bathroom, bedroom, budget decorating, budget design, dining room, DIY, hall, kitchen, living room, my projects, presentations, property development

New flat, old flat and other changes / Nowe, stare i inne zmiany

I don’t think I should even start apologizing for not being here for ages… so let us pretend those two months never happened 🙂

That would be difficult, though, as since the last post:

  • we finished and rented out our Polish flat within a week of posting the ad (which is a really good time in our market!),
  • both me and my husband started working at different companies (still within one corporation),
  • we moved offices to outside of London,
  • we moved houses in London to be closer to new offices
  • … and yesterday we have become owners of yet another flat in Poland :).

So this is a very exciting time for me and there is really lots going on. I am obviously going to share with you the ideas for the new flat, and can tell you straight away this is going to be tricky, as we want to finish the flat mostly remotely, and as of today there are only bare walls and windows there.

But! First things first, let me show you what we managed to do to our first flat around Christmas; we wanted to make it livable, so that it rents out quickly, on a budget of ca. £250:

  • bathroom

I guess you’ve seen some of our bathroom, especially the cupboard hand-made by my husband; to our great anger and despair, the glass maker did not manage to do the doors on time so our shelves are still open, but the rest was good to go:

Bathroom - view from entrance
Bathroom - view from entrance
The old trick - big mirror visually increases the size of this bathroom
The old trick - big mirror visually increases the size of this bathroom
  • bedroom

The bedroom, with the furniture set we got for free from a friend, a super-old retro ceiling lamp, and bits and pieces of decorating from my mum, with the only new element of the baroque-inspired white wallpaper to add just a teeny bit of glamour:

White bedroom with white glamour wallpaper
White bedroom with white glamour wallpaper
Detailed view of the wallpaper
Detailed view of the wallpaper

To complement the wallpaper, we have used a spare piece as wall art and put it in behind glass, all placed on an old shelf which I finished in a quasi-shabby-chic look. The throw also works the same theme as the wallpaper.

  • living room

Now, the living room, and to be completely honest this is the most haphazardly finished room ever 🙂 One feature wall covered in beautiful black wallpaper… though since it was our first time ever wallpapering, the results are far from perfect! Good tip – when working with a dark wallpaper, it’s much easier if you dab the areas on the wall, where wallpaper pieces will meet, in paint the colour of the wallpaper; this way even if your work isn’t perfect, the gaps between stripes will not be as visible as on our wall.

Living room - feature wall with black floral wallpaper
Living room - feature wall with black floral wallpaper
Living room - view towards the ornamental blinds
Living room - view towards the ornamental blinds

The rest of the room is my parents’ old sofabed under a new throw, a red ceiling light which was supposed to be comlemented with red wall art though we never put it up (don’t ask), my teenage bedroom set, a good old piano, a spare single bed that can be put away depending on the needs of the tenants and an Ikea Lack table 🙂 Plus the really pretty blinds which unfortunately do not show too well in this light – basically when it’s light outside, they seem very pale and creamy grey, but when it’s dark, additional silver elements show as well.

  • kitchen-diner

Finally, the kitchen-diner, with the infamous kitchen units which never got properly fitted together (so that the worktop still floats independently of the units, there is no steel strip at the bottom and a millon other sins we committed with it and haven’t tried to make up for yet). Nonetheless we like the kitchen and maybe, some time, in the distant future, we will finally put it together once and for all 🙂 There is also an extra loveseat and armchair in the other part of the room.

Light and dark wood kitchen with green walls
Light and dark wood kitchen with green walls
Retro kitchen oilcloth
Retro kitchen oilcloth
  • Hall

…and our hall, unfortunately I have a photo only from the time when this ugly carpet was there (with the dog’s bone and toys prominently on display) so try not to notice them 🙂

Open hall with spotlights
Open hall with spotlights

So to sum up, this is certainly not the best example of interior design, but we tried to make the place nicer for the tenants than the usual offering but on a minimal budget, and the result was that we rented it out just a few days after we advertised it!

