Hoarding...not just on TV

GreyQueen

decogecko wrote: »

Hi All

Jojo sorry for the loss of cat no. 2, I lost 2 of mine in September within 15 days of each other.

Not much dericharding here but I'm not bringing anything thing either! In fact I'm becoming quite fussy about what I want in the house. I always ask myself do I love it? If the answer is no then I don't buy it. I also find the same principle applies to things in my house, if I don't love it or it's not useful it gets put in the cs bag.

Whoever mentioned 'it's ok to have an empty space' thank you, thank you, thank you. Not only do certain places in my home look better they are also much easier to clean!

Happy sunday all x

It was me, I think. Although others agree. I'm really enjoying the pristine whiteness of the bathroom and sometimes go in there just to recharge my tidy-batteries, if that makes any kind of sense at all.

I find myself getting skittish about stuff coming in, too, because I know that it will be in my face in this tiny home and that I want less and less rather than more and more.

I think it's great to be discriminating, not in the sense of being prejudical against a person or group, but to say it's not my thing and I can wait until I find my thing, or go without.

After all, our homes are about the only places where we can control the phyisical enviroment to fit our needs and tastes, so why should we do something/ own something, because it's the convention or whatever?

Today I shall derichard 2 carboard boxes (flattened) freed up by some tidying and re-sorting yesterday, by putting them into the recycling bins. It's all good.

alec_eiffel

Sorry to hear about your cat jojo.

I am being very stern about stuff coming into the house at the minute. MIL is getting rid of stuff that was her husbands and she (thinks she) won't use again but Dh keeps saying we'll take it. We don't need another flipping stereo, I don't give a toss if it's a Sony one, we have a Ruark which is better! Their old Christmas tree is currently in the car too. We've agreed to take it to the charity shop but DH was saying we could swap it with ours. I don't want to swap it with ours, I don't want my Christmas tree to be someone else's cast off that will only be in our house because someone died. We chose our tree and it's ours and we have our traditions I don't want the tree that is nothing to do with me. I know that's madness but why should I take it? This house isn't a storage bin for our stuff let alone someone elses. And I know this sounds harsh but if MIL gets rid of something then regrets it then she will have to deal with the regret. THIS IS NOT A FLIPPING LOCK UP.

Grey Queen, I think everyone keeps having a peep into a newly tidied or decorated room (don't they?) to look at the calm and beautiful space. I know I do!

lostinrates

I have almost a week to myself (parent here tomorrow night, dh home thursday night)

I have a day off one of my big chores outside on tuesday (a client is doing it) and I have two main goals to complete before thursday.

One is a box on the landing which I cannot actually remember what lurks within. ( several types of tat hopefully.....a mind shift that I hope it's NOT good stuff?).


I am also dithering over my kitchen curtains and blinds. I got loads of fabric samples and dh loves one of them, but I think it's too dark. I suggested we use it as a trim on leading and bottom edges of a plain grey linen. But, that's far too chic really for what I wanted. A bit twee? I wish their was an interiors board on MSE where people used their good eye an ingenuity to critique plans. I also think I want voiles there. Not my normal style at all, but I am thinking fly prevention in summer (it's just a hop skip and a jump from the cow barn, where flies are famously bad) and also privacy from tractors going past. Billowing sheer white curtains seem the least twee way to acheive this I think? I quite like the idea of getting antique lace panels, but there are four windows and two sets of huge double doors, so they would all mis match and getting panels or antique table clothes big enough for the big gaps might be tricky. And risks leading to obcessive buying of antique lace that will go unused and too loved to get rid of. Plus, might look less how I imagine and more like nasty old fashioned net curtains!

alec_eiffel

Would plain grey linen be a bit more dirt forgiving than white billowing curtains if you're that close to the cow barn? Billowing white curtains run the risk of becoming really high maintenance greying curtains pretty quickly.

I think a few of us here have some art/design training and I would imagine that a fair few of us have very clear design ideas even if they haven't yet translated from the brain to the room!

What kind of look are you going for - what lives between twee and "too chic"? Homely, country, cosy, smart, formal, informal..?

lostinrates

alec_eiffel wrote: »

Would plain grey linen be a bit more dirt forgiving than white billowing curtains if you're that close to the cow barn? Billowing white curtains run the risk of becoming really high maintenance greying curtains pretty quickly.

I think a few of us here have some art/design training and I would imagine that a fair few of us have very clear design ideas even if they haven't yet translated from the brain to the room!

What kind of look are you going for - what lives between twee and "too chic"? Homely, country, cosy, smart, formal, informal..?

Ok, brace yourself. Eccelectic, dilapidated, faded grandeur.

Bear in mind we are the people who an a shell grotto. .

The idea is that the kitchen doesn't look like a kitchen but rather a living room in which we take repast. The plan is for it to be the main living room day time, but not necessarily used in the evening (when we have a dining room back). So comfort is important too.

