A new camera

Back in January one of my photographs (above) came second place in the Zumtobel Photo contest and I won a gift certificate to a camera store. The competition involved using a disposable point-and-shoot camera and I didnt get to see the results until winning! Last weekend, after reading numerous reviews and receiving the advice of some friends, I finally made my decision and bought the new Lumix. Its a huge improvement on the 5 old digital camera I had been using until now.

Canvas Up

Apart from the never ending task of refurbishing our windows (we're still not finished), we did manage the significantly more pleasant task of putting together our fabric wall art this weekend. Above are the progress steps.

New Bed

After 9 months of sleeping on a mattress on the floor, its a real luxury to finally have a proper bed. It was delivered last weekend, but I was just waiting for a sunny morning to take a photo to show you...

IKEA Kitchen Reconnaissance Mission

Last night after work Flo and I went to IKEA on a little reconnaissance mission to investigate their kitchens for when we do ours in December. I was pleased to see that they have cute wood drawer inserts which actually look pretty decent (the dividers are solid wood, the base is veneer, but I guess you wont see that under the cutlery). We managed to resist buying a bag of tealights, but couldnt leave empty handed and of course came home with a few bits and pieces. The 'Stave' mirror has found a nice home in our bedroom.

Kitchen Drawer Organisation

If only my kitchen drawers looked like this.....

Window Work continues

None of the walls or window frames in our flat are perpendicular, so replacing the draught beads takes quite a lot of time as Flo needs to shave most of them down so they fit properly. A corner of our living room which is acting as a temporary workspace is now filled with these wood shavings.

Valmuska Fabric from Marimekko

To add a punch of vibrant colour to our all white bedroom we chose this fabric from the Swedish company Marimekko to create an economical piece of art for our walls. The fabric, called 'Valmuska' was designed by Erja Hirvi and is 'an abstract representation of forest mushroom caps viewed from below'.

We are going to make a wood frame and stretch the fabric over it like a canvas to create a large wall hanging. Apparently the 'trick' is to put a slight chamfer on the wooden frame that slopes towards the centre of the canvas so you dont see the wood pressing up against the fabric. I'll let you know how it goes...

Bed frame ordered

Buying a bed frame hasnt been a priority for us because, until recently, our bedroom has existed as a workshop and there wasnt space for us to put a bed anywhere else. (We had the mattress in a corner of the living room for ages - a good mattress being our very first purchase!) However, now that our bedroom floor is painted, we decided it was time.

Its not easy to find a simple, clean lined, wood frame bed, with space below for storage... We loved the one at top from CA1, but with a price tag of £2000, it was, alas, out of our budget. We settled on the one below from Muji and ordered it today when we were in town. It will arrive next weekend and our plan, for now, is to re-finish it with a translucent white varnish.

Yellow Doors

Arent these bright yellow doors fabulous?! A door like this would make me feel sunny even on a cold wet winter day.

The one on the left I saw when walking back from Waterloo train station on Roupell Street. The one on the right is on Grove Lane, the street adjacent to ours. Maybe on our next house....

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag Christine!

Here is a virtual pig for good luck on your birthday as per German tradition. (...because that's what pigs do.)

Street view

As Flo was in Germany this weekend I took a much needed break from the flat renovations. Here is a photo I took on my way down Cambwerwell Grove to get a coffee from Johansson's on saturday morning.

We built the Guggenheim!

We had fun re-building Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim Museum the other day. I hadnt played with lego since I was little (I remember having the hospital lego set), and the satisfying click of the blocks snapping together brought back happy memories.

Architecture Lego

As a little gift, Flo bought me the Guggenheim Museum from the lego architecture series - cool! Luckily I am old enough for this one.

Sash weights

One of the sash cords on our bedroom window snapped so we had to open up the sash box and replace the cord. Here is a photo of the sash weights.