All That Glitters is Gold

I know this is what you've all been waiting for...

The Glitter wall!!

How awesome is it?

I love it so much.  It's mesmerizing.  

When Nick picked up the can of Craig & Rose Gold Glitter Glaze 

I was worried my worst fears had been confirmed...

(that Nick has Elton John, homosexual tendencies...)

But this glitter is so pretty I don't care!

Even if it looks like we hired Tinkerbell as our interior designer!!

I tried to capture it in different lights for the full affect.  

My favorite is when there is just a dim light in the room. 

It makes the whole room feel like its glowing.

Do you want to glitter a wall in your house now?  I bet you do!

Here are a few tips from your resident glitter expert (me)

• The instructions said, use a foam roller.  I did not.  But I should have.  Follow directions!  I used a regular roller, and it turned out blotchy.
• Because no one wants blotchy glitter, if you screw this up like me use a paint brush in haphazard crisscross strokes to achieve a better all over glittery finish.
• If you're not lazy just use a brush for the whole wall.  This worked best.
• Test your glitter out in different lights and different times of day.  This will reveal patchiness where you need to add more glitter!

Do you love it?  I love it.

DIY Master Bedroom Coving Project

Where has this week gone?!  

Nick and I finished this little project last weekend, and I've been meaning to share it with you!

We are pretty much knee deep in DIY...

This was our master bedroom to start off with...

As I showed you before the hot pink and lime green wall combo is gone now!  

Thank God.

But it was still looking unfinished....  

Nevermind the fact that I cut in by hand all around the ceiling, we decided to put up coving.

Even though I have to do a bit of repainting now, I'm really glad we put this up.

I won't do a tutorial because I'm sure there are better ones out there.

What I can tell you though is it wasn't that hard, it was much easier than the last time we did it.  

Took about a day to do, and if you're thinking about it I would highly recommend getting a piece that is the same shape along the ceiling as the wall.  Not too fancy.  

Last time ours was a bit fancier and it made the whole process a lot harder.

Everything is starting to come together, slowly but surely.

And good news, Ikea started to sell the bedroom furniture we want online!  

So soon we won't be living out of suitcases!  I'm SO excited about that.

After much debating... (seriously we pretty much started World War Wardrobe in our house...)

This is our current Ikea Master bedroom wishlist...

All the furniture is from the Ikea Hemnes range, which I had in white in college and I loved it!

Actually my dad preferred my Ikea furniture to the fancy stuff in my childhood bedroom, so when I moved over here he took apart my old bed and replaced it with my Ikea one - apparently he wanted a better place to take naps.  I don't think my mom was too happy about that one!

Hope you have a fabulous Friday!

Bedroom Inspiration : Oh Deer!

When redecorating our new house, we chose to to do very neutral colors so it would be appealing to lots of buyers should we decide to up and move back to America.

For this reason, I am loving the bedroom of Nikole Herriot, as featured on design*sponge.  So much, in fact, that we chose to  paint a chocolatey brown feature wall in our bedroom.

I think what really gets me are the antlers.  Wouldn't they be perfect for hanging necklaces?  Remember how I desperately wanted to buy a head, but Nick put his foot down?  Well I think since antlers are a little tamer version of that, maybe I could get away with it.... maybe...?  (If you're inclined I would appreciate you leaving comments on how classy and fabulous antlers are for Nick to read.  Comments on how he should give me free reign in the decorating department are also appreciated.)

Though I would have to find a vegetarian friendly antler option.  Any tip offs?  I know I saw wood carved ones online but I can't seem to rediscover them.  Oh and while I'm on the deer kick, isn't this duvet cover the coolest? (brought to my attention by Krystal of Village)  I'm pretty sure I wouldn't get away with this though.  Maybe it's a bit of deer over kill (pun intended - yes, I think I'm funny), but I LOVE it!

I think it would be the perfect combination of chic hillbilly.  

Whats not to love?

Well thats the decoration inspiration for now.  If any one else has neutral bedroom inspiration please share it with me!  I am having the hardest time deciding on a color to paint our guest bedroom which has a weird blue/grey carpet.

Other than that we are trying desperately to get everything in a live-able state, but we are having trouble coordinating trades people.  Very frustrating!

