Design Dilemmas

Episode 95. This week we are discussing wooden floor alternatives, vinyl mosaic options and patio stones. Plus kitchen tile and splashback quandaries and the Sunday Niche Edit.

[cover photo credit, Livingetc].

Good morning and as I write this, I have just met some very old friends of thirty years length for a catch up - they came from London so that we could hit my favourite tapas restaurant, Ambiente. We had so much fun and reminisced for hours about our time spent working at TopShop TopMan HQ back in the nineties. How times were different back then! Nineties working was VERY different to today’s benchmarks and it was a whole different, albeit rather fun, ball game. Anyway, it was great to relax and just enjoy their company. The older I get, the more I value such friendships and it was hugely invigorating to drag up all the old memories and laugh about how it was entirely fine back then to go out for lunch for three hours and no one would care. There was a staff canteen in our office in Colegrave House where we would think we were SO healthy because we’d get a bowl of ‘salad’ and then top it with chips. I could actually eat that right now, tbh.

Anyway, my dilemma this week has been to sort out my bedroom. I sent the two seater Togo down to my sister in Henley for safe keeping and now, I have room for an actual dressing table. The joy! Prior to that, I was sitting on the floor with the hairdryer which wasn’t particularly appealing first thing in the morning. The sofa took up at least a fifth of the space and now it’s gone, it’s a whole new world of spaciousness. My bedroom is the least attractive space in the house at present after I ripped off a massive strip of wallpaper in a state of excitement when we first moved in before realising it would probably be a year before I got around to decorating it. However, I moved an old drinks trolley up yesterday that was previously in the hallway to use as a bedside table and now it feels basically like a Hotel room. To me, anyway, ha. It doesn’t take much to take a space and improve it, really. Just the small things can make the biggest difference.

But back to business and this week, we are discussing alternatives to engineered wood floors that don’t break the bank, plus ideas for a budget bathroom including hexagonal mosaic options. We’re looking at how to combine kitchen tiles and splashbacks plus good patio options for outdoors that work well yet don’t cost a fortune. And finally, the Sunday Niche Edit is all about hanging Easter decorations that are chic yet do an affordable job (yes, only a few weeks to go).

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