being that when i put the mud into the bowl I got quite a lot on the plants which made them look messy :( Alas i worked out that when you water the plants with a watering can the mud washed off them and they are pretty again! 

So now we have a nice new plant feature in our living room, for a total cost of about £14.

I think it could make quite a nice gift idea- relatively in expensive and you could tie a nice bow around i :)

Making a Draught Excluder

A few months back i was visiting my friend who has just bought her first house and admiring the place when i noticed she was using a scarf to block the draught from the cellar door and so i kindly offered to make her a draught excluder! Having never made anything of the kind it was bit of a trial and error approach, which thankfully didn't end up with too much error!

Items needed- fabric, fabric marker, scissors, tape measure, wadding, and sewing machine or needle and thread.

I measured the width of the door and added 2 inches to the length to allow for seams. The fabric width was about 20cm -I took the fabric and folded it over inside out to start sewing

secure the edge to be sewn with pins

I just used a simple stitch on the machine and sewed two of the 3 sides, then turned the fabric the right way out

The i filled the whole thing with cushion wadding. I did read a tutorial online which said fill with rice. Whilst I'm sure that would have been better in terms of weight- i don't think i could afford enough rice to fill the whole thing and it would be too heavy to carry!

Finally i just sewed up the end and it was finished! Whole thing took 1 hour maximum

Wedding Gifts

So the last post was all about the interior inspiration we picked up on our recent honeymoon in Thailand. Of course before the honeymoon came the wedding!

Our guests were more than generous with their gifts, we have decided to save all of the gift vouchers we received for the house- to put towards furniture and accessorise when we finally get round to the renovation of downstairs next year. 

But one gift in particular is making a big impact on our house. You may remember this painting in our bathroom, it was painted by our friend Jason who sadly couldn't make the wedding because of a relocation to Cornwall falling in the same weekend!

Anyhow he more than made up for it when this arrived by courier the day we got back from our honeymoon...

 

After about 20 minutes i managed to get it out of all the protective cardboard and bubble wrap and reveal the amazing picture he has painted for us! We then spent the next hour carrying it round the house trying to decide where it should go.

First option was the hallway...

After considering it- although the picture really works well with the existing colour scheme, we already have a lot going on in this space, with the wallpaper, the radiator cabinet and the big mirror just opposite.

So we tried various places in the kitchen...

To be honest our scabby old kitchen didn't do it any justice whatsoever. And we didn't think it went here in the dining room either..

Finally we decided on a spot on the upstairs landing. It looks fabulous here, really tying in the colours of the dark dresser and blinds with the green of the plant. It also complements the white frames running up the stairs on the other side of the bedroom doorway.

So after a trip to B&Q to get the relevant heavy duty picture hanging kit and lots of nagging of my husband we have finally hung the picture :)

Absolutely love the picture there, i really think any artwork adds instance interest to a previously boring corner!

Inspiration from Thailand

Its been such a long time since the last post! A lot has happened since then; like we got married (!) and have been away in Thailand for over 2 weeks since.

Today marks the 1 year anniversary of finally getting the keys to this little house! Looking back we were definitely slightly naive as to the scale of work needed to bring this house up to scratch, but we have done a lot in those 12 months- and there is still so much more left to do. 

In Thailand I got some real inspiration in terms of interior design, from our hotel and some restaurants we visited. Even the local markets where i picked up quite a few bits and pieces for the house - more on that later.

We stayed at the Anantara Lawana Resort and Spa in Chaweng Koh Samui for the first part of our honeymoon. We had a pool villa, which consisted of terrace area, garden, small pool, bedroom and outdoor bathroom. I really loved the style of the room, neutral floor tiles and walls, with dark furniture and green/turquoise accents.

I want some chairs similar to these in the dining room

I love the dark wood with the neutral backdrop

Some details we will definitely re-create in the living room will be the use of the dark wood furniture and green accents. With light coloured walls, sofas and soft furnishings it shouldn't be too dark.

Wall Lantern in the bathroom, i like the idea of lanterns by the fireplace

The dark wood table in the bathroom for the towels. I want something similar to this (smaller) as end tables.

The other thing i like about the room was the use of light coloured curtains on dark wood poles- and the fabric was nice too! 

Green accents were the tray in the bathroom with all the amenities on, the cups for the complimentary tea and coffee, and in the restaurant they had elephant salt and pepper shakers in an amazing hue of ocean Green, i searched all the markets for something similar but couldn't find anything :( I probably could have just taken the ones from the hotel but technically that is theft which is illegal, and i really didn't fancy my chances in a Thai jail ;)

Loved these leaf plates at a local restaurant!

Lanterns, lanterns lanterns!

I also wanted to take this turquoise tray!

Well given all that I didn't actually buy any dark wood furniture, green accessorise or lanterns! But of course i picked up just a few bits and pieces for the house...

From left to right:
a) A new patterned scarf. Not actually to use as a scarf- i am going to make something out of it with my sewing machine, perhaps a top. - Cost equivalent of £3
b) An ancient style map of "Siam" or Thailand. It was actually a greetings card but i (of course) put it into a white frame when i got home ;)- Cost equivalent to £1.20
c) Mandatory fridge magnet of Thailand!
d) The little gold symbol in the plastic bag is the number 8 in Thai (or so i have been told!) Not sure what I am going to do with it yet, maybe attach some magnets to the back...
e) At the back is a Giraffe lamp. Shamelessly i stole this idea off our friends who have the same lamp. Ever since i first saw it at their house i have been banging on about how much i like it, so when i saw them for sale in Thailand i had to have one! Well imitation is flattery! It cost the equivalent of £6, and its main body is made form a coconut. Not sure where it's going to go yet and we need an adaptor for the plug.
d)A bronze Buddha head statue- i did some hard bargaining for this at a market in Bangkok called MBK. The lady originally wanted about £26 for it but in the end i got it for £8. She didn't seem very happy to give it to me at that but she was saying something about the first customer being lucky!
e) And finally a teak wood hand of Buddha- in the "peace" gesture. Cost approx £6

So many things to find homes for- would be easier if the living room was already finished because a few of those things can definitely go on the built in storage/TV stand we are planning. We also saw some amazing painters/paintings but we couldn't really bring any of them home safely. If we ever return then we will definetly come back with one or have one shipped.