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

source here

source here

source here

source here

 
  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!

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.

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.

Choosing a Double Bed for a Tiny Master Bedroom

When the boy and I first started seeing each other, we were living in University halls of residence. Our beds were singles. My mattress was threadbare, stained, and the creaky springs left nothing to the imagination. I shared my floor with seventeen other girls. Poor things.

Looks appealing.

In my second year, I got my first double bed. It was luxury. T, meanwhile, moved into yet another single. His divan disintegrated after about two months (the roof was leaking, so his bed got rained on) and we ended up on the floor. The damp problem never got solved, so every time I slept at his, I woke up to find a silvery snail-trail meandering around the mattress. We moved in together two years later and finally said goodbye to the shared single bed.

Fast forward to 2014, and we’re moving into our own house in a fortnight.

This is furniture? This is garbage.

All I own is an amazing mirror (more on that later) and a pink plastic folding chair.

A kind parent has lent us a single for the interim, but I can’t wait to buy our first bed. However, our bedrooms are just 3.5m (long) by 2.5m (wide), which doesn’t give us much space to play with. A standard double bed will leave us with just 80cm (or 2’9’’) left, width-ways. That’s not much space. Not even worth a bedside table.

Storage, décor and accessibility are all going to be a problem. We are considering getting a ‘small double’ or queen bed, which would save us 6’’, but I don’t know if it’s really worth it.

 I have a few criteria for our new bed...

• relatively minimalist, to go with almost any colour scheme


• Must not be any larger than necessary - so bed knobs are out


• Underbed Storage is a must


• No more than £250 including delivery


• Wood or metal only - and certainly no divans!

 Here are the contenders...

Small Doubles

John Lewis, £175, £25 Delivery, requires storage (W129)

This bed would give me an extra 15cm of space. That's one of those tiny little rulers... you know, the ones you coated with Tipex in primary school and then spent the next two years engraving with your protractor.... Is it worth it?

Doubles

Ikea, £225, £19 Delivery, Storage included (W150)

This one appeals to my lazy nature as I'm not too great at putting things away properly. Everything hidden from site. But could we even use all four drawers? Probably not. 


 

 

Muji, £210, £35 Delivery, Storage not included (W144)

A very conservatively designed bed. I actually love this, it's so need and tidy. It's expensive, however, and would require us to shell out for storage.

Asda, £249, Free Delivery, Storage Included (W141)

This would be a smart buy in terms of storage and price. It's not beautiful but I can live with that.

Bensons, £199, £39.99 Delivery, no Storage (W145)

I do like these clean lines but it's a lot for delivery! It's perhaps my favourite, and it feels like great value as it's half price.

Get Laid Beds, £198, £25 Delivery, no Storage (W140) (also available in Small Double in W125)

Again, a great clean design. However, no headboard at all may cause problems...


 


Has anyone else found themselves in a shopping stalemate? There's no clear winner here!
And the clock's ticking...

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