Thank you to those of you who sent in questions or dilemmas this week – I promise I will try to get to them all. I had a couple of questions about storage in children’s rooms, a few about ways to keep the house tidy and clutter-free and five Facebook posts or emails about how to hide cables (yes, I said the dreaded word!). I will be tackling the cable issue in a couple of weeks – I need to gee myself up for that one 😉 Now, to this week…

AAA – What colour should I paint my hallway?

I want to go over this problem that Leila sent in a while back because another reader emailed me this week asking about the same thing. Ordinarily, you may not think picking a paint colour for the hallway is a problem but there are two things which set hallways apart from other rooms in the house: 1) Hallways can lack light as often they do not have their own windows 2) Hallways are generally very high traffic areas that get dirtier and more scuffed than other areas of the home due to outdoor shoes, boots, umbrellas, bags etc.

Coincidentally, Leila and Amanda, who both asked the question, have children and dogs. Amanda is desperate to have a bright, white hallway but knows that this is not practical as she has four children with mucky hands, school bags, wellies and a big, muddy dog. Leila, also told me that her hallway is quite dark and lacks light.

The solution? Paint the bottom half of the wall a darker colour and the top half white. This way, the darker colour of the bottom half of the wall, which is always more likely to get scuffed and scraped, can disguise the dirt. The top half of the wall stays light and bright, so not too much of the natural light is absorbed. Also, I just love the look of this design idea.

Image: Universdanais

Image: Ledansla

Image: Remodelista

You could even use chalkboard paint for the bottom half of the wall, if you wanted to make it really child-friendly.

Image: Design Sponge

Check back next week for help with shoe storage. If you have an interiors dilemma, post it on my Facebook page or drop me an email at katy@18.200.196.112.

Katy x

For those of you who follow my blog Facebook page, you will have seen that readers regularly post questions about home dilemmas: What colour should I paint my hallway to keep it bright but cover up children’s hand marks? How can I rejuvenate my dining chairs? How can I store my shoes without taking up too much space?

In the past, I have been able to answer most in full, but I often ran out of time. I have started to receive similar emails and so I have decided to make it a regular blog post, that I will call Ask Apartment Apothecary (AAA) – my friend, Farah, called it this over on Facebook. I will select one dilemma a week and try to solve the problem as best I can with photographs to illustrate. Hopefully, this will not only be helpful to the person who has asked the question, but also to anyone else dealing with the same issue.

I’m going to start the first AAA with some photographs sent to me by readers who have asked me questions in the past, I gave them advice and then they put it into practice and sent me pictures of the results…

AAA

What creative additions can I make to my children’s bedroom to bring a bit of character to the room?

Henri got in touch because she wanted to add a bit of character to her boys’ bedroom. I got on Pinterest and found various fun DIY projects for children’s room and Henri ended up making these amazing skateboard shelves for her sons. They look brilliant and I bet the boys love them!

AAA

How can I best organise my paperwork in an aesthetically pleasing way?

Phoebe was having difficulty organising her paperwork. She wanted to see the most important things that needed to be dealt with, but also wanted her filing system to be attractive. I suggested covering three clipboards in pretty paper (or fabric) and using each one for different levels of urgency. That way, the most important bill, school trip letter or contract is in full site and won’t be forgotten. She took the advice and sent me this lovely pic of her clipboards that are attached to a glass wall so they look as though they are floating above the desk. Perfect!

AAA

How can I stop clothes being left all over the floor in our bedroom?

Leila got in touch to ask for suggestions about how to stop her bedroom floor being strewn with clothes. I suggested a rack of hooks was the answer as this is a good intermediary between clothes being taken off and being sorted out. Leila even went to the extent of making the vintage yard stick hooks that I featured on my 100 DIY home projects post. Amazing!

So, I’ve got two AAA’s lined up for the next couple of weeks but if you have an interiors related question or problem, either post it on my Facebook page or email me – katy@18.200.196.112. Briefly outline the issue and you can add pictures if that might be helpful.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Katy x