Decorating the flat – Part 3

Last week we ordered a few things from IKEA, and then spent the next few days putting things together. It was quite tiring, but also very exciting. We (or actually mainly Phill…) also took the opportunity and painted a wall in the guest room/study which we had planned to paint. It was Phill’s idea originally, but he soon convinced me that it would be a nice idea, and I’m happy that he did because the new colour looks awesome and really adds personality to the room.

The wall, which is painted in a colour called “dark duck egg”.

This is what our book/cd-case looks like now! We’re very pleased with it. It actually consists of two “Billy cd stands” and one “Billy bookshelf” from IKEA. We chose the colour/material “oak veneer”.

On the currently empty shelves in the lower parts of the CD stands we have placed trinkets, souvenirs and cards…. To add that personal touch here too!

Finally, here is just a picture of my newest flower, which I bought a couple of days ago. It adds a splash of colour to the living room. In the foreground you can also see part of my current knitting project… A green and pink thing 😉

Decorating the flat – Part 2

We are now back home, and I thought that I could show you some little details from our flat. It’s all about the small things 😉

We bought this map three years ago when Phill visited me in Sweden for the first time. It is a copy of “Carta Marina”, one of the first accurate maps of Scandinavia. We both love it and it has had an important place in each place we have lived in since then. The only difference this time is that we have framed it in a large basic black frame from IKEA (there is a lot of stuff from IKEA in our home). The map is actually quite large (around 1m*1.25 m maybe? ) so it fills a substantial part of one of our living room walls.

This beautiful little painting hangs on another wall in the living room. This painting was painted by Phills mum and given to him for his birthday, so it is very important for us. A very personal decoration! Of course, it helps that it is beautiful 🙂 And it matches the other posters and photos we have on the walls in the flat since it also has a dark wooden frame.

I included a picture of this clock  just because it was such a bargain! We wanted a clock for the kitchen/living room area (we have an open-plan kitchen and living room), but our budget wasn’t very big. We had looked at a couple of clocks in TKmaxx which looked similar to this one, but they all cost a little bit more than we fancied paying at the time. Then by coincidence, we ended up in a “Home bargain” shop and found this clock which cost us around £2!! So cheap and it still fits perfectly in the place where we wanted to put it.

Another little detail which I love in the kitchen area is this oven mitt which Phill gave me for my birthday (I had asked for one). It is really cute and makes the kitchen look homier. Also, it really helps when I bake something 🙂

Not the best picture quality, but this is a clever little thing which used to hang in my parents’ house but which they didn’t want anymore, so I asked if I could have it. It’s a shoe organiser! This way we can keep track of at least some of our shoes and avoid a mess on the floor in the wardrobe.

This is a new addition to my growing collection of candle holders. I got this one from my god parents a few weeks ago in Sweden, as a graduation gift. It instantly became a new favourite since I absolutely love green (can you tell by the table cloth?) and it just looks so cool with the rough stone edges.

Finally, these aren’t exactly part of the flat decorations, but I just wanted to show the pretty cards I got when I graduated a bit over a month ago. I didn’t think that I would celebrate that much, but then I got all these cards (and some nice gifts like the one above) and it really made me happy! In this picture you can also see our mug/cup coasters in the shape of small vinyls. That was a gift from me to Phill last Christmas and we have been using them a lot ever since. They look cool, but we are now on the look-out for some more neutral looking ones that we could use when we want some variation.

Anyway, those were some of the things that we like and have decorated the flat with. I hope you enjoyed the little sneak peek! There will be more posts about this later when we have bought some more furniture 🙂

Decorating the flat – Part 1

So, let’s move back a couple of months. In mid June this year, after I had completed my final exams, Phill and I moved to Glasgow. We were very lucky, because we were given a huge amount of help from Phill’s parents throughout the whole moving process. When we actually reached the day when it was time to transport our belongings, they helped us to drive the things from Nottingham since neither Phill nor I have driving licences (yet). We have a lot of things, and managed to fill both a small van which we had rented and Phill’s mum’s car. However, in Nottingham we lived in a furnished flat and in Glasgow we moved into an unfurnished one. That means that there were still a lot of things we didn’t have and we therefore have a lot of furniture projects and purchases ahead of us.

In terms of the flat arrangement, we have been given incredibly kind help from Phill’s parents there too. I am so grateful for the deal we have worked out with them. Basically, the flat we live in is owned by them, and we are covering the costs of all maintenance, utilities (of course) and also the furnishing of the flat. The idea is that this deal will hopefully benefit both parties in the end since the flat can be sold on and hopefully give a bit of a profit a few years down the line.

Anyway, the point I am getting to is that when we walked into the flat we basically had a blank canvas to work with. It was actually quite literally blank because all the walls are white. My plan is to let you, readers, follow the transformation of our flat, as that blank canvas turns into OUR homie home.

Since we moved in we have started to really put our touch to the place. We have been frequent customers at IKEA (and will continue to be for a while). The only pieces of furniture we had with us when we arrived were a desk that we bought last year in Nottingham and a sofa and sofa table which had been given to us. The first priority was therefore to buy a bed. We slept on the floor for three nights while waiting for it to arrive… but luckily we were so exhausted during those first days so it didn’t really matter; I slept like a baby anyway!

Next in the furniture line came a table and four chairs and after that a cd-stand. Phill’s birthday was a few weeks after we moved and he used gift money to buy a desk for his office/studio space.  That’s as far as we have gotten. During the summer we have had limited money resources and even some of the things that I mentioned above we are still paying back because we couldn’t pay it all at once. But in the autumn when I start working we will be able to add on a few more pieces of furniture which we would like.

Both Phill and I are interior design enthusiasts, but we have different approaches to it. I am the stingy one who doesn’t want to buy unnecessary things and who is prepared to chose something less than ideal just to save the pennies. Phill is more of an idealist. He wants the things that will look and feel the best and he has a more longitudinal financial thinking. While I would rather buy a cheap thing now, he wants things with good quality which will last for 20 years, meaning that they are more expensive to start with… Despite these differences in attitudes we have now agreed that we will order the next batch of things at the end of September and we have a good budget for it so it won’t be a problem. I will keep you updated!

Phill building our table