We Chose a Bed: Get Laid Beds

The bedrooms in this house are a lot smaller than I realised.

When I bought the house, I got utterly fixated with the positives (Price? Tick. Fireplace? Tick. Upstairs bathroom? Tick) and you fail to see the shortcomings. Once we moved in, I got very worried by the small space we actually have available to us.


I love clothes. This is, horrifyingly, about a quarter of what we own, hanging on two tidy rails from Argos. (great value for money though, product found here)

The floorplan doesn't look too tiny but we do have large fireplaces jutting out of every room, eating up valuable space.

I looked at a lot of beds in this post but, to be honest with you, they're all too big for the space we're working with. Even with underbed storage, we just lose too much floor space and too many possibilities.

Therefore, we went for this little number.
It's a space saver bed - and a small double. Compare it to a standard double and you'll see why...

Now, let me tell you about this company. Handmade in Leicester, they boast beds that are 'simple, natural, solid, quality' - which is exactly what I'm looking for. No faffing around with headboards, bedknobs (or broomsticks). No headboard, no footboard, no bed knobs, no broom sticks. This bed is stream-lined. This is a serious-business bed. There's space underneath for boxes, too. All in all, it seemed like a very savvy buy, although it set us back £270 - more than we'd budgeted for!

It was all worth it, though. It arrived last week and it's fantastic.

Get Laid Beds Platform Space Saver, here; Bird Bedding/Wicker Chair, Unknown

It is absolutely perfect and I'm in love with it. The finish is incredible, and will go beautifully with our floorboards (once sanded, varnished and restored). It took over 20 days to arrive, but we were given due warning. It also seems quite fast for a handmade product!

John Lewis Perth Rug, available here; Assorted Jewellery

The space it's given us is amazing. We can fit in a decent-sized chest of drawers either side - and walk through properly!

Left: Grandma's G-Plan Drawer Set, Circa 1950;TK Maxx Lamp

I'm over the moon with this purchase and I fully recomend Get Laid Beds. Hopefully it'll serve us for many years to come.

Sarah of The Yup Blog.

A Dumb-Phone Life: A Comment on the Connected Life

 
In the marketing world, I'd be known as a 'late adopter'.

When we segment and profile customers in the industry, people like myself are given a little dunce cap and a pat on the back. There's a 'bless them, they'll get there eventually' mentality. We're not the target demographic for anything innovating. A product is launched, and we watch, warily, from the undergrowth. Will it flop? Is it worth the money? We watch thousands of other individuals exchange money for goods - an extended beta test - before we part with our cash. For me, it's an upbringing thing. Any trend must be firmly established before I shell out. It took me two years to believe in the power of the playsuit.

I was certainly late to the party with a Smart Phone. I got my first last December, over six years after the iPhone first graced our lives. It was a Samsung Galaxy S3. It's a damn good phone, don't get me wrong. It is relatively cheap (£180 from argos), attractive, light, and does all you could possibly wish for. I'm definitely a fan of an Android operating system; it's nimble, accessible, and compatible. It links to google applications like a dream.


You may have wondered why I've been so quiet.... sadly, my whole handbag was stolen on Saturday night in a moment of weakness. I lost my house keys, bike lock keys, purse, licence, debit card, nectar card, rail card and phone in one fell swoop. My bike key is the thing I'm currently missing the most; I can't cycle to work at the moment! But, a close second is my mobile phone.

the night was definitely worth it

  Scrolling, Swiping ZOmbie

As a user of twitter and instagram, my phone had been in my hand 24/7 since the day I got it. If I wasn't texting or sending Whatsapps (best app ever, by the way) I was flicking idly through reams of Pinterest or Instagram images, double-tapping as I went.

I hate to sound cliché, but I really did feel connected. I also really felt inspired. Surely it was productive, this behaviour, this constant interior-design voyeurism? It was helping me develop my own sense of style, encouraging me to make decisions about my home, informing me of trends and looks.
It wasn't. I was wasting hours watching someone else's life unfold. Mine was being wiled away in the meantime.
It's taken me some time away from the screen to realise what my phone was really doing to me. I was just another social-media zombie. T & I have spent too many evenings scrolling on our smartphones, side-by-side. We might be holding hands but we're not really 'together'. Truly joyful moments can't occur in the realms of the internet - and paticularly the passive internet.

