Design Dilemmas

Episode 103. As the weather improves, this week we're looking at table weights and parasols, emerald paint projects and rebuilding your home. Plus painting UPVC doors and the Sunday Niche Edit.

As I write this, there are two builders in my courtyard who have taken the floor level down about two foot in order to concrete it and I am, admittedly, extremely excited about it. The courtyard is tiny - about 11.5ft square - and was previously even smaller before I took out the outside loo, but I cannot WAIT to turn it into somewhere fabulous to sit. So far, they’ve discovered half of the original concrete tiles beneath (solid black and very dark and gloomy) and also, weirdly, a significant amount of broken pottery for reasons unknown. I discovered the other day from my very knowledgeable neighbour that the car park behind me used to be rows of small Victorian terraces that were connected to the Church, so I wondered if it was something to do with that. Before those terraces were built in the 19th century (and then demolished in the 20th century), the area where the car park is now served as part of the medieval City Wall ramparts and the Roman city defences. The Church was knocked down in the sixties and in its place, they built a very ugly Job Centre (a sixties building so not really conducive to the historic feel of York, ha). The graves are still on the grassy hill which is on the corner of Monkgate and which would have been part of the graveyard. I LOVE all this stuff, I find it fascinating - there are graves ALL OVER York, in the middle of the shopping streets, all over the place. Okay, York history lesson over for today, as you were. Ha.

The Job Centre is to the right of the grass and would originally have been St Maurice Church before it was demolished in the sixties. There’s a whole row of graves lining the side entrance which must be slightly disconcerting when you’re going to sign on.

Anyway, I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to the courtyard being completed. Today was the first day of work and they’ve dug almost the whole lot up and set half the sleeper border in and it already feels much more spacious. The plan is to have a corner tiled bench and I’m also looking for a vintage mirror so that I can expand the space and make it feel bigger. The walls are all brick so it should be a really welcoming little space when it’s done, fingers crossed. I bought a little fig tree in Lidl this week which is currently in the kitchen and that’s the first thing I’m going to plant.

But back to business and this week, we are looking at table weights (needed here in the UK to hold down cloths during the ‘summer’ season outdoor dining) and table parasols. We are looking at paint for a subscriber who wants to update an inherited chair in the perfect shade of green. Plus we are looking at how you can rebuild your home comforts and possessions when you’ve sadly lost the lot. And finally, we’re checking out how to paint a UPVC front door and what paint to use, plus the Sunday Niche Edit is all about chic cheese graters (yes, people, this is a thing). Paid subscribers, remember that you can add your dilemmas or quandaries below here in the comments or you can join in the Group Chat (the speech bubble on your app) where there are thousands of you waiting to help with any issues that arise (I pick ones from both of these locations for my weekly post, so whack yours in).

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