Easter time is here!

I know I have been a bit keen on my house-blogging recently... Please forgive me for yet another post. Just wanted to show you a couple of things! Yesterday I finally finished the bedroom, and we could sleep in peace in there (except I was washing the linen, so we ended up in sleeping bags. note to self: save up for some more linen.).

Exhibit 1:
Bedroom





















Exhibit 2:
The man's new herb garden

(He has decided to start a better life which he rightly thinks involves fresh herbs on anything. I mean fresh basil on EVERYTHING. He would probably put it on porridge if it wasn't for the fact that he doesn't like porridge.)


Exhibit 3
Neverending Decemberists Love

I got these posters last summer at End of the Road Festival, a wonderful folk festival in Dorset. The Decemberists were unfortunately not playing there (but several other of our favourites were, including the Mountain Goats), but for some reason they were selling these great hand printed posters. They are now adorning the wall above our tiny dining table.


Exhibit 4
Going on holiday!

Finally, I am going to Italy! I am very excited because I've never been there before, and also because it is kind of mandatory for an architect to go to Florence at some point. We leave on Friday and I can't wait! (Our last holiday was more than a year and a half ago, so about time!)


I hope you all have wonderful easter holidays!
Much love from sunny London

DIY, or, Need is the Mother of Invention

When a poor architecture student and a starter-wage architect move into their first home together, it is very, very easy to spend the limited furniture budget on design classics which we (read I) have always dreamed of having in our house. So, the limited buget got us a pair of Eames chairs and a few tins of paint. But, two dining chairs, surprisingly, wouldn't quite fill up the space. We got a sofa from IKEA, but needed a coffee table. Since I had quite strict requirements for this table (Must be a specific size, not too big, and must have a shelf for books under the tabletop) and limited resources, this one was concocted one late friday evening with the man sleeping peacefully on the sofa, amazingly ignoring my drilling and sawing.

So, take a few bits of "furnitureboard" (pine board from B&Q, the UK's equivalent to Maxbo) and one length of industrial steel angle from said shop, a couple of screws, and voila! Budget coffee table which fulfills all our needs!

In time I will paint it (pine isn't exactly known for aging gracefully), but for now, it adds a nice, somewhat Norwegian exposed wood feel to the living room.

Student budgets don't always have to be (entirely) spent at IKEA!
(I say that, and then I also post a picture of how useful a spare shelf bracket became when we needed to hang up this cool enamel lampshade which the man got from Brick Lane! It's all about the balance, right?)

Dandelion

Sneak preview of the bedroom!

Get on the floor!

Finally, we are in the process of laying the bedroom floor. The wood we got is called parawood - cheap, and green, as it is a bi-product of rubber production! Gives me joy to walk on a floor which I know has done a good job in its previous life... And best of all, it looks quite good!

Downside is it is not an engineered timber floor, so every piece has to be glued individually. Time consuming! Also, the walls being kind of squint does not make for an easy job!

Looking forward to showing you the finished room!