keris stainton

Dream Home: Bedroom

kathrynireland, originally uploaded by Keris.

I've realised since I've been collecting these pictures, that I love white walls with colourful accessories. I've never considered white for the bedroom (it seems too cold), but I'm thinking about painting every wall in this house white, *starting* with the bedroom since we haven't done a single thing to it since we moved in almost four years ago. Oh, I tell a lie, I've replaced the short yellow curtains with long chocolate brown ones.

Our bedroom has lemon walls. A pale blue and white swirly shaggy carpet. A full wall of fitted wardrobes with brown wood louvre doors (and I'm sure you can imagine how dusty *they* get, except when you do dust them, the dust just flies up in the air and then settles back on the slats).

The other thing I love about this bedroom is the tidiness. Our bedroom has clothing on pretty much every surface. Sigh.

Dream Home: Beach house

beachhouse, originally uploaded by Keris.

What's the weather like with you today? It's so miserable and dingy here that I've got practically all the lights on because it's giving me the creeps.

I wish I could spend the day in this beach house from an old issue of O At Home magazine instead.

UPDATED: Ooh! It's brightened right up since I posted this! :)

Dream Home ... sort of

This isn't so much a Dream Home picture as a Dream Life picture. Talk about selling a lifestyle - this picture makes me want to change everything: move abroad, buy a bigger house, have another baby. If I'd still been doing a "proper job" the yearning would have been even stronger and, you know, the baby thing's kind of covered, but still.

I want to live in this picture...

Dream Home: Office

I've pretty much got my dream office already, but it's the organisation of these two that appeals to me (organisation is sorely lacking in mine). I pinched the above office from Erin's blog, but the following one comes - like many of these pics - from Apartment Therapy.

Again, the organisation, but also the colour. Although, I've just been thinking "I love that red notice board", before looking up and realising that my own noticeboard is indeed red. I could do with the whiteboard calendar, the filing and the jars though. Although the jars would be full of Haribo sweets, nuts and chocolate...

Dream House: New York

Oh my goodness. This one-storey carriage house is on 19th Street in New York. Can you imagine living there? I think I'll baggsy it for when the kids (hee!) are grown up and David's dead and gone (he says he's going before me) and I finally - finally! - get to live a glamorous Manhattan lifestyle.

You can read all about it in the New York Times (the house, not my glamorous lifestyle ... maybe one day!), but all I need to know is it's as bright inside as it is dark outside ... and there's a glitter ball. A glitter ball!

[via Apartment Therapy]

Dream Home: Comic floor

comicfloor, originally uploaded by Keris.

Now I've had this cutting for years. (I had it before we had our own home, so it's at least 4 years.)

It was from, I think, Good Homes magazine and, if you look carefully, you'll see the flooring is made up of pages from comics, varnished.

That's not the only reason I love it though. I have a thing about French doors. I've never had an "eat-in" kitchen (our current kitchen is about 4 foot by 6 foot) and I like the open shelves and old-fashioned cooker.

One day I will have a comic floor. Oh yes I will.

Front porch

buck, originally uploaded by Keris.

I've always had a thing about porches and I really love this one.

I can just see myself sitting there with a book and a cup of tea in the morning, watching the world go by...

Dream Home: Vintage Kitchen

2-15-08vintagekitchen3, originally uploaded by Keris.

I don't really cook (stop snorting, David), but maybe I would if I had this kitchen.

I love every detail - the old-fashioned cooker, the clocks, the glass of straws and the little letter deelies...

Gorgeous.

(I got it from Apartment Therapy originally)

Yes, the spendathon continues...

... but it's only a tenner and I've wanted it for ages.

It's actually a teatowel, but I'll be framing it and putting it on the wall - either in my office or the hall. Isn't it fab?

(Incidentally, this morning, as we got off the bus, Harry looked up at the sky and said, "What a lovely day!" and everyone at the bus stop laughed. Apart from one misery who said, "Not if you're going to work, it's not." Humbug.)

