Holiday

I am on my holidays.. How can you afford such luxury I hear you ask. Well my lovely friends Fiona and James have departed the big schmoke for the Easter break and kindly lent us their lovely, clean, decorated, flat complete with working oven and EVERYTHING! So here I am in oh so exotic Finsbury Park, I am, as I write, sitting at their lovely kitchen table, glass of wine by my side, relishing in the joy of being clean.

So the eBay obsession has become a little bit out of hand! In the last few weeks I have bought the following:

Fireplace - a small one to fit the space in the bedroom, I am considering stripping it, or just leaving it white and slightly distressed - thoughts welcome.

Freestanding Sink Unit - as you may have gathered by now my style is quite.. hotch- potch. As such the plan is to have part fitted units - a long run down one side and part free-standing on the other side with lots of shelving. The first element of which is this free-standing Belfast sink unit. At £150 this is something of a bargain, yes it requires some tlc, but loving care costs nothing folks (except patience and tenacity, on which I must admit I am running slightly low).

French doors - (as mentioned in previous post).

Entire kitchen - Not bought yet but a very serious contender. Now, I realise that a used kitchen is some people's idea of hell, but I actively enjoy the lived in look of age and I simply cannot bare waste. If I can buy a really quality used item for the price of some brand new cheaper model, I just don't mind the odd mark . That said, I realise it does need to fit right and so I have spent the afternoon with some graph paper and cut out shapes the size of the the various units. (good advice Sara). We also drove across London to visit said kitchen in situ.. and (as Louis Walsh would say) I like it! Not sure how it would feel leaving its beautiful home in Twickenham to the squat in Homerton!

3 highlights of this week:

1. My first freecycle success - a double mattress. Always a risk but I like living on the edge and, you know what, it's perfect. Still in its original packaging. Just need a bed to accompany it now.

2. A design consultation with Abigail Ahern - http://www.atelierabigailahern.com/, I have long been an admirer of this lady's impeccable style and, if I am honest, I kind of want to be her! So before the restraining order sets in I utilised her new free style consultation service and had 1 whole hour of her expertise devoted to my kitchen planning. Mood board in hand I talked through my ideas and discussed the dilemmas and relative merits of above kitchen. Outcomes included the desire for screed flooring with under floor heating and lovely pendant lights from Caravan http://www.caravanstyle.com/shop_concrete_bulb.html.

3. Visit from architect friend, he needed some help planning his wedding, I need a kitchen planning. So we traded my events expertise for his hugely superior architecture expertise and he is in the process of whipping up some drawings. MASSIVELY grateful! Just having him in the house proved how helpful it would be to have actual experts helping me, if only I could afford them.

But, I can't, and so folks we muddle on....