Office Additions

There were 2 small changes in the office recently, this canvas migrated into here from the living room

In our first ever post you can see it's just leant on the back of the sofa, but it kept getting knocked and we were having our housewarming party the evening after taking these pictures so I moved it out of the way. This is also temporary really as I think it will get damp on top of the warm tank.

I made this myself, I would do a how to post but I didn't take pictures back when I made it and to be honest it's so simple I can do it in 2 sentences. Stick wooden letters to canvas and paint over everything in your chosen colour to make the 3D word, or words depending on your quote. Write on the rest of the words using a narrow tip marker, I used a stencil and did it in pencil first because my handwriting is awful but you could freehand it if yours isn't.

Also I put our old bath mat under the litter tray becasue it had a hole in it (the mat not the tray, it's in the middle so hidden by the litter tray but made it useless as a bathroom mat), and I've wanted to have a mat to put under this for a while to catch bits of litter so it's not strewn all over the floor. Now if only I could train them to wipe their paws on it...

This room will have some more changes made to it eventually like:

• A new desk, larger than our current one, maybe a corner desk to maximise space.
• A new desk chair - probably without wheels as it's not great on the wooden flooring
• A new computer - This one was a hand me down and it works ok but it's massive (In the picture above see how the chair cannot fit under the desk because there is a monster sized computer there, also the desk is tiny) and OLD, seriously it's over 10 years old and until last year had never been connected to the internet, but it's keeping up just about. I'd like to get a laptop or netbook.
• Depending on the desk we buy (Hoping to get one with it built in) some office storage like a small filing cabinet, so we won't have to keep the paperwork under the bed.
• Some different art to go on top of the tank - As I like the look of the canvas there, but I think it needs to be something that won't be affected by the warm water underneath (Like in a sealed frame which I might DIY)

Although this room isn't a big priority as the stuff we have in here is functional and we have lots of other things to sort out first, so this will probably all be further down the line. Although you know I won't leave a room completely alone for long so there will be small upgrades along the way...

Something Weird in the Kitchen

I was cleaning the kitchen and I noticed there was some sauce splatter from the hob on this wall

So I got a cloth and wiped it, and the wall moved.

My first reaction was panic as I thought I'd broken the flat already but then I realised it's a fake wall, it hides this

 All the pipes etc for the boiler which is in the cabinet above

It's just made out of plaster board painted the same colour as the walls, but it has this backsplash trim that I think is the reason it looks so realistic

So if you're a tenant and you have a load of pipes or wires that are a complete eyesore (I can think of at least 3 examples from previous places I've lived) and you want to cover them up, maybe consider DIYing a fake wall - this one is completely removable it's not attached in any way hence why I moved it by accident! It doesn't look too obvious either, in this picture it's the wall behind the dish drainer, to the left of the hob

It would be pretty simple, you wouldn't even need any power tools if you got the wood pre cut to size at the shop (Some DIY chains offer this in larger stores), then glue it together and just paint over. Adding backsplash or trim really would make it look realistic but if you can't find the one to match the existing trim in the room or don't want to spend the money it would still look better than a mess of pipes, note in the second to last picture the semicircle cut out of the bottom right of the fake wall though, so it sits over the existing trim and fits snugly to the wall. You could even go the whole hog and get tiles, then it would really blend in to a kitchen or bathroom seamlessly. This is going in a mental file of things to remember when we move, as there's nowhere else in the flat I'd need to do this but I wish I'd thought of it at previous properties.

Have you ever found something weird in a new house?

Friday Inspiration

This post seemed popular last week, it got a lot of views any way, feel free to comment on posts guys let me know what you want to see more of or less of...

I want to get a runner for the living room to save the carpet behind the sofa, but I'm struggling to find one in our budget that's long enough, so I've been inspired after seeing this to maybe DIY one

http://www.iammommahearmeroar.net/2012/06/diy-fabric-floorcloth.html

I'd love to get my kitchen as organised as this

This headboard is so pretty and functional

I'd love to find an old trunk or a box like this to use as a coffee table

I love this ottoman used as a coffee table and the artwork

Have lovely weekends everyone!