Spring havoc

Spring has finally sprung in London. And it's about time too! Mum and dad were visiting from Oz and so I took advantage of their gardening knowledge and two extra sets of hands! Dad trimmed the ivy and the roses right back and mum rigged up a wire for the jasmine so hopefully I can train it when it starts to grow.

Check out the "before" shots here.

Finally... a long overdue "after" shot! And yes, our shed is wonky!

My jasmine... it's been inside for weeks in the heating cause it's been too cold to plant it!

Green grass, and I think these are violets?

Living room havoc

This is the one room that has been livable for the longest, yet I've left it til almost last to post about. 

Reason being, it's my favourite room in the flat and I wanted it to be near perfect. You see, this is the room that sold me on the whole flat... the minute I walked in I knew we had to have this place. Put simply - it's huge (well for a London flat it is!). It is also bright, airy and a lovely spot to be - and that was before we'd done any work to the place! 

Just when we were about to paint, we thought we'd just take off the picture rails and plug the small holes with filler... all went well til about 5cm into taking the picture rails off and big chunks of wall started to come out with the nails. So instead of just a quick paint, we ended up getting the whole room replastered. We also had to get the builder to re-align the fireplace cause when we took off the fake wooden fireplace surround we discovered that the fireplace was no where near square to the chimney breast!

So here you have it...

Clockwise from top: The empty space; the wall after we cleverly took off the picture rails; plastering during; fireplace remodelled; the wonky, off-centre fireplace; the fireplace surround and reason why we found out it was covered up

Left to right: Lounge room; my sewing nook; bookcase; the much agonised over light fittings; a new candle holder and precious red vase; new fireplace and artwork; my beloved chest and treasures on top of it; bookcase detail; a few of my favourite photos including my parents wedding day (top left), a fun day out at Hampstead (top right) and a picture from my wedding day of me and my mum (below); lounge room from doorway.

"These are a few of my favourite things"

• Lamp from made.com but looks like it's sold out
• My purple sewing machine - similar model from John Lewis  
• My much agonised over lights are from Rocket St George. I love the funky light bulbs and the industrial shades
• The artwork of the Star Wars haircuts is from Nelly Duff
• My black globe was a present for Christmas - have wanted one forever! It's also from Rocket St George

Kitchen havoc

The kitchen... the one room we've been putting off... and off... and off! To be honest, wasn't awful. We presume it had been renovated in the last 5 years or so. So we just wanted to freshen it up, we had grand plans to learn to tile and fix all the wall cracks ourselves, but we got lazy in the end and had someone come in (if you're in need of a great handyman for anything round the house - get in touch). Once that was done we had no excuse not to paint over the horrible yellowy walls - and also the random blue wall that went all the way down the stairs to the back garden.

What a difference a day makes! We woke up the next day to sunshine, and it was like a brand new kitchen. Why did we leave it so long?! 

Still a couple of things to do... like some gloss paint, and I'm on the look out for another clock to complete my wall (they are set to different times around the globe).

Check out the before and after pics here:

Clockwise from top left: The random blue wall; no splashback (besides the ugly blue tiles around the stove); shabby paint; and lots of clutter.

New splashback and our Seattle artwork; clutter free benchtops (and a new guitar shaped chopping board!); my incomplete clock wall that once was blue; a new window; tea corner; and bright white splashback that now stretches around the whole kitchen.

Just in case you're wondering, here's a few links to where the bits and pieces in my kitchen have come from. If I've missed any out, just get in touch.

Candle holders: H&M - find similar ones here 
Cookbook: Thomasina Miers - Mexican Food Made Simple (I'm cooking from this book all week!) 
Guitar chopping board: Bread Paul chopping board from Megachef
Cookbook: The Silver Spoon - classic Italian cookbook only translated a couple of years ago. Also check out my other blog here where I'm attempting to cook my way through the whole book!
Clocks: Large from Ikea, small from Rocket St George

Olympic havoc

Loving the Olympic spirit in the city at the moment. So thought we'd fly the flag for our Aussie team... 

All together now...

"Aussie, Aussie, Aussie...

Oi, oi, oi!"

Hallway havoc

A big double height hallway = lots of light.

And lots of paint 

And lots of carpet

And lots of time!

After the bathroom was re-done, our builder got started on re-plastering our huge hallway. Then we waited, and waited, and waited for the plaster to dry. 

Then we put off painting it for quite a few weeks, cause every time we looked at it - we got scared!

Finally, all painted and (almost) done, here are a few pics. 

Left to right (top): before, yellowed walls; during, pink plaster walls; plaster drying. Left to right (bottom) where the cupboard once was; some wallpaper we found under the cupboard; and painting whilst hanging off a ladder!

After a lot of paint, a lot of carpet (and a burst water pipe before it was installed!), we have a bright white hallway, and a few accessories.

So, it's getting there. Still lots of space to be filled with artwork, I have ideas... watch this space!

Baking havoc

Steering away from renovations slightly, I thought I'd share my weekend of baking havoc. I designed the flyers for the local Hither Green Week and thought I'd quite like to have a stall in the local food, arts and craft fair which opened the week of festivities. I decided to undertake... with lots of help from my sister, D, selling things like cupcakes, brownies, lamingtons, injure-bread men (injured gingerbread men - proceeds went to GOSH) and pupcakes - puppy-friendly cupcakes! (proceeds to South East London RSPCA)

We both booked a Friday off work and spent 10 hours sifting, stirring, baking and icing a LOT of baked goods! And also, for fun, hyping up the lamingtons (an Aussie specialty) on Twitter which a few local residents were a little bit excited about!

Here are a few pics of the day, the flyer and also a link to my cooking blog "Surfing the Silver Spoon" which goes into a little more detail of the carrot cake we baked.

L-R: A few ingredients; icing the famous lamingtons; a lot of washing up; sparkly cupcakes; D taking biscuits out of the oven; lamingtons; injure-bread men; our stall; looking out at the fair; our resident bunny; and a satisfied customer!

 

 

Hither Green week flyer - had lots of fun designing it!

Dining room havoc - update

Just a little update - got a few bits of new furniture (gorgeous Eames-style chairs) which I think make the room look so much bigger. Also got a fab pendant light from M&S - they have the best range of homewares this season!

Now we just need to hang some pictures!

All set for Sunday lunch