Dream Home: Pantry

pantry, originally uploaded by Keris.

I've been saving photos of home inspiration for a while now so I thought I'd share a few.

This was from Domino magazine, my favourite homes magazine, which I'm going to have to get a subscription to since no bugger seems to sell it in the UK. I just love the colours on the jars. It makes me happy.

My dream house...

... has been reduced from £275,000 to £249,500. Of course, that's still about twice what we can afford. Will have to buy a Lucky Dip tomorrow... Is it wrong that I stare at this picture:

... and dream about those cupboards, the floor, that window, the door and the "walkout to roof deck"?

I really, really want. (Also, when we pulled up in this town, my eyes filled up because it reminded me of Stars Hollow. Maybe two Lucky Dips...)

Oh and if you're nosy or into looking at beautiful houses (or want to know where you can get a house like that for that price), email me and I'll send you the details. I'd post them here, but it's kind of a secret (a very badly kept secret, but a secret all the same).

Let there be light

One of the things I love about my little house is the light. When we came to view, it was a dingy, gray, rainy day, but the house still seemed bright (despite the fact that practically every room was decorated in shades of maroon!). I've been meaning to take pics of the evening light for a while and I finally got round to it!

The second bedroom that used to be my office and will soon be Harry's new bedroom (once we get rid of the chandelier and all the pink!

Living room, including small hammy child.

The living room window. Boy are those blinds dusty.

I. Want. This. House.

Featured on - where else? - Apartment Therapy, it's a pigeonnier, built in the grounds of a Louisiana estate around 1750 to house pigeons. Just look at it! And inside?

Ohhhh. I want.

 

DIY SOS

We've had a new fridge/freezer for a while now so I finally rang the council to get them to come and remove the old fridge and freezer.

The chest freezer was in the cupboard under the stairs, but plugged in in the lounge. The guy we bought this house from thought he was good at DIY. He was not. He'd actually drilled a hole through the wall and threaded the wire through. Because I couldn't get the plug off, I borrowed some wire cutting things from the father-in-law and cut the plug off. When I pulled the freezer out I discovered that it was actually plugged into an extension cord under the stairs and that was what I'd just cut the plug off. Doh.

The fridge in the kitchen was built in (there's a fancier word for that, but I can't remember it). I couldn't pull the fridge out because there was a little wooded lip at the bottom which had been cut out of one massive piece of wood for that entire side of the kitchen. "They usually lift out," said the father-in-law. This one did not. I borrowed a saw and cut it out. I yanked the fridge part way out, but couldn't get it all the way.

David came home. He managed to pull it further out, but couldn't get it all the way out because the washing machine stuck out too far. He pulled the washing machine out. He pushed it back in. He pulled the fridge out. It was still plugged in. It appeared the kitchen had been built around it, because that plug wouldn't come through either. David cut it off.

Then he realised that, thanks to our new fridge/freezer, there wasn't enough room to get the fridge out of the kitchen. It would have to go out of the back door. Except the council are picking it up from the front. And we live in a terrace so we'd have to carry a fridge right round the block. Hmm.

But, hey! That's not going to be a problem! Because the back door opens in and our kitchen is so small that if the back door is open there's no way to get the fridge past it. And if we get the fridge in place, we won't be able to open the door! We could potentially take the back door off the hinges, but I fear that way madness lies and soon the three of us would be left sitting in the pile of rubble that used to be our house. No, a line must be drawn.

Do you think I can just give the fridge a damn good clean and use it as a cupboard? I mean, if Carrie Bradshaw can keep shoes in her oven...

F**king Plumbers

You may remember the leaky pipe saga, but it's so boring I won't go into it again. We finally got a plumber to come round yesterday and repair it. It only cost £100 and I was incredibly relieved that it was finally dealt with (it's been almost a year since the leak started).

That is until I noticed that it was still leaking. Through the new plastic pipe. So I rang the plumber and said, "The pipe's still leaking." And the plumber said, "Oh f**k, is it?"