All our downstairs os different shades of green and we have chosen this colour for the kitchen. http://www.littlegreene.com/salix

I wanted something that looked like it might have been bright embroidery in the eighteenth century but had faded and been attacked by moths....and the closest I got was this . Which I loved on the website but in real life, (my pic is my sample and looks truer to real life) looks a bit carribean queen).

This is the room.


It's, a little more cluttered now. There is a cooker on that back wall and the butchers block is next to it. Long term when we have the kitchen fitted (a few years) all you will see is a plain panelled wall with the cooker in the middle. The island will also be absolutely plain from the other side.

The other end I only have an incinstruction picture of...

alec_eiffel

Bearing in mind that your stuff is the opposite of my style (I like brutalist architecture, modernist and Scandi style)...

I'd go for a double whammy of something practical along with something to look nice. For the windows I'd go for a screen type thing for privacy, kind of like a stiff voile so it lets the light in but gives you a bit of privacy but it also has a bit of structure so isn't floaty like a voile naturally would be. For the faded grandeur aspect I'd have something that's a contemporary version of a traditional thing like a really simple pelmet of a heavy fabric like the one you have with some curtains (in the same or different fabric) to soften everything but that will work with the strong wood furniture you have. It sounds fussy but I think it's not too difficult to make it easy to live with and not too chic.

I think my issue with floaty white curtains in that room (and this is just my taste) would be that they wouldn't be strong enough to work with the wood iyswim. I know some people would like that but the weight would be too different for me. I can see why you say lace though as it's heavier. To stop it looking like nets I think the key with that would be to use it in a different way so it looks contemporary-traditional rather than "been here since the 70's".

I don't think a shell grotto is that uncommon or wacky is it? I know loads of folk who have a folly in their garden. FIL is an artist and has murals on his walls, my great gran did too.

Brighton_belle

Oh. My.Word. LIR, that looks all utterly gorgeous already, before you even start.
Personally I love the material and think it does look faded 18th Century.
Can't offer much design advice but needed to publically drool.:D

lostinrates

Lol Alec, we have murals planned too.

I think my jewellery cabinet is the most me thing I have, now, I don't have a picture on this machine, but I think there might be a really old one on MSE,....I will see if I can find it.

Contemporary scares me a little, but so does pure retro. Timeless seems less scary than contemporary. Which is why trimming things or using contemporary fabric feels a bit 'wrong' to me.

alec_eiffel

I'm not suggesting you go contemporary but to use your choice of fabrics and furniture in a contemporary way. That means to use what you like in a way that helps you live with it otherwise you run the risk of having an impractical space at best and at worst a really bad cartoon of a old house. If your house is hard to live in because you've been slavish to the look you want to achieve it just won't work, when it comes down to it form follows function.

If you were to come to my house, for example, it would be fairly clear the style I like as it's a strong style that runs through the house. But it's not all retro or vintage stuff. I say it's "inspired" by the style I like so I have either mid century stuff or just the colours in each room but the style isn't beating you over the head at every turn because it's a house not a museum. There is an easy to live with middle ground with any style I think, colours, textures, materials can all be used without it having to be absolutely true to the period you're looking at.

lostinrates

Brighton_belle wrote: »

Oh. My.Word. LIR, that looks all utterly gorgeous already, before you even start.
Personally I love the material and think it does look faded 18th Century.
Can't offer much design advice but needed to publically drool.:D

Thank you.

It's been a LOT of work to get it to this stage! And now we have run out of ready cash so we have to hover again before doing things like put the floor down. We have some restrictions because it's listed, but in general I have found the Listed buildings officers have been really help ful. It was empty for a coue of years and somewhat crudely treated for the hundred years before. The furniture is begged borrowed and stolen from family and a few pieces from eBay (like the butchers block and the alter/island). In all this longer term unfitted kitchen cost us the fridge and about £200 quid eBay and 100 van hire for getting the rest of the furniture. Some of it, like the kitchen table, I have had for years and years sitting around waiting.

Its not perfect...e.g. It's hard to plumb a sink to the island when I don't want the top drilled into, so we haven't and are using an old sink that needs reenamaling in the utility room (annoying when you want to quickly drain something or just grap water quickly for a sauce or something but not the end of the world.

The green colour is going on the ceiling etc too. When the eventual cabinetry replaces this kitchen in a few years that will be the same colour...so it will look like a panelled wall. The island I plan to paint a darker colour of the same sort of colour.....I am thinking of farrow and ball green blue, to add some depth to the room and warmth. The table legs of the kitchen table are that colour, and it pleases me a lot.

Essentially, by using one colour I hope to get the same peace one gets from a aim white room, but I am not keen on plain white in many uk lights.

I don't want anything to look new or fresh or too contrived either.

I want it to be beautiful but practical.