Frump to Fab 2022 - The Big One

maman

Just a quick post to echo what @liberty_lily said about gallery walls @chanie.  I know you're very family oriented so, until you find artwork you really like, I'd use family photos. If you don't have any large photos, you could use large frames and create a montage inside. I agree that frames are quite reasonable in Ikea but it's worth looking in charity shops too as often you can pick up attractive frames to recycle even if the prints inside are hideous. 

All my rooms are painted in fairly neutral wall colours but with accessories to brighten it up. In my dining room, I have an Orla Keily cushion on the reading chair in the bay window and then I've recovered my 6 dining chairs in 3 different ways to pick up the colours. At the moment the (very comfy) chair has seen better days so I've covered that too temporarily while I decide what to do about it.


Posters can be a mse way of adding interest to large spaces too. I have a few in our guest bedroom.  They're all memories. The French one is from a memorable visit to Paris, the Rentree one where a child is being dragged back to school which reminds me of how teachers feel at the end of school holidays. 🤣 The Whirling Dervish reminds me of our Turkish holidays and also how I felt when I had a 24/7 job and the bus stop one is a painting DD1 did at school.



My DH collects antiquarian maps so we have plenty (too many) to display. Fortunately, we have picture rails so they can be moved around. 

Excuse mess and poor light in hastily taken photos. 🤣

Wednesday2000

It is interesting seeing other homes on here!:)

I've been using far more colour since I moved here as my old house was very magnolia and minimalist. I can't remember if I said this already but we are getting a new kitchen door fitted and then we will swap the rooms around and have the back downstairs room as our living room. I wanted to get a door fitted so it would hopefully be less draughty in cold weather. I'm getting increasingly worried that we will have a bad winter and want to try and do as much as I can to feel warm here, especially with energy prices the way they are. I did buy a thermometer as well as I'm seeing when I need to put the heating on. Reading online I realised I have what I think is a mould allergy. I thought it was to do with my old house, but as soon as the weather has turned colder here the symptoms come back. I want to make sure I'm keeping warm enough as that fibro flare up gave me a shock the other day. I did order some more thermal tops too. 

My fitbit is a good way of making sure I am getting up every hour to move around and keep warm too as it gives you a reminder if you have sat down too long. 

I'm out tomorrow night in London as I'm going to an event with my brother. I will go and look around the local chazzers in the morning before I go out. I wanted some more scarves as I realised I only have two of them when I looked through my winter clothes the other day and I wanted a bigger tea cup as I drink much more hot drinks in cold weather. I'm not sure what to wear tomorrow. I picked an unsuitable outfit when I went out last Friday and I kept getting hot and cold all day. 

liberty_lily

I love your Rentree 'back to school' print, Maman 😃😍❤

Hopefully we're going to be getting back on track with the indoorsy house fabbing soon as we've now got all the oak timbers on site for replacing the old extension frontage 😁 Just need the weather to stay dry on the days DH is off......

chanie

Thanks for your advice (and pictures), it’s been really helpful and given me some ideas for our rooms.  I’ll let you all know how I get on.
 

Today was the first day that I felt a bit of a chill in the air at home, whilst working.   Not enough to turn the heating on, but I did put my dressing gown on.

sugarbaby125

Hello Ladies,

My new Hotpoint heat pump condenser dryer was delivered. It is very efficient, and time will tell if it is as cost effective as it's A++ rating professes it to be. It has a digital readout, and it was really easy for me to figure out how to use the different drying programmes. It is much quieter in operation and does not overheat the room it is situated in. It is a definite improvement on the old-style condenser tumble dryers. I got a £115 discount on the price of the tumble dryer.   

I am so relieved that my week of going to the launderette to dry all of our wet laundry has come to an end and so is my son.     

chanie

@sugarbaby125 great news that your new tumble drier is performing well.  There is nothing worse than having an essential white good  break down.

maman

Yes, far better than having to drag everything down to the laundrette @sugarbaby125, although I'm sure your son was happy to help. 😊

Don’t know why I didn't think of it the other day @chanie but I have wall mirrors in almost every room in the house. Some are genuine vintage such as the one over the fireplace but others are Art Deco style.  I find IKEA, the Range or Dunhelm good. They are great for bringing light into a room and making a small room look larger. 😊

Life is very social for me at the moment. I was at the theatre last night, a birthday do tonight and a dance tomorrow. I've enjoyed choosing my outfits.

