Look what I bought...

The teensy weensy kitchen. More on that later.

The hallway - not quite the 500 sq feet I was remembering but it's fine.  What you can't quite see on the right is a humongous, enormous storage cupboard.

The sitting room - alcove for the table  on left, balcony for the cats to the right.

What will be the Bling Loo.

What will be the boudoir...

The writing room and studio.

 

 

The dirt that must go.  Anyone want to get their Marigolds on and come on down?  Taking volunteers for the cleaning, decorating, moving and catering crews.  In all seriousness, I am more than happy to do the cleaning myself - especially as it's so much easier as the place is totally empty.  But will definitely need help decorating.  The next thing to consider is how much work to do. 

The kitchen is a given.  It's rather foul and also very small so I got a kitchen designer.  I nearly swallowed my tongue when he came back with the figure of £11,100 and that was discounted from £14,000!  (For MDF, minimal appliances and sod all design expertise from what I could see - there wasn't a single useful feature in there...) So I have appointments with other firms for next week so that I can get this ordered and on the go - and I can get moved in as soon as I have something to cook on and don't have to live on pop tarts.

Going up there tonight was much more exciting and in turn, more reassuring than I expected.  It feels right and moving on is starting to feel more real.  I've decided to take the bigger room as a bedroom and the smaller one will be the craft and writing room*.  Contrary to what you're all expecting, I'm not intending to paint everything pink.   But I really do quite like this:

but wish it had arms.

This is rather cool too and is on the Ikea shopping list:

And definitely a possibility:

*More on that later...

Comments

[Ali]

A bling loo sounds thoroughly desireable. I have the same Ikea chair - loved it when I bought it, but it's hard on the back and rear! Perhaps I need to make a cushion.

[pixie]

ohh, it looks good to me. The sitting room (you and your literal english) and the boudoir look very very nice...and what fun to have a clean slate. You can do it baby, you really can.

[Ting]

If you need help putting up shelves or any DIY jobbies, Gruff has offered his services in exchange for copius amounts of tea and cake... his exact words were ' if she needs any holes drilling..' ooh er...

Congrats again!!

[Jade]

Ooh, its a lovely flat! High ceilings, beautiful windows and a chair rail...even though its in the hallway. I love those type of details. The kitchen....guess you gotta bite the bullet there. Also, I just saw that red cabinet in its actual realness at Ikea today and it is also on my wishlist. :-)

[Anna]

you need to get the kitchen catalogue from Ikea and pick up their kitchen planning pack as it gives you some graph paper and then you can rip out the little cabinets etc and move them around until you find what will work. I designed our small kitchen (I have 2 wall cupboards, 1 base cupboard and a tall thin cupboard!) and it was fun moving the bits around and deciding if the door would still open or if we'd be able to still walk in the room!

I have that chair in blue in my sewing room and find it pretty comfortable. I wouldn't sit on it for long periods of time but as you're up and down to the ironing board when sewing it works fine!

Hope you are very happy in your new home.

[raker]

I definitely second Anna's Ikea suggestion. Their kitchen designers are really good (I had a much smaller kitchen than yours when I lived in Oslo (total flat size for bedroom, living room, kitchen & wet room/bathroom - 31 square metres!!), and they aso offer a building service.

Avoid Moben at ALL COSTS - like vampires, they will not leave your house once you have invited them in, and they make up all kinds of "discounts". And they used squared paper and a pencil when they came to look at ours - you can use fairly sophisticated design software yourself on the Ikea site - well more sophisticated than graph paper and a 2HB pencil...

[Jane Weston]

Congrats on the new pad. I bet it will look fab once you've put your personal touch on everything. Ikea is a great place to get things..my neighbours have an IKEA kitchen and they said it was a dream to put together. Even if you hire a handyman it will be cheaper than £11000! What ever you do stay clear of Wickes, we had out bathroom from there and it was a nightmare! At least Ikea stuff is intelligently put together.
Can't wait to see how you put the studio together..I think it's great that you have a place to call a studio...I'm still dreaming.
All the best!

[Claire]

Yay, it looks so different now that it's empty!

WTF happened with the kitchen, I can't believe they quoted you that much, their prices must have jumped considerably since we got ours done :(

p.s. We do packing, carrying, decorating and snack-provision at very reasonable rates.

[Rebecca]

Congratulations on your new pad!

I would also recommend an Ikea kitchen for value for money. But I would buy the white goods elsewhere (kelkoo is good for comparing prices and saved us £'s). Really looking forward to seeing how things progress.

[Fliss]

If you got the kitchen from Ikea, you could treat yourself to a pink smeg fridge with the money you saved. There's a really good deal on at MFI at the moment on them, and delivery is cheap (and would include the stairs). I've just bought one in black:

http://www.mfiappliances.co.uk/Product_Information.aspx?BackLink=Product_Listings&Productid=321

PS - Ikea were really good in helping us sort out our bedroom. I'd recommend Tuesday at 10am for better service though.

[lazylol]

I can't wait to see what you do with your new place - how exciting.

[Rebecca]

Just seen this and thought it might be of interest ... maybe for the boudoir!

http://desiretoinspire.blogspot.com/2007/09/florence-broadhurst-rugs.html

[Jenny]

Oh gosh this is so exciting. I'm so happy for you. A new home. Of your own. Wow.

[sara]

You are going to be very happy here, and have so much fun getting it all together. I'll join the throng and say go to Ikea for a kitchen, the planning, delivery and fitting are all not bad. a pink smeg fridge. it is on my wish list, but dh has said over his dead body.....dh/pink smeg fridge, pink smeg fridge/dh....tough one.
I'm looking forwards to seeing the story unfold.

[Sarah Jayne]

How exciting - a new home. It'll be great when you get settled in. Kitchens are always expensive - I'm dreading having to sort ours out. I'm sure you'll have a great time.

[Clare]

Congratulations on the new home! Hope you settle in quickly. :)

[Lucy]

Oooooh it looks fabulous. How exciting to have all that decorating space to fill. Your imagination and shopping genes must be working over time. I love the bling loo and I'm sure all the pipes can be twisted the right way with a little bit of magic. Have fun with all of it.

[Lucy]

Oooooh it looks fabulous. How exciting to have all that decorating space to fill. Your imagination and shopping genes must be working over time. I love the bling loo and I'm sure all the pipes can be twisted the right way with a little bit of magic. Have fun with all of it.

[Sarah]

Did you check Ikea for kitchen design? They are fab! Also, Home Base does terrific kitchens for reasonable money. :) Have fun! This is one of the exciting parts!

I love the alcove and cat terrace. :)