Champagne Lifestyle on a Lemonade Budget.

sheilavw

wow that looks amazing Phoebe.

Meant to put carpet tor wood floor in my last post for my lounge. I am leaning towards carpet again. It's just that I have beige colour already and dont really want same again!  not sure what else to go for. I know a friend had laminate once and when her dog passed away she went back to carpet, she preferred the warmth

balabooberlies

Hi Sheila

our sitting room carpet is beige but our hallway is a pale green.  Much prefer the green, makes it feel warmer somehow.

bala

helensbiggestfan

Hi Sheila. Ooh love the sound of the limestone fireplace.  When I bought this bungalow I inherited a lot of laminate floors. I agree laminate can be a lot colder than proper wood floors.  I have added large thick rugs and they have made a huge difference. They make everywhere feel nice and cosy. They are relatively cheap too so I can ring the changes. I have pale rugs in the summer, and I swap them out for stronger warmer colours in the winter.  I tend to pick them up in the sales, either online or if I see them on offer in shops.  I have picked up some real bargains.  

If you fancy that option take a look on EBay, also a company called irugs.  

Phoebe .......Love your bedroom mural. Sounds like you are making good progress with the bathroom.  I'm sure it will be worth the wait.  😁

sheilavw

Thanks, yes cannot wait for my new fireplace. My old one served us well but its dated now, dark wood and brass inset fire marble hearth and back. The new one has downlighters and the hearth is sort of curved. going to get decorator in. I think that I will go for carpet. I will get him to bring some samples, again my old one lasted a long time and doesn't look shabby. However, I dd once drop an iron on it, so a mark there. I also knocked oil burner in the hall bit (my house is straight in to lounge) and when trying to remove it I did burn it! hence I have  a long runner. So even If I end up with similar colour I definitely need one!

phoebe1989seb

Thanks ladies.....yes, the mural has definitely turned out better than I'd hoped, although I admit it's not the first time I've done that sort of thing

We have no fitted carpets here - tbh, I'm not a fan although DH would have them in the bedrooms were it solely his decision - but have a mix of old quarry tiles, more recent terracotta tiles and painted floorboards....plus the newly tiled bathroom  However, with the exception of the bathroom, we have huge, room-sized wool rugs everywhere. These cover most of the exposed hard floor coverings and make for a cosy experience underfoot! Even in the kitchen we managed to squeeze in a 9' x 12' rug where the sofa/wood burner is.......

LL, we're on the cusp of ordering a large rug from irugs, who I've only heard good things about - otherwise I think all but one of ours (the kitchen one which was a Liberty splurge using some money I inherited from my late uncle in 2008) were second hand, eBay finds!

Champagne moment this morning - building materials for the new extension arrived bright and early!

helensbiggestfan

Phoebe.  My Best Buy was a 10ft x 12ft pure wool Turkish rug.  Glorious colours £15 from a charity shop, in as new condition.  So lucky to snaffle that one up. 😁  It's deep and soft and really luxurious.  It goes in my dining room.  

Some other good buys were two pure 8ft x 5ft pure wool rugs from Benson for Beds. I had only nipped in for a quick browse. No intention of buying rugs that day.  Brand new £60 each, rrp £329 each.  The guy at the checkout was gobsmacked.  He laughed and said "you were lucky, if I had seen these I would have grabbed them". 

For me the beauty of rugs is that you can swap them round, and if they get really disgusting it's cheaper to replace a rug than it is to have a new fitted carpet.  As you say i think the trick is to buy big ones,  

Filthy day here and I'm feeling a bit low if I'm honest.  I think it's just tiredness, plus the threat of another imminent lockdown doesn't really help lift the spirits, does it.    Family here today and although I do love having them I really feel I could do with a day off today.  Never mind I can take it easier tomorrow,  

phoebe1989seb

Sorry to hear you're not feeling your best today, LL - the whole lockdown business is soooo very disheartening isn't it? I've been really struggling with keeping cheerful - particularly since the announcement of the "firebreak" here in Wales - but I consoled myself with the fact that our family visit was able to go ahead 😍 and also keeping small(ish), achievable goals in sight, which I think has helped me loads! 

Hopefully tomorrow you'll be able to regroup and recharge your batteries 

That charity shop rug sounds an absolute bargain! I don't think any of ours have been that bargainicous, lol! We splurged £2k from my inheritance on the 7' x 9' Liberty one that was a perfect match colour/style wise with our former very Art Nouveau based interior schemes and we did find a beautiful brightly coloured 10' x 13' antique Persian rug for £1100 on eBay in 2017 that we later had valued at £6k!!! 

Otherwise the cheapest has been £170 including shipping for a vintage 9' x 12' wool rug earlier this year. We got it for the snug, but on arrival the colours were duller than expected so that's been relegated to the main bedroom. The irugs one I've got my eye on will replace it in the snug, but it's a much cheaper type - the colours are perfect though 

sugarbaby125

My Champagne moments on Thursday was going to the creative writing course. It was great once again. I read Will our facilitator a piece of my work which is a monologue and he absolutely loved it and he was so complimentary.   

Yesterday evening my Open Mic monthly poetry evening resumed as a Zoom meeting. It was good to see so many familiar faces and hear their voices as they performed their poetry or poetry written by other people. It was my 1st ever experience of a Zoom meeting but it will not be my last, as we will continue with Zoom meetings until it is once again safe for us to meet up in person. My daughter gave me a lovely compliment when she saw me after I had got ready for the Open Mic event. I decided to make as much effort as I would as if I had been going to a face to face meeting with the group of amateur writers. 

balabooberlies

LL hope you are feeling more rested today.

bala

helensbiggestfan

Good Mornjng my lovely friends.  

Thanks Bala.  Feel much better today.  we had to cancel our family get together yesterday. DIL wasn't too well.  Instead I just spent a couple of hours with DS2 so yesterday was quite restful in the end.   

So......lockdown is with us again next week.  Pretty much as expected.  Never mind, I have plenty to keep me occupied and at least we have a few days to prepare.