New House Stats

1.5 - Weeks since we exchanged keys to our new house
7 - Days I have spent stripping wallpaper
3 - More days I predict I will be stripping wall paper. 
2 - Number of wall paper steamers I have broken.  Who knew you had to refill them before they turn off?
0 - Major fights with Nick.
6 - Number of major fights I would have had with Nick had I been DIYing with him for a week straight this time last year.
79 - Pages I have read of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, which I credit with helping me fight less.
3 - contractors we have met with.
13 - days we have both been sick (just a nasty cold - no worries)
2 - weeks till move in.
0 - Rooms that are complete.
2 - Rooms that have flooring.
4 - awesome new neighbors we've met.  
5 - times we went to B&Q (DIY store)
19 - paint samples I have bought.
2 - colors of paint that we picked that are not in stock at our local B&Q.
109,284 - times I complained about not having a car.
1 - Pinky toe of Nick's that is still broken.
0 - Number of times Nick has complained about not having a car while walking on broken toe.
1 - New guest bed that has been purchased.
17 - days till our first guest arrives.  


Yikes!  That my friends is stressing me out.  And my blog is becoming so full of words and no pictures and I hate that.  I hope I will have some before and after shots to show you soon, but right now we're still plowing away through the before phase.  Wish us luck!

ps.  I'm pretty sure I stole the number post concept from Emz.  

A Mini Herb Garden

Ever since we moved here I've been wanting to plant a few herbs for cooking purposes.  Any food snob knows that having your own herb garden is pretty much essential.  Buying the herbs fresh from the grocery store is so expensive and some always go to waste.  But if they're planted the herbs will last ages.  So today Nick and I headed to our local nursery to pick up everything we need to create fresh and delicious spring dishes.  Carrying everything home without a car was pretty rough, but luckily my big super musclely husband carried the pot home!  Oh and all together, the compost, plants, and pot only costs £20!  Not bad, eh?

From top left clockwise we have our major contenders, French Parsley, Oregano, Purple Sage, Moroccan Mint, and my personal favorite Chocolate Peppermint!  Oh my gosh does that stuff smell good!

We're still missing a few of the big players, like Rosemary and Basil, but we're only so buff you know.  Maybe next weekend.

I hope they grow super fast so we can start using them!

ps.  What are your thoughts on garden gnomes?  The nursery had tons of them!  They also had a snow white.  What do you think, snow white and the seven dwarfs - the perfect garden accessories?

Conservatory: Before and After

We had our conservatory rebuilt sometime around September,  however, as things of such a nature go, we only recently got around to painting it.  I meant to post pictures as soon as it was painted, but it seemed to be filled with tools and other junk as soon as I put my paint brush down.  But since Nick's mum is selling the house now, someone came to view it and we put it all in order.  It looked good.  I wish it could always look like this.

Here are the before pics....

This is a bathroom.  No one used it because it's gross. Agreed?

And now it looks like this....

So new and shiny!  Notice the appliances!  We used to have the washing machine in the kitchen.  Now we have a dishwasher (SCORE!) in the kitchen, and we have both the washing machine and the dryer in the conservatory.  This makes me extremely happy.  Hanging laundry outside to dry is a royal pain, especially when it rains nearly every day here.  The dryer on the left doesn't actually go there, well it's supposed to, except the builders forgot to put a hole in the wall for the exhaust.  So we have to move it to the front of the picture and stick the hose out the window.

Oh, and the toilet has also been redone, except you see, the light of my life, my dear husband, decided that he was a plumber (he's not a plumber) and he was going to fit the sink and toilet himself to save money.  That was in September.  It's now the end of February and we're no closer to having a working toilet in, and as a bonus, we have the lingering smell of sewage since the pipe for the toilet is exposed.  We try to cover it, but it doesn't really work.

You win some, you lose some.

The Chalk-O-Matic!

Ladies and Gentlemen, today I would like to introduce you to the niftiest gadget I have yet to come across in my DIY experiences.  I bring you.....

THE CHALK-O-MATIC!!

