Some good news!

We are very lucky in the UK to have the NHS and all the people who work for it work very hard. The work is difficult and the hours are long. However due to patient numbers exceeding NHS capacity it can take a long time to get answers to health issues. As mentioned previously I injured my back last year, 4 months later I had an MRI scan, 3 months on I was still waiting for the results. I was told it could take another 3 - 6 months for the results. In the end I paid for a private consultation (which I got within a week!) in order to find out what was going on. Well it has been a bit of a nightmare but it looks like I have turned a vital corner.... I don't need surgery! Yeah! I am so pleased! I have got some issues: a disc bulge, nerve impingement and a degenerating joint. So I'm now booked in for a course of physiotherapy to strengthen my core stability and £260 poorer!

To celebrate I bought myself some lovely Cath Kidston provence mugs with my House of Fraser £10 rewards voucher and £10 gift token (so technically I didn't spend a thing!)

Aren't they lovely?!

Kitchen dramas

Last year I made the big decision that we needed a new kitchen, there were very practical reasons to needing a new kitchen. However there were very impractical consequences. We live in a lovely little Victorian terraced house that was renovated in the 1980's (read original fireplaces, windows, doors and other features removed - including we think the cellar being filled). As with all old properties this one has it's quirks - you know not quite straight walls, floors and a few small cracks here and there. After speaking to a neighbour we found out that after an investigation a structural engineer had confirmed that the terraces had moved slightly when they were first built (1890) but had since settled and were sound. It's nice to know that everything's fine.

This is what we started with (we had replaced the cupboard doors initially and kept them for a few years).

Not bad but not great and with plenty of problems (including very naughty kitty cats!). Therefore we made a start.

I call it the industrial look. What, you mean you wouldn't want to relax in this fine space? But you could bake such scrummy cakes in this oven!

I had a little break

Hi, I took a little break from bloging and have now decided to return...whoo hoo!

I injured my spine last year when the handle of a box of tiles I was carrying broke. I caught them but felt a hot jolt of pain in my lower back. After a trip to physio I developed a large lump on my sacrem (lower back). So I have been back and forth to doctors and hospital and am awaiting my MRI results. I may have a prolapsed disc (no one is really sure what I have - it is not reassuring when all doctors say 'Ive never seen anything like that in my life'!). I have also been told I have a curved spine and one leg longer than the other - I never even realised!

So it's been a bit depressing and upsetting as my movement has been very limited, bizarely sitting down is the most painful and I'm unable to sit properly. It's amazing how we can take for granted painfree movement. However it's not all been bad as I've received a lot of help from my family and partner. I have to say a massive thank you to everyone who's helped, especially my mom and dad for all those shopping trips and OH for putting up with my moaning and making me lovely meals!


Onwards and upwards!


Ooops!! Forgot to say thanks to Pip for making me laugh!

High street kitchens

I had taken a good look at the handmade kitchens available to get some much needed inspiration for my own kitchen. This is my first ever kitchen of my own so I did not want to make any mistakes both practically and expensively. Now I had to get realistic and look at the high street kitchens available within my budget (which wasn't vast!). You may notice some similarities between the kitchens.


I looked at B&Q


 I looked at Wickes






I looked at Magnet
 

I looked at Howdens
 

I looked at Ikea
 
Images: B&Q, Wickes, Magnet, Howdens, Ikea

I was surprised by how nice these kitchens were and all the nifty gadgets they contain. Kitchens have come a long way! Drawer dampeners stop drawers smashing back into their units, metal basket drawers, pop up plugs, pull out larders, islands, even dishwashers and fridges that are housed in drawers! It's quite amazing really and I can understand how people can spend so much on kitchens when you look at what is available. My favourite kitchens were narrowed down to Howdens and Ikea. However as you have to use a builder to buy a Howdens kitchen and we wished to cut down costs by installing the kitchen ourselves I went with Ikea. What I have noticed about kitchens is the fact that stores are very vague with their pricing (another reason why I went with Ikea as I wanted to know exactly what everything cost). If you are considering purchasing a kitchen yourself it maybe worth getting quotes from all stores you are interested in purchasing from and then use these quotes to make the stores compete for your sale. I have heard that some people have had good reductions doing this. Also another way to reduce the cost is to offer to pay cash if a percentage is taken off the total cost of the kitchen - anything is worth a go as it's a very expensive purchase!

Kitchen inspiration

As previously stated our kitchen was in need of a complete overhaul. As this is our first house and I have never bought a kitchen before I started to browse the Internet for some inspiration. I started with handmade kitchens in order to see how the professionals design kitchens (and to see the most beautiful styles available!).

