katy – Page 44 – Apartment Apothecary

katy 12th February 2016

Hand printed Valentine’s posies

I would love to gift all my friends and myself a bunch of pretty flowers this Valentine’s day but cut flowers cost a lot! Therefore, I have tried to find a way of making a little go a long way without too much compromise so that you can spread the love this year. February is great for early Spring flowers (forget red roses!) like Anemones, Paperwhites, Tulips and Hyacinths so I grabbed a handful of them from Borough Market the other day, which cost about £15 in total. I decided to make them into tiny posies with a handprinted pouch for my girlfriends – an easy way to make a teeny tiny bunch of blooms extra special.

You will need

– Bunch of flowers

– Calico or cotton

– Dylon fabric paint and plastic bag to protect table

– Pencil with an eraser tip

– Sewing machine or needle and thread

– Pins

– Twine or ribbon

– Kitchen roll and clingfilm

– Fabric scissors

Step by step

1. Cover the table with a plastic bag. use the eraser tip of a pencil to print spots on the fabric. Once it is dry iron it to set the paint.

2. Cut the printed fabric into strips 30 x 14cm.

3. Fold the strip in half, right sides together and pin it together. Sew up the sides of the pouch, leaving the top open.

4. I then printed Valentine’s messages using a stamp.

5. Gather your blooms and select a few for each posy, cutting down the stems to fit inside the pouches.

6. Saturate some folded kitchen roll and roll the posy up in this and cover it in clingfilm so no moisture leaks out.

7. Pop the posy into the pouch and tie it up with string or ribbon.

Your posies are ready for delivery to your best girls or boys.

Hope everyone feels the love this Sunday!

Katy x

katy 10th February 2016

Studio living

Nearly ten years ago the first property I bought was a 33 m2 studio flat in Borough, just down the road from where I am now. I thought it was the BEST THING EVER and there wasn’t a day that I didn’t love living there. I never felt cramped, claustrophobic or penned in and the only reason I left that flat was to move in with a boyfriend (he definitely made me feel penned in so that didn’t last long).

I learnt a lot about staying organised and living without ALL the stuff from that studio; it felt so simple and carefree living in such a small space and everyone who visited me there would wax lyrical about how great it was. Anyhoo, why am I telling you this? Well, one of very good friends is moving next week to a studio flat about a four minute walk from my flat (yay!) after I found it for her on RightMove – finally, my guilty pleasure of snooping in other people’s homes online has paid off! We visited the flat together and we both loved it and she decided on the spot that it was right for her and didn’t bother seeing anything else.

My friend has since asked for advice on living in such small space so I thought it might be helpful to share some of that here as I’m sure we are not the only ones who live in small flats.

Love the area

I think it’s really important that you choose an area that you love if you are moving into a small flat. You need to feel that you can get out and about easily so that you don;t feel hemmed in. Knowing that there is a great bar, restaurant or park on your doorstep makes studio living so much more bearable.

Declutter

You must get bored of me harking on about decluttering but I really do believe it has the power to change the way you live. When you live in a small space the last thing you want is to be surrounded by stuff and have to sacrifice an important piece of furniture such as a dining table because you have too many clothes/books/crap to fit in.

Studio apartment | Home of Emmy Lundström | Ennui blog

You need to be able to fully function in a small flat. For example, get rid of clutter if it means you can fit in a good sized dining table. Image via the gorgeous Ennui blog featuring the home of photographer Emmy Lundström.

Use wall space

Don’t underestimate the amount of storage space you can achieve by using the walls. Whether it be high shelves, wall cupboards, picture ledges, shelving or hooks there is always a way to use the walls without encroaching on the space too much.

Keep floor clear

Keeping the floor clear of anything other than furniture and the odd basket is something I have always strived to do and it makes a huge difference to how spacious a flat feels. Piles of stuff precariously balanced around the place is a big no, no.

Create zones

Try really hard to make it very clear what each part of the flat is for, which will help you keep organised and keep the whole place from becoming one big mess.

Working happens at the desk, sleeping happens in the bed, relaxing/reading/TV watching happens in the seating area. Keep everything separate so that it doesn’t become a confused space with everything everywhere. Image via Stadshem.

Love the way this bedroom has been divided off from the rest of the living space – those windows are genius. Image via Ennui.

Outdoor space

If you can find somewhere with outdoor space you need to grab it and make the most if it! Have the windows and door open every day (weather allowing) and make sure to actually use the space in a productive way so that it feels like an extension of your flat; it will make a huge difference to the feel of the place.