Nick called it a "chalk line" but I think chalk-o-matic sounds much cooler.  If you're a DIY newbie like me and have never come across said gadget before, you must be wondering what it does, eh?  Well basically it makes a line of chalk on your wall.  So if you need to hang something straight, you can use a spirit level to draw a straight line, but maybe it needs to be longer than your spirit level allows for.  This is when you whip out your chalk-o-matic.  You pull the end of it, and a string appears which you can then match up with the line you've drawn on the wall with your spirit level.  Pull the string taut against the wall, and BOING it.  TaDa!

Now you have a straight line which you can use to hang things up neatly.  Like cabinets....

I even used a power drill (under husband supervision) to put that cabinet together.  Now there is a lovely little spot to put all our laundry products.

I feel so organized!  This is in our conservatory, which should be finished in the next couple of days if Heidi can ever learn to entertain herself.  Will be sure to post before and after pics of the finished room! 

How 'bout those New Year's Resolutions?

It's already February - time is a-tick-tocking away!  Jeez this month has gone by pretty fast.  Just wanted to recap to remind myself of those pesky resolutions I made.

New Year's Resolutions

1. Get experience for vet school
• Bah, this hasn't happened yet.  I spoke to the vet about getting experience when I took Heidi in for her shots.  She wasn't willing to help me but gave me some leads which turned out to be dead ends.  Also she was Italian so didn't know much  anything about vet school in England.  Maybe I should put this on hold until we move up to Sheffield??? 
2. Do more and stop thinking about doing more
• I've been really good about doing things this month.  I guess a fire's been lit under my ass with needing to get this house in order to rent.  So much DIY has been done and I'm pleased with how this resolution has gone.
3. Be proactive about establishing myself in London
• Hmm... I don't know if this is really relevant anymore.  Must remember to establish myself well in Sheffield as soon as we move.
4. Be active and healthy and quit yo-yo dieting
• This hasn't happened at all.  The more I do things around the house the less time I spend cooking, which means more eating garbage.  I also really need to start running again, it's just SO cold!  (ugh ok I know just call me Whiny McWhinestein)
5. Make a really good new English friend
• This is also a no go.  I hope when I establish myself in Sheffield it will be easier to meet people than it has been in London.  There are no potential friends at the moment, but I'm spending so much time doing stuff in the house there hasn't been any opportunity for meeting people.  We're going to start taking Heidi to puppy school soon so maybe we can meet people there.

How are your new year's resolutions coming?

Dining Room Archeology

I kinda lied to you yesterday.  I haven't actually been snuggling my puppy all week.  I mean I have done a lot of that, but I've actually been doing tons of work on our dining room.  Since we decided to move I've really kicked it into gear. (And by "it" I mean my a**)

At the begining of the week I took the wallpaper down using this handy dandy wallpaper steamer.  Oh what a joy of a DIY task this was!  All I had to do was press it against the wall and the wall paper would just peel off ever so nicely.  The steam created a nice little sauna effect so it was almost like getting a facial AND getting work done at the same time!  But it did create little pools of tobacco colored water because until recently this room has endured about 50 years of chain smoking - kinda nasty.  But I loved stripping back the wallpaper and discovering what laid underneath, I thought to myself, "This must be what an archeologist feels like!"  If I would have known how simple it was I would have taken off the tar stained paper ages ago and maybe the house would've stopped smelling like old people and cigarettes!

Next I had to take the Styrofoam off the ceiling, but luckily there were no hidden chimneys like last time.  This DIY task sucks big time.  It made my shoulders sore and my knuckles raw.  Thank God there is no more Styrofoam left in the house now.

After playing room archeologist all week I unveiled a hideous pea-green ceiling, with yellow trimmed walls.  Nick's mum has been staying with us this week and she said the white painted bits used to be filled with wall paper.

Dear God,

Thank you for not making me live through this era of completely vile design.  

These color choices make me want to vomit a little.

That doesn't seem good for a dining room.

Cheers!

Kelly

Styrofoam Ceilings and Hidden Chimneys

Maybe I am a glass-half-empty kinda girl - OK I'm definitely a glass-half-empty kinda girl, but I believe that you have to take the good with the bad.  In this case, the good is we are moving!  The bad - we are moving a lot sooner than we anticipated and we have a lot of work to do to prepare this house for renting.  And by we I mean me because I'm unemployed and highly skilled at all things DIY, non?

