Just because there hasn't been much updating lately...

We had some friends round for lunch this afternoon. The place is starting to look quite nice from time to time.

More white walls

Freecycle

Freecycle is such a brilliant thing. Tonight, a lovely man came round and collected the massive piece of wood we've been keeping lying around since we moved in. It was once part of the "bunk bed". Who knows what they are going to use it for, but it was quite a good piece of wood, so glad it could go to a good home...

Ow

Finally we had a day of DIY. Oh but the pain. My thumbs hurt, my back is aching, my wrists feel funny... I am going to sleep extremely well tonight. BUT we did get some stuff done. I built a non-children sized chest of drawers (OMG no more folding underwear to make it fit!) and Steph painted a couple of the walls in the "blue room". Then we moved all of the clothing-related things (cupboards, clothes, shoes, etc) into the bedroom. The living room now looks about 10 times bigger, hurrah! Still loads to sort out though... a task for later on (or maybe tomorrow)(or maybe next week). Pics below.

Upgrade!

Prettier laundry basket!


Stronger magnets!


Better plastic bag management!

Oh the excitement as one afternoon's shopping on Ebay gradually makes its way to me in the post.

New things

Some of the exciting new purchases for the flat include:


Picture hooks and bookends!


A new computer! Still a work in progress (especially its positioning...)


Lightbulbs!

Whilst in Sweden over the weekend we also purchased coat hooks! These will be on the wall once the wall is painted, so it may be some time before you see these. £55 for that Dwell coat stand was too much. But if you have already bought it, don't fret. It will still find a handsome spot in our living room.

A new IKEA chest of drawers should be arriving soon and the entire living room will change as a result. Pics soon to follow.

If you fancy buying us an early Xmas present

I have my eye on this. I think I am going to get it. It's the best metal coat stand I've found aside from some from Heal's which cost 10x as much (literally - £445). If anyone fancies getting it for us as a very delayed house warming gift, we wouldn't say no...

Update...

So, it's been QUITE a while since we last updated the blog. This is primarily because we have done ZERO DIY. Seriously. THe hallway is still only half painted... we are thinking of getting a decorator in to finish it. We'll see.

But anyway, there have been a few purchases/gifts that have added to the flat, so I took some snaps today, and here they are.

Last time we had the sofa, for ages we had sofa cushion covers but no cushions, now we have a sofa, sofa cushion covers AND sofa cushions. It is pretty spectacular.

We have had this lamp for ages, but I can't figure out for the life of me what kind of lightbulbs actually go into it. So for the minute it looks pretty, but doesn't actually work.

Got this little iPod player last weekend. It is brilliant. Not only does my iPod fit neatly into it, the player also charges the iPod. And there is a remote control for it. And it also has a radio. And it displays the temperature. And it is pretty loud. This is the best spontaneous purchase I have made in a very long time (apart, of course, from the iPod itself).

This is just to display how empty the top of the fridge now looks. Before it was all two terrible but huge speakers and cables and crap for me to plug some music into. Much improved.

Next up:
Steph has ordered a new computer which will be in the lounge, so we need to get some kind of table for that. I have just ordered a new (large) chest of drawers to replace our tiny child-sized ones from Argos. Once those are in place, the closets will move into the bedroom and the tiny chest of drawers will be come hallway drawers full of exciting things like gloves and electrical plugs. It's all go now!

SOFA SOFA SOFA

That's exciting stuff. We have two rooms! The boyfriend is still sleeping so I am in the living room on the sofa so I don't wake him up. WOW!!! This is revolutionary stuff. And it has flag arms for resting things on, and it is firm and non-squishy, and it has a sofa bed, and it is the colour we wanted. And it was incredibly cheap. I think it might be perfect. Thanks to Rob for putting it together. And for knowing that the type of carpet we want is called "Seagrass". That will definitely come in handy.

Recycling my university degrees

Yesterday and today I went through 4 years of folders of notes and put them all in the recycling bin. It was surprisingly emotional. But it needs to go. I never refer to them and I have all of my notes from my masters on my PC anyway. I was so organised - all of my notes are types up! But throwing it all away was still so sad... 8 A4 ring binders full of plastic folders and paper, all gone. 4 years and 2 degrees! Trashed because they are just cluttering up the flat. Sad days.

SO...