Alaska building Bermondsey | Converted factory | Apartment Apothecary

This is the studio flat my friend is moving to. It is a converted factory with its own terrace – look at those windows!

Don’t scrimp on style

The worst mistake you can make when moving into a small place is to think that there is no point putting any effort in to the way it looks. Taking care and paying attention to the colour scheme, adding character and injecting your personality into the space will make it feel so much more special and you will want to spend time there.

Beautiful and stylish work area. Image via Stadshem.

Establish tidying routines

When I lived in my studio flat I decided to have a sofa bed with a fully sprung mattress. I had to be very disciplined to put the bed away every morning so that the living area was a useable space when I got home from work. Very quickly it became a deeply engrained routine, as did putting away all my clothes every night and cleaning everything away after dinner. These small actions made the space functional at all times.

Making the bed every day is very important if you have no other rooms to escape to. Image via Ennui.

Have you ever lived in a studio flat or bedsit and got any good tips?

Katy x

katy 8th February 2016

Spring clean in style

As we creep into Spring and say goodbye to Winter, although I’m not sure that we’ve had much of a winter in London as I have only felt the cold about three times, my mind turns to refreshing the house and new beginnings. At exactly this time last year I decided to completely empty my bedroom, rip up the carpet, paint the floor, paint the wardrobes and make everything feel lighter and brighter. This year I’ve taken it one step further and done the same to the kitchen and sitting room. I suppose it must be an instinctive thing to want to sort, clean and breathe life back into your surroundings after the dark and cold days of Autumn and Winter. Also, I find it’s a good way of re-centring myself if worried or upset about something.

Spring cleaning essentials | Household cleaning materials | Apartment Apothecary

Kitchen is nearly complete – just a bit of grouting to do hence the blue decorators tape. Our metro tiles are from Tile Giant, dish brush from Darley Avenue, stoneware drainer, enamel soap dish and pan brush from Labour and Wait, washing up liquid dispenser from my shop.

Obviously there won’t be a room makeover to do every Spring so instead I will get my “I need everything sorted and feeling like new” vibe from a good spring clean. I LOVE the feeling after I’ve cleaned a room from top to toe, I mean I REALLY love the feeling. However, I’m not massively keen on the process but I have found taking a bit of pride in the cleaning materials themselves helps with that.

Chores that I like to do to prepare for the lighter, warmer days are: clean out kitchen cupboards, defrost freezer, dust bookshelves – like actually take everything off and dust every last book, clean ceiling lights and the tops of doors, sort out stuff under the bed and clean under there (that’s a good one), clean the top of the kitchen wall cupboards (truly gross!). What do you do?

From left: Vintage basket from La Petite Brocante, brushes from Darley Avenue, string bag, floor cloth and dust pan from Labour and Wait, garden scissors from Tea and Kate, candles from The London Honey Company.

If you want to invest in some cleaning materials because you’re as weird as I am and like everything to be aesthetically pleasing, you can also find a good selection to buy directly through my blog…

Happy Spring cleaning!

Katy x

katy 5th February 2016

Rug placement

A day arrived a couple of years ago when Jules had taken Otto for a walk and he called me on the way home to warn me to line the hallway with towels leading straight into the bathroom. In came Otto covered from head to toe in thick, sticky mud and I knew that our carpet had to go. I couldn’t give this huge dog a bath every day for the rest of time for fear that the carpet was being ruined. Therefore, the carpet went and we painted the MDF boards underneath with floor paint, which has given us an easy to clean and more modern feel in our flat. However, there are those times when all I want in life is to feel the soft, sumptuous tread of carpet underfoot, especially at this time of year. That’s where a good rug comes in. I can not express how important a good rug is in pulling a room together, bringing cohesion, adding a cosy feel, softening the echoes and hard edges of a wooden or stone floor.

I bought the most beautiful kilim rug from Turkey a couple of years ago that I have had to surrender as it shows up Otto’s hair so much and it is so thin that he was starting to make holes in it. I have packed it away safely for that forever home in the country I will have one day (!) and instead have bought a much more practical one. As we begin to finish our DIY and I can start to think about styling our sitting room with a new sofa, chairs and rug my mind has wandered to rug placement (yes, that’s a thing). When putting a room together the placement of your furniture in relation to your rug is incredibly important to the overall feel of the room and it impacts on the size of rug you choose.

