LornaJane

Our house has a cellar, which contains the kitchen. The steps down to it are very sterile white tiles and have been described as being “morgue-like”.

I have been thinking of painting some of the tiles, or even retiling although that seemed rather extreme as we’re likely to change the cellar a lot in a few years time. So I bought some very inexpensive tile transfers from the local hardward store, and applied them immediately allowed them to collect dust until my sister came to stay this weekend and put them on the tiles so now it looks like this:

And here’s a closeup:

It definitely ranks as an all-time best DIY quick-fix, in fact I can’t think of a better one. Suggestions welcome :)

In case anyone thinks its been a bit quiet on the house front, I’d like to reassure you we’re still pottering away here. We’ve got a loo roll holder and a towel ring in the bathroom, Kevin’s fixed the bedroom door’s rattling and we’ve also painted our first wall!

Wall is possibly an exaggeration since I only painted the top 18 inches of it but we have to start somewhere. I disliked the terracotta paint in the front room as soon as I saw it, here it is:

I put up with it for a while but then I bought red curtains and it had to go!! Here’s the new look front room.

I can’t show you the dresser against the new paint to compare it because we moved it get to the wall. The top part lifts off – and its too heavy for me to help Kevin lift it back on, so its on the floor until some strong person visits us!

I’m so organised that I forgot to take a before photo, but for those that this means something to, here’s my new-look front garden:

Previously it was a bit of a mess, with gravel just dumped on top of bits of plastic sheeting and weeds coming up everywhere. We went to the garden centre and bought a few bags of slate chippings, some edging stones and some weed-suppressing membrane.

We raked all the gravel to one corner, put in the new flower bed and laid weed-supressing membrane on the exposed ground left over. Then we raked all the gravel onto the new membrane and laid membrane on the other bit of the garden. To plant the shrubs we just made cuts in the membrane and put the plants in with potting compost and slow-release fertiliser, then raked the gravel all around them.

Finally we scattered our few slate chippings on top of the gravel – its an instantly much nicer effect and without either paying for or carrying vast quantities of them as well! We can add a few more bags of chippings in the future, perhaps.

Thanks to mum for helping us get this sorted! All that’s left to do is to plant some bulbs and then try to keep it looking as nice as this :)

I finally took a picture of the garden, with its new benches and no tree stumps:

I just wanted to post the photo and also thank the many people who have already helped us in the house and garden, and the many more who have promised help (or whom I have on my list of helpers, with or without their agreement). Between you, you have carried, cleaned, assembled, dug the garden, hung the curtains and the shelves, shifted furniture and generally helped us keep the whole thing in perspective. It means a lot to us while we are starting out on this project/adventure, so thanks to you all.

A few houses ago, I had a shoe rack.

I remember it in our first house together, and I’m not sure if it got assembled in the house after that. Its been in storage since then until yesterday. When I unpacked it, I discovered this sign attached to it (not before I had torn it though!)

It reads:

Shoe Rack. Alternative uses:

– small shelves

– large spice rack

– firewood

It turns out that the author didn’t consider the future of the shoe rack closely enough … its now a handbag store :)

What’s your most innovative furniture adaptation?

There’s lots to do in the house now – the list of jobs runs is frightening and has everything from “fix kitchen drawer” to “rewire house” on it. Redecorating is a long way down the list but I’ve bought beautiful red curtains for the front room … and the existing terracotta paint now looks ridiculous so something needs to be done.

I can sort out a tin of paint and a brush but our ceilings are so high that to reach them, I have to stand on the top step of the step ladder. The step ladder is of average height but I, at 5’11”, am not and I still can’t reach – this is one tall ceiling. So also on the list is finding something safe to stand on and paint/paper the house from. Not sure if we’re going to go with a platform or another step ladder plus plank, but we need something.