Now, I'm no prude (as you know) and I don't mind swearing. I have been known to swear myself when the occasion has called for it, but don't you think that's a bit unprofessional?

Give It Up-date! and Flylady

Well February's shopping-free month went well. Even in the few days since March began I've noticed I'm stopping and thinking before buying something and then feeling pretty good when I realise I'm allowed! This is certainly an improvement on just buying without thinking and long may it continue.

As for March ... well, I'm stuck. According to the book, March is for giving up ... elevators. But I rarely go anywhere and when I do there's rarely an elevator involved. I need to substitute it with something, but most of my bad habits are covered in coming months!

What I would like to give up is negative self-talk. I want to replace every 'your jeans are falling down because your stomach's so fat' with a 'your jeans are falling down because no bastard company can make a decent pair of friggin' jeans!' or, you know, something less aggressive, but a) I have no idea how to go about doing this (replacing the self talk, I mean, not the jeans) and b) it's difficult to quantify.

I guess I'll just have to try and be aware of it and let you know how I get on with it ... wish me luck. Sigh.

While I'm on the subject of change - big thanks to Natasha for recommending Flylady. The first thing she tells you to do is "shine your sink", in other words, before you go to bed at night, clean the kitchen sink. Now - and this might shock you - I'm pretty lazy. I generally don't do the dinner dishes until the following morning and then, because I don't have much time in the morning, the odd pan hangs around most of the day, the breakfast and lunch dishes get added to the pile and, basically, there is just always a load of dirty dishes in the kitchen waiting for me to get around to washing them. Last night, to enable me to shiny my sink, I washed all the dishes.

Which brings us to the sink. Our sink is cream and made of this porous crap that basically absorbs everything so it's always tea- and coffee-stained. The drainer, made of the same crap, gets that pinky stain that you get on the grouting in the shower. It's an unholy pain in the arse. Not today, today it's gleamy and shiny and ... beige. It'll never be cream again so that's a mega improvement.

So this morning I got up and instead of being faced with a pile of dishes and a scummy sink which made me feel like a lazy loser, I was faced with no dishes and a shiny sink, which made me feel proud. Yes, proud. Which is a much better way to start the day. Sad, I know, but that's a fact. So thanks, Natasha and thanks, Flylady! (I'll let you know how I get on with the rest of the Flylady instructions. So far I'm a bit freaked by about 20 emails in the last 12 hours and the instruction to wear "lace-up shoes" but I'm keeping an open mind!)

I *hate* housework

I do. I hate, loathe and detest (as my mum used to say) it. I rarely do it. Oh I'll have a bit of a hoover if someone's coming round or if there are too many Rice Krispies stuck to the soles of my feet (How many's too many? Depends on my mood.). I give the kitchen and bathroom the odd cursory wipe (very odd, very cursory). I clean the toilet when I feel the need (or, yes, if someone's coming round). Other than that I don't do very much at all.

But now Harry's at preschool three morning's a week I thought I should possibly be doing more. Or at least ... something. The first day he went, fired with enthusiasm, I cleaned the bath. That was weeks ago. I haven't got tha enthusiasm back.

See the thing is, the job's too big. There's too much to do. So I thought about what I do with writing thanks to Anne Lamott's advice in her wonderful book Bird by Bird, which is, basically do just a little, often, and soon you'll have done a lot without noticing. So I made a list of every single thing that needs to be done (from "wipe the skirting on the landing" to "mow the lawn") and then I made another list of all the bigger jobs that need doing and may take assistance (from "hang the mirror in the bathroom" (the mirror we bought two years ago) to "paint the shed") and I'm going to cut them all out, put them in some sort of receptacle and pick one out to do each day.

There are 65 things on the housework list so it'll take me two months to get the whole house clean, by which time parts of it'll be dirty again, but at least something's getting done.

I'll let you know how I get on.

Ramblings

I'm watching Buffy again as a way to prolong the Gilmore Girls box sets (I'm up to season 4 already and I've only had then since the end of May). I watched one this morning in which Angel appeared to lose his soul again and I was horrified. I love Angel. But I have to admit, bad Angel is pretty damn sexy. And, please, tell me someone's going to 'off' Faith soon - I can't stand her.