If someone is struggling with a room and they ask me to take a look almost always one of the glaring problems is that the rug is too small, big or the furniture is laid out in the wrong formation around the rug. Just with a little tug here or pulling a chair forward there and the whole room can feel different – honestly! So, here are some helpful guidelines that I will be following to help me lay out my rug and furniture in my sitting room…

Floating rug v. Grounded rug

Rug placement tips | Apartment Apothecary

A ‘grounded’ rug. This rug is part of the beautiful range of House Beautiful rugs designed exclusively for Carpetright and is called ‘Horizon’.

A floating rug is a bad rug. The sofa (block at the top of the graphic – apologies for my poor design skills) does not touch the rug (rectangle in the middle) and nor do the two chairs (two dark blocks at the bottom of the graphic). The rug is too small resulting in the room feeling disjointed and ‘bitty’.

A grounded rug, on the other hand, is a good rug. It is large enough for the two front legs of the sofa to sit on the rug, as well as the front legs of both the chairs. This pulls all of the furniture together, creates a cohesive feel and grounds the room. Ideally there should be about 50cm from the edge of the rug to the walls of the room. I have decided to go with two chairs opposite our new sofa, now that we have sold our teal loveseat, so I will be arranging them to follow this simple rule.

In the past I have struggled to find affordable on-trend rugs but it feels like everyone is catching on quick so I’m very pleased to be collaborating with Carpetright on this post to introduce you to their new range created by House Beautiful – pretty good, hey? I love the different textures, muted colours and bold designs and I think my favourite design is ‘Valley’.

Available in store at Carpetright.

Right, I’m off to place my rug – happy weekend!

Katy x

katy 3rd February 2016

New Farrow & Ball colours

Last month I was very excited to be invited to a secret preview of the nine new Farrow & Ball colours with Joa Studholme, their International Colour Consultant. I arrived to the beautiful Albany apartments in Piccadilly having always admired F&B colours from afar, told others to use them but only gone as far as using their All White floor paint in my own home – because why would anyone ever need anything more than white walls? However, I left that evening determined to paint both my sitting room and kitchen in pretty bold colours and hatching plans for how I was going to persuade Jules that that was an excellent idea. What on earth happened?! It definitely wasn’t the bubbles being served because I stuck to dry January that evening *smug face*.

Well, I think it was a combination of two things. Firstly, Joa is simply brilliant and I could have listened to her all night; who was I to argue when she suggested I use Peignoir in my sitting room and told me that her own sitting room is painted in that colour? Secondly, I genuinely fell in love with the colours and the stories behind their names alone were enough to seduce me away from my beloved white walls.

And so the day after the preview I put my order in and as you can see in my Styling the Seasons post my sitting room is now Peignoir and proud.

New colours

All nine of the new colours were launched this week and just in case you missed it here is a brief run down of my favourite in the the collection and how Joa introduced them to us.

First up was Shadow White, predicted by Joa to be incredibly popular as it is a very “safe pair of hands”. A muted shade, a true neutral without the yellow of Slipper Satin, perfect for any style of home.

Shadow White

Next came Drop Cloth, a name that I love taken from the decorator’s dust sheet and Joa told me that her decorator had suggested it. This colour is not too yellow, nor too grey and works beautifully with Shadow White and Shaded White for those looking for a neutral colour scheme with understated sophistication.

Drop Cloth

And here’s my favourite. As soon as Joa pulled up the board painted in this colour I whispered to Kate, who I was sitting next to and who has tipped it as being one of the most popular of the new colours: “I think that’s my colour”. Inspired by the chiffon gowns in which ladies traditionally brushed their hair in boudoirs (that description clinched it for me!) it is a very soft pink with a huge amount of grey. As I said in my post this week, Jules thinks this colour is grey, which goes to show how different in looks in different lights. As I sit here typing with the sun streaming in it is the blushest of pinks. I love it. “Pink for boys,” as Joa put it.

Peignoir

I also fell quite hard for Cromarty, which piqued my interest when we were told it was named after the shipping forecast – there’s something quite romantic about that, I think, conjuring up notions of swirling seas and winds. A soft muted green, lighter than Mizzle and would work beautifully with Blue Gray or Pigeon and perfect for a kitchen.

Cromarty

Worsted slips seamlessly between Purbeck Stone and Mole’s Breath on the colour chart. Named after the Norfolk village where the flat woven fabric used for city suits was originally woven, Joa forecast that it will be a hit as the obsession with grey looks set to run for a while longer.

Worsted

To see the other new colours have a look here and I’d love to know which one is your favourite.

Katy x