For the dance, I've got a sparkly silver sequinned top to go with my long, grey silk skirt. It was a £4 CS bargain which I've altered to suit me (taken off the floaty, cap sleeves and frill around the bottom. Yesterday I bought a similar one with red sequins. It's Ted Baker and was just £2.75! It needs a few alterations too but nothing major and will be good for Christmas. I like mixing up occasion wear with everyday separates like jeans with a sparkly top or a silky skirt with a jumper. 

liberty_lily

Oh gosh yes, I forgot mirrors too! Maman is right, they can really elevate a room with their properties of reflecting light and adding an often dramatic focal point 😁

When we had our family home in Hampshire in the late 1990s/early 2000s, I discovered ebay and we started collecting Art Nouveau/Arts & Crafts Movement furniture and decorative objects. We soon had a fabulous collection that included mirrors (mostly copper) and every room had at least one, because we also had several sideboards with overmantle type integral mirrors. These days we have less mirrors - we sold all the sideboards including my beloved original Liberty one with applied enamel/copper hinges as we don't have space anymore 😪 - keeping just a few favourites.

Over the past few years our taste has become more eclectic, so whilst I do regret selling those pieces, I feel it has given us the opportunity to explore different styles 😉

Actually, I've just done a *head count* of mirrors here and I was surprised to discover we've got nineteen (a mix of antique, vintage and contemporary) 😳😳😳 My excuse being that as its a fairly dark house, more mirrors are needed to bounce the light around, lol!

You could, of course, combine gallery walls and mirrors by creating a wall of mirrors which can look fantastic!

My fabbing today included sorting through our wardrobes in an attempt to get ready for the colder weather, in the process of which I put together another bin bag of clothes for the charity shop. Also, began working on the kitchen chimney breast artwork at last 😃

Your occasion wear outfits sound fab, Maman, hope you have a lovely evening 😊

sugarbaby125

Hello Ladies, 

Maman, it is good that you have had a whole weekend of being a social butterfly. I hope that each event was really enjoyable. 

I went to the National Theatre yesterday evening to watch the play Blues For An Alabama Sky. I got a £49 ticket for only £6.50. I thought this play was excellent. The costumes were very evocative of the era the play was set in, which was the summer of 1930 in New York. The musical numbers were a joy to listen to as the singers harmonised beautifully and they all had such depth and tones to their individual voices. For me this play was a 9.5/10.   

I noticed one of the women from Neighbourhood Voices a few rows in front of me, so I called out her name, as the play had not yet started. She turned and shouted, 'is that your partner?' Before I could answer her, the white older man on my left shouted back 'I should be so lucky'. That was the ice breaker for him, and he then started up a conversation with me that only ended when the play began. We also got talking in the interval. He seemed to take a shine to me, but he was just not my cup of tea, even though he seemed to be a really lovely man. He was too old for me at 72 years old. He was really shocked when I said it was lovely to travel around London for free on my 60 plus Oyster card. I told him I was sixty and he said he thought I was only 45 years old at the most and I thanked him for the compliment. He also loves going to the theatre and is quite creative. We discussed the plays we had both seen this year at The National Theatre and what we had personally thought of them. He is with a different seat filling organisation, so I told him the names of the 2 I am with, and he made a note of the names in his smartphone as he intends to register with both of them. 

I went to the Hampstead theatre for the 1st time this evening to watch the play The Snail House. This was a play about class, families, politics. ambition, love, power and it gave the characters and the audience much to debate. I found the performance of one of the characters so poignant and so moving that I was completely choked up and had to hold back my tears. It surprised me how much the story brought out so many emotions in me and had me totally captivated. I got a ticket worth £39.50 for £12. For me this play was another 9.5/10. 

Wednesday2000

maman said:

Life is very social for me at the moment. I was at the theatre last night, a birthday do tonight and a dance tomorrow. I've enjoyed choosing my outfits.

Oh wow. Sounds like fun!