Bathroom Renovation: Tile Crush

I'm still lacking in inspiration for most of the aesthetics for our home. Although I know the kind of 'ethos' and 'personality' I'd like our home to have, I'm drawing a blank when it comes to exact aspects.
I decided to pin down how I'd like the bathroom - which is the first room I want to change, based on 'need' rather than 'want' - to look (seriously, it's gross)


Pinterest Inspiration

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  Floor Tiles
As our house is Victorian, I'd love to nod - in a subtle way - at the house's heritage. The house predates indoor plumbing (for the average Joe - Queen Vic had an indoor shower in the 1890s!) so the bathroom and kitchen are situated in a new extension, so I'm not worried about staying too canon.

Available here

These are the Camden Blue Floral Lys from Topps Tiles and I love 'em for their bright, crisp colours. They're £46.12 m²

available here

Best Tile do a great tile for £48 per square metre, and the company sends out free samples... grand! I feel like this design is a bit busier than I'd ideally like but I really like the pattern.

available here

Another great option is this Hammersmith Feature Tile from the Bath Store. The great thing about this tile is that the neutral palette would allow me to rock a dark grout, which would save me cleaning.... and I hate cleaning. Just ask my mother.
 

These are £39.02 per m2.

available here

There's also these absolute beauties from Fired Earth but, for £224.70 per m2, I would actually have to win the lottery. Tiling the floor would take up half my budget. Alas, a girl can dream. 





Wall Tiles 

White Subway tiles. That's what I'm thinking. It's rather boring but they should hopefully make the room look large, and reflect light from the velux window. I think we all know what they look like* so I shan't bother with pictures. 

I think I see a clear winner in the Bath Store, which surprised me. I did visit the Bath Store in Reading and found the staff incredibly helpful and they were very happy to throw together a CAD of the bathroom for me. I'd recommend a visit.

Is there anywhere important I'm missing? Please do leave a comment.
I did try Victoria Plumb and Homebase but there was too much beige for my liking. Beige is the colour of student houses and the diet of 14-year old boys. Yick**. 

Thanks for reading,

Sarah x
The YUP Blog


*clue: a subway. However, I have only ridden a 'subway' a few times in my life, and because I was 17 and in New York for the first time without my parents, I was not particularly interested in the walls. Too busy being indignant about the drinking age

*sorry if you like beige.
 

Small Things I Love

This amazing vintage globe - where else would you store the champagne?

This amazing door knocker from Anthropologie - available in green here

Blue-tinted cork jars for dried goods. They look incredible.

Sometimes I really struggle to remember that I only moved in last month, and nothing is going to be finished straight away. I am trying to train myself to appreciate the small things I love in the mean time

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.

Pinterest vs Houzz - where's your virtual scrapboard?

I've never been an avid scrap-booker. I didn't grow up pasting celebrities on to sugar paper or putting together binders (I love you, Leslie Knope). I hardly ever even tear out recipes. I might make a note in a diary or journal, but never more than a scrawl. That's why I'm so surprised by my latest obsession: online pin boards. Who knew collages could be so fun?

But which site to use? I've been on Pinterest since 2013 but I only really started using it this year. What says 'I'm buying a house' more than compulsively saving photographs of bathroom tiles or stair cases?!?

However, the two sites are frustratingly incompatible. I feel like I need to commit to one or the other - I feel like a scrap-booking adulteress, and it's kind of annoying... 'I saw this great idea on Pin- or was it-?'

Anyway, here's my low-down!

PINTEREST

PROS:

It's a sight for sore eyes. Pages and pages of clever designs and savvy solutions. It's a joy to scroll through. Just type what you're after ('Stairs') - and you could even add a sub-category ('carpet') to find a closer match. 'Pinning' these couldn't be easier on a mobile device, and you can stalk other people's boards, which gives it a nice social aspect. For example, I am following a blogger with AMAZING taste in cushions (PaigeJoanna, everyone)

Additionally, Pinterest is home is everything from hair extensions to cute widdle akita puppies so you can take an 'awwww' break when you get tired of tiles.

CONS:
It's often hard to find out where a picture has come from; people can source from blogs that didn't have an original derivation.
Many of the pictures are reposts, or of poor quality - there seems to be less moderation.

Oh, and the puppy pictures get too tempting...

HOUZZ:

PROS:

I feel like this site is the more comprehensive, more grown-up version of the two. Sourcing is so much easier. Like a  photo? That's great. Here's the whole set of the house it's from. And here's other houses from the architect. And here's some photos with a similar colour palette. It's FANTASTIC. It's like the Wikipedia of house design - keep clicking hyperlinks, and you'll end up somewhere completely different.

It's easy to search by location, too; I find that Pinterest is US-Centric and many of the things I've seen just can't be echoed in li'l ol' England. Searching 'London Victorian Terrace' brings up loads of relevant things.

In addition, it's a DEDICATED HOUSE SITE. Which is beautiful.




CONS:
This tangent typicality is often lovely, often frustrating. Sometimes I JUST WANT TO SEE STAIRS (obsessed, see?) but you've ended up looking at bicycle-related wall art (very much need this.
The site is very pop-up heavy (stop asking for reviews, darn you!) and takes quite a few clicks to 'add' something.
Most of the images come from professionals, who have a different budget and expertise level from you and me, and would be a lot harder to recreate.
Also, there are no puppies.

CONCLUSION: Use both!

Each site has it's benefits - its a case of finding how to make them work for you!

Soon, I'll be reviewing these sites as a contributor as well as just a passive browser (I hope)

Stay tuned!


FOLLOW ME:

PINTEREST


HOUZZ