Well the other day I was taking down this Styrofoam ceiling that was put up maybe 50 years ago to add insulation to the house.  It has to be taken down now, because of renting regulations that claim it is a fire hazard. Safety first people!

So I put my Martha Stewart DIY home decorator extraordinaire hat on and I get busy, as Kelly Leighs often do.  The problem is, Martha makes home improvement look so easy.  But its just so not easy.  I mean I'm stripping this shit off the ceiling, my arm is dying, and all of a sudden, my scraper hits a hard spot.  I keep at it and what do I reveal....

An old chimney!!

They'd covered the hole with what appears to me to be a small paper plate - and had they bothered to remove the ashes?  Of course not!  When I knocked that little plate out of place I gave myself an ash shower!  I looked like a damn chimney sweep.  I feel like these things just don't happen to Martha.

I guess thats why my Dad made me watch This Old House all the time growing up.  He had the show preprogrammed on the TV so the channel would switch whenever it was on.  Sooooo annoying.  He insisted that the information would come in handy one day.  Can't say I remember how do anything from the show, but I will admit Norm gave me much more realistic expectations for home improvement projects.  They never go according to plan!

The DeCourcy Hotel is Open for Business!

Ladies and Gentlemen, family, friends, and couch surfers, you will be pleased to know that work on the DeCourcy guest room is finally finished!

I don't think you can fully appreciate this charming London room until you see the state of utter disarray it was in a few months ago....

Please note the unpainted cupboards.  Nick had them built just before the first time I came to London, he meant to paint them before I arrived.  That was five years ago.

Those gray spots in the upper right hand corner are big holes from where Nick mounted a massive TV so he could game from bed *cough* loser *cough*.  The TV was taken off the wall and the holes were filled and sanded.

And for the piece de resistance... Nick's bright orange ceiling!  Slowly being painted away by yours truly! Six coats of paint later it was actually white.

And look at it now!

This charming outer London bedroom can be yours for just... well free if we like you.  It boasts crisp white cupboards.  Freshly painted and looking stunning after 3 coats of paint.

A ceiling that is no longer likely to blind you with the fire of a thousand suns.

A comfy wicker chair for that English Victorian elegance we know you're looking for.  Just perfect for reading a book and having a spot of tea.

An entertainment system complete with VCR and a plethora of local television channels (and by plethora I mean five).

And if there's two of you traveling there is also a pull out mattress underneath the bed.  It's ideal for slumber parties!  However, it's on limited offer because this single bed will soon be replaced with a double.  It may migrate to Nick's study, but that is yet to be determined.

Well, that concludes our tour.  Please call/facebook/email to inquire about availability.  I am very pleased to announce that we will be having our first guest staying with us as of tomorrow!  So you can't come tomorrow.  But as of the 15th the room is empty, just waiting for another weary traveler.  We love visitors so don't be shy!

Bedside Table : Shabby to Chic

I've been doing this thing lately where I find things to do that need to be done, except they don't need to be done as badly as the things I'm avoiding doing. Mostly I'm avoiding painting jobs. We really need to paint our newly refinished conservatory and our guest bedroom needs a bit of a paint job so all you people fancying a trip to London will have a nice place to stay. However, I've said in the past that Nick despises painting, and I currently don't have enough motivation to do two rooms on my own. So for now I'll just continue with my silly, but pleasing little jobs.

My project this weekend : turn our bedside table from shabby to chic. This is the bedside table I had to work with.... A cheap thing Nick thinks he bought at B&Q, for about £10-£15. In his favor it is real wood. This is great because it means I can paint and repaint it without much problem, if it was some Ikea junk then I wouldn't have that option. Not that I'm totally sipping hatorade on Ikea, my entire college bedroom was furnished by them, I just like things that you can change.

Since the wood was unfinished I didn't have to strip it, and I was too lazy to sand it. So I just took the drawers out and attacked it with Dark Oak Satin Varnish we got at Wickes for £7.33 - not bad.

I'm not an expert at furniture refinishing, but I do read directions. It said for the first coat to dilute the varnish with 10% water. So thats what I did. Then I did two more coats of just varnish. I learned that following the grain of the wood is important, because when I was lazy and didn't it looked bad, plus it says this on the directions. Other than that it was so easy. And here is the finished product:

Is it just me or does that lamp seriously remind you of the lamp from the brave little toaster? I think its really ugly but I can't throw away lampy...