 

 

Images: freddavisjoinery.co.uk, harrisonpope.co.uk, chalon.com, handmadekitchen.co.uk, touchwoodkitchen.co.uk

These kitchens all look amazingly beautiful as well as practical. They feel homely and not severe. I can imagine baking a cake or making a cup of tea and relaxing. Of course this was all wishful thinking as everybody would love a beautiful handmade bespoke kitchen but of course that beauty costs. So I used these images as a starting point for my own kitchen. By taking ideas from the kitchens I could start to build a plan for my own. I noticed that I liked the more classic style of kitchen, the shaker style of kitchen door, deep drawers rather than cupboards, white / cream / green door fronts, double ceramic sinks with a chrome high spout tap, wooden worktops, an island and a range cooker. Now came the tricky job of finding these styles within a high street kitchen at a decent quality and a price I was willing to pay - a tall order indeed!

Old kitchen

Our kitchen was a right nightmare. It had been installed in the 80's and was in need of a complete overhaul. There was awful vinyl on the floor that was sticky to walk on and was ripped in sections so we would often trip up. The grill had stopped working, well to be honest it would set fire which meant it was too dangerous to use and then the oven only worked on the one side which meant moving our food round constantly to evenly cook it and hence doubling the cooking time. We did not have enough storage so it always looked messy and the cabinets had no backs and there were often creepy crawlies in our crockery - yuck! For a temporary measure when we first moved in we replaced the cupboard doors which were bought at a very cheap price (£1 a door!).

However this could only last so long. This year we decided that we needed a new kitchen so I started to look.......

Sunny front room

I thought I'd share with you a picture of my front room in the pretty morning sunshine.

We have been renovating our little Victorian terraced house slowly over the past few years and currently our kitchen and bathroom are looking a little 'worse for wear'. So being in this room in the sunshine makes me feel I can pretend we are living in a nice clean house and feel proud of what we have achieved so far. We have gone for the country cottage / shabby chic / period look to try and tie in with the age of the property but still have a modern and homely feel. This room started off with white walls, a horrid blue carpet and somebody had painted the beautiful bird tiles on the fireplace a garish blue - urgh!

Sorry about the naff photo quality - but you get the idea! It took a lot of scraping to remove that blue paint and recover the birdies. After this we painted the walls. We painted the wall behind the dresser and the chimney breast in Farrow & Balls 'Cooking Apple Green'. F&B describe this as "An old fashioned non-strongly coloured green.." I agree as it's a beautiful putty green that's very calming and pleasant to live with. We teamed it with F&B's 'Lichen' in the alcoves (behind the shelves) & the wall opposite the chimney breast (not seen) this is described as "Quieter and subtler than No.13 Olive for well lit rooms". This is again beautiful but darker than the cooking apple green so provides a subtle contrast and plays with the light in the room (we get the light in the mid morning, late afternoon & evenings). We used the estate emulsion as this gives a very matte finish. If you are considering using Farrow & Ball paints I would strongly recommend buying a tester pot first, I know they're expensive (I have found them £3.99 from Homebase or they can be bought directly from F & B or other suppliers) but the colour changes so drastically depending on the light and time of day as an example I have loved a colour in one room and hated it in another. I'm not linked to F & B in any way I just love the quality and coverage of the paints plus they do not have that horrid 'chemical' smell that many other paints have and thus do not give me any headaches.

After this we sanded and varnished the original floorboards (120 years old!)  which added a beautiful warmth to the room. I do have to warn you that this is very very messy but worth it in the end!

The TV stand was an up-cycled piece that the OH's grandad had made in the 1970's. We gave it a few coats of F & B's Tallow eggshell and it was as good as new. Tallow is described by F & B as "Warm. A light off-white with a yellow tint" This is indeed a very mellow creamy colour that has not been picked up by the camera very well.

The meter cabinet had a vile mahogany effect varnish on it which was promptly covered by F & B's Tallow eggshell.

The pine dresser started off as a vile orange junk shop find which I sanded back, painted in F & B's Tallow (again!) and applied Danish oil to the knobs and top of the dresser. I now love it and feel proud of what I have achieved (this was my first attempt at up-cycling).

We still have plenty of things to do in here such as install a wood burner, paint the shelving (though I'm not sure whether to keep the shelves in here yet) and construct a better meter cabinet (this is just left to the guitar). But for some reason it feels like a lovely calm room. Sorry for the very long ramble it's just I'm spending a lot of time propped up in this room following spraining my back and even though I'm in pain this room as well as the people (and cat!) I love around me have all helped me to smile.

Take care x