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Chyba nawet nie ma co zaczynac przepraszac za to ze mnie tu tak dlugo nie bylo, wiec moze zapomnijmy o tych dwoch miesiacach 🙂

Z drugiej strony byloby to trudne, gdyz od ostatniego postu:

  • wykonczylismy i wynajelismy nasze mieszkanie w PL w ciagu tygodnia od dania ogloszenia
  • zaczelismy z mezem prace w nowej firmie
  • zmienilismy biura
  • przeprowadzilismy sie w Londynie by latwiej dojezdzac
  • …i od wczoraj jestesmy wlascicielami nowego mieszkania w PL – a raczej wygralismy przetarg i teraz staramy sie jak najszybciej mieszkanie ‘przejac’ 🙂

Takze ten czas jest bardzo ekscytujacy i na pewno bede dzielic sie tu pomyslami na wykonczenie nowego mieszkania; juz teraz wiem ze nie bedzie to proste gdyz duzo chcemy wykonac lub zlecic ‘zdalnie’ z Londynu, a w tej chwili w mieszkaniu nie ma nic – stan deweloperski.

No ale! Zaczynac wypada od poczatku 🙂 wiec kilka slow o naszym pierwszym mieszkaniu. W okolicy Swiat Bozego Narodzenia postanowilismy zrobic ile mozemy w mieszkaniu by przygotowac je na wynajecie. Niestety czasu bylo malo a budzet juz zupelnie ograniczony (troche ponad 1tys. zl) wiec spedzilismy troche czasu wymyslajac co mozna zrobic by we w miare przyzwoitym stanie mieszkanie wynajac.

Zdjecia powyzej pokazuja rezultaty naszej walki z nieterminowymi sprzedawcami (czytaj: brak szklanych drzwi do szafek w lazience) i bardzo ograniczonym budzetem (czytaj: wykorzystanie naszych starych mebli, mebli ktore dostalismy od znajomych, odmalowanie kilku rzeczy, samodzielne kladzenie tapety ze skutkiem mieszanym – hej! robilismy to po raz pierwszy ok?? – i kilkoma drobnymi nowymi zakupami). Kilka rzeczy dalej nieskonczonych, typu kuchnia (caly czas nieprzykrecony blat i brak cokolow, nieoslonieta sciana i inne takie), te nieszczesne szafki w lazience (szklo to jedyne czego moj maz sam w tej lazience zrobic nie moze, i cholera tak nawalili 😦 ), oraz totalny misz-masz stylow i kolorow w duzym pokoju.

Zdecydowanie nie jest to przyklad swietnego designu ale biorac pod uwage ograniczenia czasowe i finansowe jestem w miare zadowolona z efektu, i obecni najemcy mam nadzieje tez.

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color, inspiration, living room

Color without the paint / Kolor bez malowania

Here are some interesting blogs and posts about using color in interiors without paint. I love it cause it’s simply my latest flick – the white walls, that is. This is especially useful also for those renting out their flats and houses, as you usually cannot paint the walls.

Bo concept for 2010 by AphroChic
Bo concept for 2010 by AphroChic
Decanters from Designalogue
Decanters from Designalogue

…and now to my favorite… the living room by Lizzie Chambers. I love, love, LOVE! Why?

  • First – Barcelona chair and ottoman, can any space look wrong with it?? The table is also on my wish list for a long time now.
  • Second – soo my palette. All white with accents of bold color.
  • Third – the place is tiny! And yet cosy, and comfortable. This layout would actually work perfect with my tiny living room, the long wall substituted for my balcony wall… yes, yes, I can see that!

To see more of her spaces, see her portfolio.

Living room by Lizzie Chambers, found on MadeByGirl
Living room by Lizzie Chambers, found on MadeByGirl

(click on each image for further ideas)

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Kontynuujac moje ostatnie zakochanie w bialych scianach, przedstawiam kilka blogow i postow o wnetrzach w ktorych kolor jest wprowadzany bez uzycia farby. Jest to doskonale rozwiazanie rowniez dla tych ktorzy swoje mieszkanie wynajmuja, gdyz wiadomo – takich scian czesto malowac nie mozna.

Jako ostatnie przestawiam moje ulubione wnetrze zaprojektowane przez Lizzie Chambers – jest idealne pod kilkoma wzgledami:

  • Fotel i podnozek Barcelona. Czy jakiekolwiek wnetrze moze zle wygladac gdy takie cudo w nim stoi 🙂 Stolik kawowy tez od dawna jest na mojej liscie zakupow.
  • Biale sciany + akcenty koloru to, jak juz wspominalam, moj wymarzony schemat (przynajmniej na jakis czas).
  • No i to jest bardzo male wnetrze! A mimo to wyglada na bardzo przyjemne i wygodne. Ten uklad jest praktycznie idealny do mojego mini saloniku (przy czym glowna sciana u mnie stanowic bedzie sciane balkonowa).

Po wiecej pomyslow, kliknij w kazde zdjecie.

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