Do I really need another smartphone?I'm sorry to say that yes, I do. Without one, I am a little at sea when it comes to arranging plans. It also makes blogging and recording moments like nights out very difficult. I'm saving up for one at the moment - though I'm not in a rush. 
When we were in Croatia, I turned my phone off for the entire week. Was I any poorer for being off the grid for a week? No. If anything, my experience in the Baltics was enriched. I read, I talked, I experienced the things in front of me and didn't just see them through an instagram filter. 
I hope that I'll approach my next phone in a more restrained way. Perhaps I'll turn it off when I'm socialising, or at home in the evening, and only turn it on for a specific use.

Has anyone had any luck weaning themselves off the smartphone? I'd love to hear about it.

All the best,
Sarah

Move-in Day Survival Guide (AKA Reading for comfort eaters)

This time tomorrow, I’ll be in my new home. That is, if all goes to plan. If it doesn’t, here’s my coping strategy*.

 

I’ll be living a stone’s throw from the Oracle shopping centre, which has a beautiful riverside and lots of excellent eateries in which to bide my time. I eat like clockwork. If I get through the day without one of my five integral meal-stops, it’s a miracle.  I plan to leave work at 12pm tomorrow (yes, I’m going in for the morning… my annual leave amount is pitiful) so if I don't get into the house by 2pm, there'll be friction....

 **this could also be known as ‘a guide to Reading for comfort eaters’

I'm delayed by 1 hour (2pm)
Chow down at Mission Burrito



image from Mission Burrito's blog

 Mission Burrito is a colourful, hearty establishment and it’s the perfect place to abate the nervous, gnawing hunger I get when things start to go wrong. A burrito with all the trimz will set you back almost £7, but it’s worth it.

(Guac shouldn’t be extra, guys! It should be free! It’s an essential! Like oxygen!)

 



image from http://www.theexchange.uk.net



Delayed by 3 hours (4pm)
Visit Patisserie Valerie
I’ll be very cross by this point.
I will need chocolate. Ridiculously over-indulgent chocolate.

Delayed by five hours (6pm)
Order a Pizza Presto
I will be fuming, I imagine. Probably pacing back and forth. I will probably have cycled to the solicitors, the estate agents AND the bank and threatened everyone with death and sulfer.
This will obviously burn up around 10,000 calories (conservative estimate) and mean I need to eat something wholly unhealthy.

image from pizzapresto.co.uk

Pizza Presto is the marmite of Reading pizza. Order it, and expect a greasy, sweaty paving-slab of a pizza to arrive around 45 minutes afterwards (they’re not super prompt). I don’t know why, but eating pepperoni swimming in a cheesy grease lake is incredibly therapeutic and this place offers serious value for money (pro-tip: never order chicken fight)

 

Delayed by 7 hours (8pm)
Round at Mix Bar
Who am I kidding?
Food won’t sate the disappointment in my soul.
Mix Bar is an amazing venue with impossibly talented staff – and prices which represent this. However, Happy Hour runs until 8pm so I can drown my sorrows and get change for a tenner.
If you’ve not been before, pop in. I'm a regular.

 

Sometimes you get a free drink, if you can find the plastic bull before anyone else....

 

 

 

 

Screw it, even if I get the keys and through the threshold, I might do these four things anyway! Unpacking can wait - nothing says 'home-sweet-home' more than unpacked boxes!

 

Have a great Wednesday, everyone x

 

 

Decorating a TINY 'master' bedroom

The house we're buying is awesome. It's in a great location and it's got character by the bucket load. It's got two HUNDRED years of experience so I think it's got pretty great at 'being a house' by now.

But, it's MINISCULE. Please enjoy the floor plan, provided for your interest/entertainment.

Looking at home design websites is terrifying. Paticularly American home design websites. Even Apartment Therapy, a site that specialises in the aesthetics of the shoe-box apartment (I've built a mezzanie out of some old pallets I found down at the train tracks and my sofa turns into a yoga mat when I remove this peice of string) still seem to have WIDTH.

We don't. Victorian terraces, once inhabited by factory workers, don't have space to swing a cat. (the cat is relieved about this)

Thankfully, PINTEREST. It has lots of lovely pictures of lovely tiny bedrooms and now I feel less perturbed by the whole situation. Here's my pick of the best... they aren't my photos, so click for source.

That last picture is my favourite, because of the storage potential.


I think I've got some good ideas for our bedroom now... what's your favourite inspiration source?  Follow my blog with Bloglovin