Tiny Dining Room Decor: I'm not afraid of dark paint!

 We spent Saturday at Homebase. Oh my god. Who knew picking paint was so hard? We already had a very good idea in mind of what we wanted...but getting it right was no easy feat. Yup, we were looking for a colour for our 'feature wall'.

I know this concept is quite old-fashioned by now, and I am personally quite taken by a modern scandinavian all-white finish. However, the bikes are being stored on the wall - as I mentioned in my previous post post - and I'm certain bikes and white don't mix well.
I wonder how on earth the apartment dwellers cope? My bike drags in half of Berkshire every time I go for a ride; today, I found a twig folded up in my tea towel. It was just resting there, wrapped up like a deciduous baby jesus. Hmm.

Anyway, we decided to make the bike wall into a 'feature wall' because A) the bikes are going to be a pretty big THING anyway and B) I'm hoping that we can put a nice dark colour on there and it'll hide a multitude of sins (read; dirt and scuffs. I've had mixed feedback on this. Someone told me it was going to end up being a 'rainy cloud room'. Another person told me it would make the room look small - we already do have a tiny dining room. Well, I'm not afraid of dark colours. Anyway, I've seen it done well in other small spaces... 

My main source of inspiration is from the amazing Carrie Clarke, whose choice of Dulux's Bowler Hat was total perfection. She made such a bold choice to go for such a dark grey against pure white, but I think it works. Her living room is quite large but it shows how effective these tones can be on an archaic, older home. It really makes things pop.

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I also took a few more ideas from Pinterest....










 We also perused a few paint catalogues (Dulux and Crown) and made a nice little mood board which I think reflects the look we want. Dark, sophisticated, but with a playful pop of colour.
I want to utilise dark colours to emphasise the light and bright details of the fireplace, which has been painted white by previous owners/tenants.

 

Then, we spent around two hours choosing paint. OH MY GOD it's so hard. Also, not cheap. Seriously, £3.99 for a Farrow & Ball tester pot? Are you laughing? The rest were between £1.50 and £2.30 each, which was better but still added up.

In order to stick to budget, we picked just eight colours. I was really sad to find that the Bowler Hat shade is not available at Homebase. We chose the closest counterparts, and also went for a few stronger blues.

In terms of quality, the Dulux paint went on the best - and the tester pot had a little brush inside it, which was really very convenient! The coverage was fantasic, too; I gave all samples two coats but really it only needed one.
The Crown paint also had a very smooth application, although the squeezy tester 'tubes' felt quite amateurish and were distinctly more fiddley. I was happy with this coverage and I really liked  the colours they had.
I was least impressed wih Farrow & Ball. For the price, and product positioned as the premium brand, I expected a lot. I felt that the paint was too watery and needed more than two coats for a decent coverage. At around £50 a tin, that's not on!
Finally, Homebase's own brands (Blue Slae & Aegea) were also very good value for money - they didn't quite match up to Dulux or Crown but are excellent on the affordability front. They certainly get the job done.

I still haven't made up my mind.... maybe tomorrow?

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Sarah

The Yup Blog

The Dining Room gets a Look-in

My bathroom journey has hit a pot-hole, and I’ve learnt a very important lesson.
Resources. Check their availability. Darn! This is the first thing you learn at marketing school! Just to give you some spiel: Your resources (Men, Money, Minutes) are vital for a project’s success and I’m missing my man. More precisely, I’m missing a builder. Through some freakish builder drought in the central Reading area, I’m without a burly pair of arms and plumbing knowledge until the end of February, so that little project is on the back burner. What’s on my mind instead? The dining room!

The dining room has been moderately neglected on the blog so far (aside from its brief mention in the Christmas post). I think it's about time it had a share of the spot-light. Introducing....

The YUP Dining Room

view from the doorway; full of light, but also junk

  I decided to put my dining room in the front room of our little terrace, which is actually furthest from the kitchen. Why? Well, that room is the first you pass when you come in off the street, so it's the most likely to become a dumping ground.

The dining room is the least used room in our house - T and I have good intentions, but often end up eating on the sofa. Therefore, a little clutter in here will help us maintain order in the rest of the house. I plan to create a beautiful yet informal space that we can enjoy, and will remain practical too.

view from the opposite corner

 There’s also the small matter of the bicycles…

looking from the window: they need a home!

Buying a house is sometimes a matter of painful compromise. Not between you and your partner, either (let’s face it, if you’re making serious sacrifices, you probably shouldn’t be buying together) – I mean in terms of want vs need. I wanted a beautiful, clean space in which I could entertain and have fancy-schmancy dinner parties… but what I needed was somewhere dry, secure and convenient in which to park my noble steed.

Hi Bikes, meet dining room wall.

