Easter Baking

I havent had time this Easter to do any baking (yet), but aren't these chocolate coconut  nests and beautifully decorated Easter bunny cookies fantastic?

Spring Coloured Stools

Arent these Easter coloured Dolly & Jessie Stools from British furniture designers Thelermont Hupton lovely? I'd get the yellow one for a slash of instant sunshine. These little stools would also make cute side tables, or tiny desks in a child's bedroom. And look - the side profile is the letter 'A'. Check out their other fun pieces here.

Happy Easter!

I thought a change of scenery from by bathroom refurbishment project (while my contractor builds my joinery) would be a nice, change so enjoy the next four Easter themed posts.

Extract Fans

One item in my bathroom that I am not perfectly happy with is the extract fan.  I ordered the VASF100 fan (top) quickly from a well respected manufacturer (Vent Axia),  without my usual extensive internet search for the best product and reading user reviews to back up my decision.  Although the fan is super quiet, it has an annoying exposed screw fixing at the base, a big bright blue logo on the cover, and the plastic cover to hide the grille isnt quite as I expected with a strange curved profile. 

Frankly, the design is trying too hard to disguise the fact it is an extract fan when I have now decided that it should just look like a nice simple one.

After a good search last night and reading the Sparks Direct blog - here  which is brilliant for all things electrical, I found the Envirovent SIL 100T (below), which also has a noise rating of 26dB, and have ordered it this morning.

Taps Taps Taps!

My new Duravit Vero basin has now been installed, my tub put back into position and the new basin tap and tub fillers (both from Crosswater) installed. Its all looking sharp! Exciting times!

Today my builder is prepping the walls by filling cracks and holes with plaster and will be adding silicone around the fittings so I'll be able to use my tub again tomorrow morning. Yay! No more showering at work or at the gym required.

Bathroom Tiles Installed

I was away for the weekend in Edinburgh visiting friends, so my builders took advantage of the extra time available and cracked on with the tiling, finishing it all up on Sunday evening.  They ended up boarding the back wall with plywood too to get a flat surface to tile onto as it was bulging 30mm out of plumb from top to bottom! Without wanting to give away the grand finale too soon (they still have a week to go), here is a sneak peek of the tiling completed to date. 

Im super pleased with the result - the tiler did a really nice precise job and is apparently off to tile the new toilet area in the V&A Museum tomorrow!

The tiles are grouted with pre-coloured grout from Mapei. I didnt want to go with white on the walls as it always tends to yellow with age, and I thought a soft grey would both wear better and subtly tie in with the floor tiles.  

The colours I used were Anthracite for the hexagon mosaics on the floor, and Manhattan 2000 for the white gloss subway wall tiles.  

Hello straight surfaces!

The 18mm thick WBP, FSC certified plywood has now been installed on the wall and floors. Good bye crooked surfaces, hello straight lines!

Red Cross Tin

As part of the bathroom refurbishment, I am maximising my storage opportunities by having a full room width shelf built above the door. Wouldn't one of these PT Medicine Storage Box's look great in a nice white tiled space? The come in two different sizes and are available on Amazon.

(Yes, I am procrastinating from ordering the missing double socket outlet that I need to buy for my living room)

Here we go!

Its always exciting when demolition starts as big changes are visible after just one day's work.  My once empty living room is now filled with stuff!

The floorboards have been removed in order to minimise the threshold level difference at the door between the living room boards and the new tiles.  The partition lining came down as it was bowing and with small 75x150mm subway tiles the curved wall would have just looked even more wonky!

It was interesting to see the back side of the old lath and plaster wall. Alas, no buried treasure beneath the floorboards this time!

Bathroom Refurbishment Works Starts Tomorrow!

Exciting times, after a year of waiting and saving, my bathroom refurbishment project starts tomorrow!  Here are all the bits and pieces I have ordered since January to make the contractor's job easier, and to ensure I get exactly what I want. My living room has been emptied into my bedroom so the builders have enough space to work as the bathroom itself is so tiny.

Shower room

I saw this lovely shower room while searching for bathroom cabinets. Love the concealed lighting beneath the mirror (we always do this design at work - I just dont have space in my flat), and the toilet flush button on the top of the shelf instead of in the back partition - nice detail.

Bathroom Cabinet

I have now purchased all of the fixtures and fittings for the bathroom refurbishment, except for the cabinet that will house a laundry basket and shelving for toiletries. This will need to be made to fit within the tight space constraints available.

Above are images of what I am looking for - a combination of a tall slender cabinet (but with a mirror on the door), with a concealed laundry basket below. These are from the XL range at Duravit.

Clever wardrobe handles

This is an elegant and clever solution to wardrobe handles by Hosun Ching. You could hang out your clothes on them so they were ready for the next morning!

Marais Stools & Chairs

I have been looking around for a new pair of chairs as whenever I have 8 people around for dinner, having only 4 chairs means I need to ask them to bring along their own - obviously not ideal.
I love these brightly coloured Marais stools and chairs. I'd get a pair of red or yellow ones for my kitchen!

Spring has Sprung...

A sunny bunch of spring flowers to brighten up you weekend... The weather is still cold, but the days are lengthening and the mornings are brighter - a sure sign that Spring has finally sprung!

A new sideboard

The January sales seemed like a good opportunity to look for a sideboard for the niche beside my fireplace. After much searching and deliberation, this high gloss white laquer Aspen model from Habitat made it home. The unit itself is 1600mm long, just 10mm shorter than the tightest dimension I carefully measured on the floor of my flat - so I was pretty excited about how perfectly it would fit.

Alas, things are never as easy as they seem and unfortunately although I had taken into account the fact that the walls of the niche were not parallel in plan, I neglected to account for the fact that my walls also canted inwards in the vertical plane - meaning that it didnt quite fit. Argh! After 4 hours of sanding the skirting down on either side the unit fit like a glove. Then it was only a matter of getting some little blocks cut to sit under the front two legs to level out the 18mm slope in my floor. Ooof! What was meant to be a simple job is now at last complete.