Design Dilemmas
Episode 53: Today we're talking window dressings for French doors, painting beams and how to zone a long room. Downstairs loos - will they add value? And using faux florals, from budget to luxe.
My life has been pretty much dilemma free this week and I’m not complaining. I’ve been working hard to do more fun stuff and planning it in rather than just finding myself with an afternoon off and spending it trawling Pinterest or worse, my social channels. We watched Adolescence at the weekend which made me reassess how my family use socials (as well as sending me straight up to 15 year old Leo’s bedroom to grill him about his incel culture knowledge). I don’t know a single person who has watched this outstanding Stephen Graham drama without coming away slightly traumatised (I read a great piece today by
this morning which is well worth a read). Anyway, I decided I needed less social and more ACTUAL socialising so on Monday I took a full day off and spent it with my friend Kate who was visiting from London, chatting, lunching and catching up. The BEST sort of day, really. More of these, please.The rest of the time, I’ve spent mostly in my office working and planning prospective future houses (yes, yes, I know, but if I can’t do it now I can still be thinking ahead). My office is at the very front of the house overlooking a road that leads to the York Walls so it’s VERY easy to be distracted, not least by canine activity. We live in a stretch of five houses and either side of us, there are dogs. We have Buddy, a small Lhasa Apso who has the biggest bark known to man (I’m sure I’ve said this before but this breed were bred to sit on the laps of Tibetian monks and bark at anyone who came close). If anyone comes even close to the pavement outside and has the bad luck to be spotted by all three dogs, chaos ensues. Firstly, one will start barking, then the next will join in, then before the poor postman can even open the gates, all three of them are barking as if it’s feeding time at Crufts. Carnage.
Okay, enough enough and back to the matter in hand which is today’s Dilemmas. Today we have a couple from our Chat group, including how to place rugs in a long room to zone and what is the best paint to transform beams from dark to light. Plus how to add window dressings to French doors and whether or not it’s good to have a downstairs loo in your house - how will it affect the house price? And finally, using faux stems and where to get them, from budget buys to top of the pricey pops.
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