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After being inspired by many an apartment therapy blog post (if it’s good enough for sophisticated new-yorkers, it’s good enough for us), we decided that the best place to store our biggest babies was right here in the house. I actually think it’s rather beautiful (although, grandparents tend to disagree). However, we did NOT have a good experience buying a bike rack. T purchased a GearUp Oak Rak (Floor to Ceiling) bike rack from Amazon at the beginning of October. It was very expensive (more than I wanted to spend) and it took a long time to arrive.


I was so angry when we opened the box. Parts were missing, and our countless attempts since to contact Amazon/the seller and get the missing parts have been futile. I do NOT recommend this seller. The goal is to have the bikes on the wall, as seen in the right picture, but.... yeah. we're still waiting.

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We also have a storage requirement. The corridor from my front door is, in my opinion, too narrow to hang coats in, pile shoes up, or dump your keys. ‘Landing strips’ are a very desirable (or essential, depending on your source) feature in a house now - no longer the hallmark of glamour models or the pages of Cosmo. That's a term for a conveniently placed coat rack and table on which to rest your hat/keys/handbag when you enter your home, as seen to the left of this text.


I hope to build that in to the dining room, creating a clever duality between storage space and entertaining space.


I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts on making the most of a space like this!

My First Christmas

So 2014 is my first Christmas in my new home. Not ever, obviously - I wasn't born yesterday. However, celebrating Christmas in your own space is a stark contrast to celebrating Christmas in your student digs, or at your folks', because I get to decorate! (and there are no underpants on the living room floor, ruining the effect)

This year, I want to channel Scandinavian rustic simplicity (like everyone else and their grandma too). It's my favourite aesthetic; wood, foliage and an almost monochrome palette really floats my boat and would match my minimalist home*.

source here

I have actually ordered a REAL Christmas tree this year, which isn't something I've ever had growing up (my parents have dogs - enough said). T, in contrast, usually has TWO real McCoys in his home and I felt like the atmosphere they create are just that little bit extra-special.

As an environmentally-friendly individual, I did a bit of research. Turns out a real tree isn't as bad for the world as you would expect and it's actually more responsible to get a real one, as long as it's locally sourced. We bought our tree from Berkshire Christmas Trees; delivery for a 5ft tree was an incredible £35!

However, there isn't a great deal of a market out there for natural decorations (although here is some great DIY tips and ideas from Wyvale Garden Centre) and I'm not able to drive about to collect material. Looks like I'm going artificial on the garland/wreath front....

Here are some items I've spotted in Marks and Spencer which I utterly adore.

available here

Available here

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Available here

The other issue I have is the lack of surfaces - I don't have a mantel piece, or a coffee table, or a side table - so everything needs to hang on the tree or the walls.

What look are you channelling this Christmas? Where are you shopping? I'd love to hear from you.

Sarah Jess
The YUP Blog

*let's not mention that it's minimalist due to lack of funds rather than conscious choice.

None of the images in this post are mine and a property of the retailer or blogger credited.

Bathroom Renovation becomes Bedroom Upgrade

current bathroom; I love the velux!

What do all good houses need? Plenty of LSD.
According to Chris from Skins, anyway.

What they ACTUALLY need is storage, and I haven't got much of that. I suppose that's the down side to buying an adorable Victorian terrace which has been chopped and changed to add plumbing and an attic room.

Current floorplan.

As you may or may not know, we're planning to knock our super-weird twin toilets (see picture, right) into one SUPER bathroom. When I say super bathroom, it is of course quite a normal-sized bathroom to most normal-sized people. In this house, however, it's going to feel gargantum.

We spent a long time discussing what we could do with 3.1 x 1.9m of space. We toyed with an amazing walk-in shower. We toyed with turning the bath into a bath-shower combo and installing storage where the bath is. Then, a friend came around.
She took one look and went, 'well, why don't you have a built-in wardrobe?'

Makes perfect sense.

Here's what I hope it will look like:

CAD from here

 We'll build a small closet into some of the space where the shower is currently, just deep enough for a hanger, and as wide as the current wall. However, this is a supporting wall and therefore we'll require a lintel and potentially planning permission to knock it through. It's going to be expensive.

If it goes ahead, however, our master bedroom will have a compact yet functional built in wardrobe. The floor of the extension is also 30cm lower than the landing and bedroom so we will have space for a rail of clothes, plus a 'trap door' like compartment for shoes. It'll be tucked away behind the bedroom door.

This is a huge job and rather daunting, but I hope it'll pay off...!

Sarah

The Yup Blog

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.
 

Ikea Buys That Caught my Eye!

So it feels like IKEA is the god of interior decor at the moment. It's cheap, it's cheerful, it's a little bit sassy. And, with some free time finally in sight, I'm ready to start some home improvements. Here are some things I'm hankering after.


