The pom count

Another update




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Finished shelves!

so the shelves are finally finished and we couldnt wait to fill them with stuff! its changed the room entirely, really happy with the final outcome, its like a mini library!

here are some pics, im afriad they were taken at night so they arent crystal clear, i might take some high resolution pics later, but you get the idea. We have a clearly defined desk area now, and all our files are neatly sorted about it (well not all, but the important ones) also the printer is now sitting neatly on the shelf next to the computer, no loose cables, no scattered computer parts, all nice and neat. we even have room for a display shelf at the top. as you can see I've put up my "Harvey dent/Two face" model from the dark knight returns, its my little momento of the project!

i think one weekend we will sit down and sort through everything thoroughly, but its cleared up a huge amount of space already! now the room is really useable!

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The pom count

Another update on the amount of pompoms I have made. Voilà!

not sure how many this is, but you can see ive made a bunch more red and purple ones. also my friend lauren made one for me, and nadine has been helping loads! its a labour of love!

also ive noticed how when i post these images from my iphone, they appear smaller! ive haqd to correct this one! its a pain.

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my finest DIY yet!

so after months of preparation and buying all the right screws and checking the wall for supports and beams, i finally mounted our TV on the wall!

hurrah!

in the end i had to borrow the neighbours power drill since mine was lacking in the power department! but its up now, and seems to be staying there, despite only 3 of the 6 screws i bought actually holding in place...... well 50 percent sucess rate aint bad?

....just dont sit under it.

THE POM COUNT!

...an update on my pom pom collection! im not sure how many this is, havent counted, but you can see ive started to make the purple/red ones for the rug too!

halloween pumpkin carving!

I know halloween has been and gone, but i thought i would post come pics of our lovely little pumpkin! nadine did one half, i did the other! then she turned the pulp into a soup! amazing! .... oh and we also roasted the seeds too! very tasty and very frugal!

POM POMS!!!

for a while now, ive been feeling very 'crafty', and its nice to make things for your home, so .....for some reason i cant quite fathom, ive learnt how to make 'pom poms'.

then i saw this:

isn't it cool? its an entire rug made out of poms poms, its featured in a book called 'craftivity' by Tsia Carson. i really dig it and we need a rug, so im going to attempt to make one. Now times are tight and christmas is approaching, so im not going to buy the book, im just going to guess how to make it, suffice to say the starting point is clearly making enough pom poms.

So with this in mind i have bought thread (from the pound store no less) of varying colours and have started to knock em out! one a day is my goal, although at the moment im averaging at least 2. red/purple/brown is the colour scheme of our living room, so thats the sort of tones im aiming at.

heres my progress so far:

....now i know what your thinking, 'those pom poms are white?'

well...........yes they are, because im also making white ones to use at xmas tree decorations, like big snowballs! plush, because they are so soft i can chuck them at people!

The New Shelves: construction!

so, after 4 quotes, i have chose my builder! he was recommended by my dads girlfriend and did a stirling job! he's polish and i shall definatley be using polish building power again! (if anyone wants his number i'd be happy to email it, just send me a message!)

so here are some of the pics i took after only 1 day of building!!! amazing huh? they (2 of em) did most of the work on the first day, and then applied a second coat of paint on the second day. The final construction is similar to the modifications i mentioned before, except one of the vertical support has an arch shape cut into it, to allow more movement from the sofa bed....which quite frankly is genius! it works so well, it also allows me to slip a small portible radiator in behind the sofa for some winter heating! brilliant!

our treasured mugs!

Today I thought I would post an example of the little home comforts we love so much. These are two mugs that friends of ours, Mark and Magda painted for Nadines birthday a few years ago. they are huge! and perfect for a big cup of tea or even soup!

I love the personal messages on the base of the mugs, and always get a chuckle when i see 'The mark mug' scrawled across the base of the one on the right!

The new shelves: development

Well we have now had all our quotes in, I must say there is quite a large variation between the figures, all the builders agree however that we must have vertical struts in the shelving unit to add strength to the shelves as a whole, because its mainly going to be supporting books, which are heavy.


this is a design from one of the builders, buts its quite typical of the sort of thing they are all suggesting, ive made some alterations in red and blue, I can't have that lower shelf since its going to block the location of my PC, the idea being that the electronics for the pc flow onto the shelving units, thus freeing up space around the desk so it doesnt get too cluttered.

anyway, glad the project is moving forward, more pics and news as it happens!

the new shelves: planning

one of our major concerns when we bougth the house was storage, and since we have moved in this has become every more apparent. With Christmas appraoching we really have to sort out some more storage in our guest bedroom/office. The primary function of this room is as a study or home office, but since it has an ensuite bathroom too, we are also using it as a 2nd bedroom for guests!

we have loads of books and files, both of us can sometimes work freelance, so we have lots of receipts and office supplies to organise.

Using maya (a 3d program i use for work) i have quick knocked up some designs for our guest bedrrom, we want wall to wall shelving, using as much space as possible, and building around the fuse box that is unfortunately mounted against our most useful wall (for shelves)

here are my designs:
the corner unit (shown directly above) is designed to house my extensive DVD collection.

we have four builders coming to give quotes!

the fireplace project!

last weekend, while ambling through brick lane market, we came across an old wooden fireplace..... i say fireplace, i mean mantlepiece.

anyway, after a quick bit of bartering we got it down to 30 quid, and promptly dragged it onto the bus home!

our idea is to sand it down (which i have started) paint it in a washed out white emulsion and fasten it to our hallway passage as a sort of shelf to put keys and letter on when you come into the house. Im also going to add hooks to the underside so we can hang umbrellas!

loving the DIY!

Our new car!

... a few weeks ago we inherited a small white citreon from my uncle! we now have wheels! wahaaaay! luckily we have a parking space, so now need to pay for street parking!

Its going to be very useful for weekend trips to the shops and ikea! and over christmas too! am already quite proud of the little banger we are now calling 'dinky'.


as you can see our first trip was around the corner to a friends house to pick up some plants there were otherwise heading to the bin! and so the car has helped our garden grow too!
wahhaaay!


i have sent off for my provisional license...and plan to start lessons before the year is out, until then nadine is my driver, lol.

our little garden!

Hello all! and welcome to my first posting on this brand new blog! MAKING A HOME!

i thought it would be nice to upload some pics of things we are going to turn our little house into a home and ....well...personalise it! Its all very exciting for us, so i dunno, i figured someone else might be curious, and maybe even inspired! who knows?

anyway to get us started (the first few post im afriad are a little old), i thought id post some pics of our budding garden. since we moved in, we have tried to add a little greenery to our outside areas. we have one small balcony on the top floor and a drive way outside the ground floor.

quite early on we added a natural trellace to the walls, its actually screwed in to make it extra secure, and a low and long plastic planter. there is a lovely little garden centre about 10 minutes walk away at the corner of victoria park called 'growing concerns' that has a bunch of stuff and we loaded up as much as we could carry (before we had teh car) and these pictures are the fruits of our labour, im quite pleased with it! suffice to say it has grown much since these pics were taken, we have now added 3 large palms, more herbs and a hanging basket!

we've realised that we arent the best gardeners and therefore the plants that suit us best are palms and ferns that dont require much watering.