I feel like I live in a recycling centre. There’s cardboard everywhere: lights in boxes, tiles in boxes, fabric in boxes and not a moment spare to get all this delicious stuff on the actual walls. We’ve been away filming so much that poor old Moregeous Mansions isn’t exactly progressing at warp speed but we can only do what we can do right? Our attention to detail will result in, er, good results but not necessary rapid ones. That said, one step forward has been the re-naming of the Psycho room, our large first floor guest bedroom with added ensuite. It’s become the Pavilion, partly because of the glorious grey paint colour but also because the design is intentionally conservatory-like.
The airy space has huge windows which flood the room with light and the high walls will soon be wrapped in a trellis pattern, enhanced with the rich colours of both real and digital greenery. I’ve long wanted a kind of elegantly distressed feel to our renovation, even though much of the house is now new build and the rest has been totally renovated. I definitely don’t want it to feel ‘new’. When guests sleep in the Pavilion, I eventually want it to feel kind of magical, but for now we’ll just deliberate over practical matters like white or grey picture rail over on Instagram and keep trying to book that elusive tiler.
Meanwhile outside, as the early spring rain relentlessly drenches the garden, we’re moving forward on the gate front. Finding a ‘man who can’ with regard to the big buggars required has been a bit of a ‘mare. Our very own Gate-Gate. First they could, then they couldn’t, then they could, then they wouldn’t, and all because of a blackboard. Seriously, how hard is it to put a menu blackboard in the middle of a ten foot wide gate? Very hard apparently, but as you can see from the image above, the man who now can, is.
My tap dilemmas continue, mostly because I haven’t won the lottery yet or traded Mr M in for a 20 something zillionaire footballer. Granted, the odds would probably be better on the former for me, if I’m honest 😉 Mostly that, but also because the damned manufacturers keep bringing out newer and more spectacular models every few months, it’s so annoying. It was so much easier when there were just chrome bathrooms taps and some were a bit square and some were a bit round and some were a bit more contemporary than others. So much choice now, so much. Too much. When I saw the ones above launched at Ish Frankfurt, my crushometer went through the roof!!
Slightly less glam but just as detail focused was mini-salvage job this week. When we took out the old sash windows, the vast majority of the old wood couldn’t really be salvaged or used for anything. There were several sections of beading which could be rescued though and rather than buy fresh mouldings for the insides of the newly fitted bays, we’ve stripped, sanded, and painted the originals. 
Not a glam job, but a nice one. It’s a great feeling to still have part of the old windows forming part of the new. Little details like that make me smile. Little details like that are why we don’t yet have a kitchen.
I saw some great tiles the other evening too. The home inspiration site Houzz held an event at Casa Ceramica, a tile supplier in Manchester with a rather glam showroom. We’d been filming/working all day and were quite literally the muckiest people there, sipping prosecco & nibbling canapés whilst covered in paint and grit sand. I had a good nosey round and my favs were mostly the ones I’d already bought or specified, but then Matt showed me these new beauties. Designed by Patricia Urquiola, they do remind me of those rather sharp concrete 70’s garden blocks which built walls you could see through but not easily climb. But much cooler, obv. I wouldn’t like to dust ’em though. 
And finally, the image which most freaked me out this week was this one. 
I’ve spent many an hour agonising over tile patterns. Deliberating over how to lay and in which direction, what sizes to incorporate and how flooring or walls will best look, dependant on the design scheme but I’ve never seen a tile pattern inked onto skin. I know geometrics are hot, but on your body?! Will tilers start to have their favourite laying patterns as arm sleeves? I’d maybe have gone for a herringbone myself but then in another couple of years, people would be saying “Oh look at her bicep, it’s so 2017”. I think I’ll stick to laying patterns like this on floors. Much more easily updated.
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