WALLS
 

Picture Rail, here



BOOM!

Ain't much to see here kids, just a rail, move along-
Oh, wait.

WHABAM!

KAPOW!

These guys are the hardest working pieces in interior design at the moment. Now, I'm not one for mindlessly chosen typography or kitshy, cutesy sayings, but they appeal to my fear of decisions. No commitment! I can change my pictures whenever I like, without smashing open my thumb! (I am very prone to thumb accidents...) Plus, the frames are great value too...

frames available here

CIELING



available here

available here

I am sick of seeing the stained, rusted chrome light fitting on my low kitchen ceiling. It makes the room look depressingly dated. I'm leaning more towards the Centigrad as it's just so tidy and has very little footprint. Additionally, I might paint the ceiling - and white goes with everything.



FLOOR



available here

My living room is in desperate need of something to tie it all together. I love the colours in this rug and it's not too thick, either - it won't look 'chubby', which is another pet hate of mine.

I haven't bought any arm chairs yet but the colour scheme is playful and forgiving, so I could probably place any colour alongside it. It's a big splurge at £120, though.




BUMS

 

available here

 I fancy a bench to go in the dining room. This is a really skinny, short bench that would fit perfectly under our dining table - or in the hall, if I wanted a change of pace. It's also got the added bonus of storage space - just a little cubby-hole, but I could certainly hide something away in there.

What are your top IKEA buys?
I'd love to hear!


SARAH JESS
the yup blog


None of the images in this post belong to me; click for a hyperlink to their original source!

Bathroom Renovation: the next big job!

We were very lucky with our house. No garish wallpaper, no dado rails, no terrible 60s kitchen. It has been a rental property for seven years so it was magnolia, beige and relatively inoffensive throughout. There is, however, one totally awful room. Or should I say two rooms?

In order to maximise its rental revenue, the bathroom was split in two. I've yet to discover how or when, but there is a shower room and a bath room next to each other, separated by mouldy partition walls and two awkward, back-to-back doors.

This means we are left with two rooms that are crampt (although still light and pleasant) and a huge amount of dead space, making the long L-shape corridor feel even more protracted.

Please ignore the rolled up carpet - but notice the two mismatched doors that open on top of each other! weird...

Not for much longer...
We're going to knock it through!

If only I knew the first thing about bathrooms... I don't know where to start!

Yours,

Sarah Jess

The Yup Blog

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.

House Maintenance: or, as I like to call them, 'grown-up jobs'

I hold my hands up in the air and admit that I’m not a domestic goddess. I can cook, and I can bake, but I’m not a natural home-maker – somehow, when I walk through the front door, I become a bit of a wrecking ball. One shoe ends up on the sofa. One in the hall. The bag is dumped, and it slumps, despondent, spilling its contents across the entire floor. Every morning is a mad rummage, as I up-end drawers looking for an intact pair of tights. I spill every cup of tea I make.

 

I’m hopeless, essentially. BUT, I have done some chores that are very responsible, home-owner-type chores since I moved in. I do feel particularly adult today, so I thought I’d tell you all about them.

 

Clearing the U-Bend & Dishwasher

I’m fortunate to say I’ve never had to do this before. It’s probably needed doing in past houses but I’ve chucked some bleach down it and hoped for the best. T unscrewed the pipes, and we found a moist black clot lurking in the u-bend. It was the size of a hamster.

Yuck.

The dishwasher (inherited from the owner) was an even worse task. The stench of mildew was overpowering and it took me almost two hours to get the gunk off. I used wooden skewers (although toothpicks would work) first to work most of the deposits free. Then I scrubbed all the parts with an old toothbrush and some special cleaner I bought from Sainsbury’s.

However, it’s working perfectly now and the smell has gone entirely!

 

Fixing a toilet

The insides of a toilet have always been a mystery to me. In my tenant mind-set, that white box at the back contained a magical land full of tiny people and a waterfall. Sadly, I now know there is just a big plug, a dangly chain, and a weird tube. Not interesting at all.
The toilet wouldn’t stop running, even though the plug was in place. What was wrong? Well, there just wasn’t enough water in there! A pint glass from the sink, and the problem was solved. It was incredibly simple.

 

Weeding the garden

In all honesty, my Grandma did most of this job. She’s very green-fingered and her garden is a thing of beauty. She came over on Tuesday and had it out with my front garden, which I am so grateful for. The rest of the weeds have been mercilessly sprayed and I plan to pull them out as soon as possible…

 

Cutting back overgrown trees

Our back garden is tiny little paved rectangle which shouldn’t take too much love to look inviting and keep neat. It was an overgrown mess, however; cue T and I standing on the garden bench and hacking over-hanging tree branches. Now that job’s done, the garden looks bigger and brighter.

