the smallest room...

Thanks so much to you all for your kind comments and good wishes, I am really touched that people have bothered to send a message, makes me feel very 'connected' across the ether somehow.

Today I have a random selection of things to keep track of! I appreciate this may not be the most glamorous room to 'show and tell' and possibly not the most essential to decorate first but, for me, what my Nannie always euphemistically called 'the smallest room' (as a child I always wondered where she disappeared to and where on earth the smallest room in her bungalow could be!) was the one room that was a bit of an eyesore. It had had a bad touch up job, presumably prior to going on the market, and even after a really thorough clean (which it badly needed!) it still felt a bit cold and drab. I think I was also conscious that it is the one room that it is very likely that guests may visit (after enough cups of tea, almost inevitable!) and with no furniture as such to detract the grotty bits were very visible.

Plus, lets face it you have to paint something in your new house and it didn't take much paint or cost much...so here are before...

Note obligatory test pot patches (which never really reflect what the final room will look like!) and the rather stunning dark red/terracotta that I revealed when I moved the mirror to paint! The whole room must have been this colour originally as it was liberally sprayed over the tiles! I went with the palest of the three yellows in the end (to the right of the window) as we decided the darker yellows might make it feel a bit like sitting in an egg yolk...

And after...

Ok, so its still only a downstairs loo. And I know its not that different really but it feels better to me. After I took this photo I also found a mat in a similar blue to the towel so there is a real splash of colour in there now. I still have to get some shelves up in the corner but basically I feel ok letting people go in there now! Daft, I know.

At the moment my little collection of bottles is in there...

...which worries me slightly as I think my mum has old bottles in her downstairs loo too. Eek, perhaps I am turning into my mother. Lord help me when my sister comes to visit, expect it won't take her long to point that out!

Now, I don't know about anyone else, but I am finding the incessant greyness and wet weather we've been having a bit depressing. Good job I've had lots going on I think as this time of year always just brings me down and I find I need distractions. Yesterday by 4pm I felt I needed a bit of colour and warmth and lit my little candle lanterns. In a fit of pique when we were packing up these nearly didn't make it as they are a bit tatty & battered now. But when they were quiety glowing away there I was very glad I'd salvaged them after all.

Today I was in London for the day at a (looong!) meeting and it was so miserable in London I couldn't even bring myself to wander round there. I love walking round London but there is only so much you can tolerate when it is cold and raining (particularly rubbish when you wear glasses!) so I was trying to kill time in the train station (did you know it is possible to be in Claire's accessories in Liverpool St for almost 30 minutes?!!). I took this photo just after they had announced that one of the Norwich trains and been cancelled... Which gave me another hour to kill...

I resorted to an impulse buy of two magazines and the most expensive jacket potato and cheese in the station cafe that I think I've ever bought!

I was curious to see if I could pick up any tips from the photography one and attracted by this bit of the Reloved magazine...

One of my chairs badly needs re webbing & springing and I wondered whether it might be a feasible project. But it seems you need a number of specialist-ish tools and I'm thinking just maybe it would be possible to make a very bad & costly job of it. Maybe I should just pay someone to reupholster it properly...

There were some other tempting projects though...

I was actually given this book called 'Cloth' for Christmas and fancied a go at a rag rug then. Maybe this would be a good way of using up the hoards of fabric I seem to have!

Can't believe the first month of the year is gone already, Feb tomorrow (eek, today! just looked at the clock!) It'll be spring before we know it won't it?!

S x