So, I have done a lot of list-making, a lot of paper shuffling, a lot of flicking between tabs but not much blogging the last couple of weeks. My rhythm has been broken by numerous events and commitments but I have a pretty clear run through to Summer from this point onwards and I am really craving getting more hands on again and doing some fun DIY’s, so watch this space!

One of the other things that I have let lapse is my Ask Apartment Apothecary column that I really enjoy but there has been so little time. I STILL have a queue of questions from some of my lovely readers about issues in their homes that they need help with. I’m going to start today with one from Cate.

Cate has a beautifully stylish home that she shares snippets of over on her blog. However, she has a specific issue that she wants a bit of advice about. In her words:

“My second bedroom is a lovely, light room with a big sash window, but the main problem I have is that it has two functions – a bedroom for guests who come to stay from Airbnb (twice a month roughly) and a home office with our computer and all my architecture and design books I’ve picked up along the way. It needs to be a nice, calming space that’s fairly anonymous and doesn’t have too many personal bits and bobs for guests, but it also needs to work for me when I work from home. So how do I tie together the bedroom part with the office part so it’s once cohesive room, where one doesn’t overpower the other?”

Here’s a photograph of Cate’s room (totally jealous of such a lovely, big, bright second bedroom!)…

It’s actually a really great room and I was surprised when she said she wanted to change it. However, the main problem, as the room stands, is that the ‘bedroom’ and the ‘office’ are too distinct. So how can Cate bring the two together?

1. Blind

At the moment the shelves and the blind, which are the same colour wood, are very dominant and very clearly define the office. I think Cate needs to get rid of the blind altogether. It doesn’t work with the rest of the room and is a bit too ‘officey’.  However, proper lined curtains, needed for blocking out the light for guests, are extremely pricey. What about a cheap white blackout roller blind that is completely rolled up except if someone is staying? Add to this a linen cafe curtain to soften the window and for practical purposes to diffuse light on a computer screen. Cate could choose a light grey linen for the window that would tie in with the bed and bedlinen bringing the two sides of the room together. I’m going to do a tutorial for this on Monday so keep an eye out for it.

2. Shelves

Cate wants to keep the shelves but they are screaming ‘office’ at the moment because of their colour. Painting them the same as the wall colour will help to make them less obvious. However, she also wants to hide the books, which is very tricky if you need direct access to them. Shelves can be made to look more streamlined with storage boxes or baskets but this isn’t really suitable for books that need to be used. I would suggest replacing the shelves with a vintage wall cupboard – this would lose the office vibe of the shelves and the books could be hidden behind closed doors. This sort of cupboard or this one, that could be painted, would give more character to the space above the desk and tie in with the beautiful bedside table.

3. Accessories

Another easy way to add warmth to a room is by using soft textiles and art work; these will also help to unify the two parts of the room. By adding more art prints and a new cushion for the desk chair, Cate could easily add more softness to the room.

4. Office storage

Cate really wants to be able to store away her office stationery, printer, books but she only has a few drawers in the desk to do so. If she wanted to take her mini-makover a step further she could think about a major DIY project. What about replacing the desk and shelves with an ‘office’ cupboard?! I know there isn’t an inbuilt cupboard in Cate’s bedroom like the one below but she could convert an armoire-type cupboard. Have a look here for ideas.

Image via Stijlbloem blog

Or, a bit more understated, if there is room at the end of the bed for a chest, it could provide valuable office storage space that can be shut away and serve as a handy seat/extra surface in the room. The printer could be stored in this, too. Take a look here for an example of what I mean.

Hopefully, a bit of food for thought for Cate. Whatever she does, I can’t wait to see the updates because I know it will be super stylish, as always! I’m off to Ardingly antiques fair so I will report back on Thursday with how I get on (hopefully having not spent too much money!).

Katy x

WARNING: This is NOT an aesthetically pleasing post. There is a whole lot of yellow and a plastic peanut butter jar features far too much!

I haven’t done an AAA for ages and I’ve got quite a few to catch up on. Today’s question came from Karen who posted a question on my Facebook wall about tips for keeping her walls white, after noticing that much of my flat is painted white.

I have to say, that before Jules and Otto moved into my flat the walls were as white as can be and the odd scuff mark was very rare. Today is a different story. Dog slobber, mud and general Jules mess has taken its toll on my white walls. I also have to take some blame as I am constantly nailing and screwing in pictures, hooks, mirrors, shelves and then moving them all around so there are plenty of holes that I constantly have to fill and paint over.

Obviously, cleaning is step one for cleaning off dirt and marks and these magic sponges that Claire introduced me to a while back are brilliant. However, more stubborn marks and filled in holes do require painting over. I have previously shared a tip to always keep a brush and a plastic jar filled with your wall paint under your sink so that you can easily whip it out and paint over marks or holes with ease.

I have now developed this idea to make it even easier to touch up your walls with no need for a brush (and the annoying cleaning of the brush bit).

1. Use a plastic jar to store your wall paint colour. Label it clearly with the room and paint colour/make. Peanut butter jars are perfect (don’t use a glass one as the lid will rust).

2. Cut a piece of sponge – I used a bog standard kitchen sponge – that will fit into the jar snugly otherwise the paint will drip down its sides and end up in the lid, rather than in the sponge. The sponge must be thicker than the height of the lid  and the thicker the better, actually. I think I’m going to add some height to mine as you don’t want the lid to come into contact with the wall when dabbing on paint. Stick the piece of sponge to the inside of the lid with glue.

3. Pop the lid on the jar, shake it up so the sponge absorbs the paint.

4. Dab it onto the mark or hole you want to touch up. Once you are done, screw the lid back on very tightly and store under the sink for the next time you need it.

The added bonus of using a sponge is the texture is more similar to a roller, which is what our walls were painted with. In the past, touching up with a brush has been quite obvious due to the stroke marks.

Hope this idea helps some of you. I don’t know if this type of thing is sold anywhere; if it’s not, I’m going to start mass marketing it 😉

Katy x