AND WE'RE IN.

  And, we have internet
 
Nothing makes a house feel more like a home than a good ol' connection to the outside world - am I right, or am I right? I think T and I both breathed a sigh of relief when we realised we could stop talking to each other and go on footytube/facebook again.

Joking, of course.

However, I am able to also write the post of posts - the MOVING IN blog post. After all, this is a first-time-buyer-rookie-home-owner blog (yes, I invented my own category) and those are defined by these posts. Just like fashion blogs are defined by their sultry outfit shots (city scapes obligatory - if there are none of those where you live, your career is over before it begun) and a cooking blog requires gratuitous macro-lense close-ups of sugar.

The day went swimmingly. The house was in incredibly good condition when we finally got in, which suprised me. When we had our pre-exchange viewing, it was disgusting. I kicked off at the estate agent but she replied haughtily; 'well, you're already getting it at below market value, you're in no position to make demands of the seller'.....ooooh. I argued that a new tenant would not be allowed to move in with these conditions. Something must have been said, because the fridge (part of our contents agreement) has been cleared of half-drunk wine and stubs of butter (seriously).

We were in by 1pm. T's parents were incredibly helpful and transported our stuff from our temporary flat to the new house, as neither of us drive. All our worldly possessions fitted in two car trips!
We also bade a genuinely sad farewell to our landlord and his adorable little boys. We were lodgers in the old 'servants quarters' in the attic, rather than a stand-alone flat, so we got quite close to the family.

Anyway, we were alone in the house by 6pm. It is a very strange feeling, to be in your own home for the first time, without the spiel of the estate agent as a background hum. I kept walking up the stairs, and down the hall, running fingers across the walls. It felt positively palacial. Never before have I had so much space to fill. 

Fear gripped me suddenly. It was a terrifying void, empty and souless, not a home for us yet. More pressingly, I was suddenly consumed with the thought that it was my responsibility to keep these bricks and mortar standing. I had to take care of this place. It was more than just a house; it was our life savings. Urgh.

Luckily, it was Thursday night and I had a wine-drinking session to get to. We shelved that freak-out for another day.

We've been in since Thursday and a lot has happened in the interim, which I will cover in my next post, so stay tuned :)

So, today's learnings: Do a pre-exchange viewing and throw your weight around if something's not right. It's your last chance to save yourself some money/time when you move in. 
 

Picking the Sofa

I do love my town, but its' rather lacking furniture stores.

Sorry, DECENT furniture stores.

looks like a tiramisu

Have you ever been inside an ScS? On every sofa, there are scatter cushions asunder; that armchair reclines, twists and even orders your Chinese takeaway for you right before X-factor starts*. They come in a cornucopia of textures and fabrics that read a little bit like an adult store: whether you like it ribbed, corded or (p)leather, you can achieve 'extreme levels of comfort'.

At least Furniture Village has a redeeming feature (pro tip: free cookies)

Alas, I digress. The biggest problem is size. These pudgy 3-pieces would take up my entire bottom floor, and my terrace would begin to resemble an indoor bouncy castle**. I need something that is not too deep. I would have to look a little further afield.

On Sunday, we went to London. I've been remarkably restrained; T and I haven't dared to really 'shop' for our house before now, in case it all fell through (though I did think about beds)

I've been eyeing up sofas from www.made.com but the reviews were very, very mixed. Some claiming the quality was amazing, others swearing that it was tacky and not worth the hype. I even asked another blogger-owner for her opinion. (The beautiful Ferren from artcre.am was very obliging: she said she loves it!)

I was still nervous of spending £600 on something I'd only seen photos of, so we decided to visit their showroom. Honestly, it's worth going for the experience alone.

Seek out an office building that looks almost abandoned (just outside of Notting Hill Gate tube) and enter a secret code. Feel dubious.
Follow the yellow corridor. There's a flummoxed hipster couple at the door; glasses, plaid, skinnies, beard. Exchange subtle nods with partner: yes, these are our people. We are safe here.
Ride lift up to the 9th floor.
Emerge. Get bamboozled by soft jazz. Notice other hipster couples. Wonder, irrationally, if this is a vision of interior design heaven.
See sofa.
Buy sofa.

I fell in love and we ordered the Ritchie straight away. (pssst! Use code DESIGNERS for £30 off!)


It is slim-line. It is neat. It is minimalist.
IT IS ARRIVING NEXT WEEK AND I AM SO EXCITED.

My Grandma told me not to spend any money until we've moved in.
Oops.


*exaggeration.
**Childhood dream would be realised. But, not great for quality of life. Imagine putting on mascara. Or eating soup.