For a while David and I have built towers with Harry and then pretended we didn't want H to knock them down and then, when he inevitably did, acted devastated. Harry's picked up on it:

Remember my fabulous Ikea-via-ebay desk? Well, just look at my office now. Sigh.

To think it used to look this this.

Ta-daa!

Sadly, I haven't got a pic of the lounge in all its horror when we first moved in. Let's see ... Oh, here we go. The pic was actually taken of our poor baby - no toys; only newspaper to play with - but you can clearly see the disgustingness of the wallpaper and carpet (the previous owners had a burgundy leather sofa too!).

Then I painted it cream(ish) but there was still the carpet. And then there was the hairy pipe incident (yes, Katy, I know I'll get people who've searched "hairy pipe") and the decorators came and all was chaos. They stripped the walls (and ceiling):

Then they plastered and papered ...

... and painted ...

... and finally the carpet arrived ...

Isn't it beautiful?

Mess

And they said it wouldn't last ...

I've spent much of today trying to rearrange the office, which meant first I had to rearrange the bedroom to make room for the stuff piled up in the office which meant I had to pack tons of Harry's leetle teeny clothes away and clear out all the crap from under the bed and then shove it all back again (but in a more organised way). I'll do almost anything to get out of working. It needs to be done though. The office was looking less like an office and more like a junk room with a desk shoved in the corner.

I'm going to "feng shui" it too (listen, I'm submitting to agents in a couple of weeks .. desperate measures) so I need to move the desk so I'm not facing a wall (because a wall is an obstacle and I don't want any of those!) and then set myself up with a lovely Success Area (i.e. stick all my published articles to the wall with blu tack). Oh and then there's this: Arrange your desk according to Feng Shui. Water or coffee goes in the north; a picture of your inspirational person or mentor* is in the northwest. In the northeast, put a book of inspiration. In the east, a vase of flowers; southeast, a small green plant. To the south put a lamp or something red, the southwest a crystal paperweight, and to the west, electronic equipment such as computer or radio. That’s a more auspicious arrangement. I need a compass. And where the best feng shui place for all my piles of crap?

I sadly missed that skinny celebrities program on Living last night, but my sister told me someone said, "One in every five anorexics will ultimately die". So does that mean if you're anorexic you've got an 80% chance of living forever?

* Meg Cabot? George Clooney? Oprah? The Shake'n'Vac lady? Ooh! Ooh! Nora Ephron. And relax.

Organised chaos

I didn't make any resolutions this year because I had a look at last year's and I haven't kept any of them. One thing that I really, really need to do though, is to get organised. My office is okay (I need to call it something other than office, because "office" suggests work and what I do in here is more like fun - any suggestions?), but it could be a lot better and I get a bit flappy and overwhelmed when I'm disorganised.

But then I was reading fabulous author Jennifer Crusie's blog and I saw her office:

And her desk:

Yikes! If she can write such fabulous books under such conditions, there's hope for me yet.

I wish me a Merry Christmas

Like last year, I've done most of my Christmas shopping online this year. It's great, but it's so easy for me to keep adding little pressies for myself. On Amazon, for instance, I've bought at least one book for myself for every one that I've bought as a present. But I got some extras too.

They're little paperclip type things! Gorgeous!!

I've wanted these for ages, but they're so expensive. But now they're sold in Borders and I only go there occasionally, so I've decided I'll treat myself to one each time I go.

I also ordered some new jeans from Next (which I'm sending back, the fabric's funny) but somehow these popped into my basket too:

I've got the red ones and they're fabulous.

I really, really don't need a new bag, but ... and my Alphie fits in it perfectly. I tell you what, I'll get rid of one of my old bags, will that make it okay?

O Christmas Tree!

