City living Old Style?

flutterbyuk25

juliapenguin wrote: »

Another annoying thing about the flat is that the very attractive internal doors are really thick - presumably because they are fire doors - so all the great hangy things you can go over the door don't fit.

Anyone know where you can find over-the-door hangers which are extra-deep? I could hang all sorts over the doors, even bags with food in (or OH.... now there's a thought).

I need extra thick over door hangers too! Annoying isn't it?

Re internet shopping, the delivery people must bring them to your kitchen AFAIK or at least front door. I'm top floor flat (4th floor) and next door flat has Tesco deliveries to their door.

Do you have an airing cupboard? You could stire things in there. I put my spare loo rolls etc in mine around the water heater thingy.

x

RightyTightyLeftyLoosey

juliapenguin wrote: »

Will Asda bring the stuff upstairs in the lift? The builders of my apartment block went bust before they finished installing the doorbells and entryphone system, but I could give them the code to get in if they are willing to do that. I've never seen anyone get a delivery, but given that all the apartments have a combined kitchen/dining/sitting room which isn't big enough to swing a cat, it's not surprising!

I love 8th Day bread... And Sainsburys queen green olives in lemon and coriander.... No wonder I've got no money .

They used to! I'm back in Edinburgh now - on the ground floor these days so not checked recently.

Mmmmmm those Sainsburys olives are lush - I bought some when was having friends round for cocktail night recently - am now addicted to them. They also taste nice chopped up in a chorizo/butterbean stew...

babyshoes

Why don't you ask your landlord if you could put up shelving? If you let him/her know what type of shelves you wish to put up and where, they may agree if it will be an improvement and fit in with the general decor. Depends on the person of course, ours is really laid back and happy for us to do all sorts of little things like that, despite them not being in the 'standard' lease we got from the estate agent. He even agreed to us having pets!

I also agree with the big plastic tubs suggestion, as you can stack them (in the living room or bedroom if necessary). If you put lighter things like toilet rolls and bedding in the top ones, you could store rice, pasta, gadgets etc in the lower ones. In a small flat, the only way to go is UP. It may not look as nice, but sometimes you just have to be practical! I have also heard a suggestion of storing baking trays, pots & pans in the warming drawer, if you have one.

chmmy

Ive got an Ikea Ivar floor-to-ceiling, free-standing shelving unit in my kitchen and it holds so much stuff, it's really strong.

I really like the way you can adjust the shelves to any height. Ive got one shelf at the same height as the worktop...so it's like a handy extension.

It might look messy at times maybe, but you could get nice jars or boxes to put stuff in. It's also open at the sides which might be a problem, but I like it like that as everything is 'to hand' when you're cooking.

Ikea have loads of storage ideas....there's me and DH and our 4 kids in a 2 bed flat in central London, with no car, so we rely heavily on supermarket deliveries, currently Sainsburys usually, and have to stack it all up somewhere at home.

liz545

How about one of those shelving units with a canvas slipcover? This kind of thing? Then you can get some extra storage for food/pans/whatever that won't look out of place if you have to put it in the living room, and when you've got guests you can just put the cover down? I'm sure I've seen them cheaper than this, so might be worth looking around!

juliapenguin

liz545 wrote: »

How about one of those shelving units with a canvas slipcover? This kind of thing? Then you can get some extra storage for food/pans/whatever that won't look out of place if you have to put it in the living room, and when you've got guests you can just put the cover down? I'm sure I've seen them cheaper than this, so might be worth looking around!

That sort of thing would be brilliant, if I could find one that isn't so wide. - it would be fantastic to be able to hide stuff away if I wasn't actually cooking. There's a bizarre space next to the fridge and freezer which would have been perfect for a half-width base and top unit (or, more to the point, the fridge and freezer could have been nearer the corner, allowing a normal width unit and worktop further along). This kitchen was definitely designed by someone who doesn't cook - it looks gorgeous and everyone says 'wow' when they see it, until they realise that there's nowhere to put anything!

juliapenguin

chmmy wrote: »

Ive got an Ikea Ivar floor-to-ceiling, free-standing shelving unit in my kitchen and it holds so much stuff, it's really strong.

I really like the way you can adjust the shelves to any height. Ive got one shelf at the same height as the worktop...so it's like a handy extension.

It might look messy at times maybe, but you could get nice jars or boxes to put stuff in. It's also open at the sides which might be a problem, but I like it like that as everything is 'to hand' when you're cooking.

Ikea have loads of storage ideas....there's me and DH and our 4 kids in a 2 bed flat in central London, with no car, so we rely heavily on supermarket deliveries, currently Sainsburys usually, and have to stack it all up somewhere at home.

I've had a look at Ivar and something like that would be great - I'm just looking for a narrower version. I think I need a trip to Ikea - I'm allergic to Ikea (but addicted to Daim tart....) but I think a trip there will be a necessary evil.

Thank you - all these ideas are helping me do a bit of lateral thinking.

juliapenguin

babyshoes wrote: »

Why don't you ask your landlord if you could put up shelving? If you let him/her know what type of shelves you wish to put up and where, they may agree if it will be an improvement and fit in with the general decor. Depends on the person of course, ours is really laid back and happy for us to do all sorts of little things like that, despite them not being in the 'standard' lease we got from the estate agent. He even agreed to us having pets!

I also agree with the big plastic tubs suggestion, as you can stack them (in the living room or bedroom if necessary). If you put lighter things like toilet rolls and bedding in the top ones, you could store rice, pasta, gadgets etc in the lower ones. In a small flat, the only way to go is UP. It may not look as nice, but sometimes you just have to be practical! I have also heard a suggestion of storing baking trays, pots & pans in the warming drawer, if you have one.

Thanks, babyshoes, there's some good ideas here. We haven't got a warming drawer in the oven, but I do keep my baking tray and roasting tin in there all the time, which is handy.

The landlord (a property development company run by yuppies who eat out every night, I think :cool:) won't let tenants put up ANYTHING requiring screws - we can hang 'a small number' of lightweight pictures which only need small pins. The walls are very lightweight plasterboard, from what I can tell, but they must be well-insulated as we don't hear a lot from our neighbours, thankfully. Everything has to be freestanding. I'm planning to take lots of photos of Manchester, print them out in black and white, and stick them to the doors, just reprinting and replacing as necessary. I think that will be very much in keeping with the style of the flat - it's pale wood doors and floors, cream gloss kitchen units and dark brown, almost black, furniture. Sounds horrid but actually it works. We're on the top floor (7th) and the main room has huge windows with views over the city and the most beautiful sunsets.

juliapenguin

flutterbyuk25 wrote: »

Do you have an airing cupboard? You could stire things in there. I put my spare loo rolls etc in mine around the water heater thingy.

x

Yes - I like the huge packs of ecofriendly toilet rolls from Unicorn in Chorlton and they are all round the water heater! I'm thinking I may have to go back to buying smaller packs when they run out, though, as that space could be used for some other things.

flutterbyuk25

Could you pop into your neighbours flats to see how they deal with the lack of space issue? You may find some ingenious solution that way, and make friends?

x