Remember last week, when I said that we were going to finish the undercoat all in one weekend? Well, not so much. Sunday turned into a barbeque for me and Kew gardens for the boyfriend, and then this week I've been ill and the boyfriend has been out most every night so the painting kind of stalled a bit. BUT we are back on it. Almost done with the undercoat on the walls. Just a few little bits, the edges, and the ceiling to go. Oh, and we still have to strip 2 1/2 door frames and sand them all. But you know. Whatevs.


BBQ on a London high-rise balcony

Hackney at night

The hallway

Painting in knackering. Almost finished with two walls. Taking a break for the rest of today. Tomorrow we will complete Coat One. It would take us less time, but we also have to do the ceiling. How the F we are going to do that, I don't know.

Painting the hallway

Stage one: painting the metal bits. I was all set to start stage two: painting the entire hallway, but we forgot to buy Turpentine and I don't want to paint if we can't clean the brushes (and ourselves). Soooo that's for tomorrow...

At our country retreat

More new fish for the pond. Some of last summer's koi have doubled in size!!

PS I think this is one of my favourite pictures of all I have ever taken.

We have light shades!

Pretty.

Next weekend (Saturday 28th), we get... A SOFA. This is very exciting. Pics soon to follow.

Before and middle

After will come once we're back from hols and have painted the hallway...

Long way to go...

There is a whole wall of this to get through... the fire helps make the... whatever he put on the wall... go softer and therefore come off easier, but it is pretty hard-going!!

I bring you...

FIRE! This is fun. Melt the paint and reveal the fresh wood underneath. But it makes the fire alarm go off every 5 minutes. The neighbours must think we're burning the place down.

Smoooooth

The walls are sooo smooth. Can't wait until they dry so that I can do some painting...

The builders

I am pretty impressed so far. They have been working non-stop since they got here at 9:30.

"Are you sure you don't want to go and have some lunch?" I asked, mostly because I kind of need a wee and don't want to use the loo when they're in the hallway.

"No, no, no." One of them said. "We work now. Eat later."

Plaster!

Right now, right at this very moment, two lovely Polish men are in our hallway filling in holes and plastering. Pics coming later. It is all v. v. exciting. To have a hallway that isn't grey and concrete! What joys.

Still loving the oven...

God these brownies are good.

Mmm having an oven is delicious

Roast duck with tomato, mushroom and onion gravy. Garlic mashed potatoes. YUUUUMMMM.

I'd forgotten how nice it was...

Oh, to cook with gas! T0 have an oven! To have things that are crispy and roasted! We have been living with just the steamer since we moved in, and although it was lovely (and healthy) nothing beats a nice roast potato. So, for our first meal in the new oven, we had roast potatoes, salmon and asparagus. YUM. The joy of food porn is back! I think I might bake some bread this week. I can make soup! I can make pizza! Lasagna! Roast chicken! Ohhhh, these delights have been missing from my life for too long. Tonight's meal will be remembered for all my life.

We have an oven

Oh my God. At last. Isn't it pretty? We just need to get it fitted now...

Repainting

Now that the bedroom is (mostly) painted, we have, of course, decided we don't like the colour. It is too dark. So we got some samples last weekend and painted some squares on the wall. I like the bottom left one best. So, I think that's the next thing to do...

Deconstruction

So, taking things down is a lot more fun (and way easier) than putting things up. Today was a LOT of fun. We took down the weird cupboard in the hallway and the uneven shelf in the corridor. The walls are completely fucked now, and we can no longer postpone the inevitable - we need a man to come and do some plastering. I guess that is the next step. Now how does one find a plasterer??

Radio silence

So, February has been kind of a quiet month. Since we put together the furniture, I don't think we have done anything... BUT hopefully this Saturday we will finally be getting an oven/stove so that will be a massive achievement. Watch this space.

Furniture

So, I may have gotten over-excited. The furniture arrived yesterday morning and I put together a bedside table and one of the chest of drawers. The bedside table is brilliant BUT the chest of drawers is a little... well... little! I think we might need to order a bigger one - I didn't realise just how dinky it is! It will still probably come in handy, but the unpacking probably isn't going to happen quite yet... Tomorrow I will be putting together the cupboards, so hopefully those won't be quite so small... That's what you get when you go super-budget at Argos!