Anyways I think it looks more expensive now... for some reason dark wood = expensive to me.

I even painted the inside. I wasn't going to, but then I thought I was being super lazy so I did in the end. I'm not sure if this means I'm not lazy or I'm just OCD. What do you think?

Ask Kelly : Hanging Curtains in a Bay Window

The other day my dear friend Claire suggested I do a question/answer feature in the blog.  So we are going to try it out and see if I can answer your questions!  You are welcome to send questions and I'll try to answer them or at least find someone who can.  Here is the first question: 


dear kelly,

how do i hang curtains in a bay window? do i do three individual curtains or one over all three?

-bewildered by the bay


Dear bewildered by the bay,


You have to start off with an appropriate curtain pole. There are various types of curtain pole that you can use with bay windows and depending on the type you choose and the method you use to attach it to the wall you should end up either using two or four curtains (assuming you have a three sided bay). Fitting a curtain pole can be an easy to moderately challenging DIY task depending on the type you choose.


A simple plastic or metal curtain track (see the track here for example) is the easiest option but is not the best looking. You simply cut the track to length with a hacksaw and bend it into shape, attaching it to the wall or window frame along the way. This is also the cheapest method.


(Sorry for the fuglyness of these curtains.  We haven't fixed this room up yet.)

You can see the curtain track better here.

A bay window curtain pole (see this pole for example) is the most expensive option but also looks best. As the poles are not generally bendable apart from in specific parts the measuring of the bay and accurate cutting of the poles becomes a lot more important. If you wish to use only two curtains then you need to use the correct combination of end brackets and passing brackets or a pole set that only requires fixing at the two ends and in the middle (like the one we have in our bedroom shown below).

And here is a close up.

When ordering curtains remember that you need a curtain that is approximately double the width of the windows so that you have enough fabric to allow for attractive pleating. You can buy ready made curtains in a variety of sizes or have your own made. The drop or length of the curtains is up to you but you may wish either to have curtains that fall just below the window sill, to the top of your skirting board or to just above the floor. Having a lined curtain reduces the amount of light penetration and provides better insulation.


Hope I have left you less bewildered by the bay.  Let us know how it goes!  


-Kelly and Nick (today's guest blogger)

Painting the Ceiling

I spent this weekend painting the ceiling of our toilet.  Nick ripped out these funny old cardboard squares from the ceiling, the kind you would throw your pencils into in grade school and try to get them to stick.  Then he patched the holes.  Then we fitted moulding around the top (really just to cover up the biggest holes).  The molding was cool because they only cost us about 3.95 each, plus we had to buy a mitre block but was overall really cheap and easy to put up.  I must admit I'm skeptical of anything cheap - and this moulding was made out of styrofoam - not plaster.  ugh...  but actually the fact it was styrofoam worked out perfectly because our house is really old and nothing is at a right angle.  So we were able to push and bend the moulding to fit, whereas if it had been plaster that would be a definite no go.  I have to confess I can't even tell.  It looks exactly the same as the expensive plaster stuff.    

With the moulding up it was time to paint.  Nick hates painting.  I didn't realize this translated into "Nick will do a shitty half-assed job at painting when forced to" until I made him paint some cupboards with me and then I threw a complete bitch fit when I saw his finished product - cupboards with big globby drip marks all over them.  So I tackled this project myself.

I actually don't mind painting.  But I have learned that painting ceilings is a different story all together.  First of all this toilet is tiny and I can only stand on a ladder to paint half the ceiling, then I have to stand on the toilet to paint the other half and this is about a foot lower than the ladder so I can barely reach the ceiling from there.  Then you have neck strain.  I am actually in pain from the bizarre position my neck was in for hours yesterday and today.  Looking up is actually really uncomfortable.  Another problem : Small space with lots of paint fumes + looking straight up = dizziness.  Oh and then there is the tingly/prickly feeling in my arm from reaching and having it straight in the air for long periods of time.  Painting ceilings is definitely no fun!

But being finished with painting ceilings is awesomeness!  Woo Hoo!  Martha Stewart would be proud.