We got a real Christmas tree for the first time ever this year. Growing up, my parents always had the same crappy fake tree which stood on a table in the corner of the front room (the room that was saved for 'best'). Since my mum died, my dad doesn't even bother to decorate and undecorate it - he just sticks a bin bag over the whole thing and puts it in the loft til next year.

We've never bothered with much in the way of decorations before we've never been at home for Christmas - usually half the time is spent with my family and half with David's. This year we're only going over to my family for a couple of days and David's family is seven minutes away (door to door) so we're going to have over a week at home. Bliss.

So we decided to get a tree. And because I love the smell, I decided it had to be a real tree. Turns out, they don't smell. This one doesn't anyway. It's lovely though. Look.

And, although we've got fairy lights here and there in this house all year round, I decorated my bookcases.

Genius

In the lovely book I've just read, one of the characters mentioned they had "central vac". This rang a bell .. something on an American homes programme that I meant to look into .. and Google got me here. Listen to this!

Instead of a portable, self-contained appliance like a traditional vacuum, a central vac is a whole-house system. Tubing installed inside the walls is connected to a vacuum pump and collection unit in the basement or garage.

From someone who has just bought two hoovers (the upright came with a free cylinder) because she is too lazy to carry one upstairs, is that brilliant or what?

There are no electrical cords to bother with - all it takes to start the system is to insert the hose into the wall inlet. The system starts automatically and stops when the hose is removed. The dust and dirt collects in the large canister.

Genius! "Stops and starts automatically." How does it know?!

You can have multiple inlets installed in every room, or you can have a single inlet in a convenient location that allows you to reach most rooms with the long (usually 30-foot) hose.

I don't know what kind of neat freak would need multiple inlets in every room, but whatever.

One of the most popular features of a central vac system is the "dustpan" vac - a small, wide inlet built into the toekick area under a kitchen cabinet. Just sweep debris from the kitchen toward the inlet, open the inlet with your toe, and away it goes - no more messy dustpans!

Holy crap! That's what I do anyway. I .. um .. sweep all the crap to the edges of the room. But if we had central vac it wouldn't just stay there until David gets disgusted enough to hoover it up.

My God. Seriously. Modern technology. Whatever next.

Just call me Handy Andy (actually, don't)

I'm typing this sitting in my gorgeous, gleaming, shiny new office. It's taken me a while, but last weekend I finally finished converting the spare room from this:

To this:

Ah, it makes me happy just to be in here. What's that? You'd like a virtual tour? Well, certainly!

This is my desk with the lovely Mac. On the wall is a fab New York picture from Ikea - it's a pic of the Brooklyn Bridge made up on lots of tiny pictures of New York. On the other wall is my pinboard which is a bit bare at the moment: just my Race for Life number, an Ermintrude from The Magic Roundabout toy and a picture of George Clooney with no top on.

These are the bookshelves with the writing books and all my notebooks on. On top is one of my gorgeous bears, a Hello Kitty and some candles. Behind you can see my precious Brooklyn Bridge bookends (propping up my Rainy Day DVDs) and the bag of American sweets I got from the International Blog Exchange lady. You can also just about see my Chrysler Building picture. Not that I'm obsessed with New York or anything. Oh no. (Did I mention I might be going again in November?)

Here's my collection of O magazines (since 2001!), Ginger Teddy and Pink Dog who I've had since birth and my first birthday (respectively) and the lovely retro heater cos there's no radiator in this room.

There are more shelves with lots more magazines and a punchbag for when I can't find anything to write about. And soon there'll be a bean bag bed where I can sit and read (and nap). Sigh.

Tick tock

Look at the lovely flip clock I got in Debenhams for our front room. If only we could be bothered to decorate it, our front room would be fantastic. Once we get round to it (don't hold your breath) I'll post QE-style before and after pics.  

Random ramblings (fol de ree!)

Something else that makes me happy is boring, functional things being made beautiful. I had to buy a heater for the spare room. I wasn't very excited about it ... until I saw this

from Delonghi (it's a lovely ice blue too). (Who knew you could buy heaters on Amazon? Not me!) (We got ours in B&Q 40% off!)

