If we owned our flat

I kind of forgot about these! Last one was in November.

Anyway, I still have things I'd do if this flat was ours. Number one at the moment would be ventilation. We are getting mould again, I wrote this post in March last year when we had a small amount and this year it has come back with a vengeance despite us running the dehumidifier and opening the window whenever we can. Condensation damp mostly, as there isn't any ventilation other than the extractor in the bathroom.

This was what it was like a month or so ago (sometime in January), I cleaned it all off the walls and off our furniture and ottoman from Toms wardrobe.

That is meant to be dark brown. Nice.

It is coming up again already though, and the bedroom gets very damp. We had our inspection last weekend and Landlord has some people coming out to look into ventilation this week. Actually he was very good about it, no blaming us for it or trying to get out of it (I was ready to make my case but he just said he'd sort it) which can be the case with damp and landlords...not all of course but I've had issues in the past and have heard similar form other tenants. Things like them saying it's not a problem and we should just live with it or clean the walls more often, or it's our fault for not opening windows (Although we do I'm obsessed with fresh air) or there's nothing they can do. Most of them are bull really, unless you never open the windows and dry washing inside all the time it is unlikely to be your fault and the ventilation needs to be looked at or some damp proofing needs to be done.

In my opinion we need a new window, as the current set up of old window then secondary glazing isn't keeping out the cold and it's always covered in condensation. A modern double gazed window with ventilation would be better. Also an extractor in the kitchen would help to keep the moisture at bay as when we are cooking it gets very moist in here, even with windows open. Apparently the people coming are looking at some ventilation system that goes in the wall, it lets air out and heats it on the way back in so it will help keep the bedroom warmer too. Whatever it is as long as it gets rid of this I'm happy!

This was really hard to get in a photo but you might be able to see in one of these, most of the bad stuff was on the wall with the window but it went onto the other walls in a fine mist.

Apologies for the rubbish photos I was too busy moving furniture out, scrubbing with bleach and trying not to breath in too many mould spores to really sort out lighting and photo quality. Hopefully this will be sorted before next winter (It's better in the summer as we leave the windows open constantly and we dry all our washing outside and there is less damp in the air generally) and I'll just have to clean it one more time...

Picture Problem Solving

You may remember that we hung some photos on the chimney breast in the living room, and attempted the bedroom.

However the wall appears to be made of titanium, ok probably not but something really solid. In our old house I would have just got the drill out and hung some more heavy duty screws but Landlord was really specific that it must only be small picture hooks (the piddly little ones that come with teeny tiny nails). These had just about worked in the living room, although I would personally not use them again as they were massively fiddly and damaged the wall more than just using screws or nails in my opinion.

Anyway, the walls then stayed like this in the bedroom for a while (months) while I nagged Tom to fill and paint it. Then I did it myself and he got the paint from his dad. Nowhere does tester pots of decorators white, you have to buy a whole bucket of it, which is not what we wanted to do for this tiny amount of painting so we went to borrow a cup of paint.

All remedied and tidy, but still no pictures. Then I saw this on pinterest.

Then I noticed that our wardrobes are the same height...so I went and bought a curtain pole and laid it across the wardrobes.

It sat like empty for a while until I went and got some picture rail hooks. On a side note how awesome would a picture rail be in a rented place?

Now it looks like this!

The small canvases are from Asda a few years ago, they came as a 3 with the 'home sweet home' canvas which is currently on the dining table. I'm debating taking them out as the uneven number looks a bit weird and they fall off occasionally...I might see how it goes but I'm sure the pictures will change around a lot on here anyway!

I won the other 3 prints a while back and they've been floating around the flat looking for a home. I originally wanted to hang this canvas there but it's too big and made the rail sag in the middle, so I stuck to smaller lighter things. The love canvas was a Christmas present from Toms mum it is made up of photos of us.

 The pole came with 3 brackets for hanging, and I had a bit of a brainwave...

 Finally somewhere to put the dressing gowns! They've just been hanging about for ages, the brackets are just tucked under the ottomans.

So far so good except for a few incidents of them falling off when we slam the wardrobe door too hard or if we catch the pole when getting our dressing gowns out, but these have gotten less now we have got used to it being there.

I like that this is easily interchangeable and we can add to it as we go, I'd like to maybe create some hanging flowers or lights but for now it's just nice to have something in here! I'd really like it to look a bit more dramatic like the inspiration pic, so I'm on the look out for some straps or hanging implements of some sort...

Weekend Inspriation

Getting this one in rather late, I've been busy and poorly and trying to fit in extra work outs...it all adds up to not much free time. It also added up to a meltdown on Thursday over the housework (The flat was DISGUSTING) and a discussion with Tom over sharing the responsibility equally. Anyway he's not lazy, just a little oblivious, so has promised to try to be more aware of what needs doing and I will try to remind him nicely.

I promise to share the details on why I'm suddenly so fitness crazy soon, it's not confirmed yet, but I will be asking for sponsorship :)

Being ill means lots of pinning, so this is what's caught my eye this week...

While I'm not too much of a fan of open plan living (I like at least the kitchen to be separate from the living area, very old fashioned!) the light here and the second floor living room would make me reconsider

This bright and airy apartment with a little balcony just radiates warmth, and I love the herringbone flooring.

Subway tile is my favourite tile (Is it odd that I have a favourite tile, having never tiled anything?) and I would be over the moon to have a bright turquoise kitchen like this

More next week, with an actual project. I know, something I've actually done, in our flat. Remember those? I did lots last year then seemed to run out of them around October...

Weekend Inspiration

I didn't do an inspiration post in January, whoops! I promise to get back on my regular posting schedule, life kind of took over the last few weeks. There's also a post over on the wedding blog today, all about winter weddings.

I've done my first steps course at the climbing centre this month, so now we can do more climbing then bouldering as I can belay and already liking climbing on the longer routes. We're planning a week climbing outdoors in the summer so I need to get practised with belaying, knots etc but I think bouldering will  always be my first love. Weird to hear myself talking about a sport like that, a year ago I would never have pictured myself doing this 3-4 times a week let alone actually enjoying it!

Alongside the fitness motivation and tips (seriously what has happened to me??) and the wedding pins there is still a lot of home inspiration going on over on pinterest. The theme this week seems to be windows, or natural light and bringing the outside in. This wasn't on purpose I think as it is so dark and horrible when I pinned these (probably December) I was craving light and sun!

The large windows and courtyard here, with all the trees and foliage, feel open yet somehow isolated. I'd love to have a really light and airy house looking out onto a garden one day. The website this is from is interesting if you click on the photo to have a look.

As we don't even have a window in our bathroom this make me so jealous! Looks like a rainfall shower too and a nice big shower enclosure...

This house takes natural light to the extreme! Maybe a bit too far for me (Imagine the neighbours being able to see every inch if your house) but I love the look of it and I imagine the light glowing from inside at night would look pretty.

Have a lovely weekend all, I'm off to get a new handbag with my Christmas vouchers then to book up some function rooms for some events...stay tuned for more info on those!