katy – Page 86 – Apartment Apothecary

katy 9th October 2014

Ask Apartment Apothecary – storage for children’s rooms

Today’s AAA is for Jess, who emailed me to ask for ideas for practical storage for her 10 month old baby’s room, that will be appealing as he grows into a toddler, yet still stylish. These are a few of the ideas that I have found…

1. Chalk board crates on castors

It just so happens that I am in the middle of the DIY project for wellie boot storage for my hallway (lots of muddy dog walks begin again with the coming of Autumn) that will double perfectly for appealing, stylish storage for children’s rooms and will look something like these crates on castors. By painting the crates with chalkboard paint (see a tutorial I did for that here) they are appealing to children as they can scribble all over them, instead of your walls. They are also easy for toddlers to manoeuvre because of the castors and can be stored under a bed or under tables, like in this room. Watch out for the tutorial next week…

Ask Apartment Apothecary - storage for children's rooms

Image from: Flickr

2. Bookcase seat

I’ve always loved this idea of placing a bookshelf on it’s side to make a storage seat. These bookcases are from Ikea and I had them in my classroom when I was a teacher, but never got round to making the seat. However, you could just use a bunch of cushions, if you can’t make the seat yourself. It is just the right height for little bottoms and you can store all sorts in the baskets. Paint it with Annie Sloan chalk paint to make it colourful and appealing, or you could choose beautiful fabric for the cushion and make it really stylish…

Image from: I Heart Organizing

Image from: I Heart Organising

3. Toddler friendly book shelves

The Ikea picture ledges that I featured on the blog this week are perfect for storing children’s books as they can easily take them on and off the shelf without pulling a whole shelf of books from a bookcase. Hang them at toddler height so they can be in control. I like this little reading corner…

Image from: Pinterest

4. Animal hooks

If you are a regular reader, you will know that I love a hook or two (I talk about them a bit too much, I think, and they seem to be my solution to everything!). Well, they are perfect for children’s rooms to keep clothes, costumes, even storage baskets off the floor. To make them appealing to children, so that they want to use them, I love this idea by Liz, over at Say Yes blog. Pop over for the DIY tutorial…

Image from: Say Yes

5. DIY toy box

Another way to use a crate is to add a padded seat. These are really easy to make (a good bit of staple gun action) and I think they look great. Surely a child would like to ride around on one of these too? There’s a great tutorial over on This Little Street blog…

Image from: This Little Street

6 Letter press drawers

To store smaller toys, I love this use of antique letter press drawers. You can buy these really cheaply, I have one that I got for £4 – search for letterpress drawer on eBay. You can either paint it or cover with wrapping paper to make it exciting for children to use…

Image from: Retro Villa

I really hope you and your baby like some of these ideas, Jess! Thank you for asking 🙂

Katy x

katy 7th October 2014

Five ways to style a picture ledge

I wrote a post last year about shallow shelves that I love because they are so versatile. At the time, a few of you got in touch to ask where you could buy them from, and I drew a blank. The only thing I could suggest was to make your own.

Well, I’ve got good news. Ikea are now selling picture ledges and they are super cheap at £4.90. Boom!

And what’s so special about these ledges compared to a normal shelf? They are only 9cm deep so they are not imposing in the same way as a normal shelf. It also has a lip so that pictures/books/ornaments won’t slip off, which makes it perfect for pictures. Also, if you paint the ledge the same colour as your walls, you will barely notice it is there. It is 55cm long and you can put two together, if you want a longer ledge or a 115cm ledge is also available.

I bought the 55cm ledge and I want to show you five different ways to use it…

1. Pictures

I love the flexibility of these ledges, especially if you are not confident about hanging prints or even plates. Simply pop them on the shelf and change them around as and when without having to deal with filling holes in your walls.

2. Kitchen storage

Put the ledge in your kitchen and use it for spices, tins or kitchenalia you want to have on show.

3. Toys

These shelves are perfect for children’s rooms so that they can easily access their toys, or hang them high enough for lovely displays.

4. Books

Also perfect for children’s books so that they can easily choose a book at bedtime.

5. Decorative

Use the ledge anywhere in your home just purely for decorative purposes to display your favourite things. Here I have used vintage bottles with single stems. It really does look pretty in ‘real life’.

I’m going to have to get a few more of these.

Katy x

katy 4th October 2014

Blog love

I hope you’ve all had a lovely week – how wonderful was yesterday’s weather? I went for my first walk with Jules and Otto in a while and it was so strange that we were both in short sleeves walking over dry leaves and squinting in the low sun. It was really quite heavenly.

Jules came to bed at 3am last night after cracking a bug that he’s been tackling for weeks (he’s a web developer). I could feel so much of his stress melt away so I’m hoping we are going to be able to have a relaxing weekend that seems to have eluded us for a while. I am, however, going to have to miss my favourite girl’s hen-do tonight, which I am very sad about – also sad not to be drinking all the gin 😉

What have you got planned this weekend? If you need a bit of reading, inspiration or a project or two, I can point you in the right direction…

A Quiet Style

Emma (one of my favourite IG’ers – check out her images here) has started a brilliant new monthly column called My Favourite Flower. Each month she invites a guest to share their favourite flower and how they like to display it around their home. You must pop over to see the first instalment as it is a beauty and you’ll get so many ideas.