Topher (as in Topher Grace) is apparently short for Christopher (thanks Bob). I should have guessed this (I've read A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius) but I was thinking along the lines of Tiny Gopher. No, I don't know why.

Oh, that's all I've got today. I started reading the Robbie biography and, oh my god, it's unputdownable. I hate that expression. Of course I can put it down. But I don't want to. (Which reminds me of something else I meant to say. I'm about five days behind on my YA book. Gah. I'll have to get down to it tomorrow. You'll be happy to know that I've done some more "research" though. B magazine - rubbish.)

Bookends

Friends have just been to New York and I asked them to pick these up for me. I've wanted them for years (there's actually a cutting of them stuck in my diary for 2001) and they're gorgeous. I can't stop looking at them.  

News

Right, am definitely going to New York but not doing any running/walking/charity work at all! Am going to go with my sister so will be mostly shopping/eating/drinking. Yay. So I think I'll sign up for the Race For Life in the UK and run this time!

The estate agent phoned this morning and said we should be able to complete in just over two weeks! Yikes! Better start packing then, hadn't we?

Woo-hoo!

I've won this (from a magazine)! In pink! With a sandwich cage! 

Poo

The house fell through. The survey came back with a valuation of £10,000 less than we'd agreed to pay. We wanted to split the difference because we loved it so much, but the vendors decided to stay put. Which is odd since they'd been moving for health reasons, but whatever.

Lots of tears yesterday but now, you know, move on. It obviously wasn't meant to be. We're viewing another this afternoon and there are a few other possibilities. Househunting is so tedious and stressful. This is exactly why we haven't done it before now.

Mysterious Ways ...

Remember how I read the Barefoot Doctor's Manifesto? Well it's full of affirmations and, though I don't usually have much truck with them, I've been saying them whilst washing-up Harry's bottles and I enjoy it; in a strange way it makes me feel a bit in control of things. Well one of them is "I now manifest the perfect home for myself, even if I can't yet see where the money's coming from." Without tempting fate, we have found our perfect home!

And then I remembered that, if we own a house, I can get the black and white cat I've always wanted since I read a Sweet Dreams book (On Thin Ice, if I remember correctly) and the heroine had a kitten called Misha. So I started telling everyone I was getting a black and white cat. Yesterday I was in the kitchen and a black and white kitten came in through the window. Spooked yet?

I was telling my Catholic friend, Caroline, who is convinced I am secretly religious and that she will eventually get me to see the light. I said, "Do you think God sent me a cat? And, if so, does that mean I have to start believing in him?" She said, "He obviously really wants you." So I figure, if he really wants me, he can do better than a cat. We'll see if my premium bonds come up ...

Our new house (hopefully!)

Our new house (hopefully!). 

Gay Dolphin

Being Committed was good, but not as good as her last (Behaving Like Adults); the Po Bronson was mildly interesting, but I ended up skimming most of it.

Did you see Ricky Gervais last night? I didn't have very high hopes, but the gay dolphin drawing had me and David in absolute bits! "I love you, but I can't breathe." Fantastic.

Big news is that - finally - we are going to buy a house! ("About time. What are you? 40?" - was the reaction of one "friend"!) I've wanted this for so long that I can't believe we're actually going to do it, but the mortgage is in place (took about 5 minutes to sort out - amazing) and now all we need to do is find a house!! We're going to drive around looking at some areas tomorrow and estate agent details arrive every morning. Curse this bank holiday for holding me up!

Although the bank holiday also brings a "property weekend" on Discovery Home & Leisure: about 9 hours of Relocation, Relocation today, Property Ladder tomorrow and Grand Designs on Monday - bliss!

View

And this is the view from our front window.
Posted by Hello

Gay Love Paradise Mykonos

I love living here - in the yard, when it's sunny, you could almost be in Greece!
Posted by Hello

Dog

My lovely nodding dog that stands in the garden and makes me laugh every time I look out of the kitchen window ...
Posted by Hello