Let There Be Light!

Happy to be winding down the major works in the Rae household!

We just had the old/damaged window in the back room replaced with a double glazed, UPVC sash window from The Shoreditch Window Company.  Really impressed with the installation experience and the window lets in so much more light than the old one. It even has a subtle wood grain pattern in the UPVC to mimic wood!  Genius.

I'm contemplating putting the curtains back up! 

See below for the before and after...

Old window

Voila!

Stairway Heaven

We finally have carpet on our stairs!  After over 3 years, we finally have carpet on our stairs!  It's the little things...  : )

Another One Bites the Dust

And by "another one" I mean another ceiling, actually two, have been brought down.  But I'm also referring to myself and the grit I occasionally get lodged in my teeth by living in a war zone again.  We've finally gotten around to fixing the water damage to our ceiling and walls in the back room.  We also added a window in the roof of Mark's studio, which makes it feel so much bigger now. Plasterer comes Wednesday, then we can work to get our house back...until the next project.  : /

Mark's studio before...

Mark's new studio ceiling window

Our lovely lounge / dumping ground

A Place For Everything...

My goal has been to utilise every nook and crany of our loft space and I was in dire need of a closet.  We hired our talented friend and skilled carpenter, Ian Howell, to create a place for my shoes, jumpers and jeans.  I had seen some inspirational designs on Pinterest but what Ian built blew all of my expectations!

And he even made a special space that fit my wellies...  : )

In progress...

Check out the bottom boxes that have trap doors for extra storage underneath!

Summer in the City

First, what a gorgeous, hot summer weekend we're having in London!  The pollen is keeping me indoors but I'm not complaining since it allows me to finish my project...

Second...my project!  I needed a slim but wide toiletries cabinet to fit into a particularly funny shaped space in our new bathroom.  I found just the thing on eBay, an Ikea CD cabinet with glass shelves for £10.  I had a vision of a bathroom cabinet I had seen from Graham and Green so, I painted it black, purchased a few samples of Sanderson's Fern wallpaper, new door pulls and voila!  

Maybe a rougher version of the original but I absolutely LOVE it!  : )

The cabinet, as it arrived...

The finished product!

Unrecognisable.

Graham and Green's version...  : )

Busy Bees

This weekend, Mark's producing partner, Steve, and his family drove down from Yorkshire to stay with us.  Mark and Steve had the opportunity to master their new album at Abbey Road Studios so we had a very exciting Saturday morning!  We saw some of the equipment that the Beatles recorded on, just sitting in the corridors and the guys got to see rooms and original instruments used for their most iconic songs.  That night, we listened to the product of Rae & Christian's 4 year journey while taking in the London skyline from our balcony.  Couldn't have asked for a better weekend!

The bathroom is almost done, check out the progress below...  Sunday was dedicated to painting.  Some plants and colourful artwork are soon to come.

Another Day, Another Project

We've finally started work on our loft bathroom!  Dave the Builder is back in full force and is working his magic.  We had left over teak parquet bricks from the loft bedroom that we've decided to use for the flooring.  Teak is an oily wood that is good in wet areas and, if sealed properly, is impervious to water so we thought it best to recycle and save a bit of cash (plus, it's just so beautiful when sanded!).

Here's our progress so far...

A pretty sunset from our bathroom window tonight...