Bright.Bazaar

Will has launched his first photographic print collection and there are some stunners! It’s such a happy and vibrant collection, all taken by Will on his travels. Check it out and decide which is your favourite (I love Fisherman’s Pride).

Fall for DIY

This is a blog that I have only recently discovered and it’s a delight – how did I not know about it before?! I love this DIY macrame hanging pumpkin tutorial – a perfect project for this weekend.

Mad about the house

I do this weird thing of looking at houses on Rightmove just for fun. As it turns out, Kate does the same thing and finds the most amazing houses to show us all in her regular column, Househunter. So, drift off into fantasy land and decide which of Kate’s picks is your dream home…

Wit and Delight

There are Dahlias everywhere I look at the moment and one of my lovely readers, Louise, even emailed me a photograph of hers to cheer me up this week – so lovely! In case, you have been looking on longingly and wanting to grow your own, there is a great guide on Wit and Delight this week.

Have a lovely one!

Katy x

katy 1st October 2014

Styling the Seasons – October

So, September has been and gone and it was definitely a month of two halves for me. The first half was so much fun, full of promise, I had loads of great pieces of work lined up and I fell in love with working from home almost instantly (although I admit I did have a little wobble the first couple of days!). However, I spent the second half of the month either in pain, hospital, or on bed rest after having a double ovarian torsion and haemorrhage. All very scary and I am now precariously propped up on a mountain of pillows in bed, as I type this post, as I had surgery at the weekend. Thankfully, all seems to be well now, I just have to force myself to rest properly so that it doesn’t happen again, which is the risk, and move onwards and upwards…

That brings me on to this month and what it means to me. October is a month of nostalgia, filled with childhood memories.

The first thing that comes to mind is that it is definitely the family birthday month: mine, my sister’s and it was my grandfather’s. Therefore, I have chosen to style the top of a really sweet antique writing bureau that my parents gave to me for my seventh birthday. My older sister, Juliette, had a similar bureau in her bedroom that had exciting compartments and lots of little drawers that I used to rifle through – I was super jealous of it and wanted somewhere to hide all my secret things. When my parents bought me my own, I will always remember seeing it for the first time and feeling such happiness.

I have used a jelly mould because we always had big jellies at our birthday parties, and just because who doesn’t love a jelly mould? The picture above the desk is of me and my little sister, Amy, whose birthday it is on the 22nd of the month. I have styled the surface with Observers Books of Garden Flowers because this reminds me of my grandfather who was an avid gardener right into his nineties and whose birthday it was on the 15th of this month.

The other two things that I think of instantly when it comes to October, and the reason for using the mini pumpkins (one of which I made into a tea light holder for cosy Autumn evenings), is Harvest Festival assemblies at primary school – it is so odd the connections you make as a small child that stay with you into adulthood – and Halloween, which was always one of my favourite celebrations. We always used to get so dressed up and join up with loads of the children in our neighbourhood and go trick or treating. So, so much fun.

What does October mean to you? Charlotte and I would love to know and see your styled surfaces. It is such a lovely thing to stop, reflect and re-style a surface in your home, clearing what was a dumping ground – I promise it will make you smile every time you walk by or sit and look at it so please do join in! Tag me and Lotts and Lots and use the hashtag #StylingTheSeasons – either write a blog post or post on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

Happy October styling everybody!

Katy x

P.S. If you would like a bit of inspiration from last month’s amazing Styling the Seasons posts, you can find them all on my Pinterest board. Such a gorgeous collection of posts, pictures and words and so many beautifully styled surfaces, so you must take a look…

katy 25th September 2014

Adding a touch of Copenhagen with John Lewis

I instantly jumped at the chance to choose a selection of items from the new Copenhagen collection at John Lewis, with the challenge of adding a touch of Scandi style to my home.

When I re-decorated my home office recently, a lot of my inspiration came from the clean lines of Scandinavian interiors, set against a bright white canvas. This style is very different to the rest of my home but I absolutely love it’s simplicity and freshness. I have been wanting to add more black and white accessories to the room, which are so synonymous with the Copenhagen trend, so this was the perfect opportunity. The black cuts through the white background of the room and adds some definition.

My first choice from the collection is this Marimekko crockery, which is the perfect addition to my desk for stationery supplies – I always prefer to store things in cups, jugs and bowls that I love instead of hiding them in kitchen cupboards.

The Scandinavian String shelving that we chose for the home office has oak shelves so I immediately honed in on John Lewis’s Oak task lamp, which brings warmth to the Copenhagen trend and softens the hard edges of the black and white. You’ve got to love a good bit of flex cable too.

Another addition is the Listrado rug, which adds interest to the white floor and makes more of a design statement. I have positioned it behind my desk and it is now Otto’s favourite spot in the house – those black stripes will be completely covered in white fur very soon!

So totally jealous that my mum is off to the real Copenhagen this weekend. I might have to ask her to bring me home a treat or two 😉

Katy x

Disclosure: This post was written in collaboration with John Lewis but the views and opinions are my own.