Apartment Apothecary
Make your home feel better

Introducing Ask Apartment Apothecary

For those of you who follow my blog Facebook page, you will have seen that readers regularly post questions about home dilemmas: What colour should I paint my hallway to keep it bright but cover up children’s hand marks? How can I rejuvenate my dining chairs? How can I store my shoes without taking up too much space?

In the past, I have been able to answer most in full, but I often ran out of time. I have started to receive similar emails and so I have decided to make it a regular blog post, that I will call Ask Apartment Apothecary (AAA) – my friend, Farah, called it this over on Facebook. I will select one dilemma a week and try to solve the problem as best I can with photographs to illustrate. Hopefully, this will not only be helpful to the person who has asked the question, but also to anyone else dealing with the same issue.

I’m going to start the first AAA with some photographs sent to me by readers who have asked me questions in the past, I gave them advice and then they put it into practice and sent me pictures of the results…

AAA

What creative additions can I make to my children’s bedroom to bring a bit of character to the room?

Henri got in touch because she wanted to add a bit of character to her boys’ bedroom. I got on Pinterest and found various fun DIY projects for children’s room and Henri ended up making these amazing skateboard shelves for her sons. They look brilliant and I bet the boys love them!

Ask Apartment Apothecary

AAA

How can I best organise my paperwork in an aesthetically pleasing way?

Phoebe was having difficulty organising her paperwork. She wanted to see the most important things that needed to be dealt with, but also wanted her filing system to be attractive. I suggested covering three clipboards in pretty paper (or fabric) and using each one for different levels of urgency. That way, the most important bill, school trip letter or contract is in full site and won’t be forgotten. She took the advice and sent me this lovely pic of her clipboards that are attached to a glass wall so they look as though they are floating above the desk. Perfect!

Ask Apartment Apothecary

AAA

How can I stop clothes being left all over the floor in our bedroom?

Leila got in touch to ask for suggestions about how to stop her bedroom floor being strewn with clothes. I suggested a rack of hooks was the answer as this is a good intermediary between clothes being taken off and being sorted out. Leila even went to the extent of making the vintage yard stick hooks that I featured on my 100 DIY home projects post. Amazing!

Ask Apartment Apothecary

So, I’ve got two AAA’s lined up for the next couple of weeks but if you have an interiors related question or problem, either post it on my Facebook page or email me – katy@18.200.196.112. Briefly outline the issue and you can add pictures if that might be helpful.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Katy x

 

 

DIY Home office

Yesterday was so much fun, seeing the first of the Styling the Seasons posts and photographs. Thank you so much to everybody who is going to take part (remember, you can share your styled surface on any day during September) and I hope that it has already helped you take a bit more time to reflect on the change of month and how to refresh your home – sometimes a jiggle around is almost as good as redecorating, I find.

That being said, I have done a rather large ‘jiggle around’ of what was our guest room/home office and I would like to share the results of that with you today. The room used to look like this…

Home office makeover 'before' | Apartment Apothecary

I never invested a huge amount in this room, mostly because I had run out of money by the time I had bought furniture for the other rooms in the flat. Therefore, it was always more functional than anything else. However, I always hated the carpet, I can’t bear staring at a wall when I’m working and the bed didn’t get used enough to justify taking up most of the room. So, I have done a DIY makeover with a budget of £300 (excluding the shelves, which Jules bought me as a present):

Budget

Floor paint – Farrow and Ball ‘All White’ £94

MDF desk top – £25 bought from a timber yard and cut to our dimensions

Four desk legs – Ikea £32

Pendant light – The Gifted Few £90

Cabinet makeover – £62 click on this post to see how I changed it: Furniture Makeover Challenge

Pegboard – Amazon £16

TOTAL: £319 (I also sold the bed for £150)

In brief, we sold the bed, ripped up the carpet, painted the MDF floor, removed everything from the left hand wall and cut the existing desk down to 150 x 70cm. We then bought another piece of MDF, exactly the same size, and painted it white to make a double desk. Neither of us wanted to face straight at a wall so I decided to place the desk in the middle of the room, which also means others can sit at it and I can use it as a very easily accessible sewing table and for pattern cutting. It is also good for taking photographs on from every angle. We had two trestle legs on the old desk, which we have kept and we have one each, and then I bought four more legs, which don’t take up the extra space trestle legs do.

My desk chair is from the wonderful Out There Interiors and Jules has had his Herman Miller chair for ages. I slotted the cabinet in next to the window and it has sliding glass doors, which is perfect for the space and it’s where I store all my sewing bits. Find out more about it and the pegboard in my furniture makeover challenge post. The String shelving was a massive indulgence but is such a flexible shelving system that can broken up or added to (I want the cabinets and drawers) and can be moved to other rooms – I hope one day to have a whole wall of it). I have left the wall behind my desk completely blank so that I can take photographs against it and there’s also a set of drawers, that were in the old guest room, next to the door as you enter the room where I can leave on-going craft projects or take photographs.

I hope you like the end result…

Home office makeover | Apartment Apothecary

My home office makeover by Apartment Apothecary

Did you see my first Styling the Seasons post yesterday that focused on my new String shelving?

My home office makeover by Apartment Apothecary

I love this Double Merrick print, which I used as colour inspiration for the room.

My home office makeover by Apartment Apothecary

I have hung three clipboards on the wall for inspiration – pages of magazines, fabric samples, photographs etc.

My home office makeover by Apartment Apothecary

The drawers are stuffed with craft supplies and the top of the drawers is a good place to leave on-going craft projects or to take photographs. During the makeover, I smashed my Original BTC clip-on lampshade – I HATE the feeling of breaking something! I had to buy a very expensive replacement shade 🙁

My home office makeover by Apartment Apothecary

I love these baskets that I bought from Tea and Kate. One is full of fabric and the other with my wrapping paper and wallpaper stash. I still need to find a new home for the phone.

My home office makeover by Apartment Apothecary

I used Mini Moderns Peggy wallpaper to line this cabinet that I bought from eBay. See more on my Furniture Makeover Challenge post.

My home office makeover by Apartment Apothecary

I’ve added my Little Dane lamp from Loaf to this room because the colour works really well with the new pendant light and it’s nice to have a really soft light sometimes rather than task lighting, which the pendant provides.

My home office makeover by Apartment Apothecary

The cup is from Tea and Kate and the jadeite tumbler is from Liberty.

My home office makeover by Apartment Apothecary

Totally in love with Rifle Paper Co notebooks that you can buy from Liberty.

Home office

The vase set is from The Hambledon. I think I am going to buy a big plant in a terracotta pot for the centre of the desk – partly so Jules and I can’t see each other and therefore there is less chance of distraction!

I’m so happy it is finished and the light, bright feel of the room is so motivating. I had better get to work!

Katy x

 

Styling the Seasons – September

Yay! September is here and it is my favourite month of the year! It also marks the official start of our new monthly blog series, Styling the Seasons – hurrah! Too many exclamation marks!

I got back from Skopelos on Saturday night, so I am feeling relaxed, bronzed, happy and full of the promise that September holds. This month always feels like the beginning of a new year for me, unlike January, when I generally feel unhealthy, pale, hung over and overweight (a lovely combination). I am always full of energy and motivation and raring to go at this point of the year and never more than this September because I am beginning a new chapter, having given up teaching after eleven years.

All that being said, my styled surface had to represent all of my enthusiasm for new beginnings this month. So here it is…

Styling the Seasons SEPTEMBER by Apartment Apothecary

I have styled my new String shelving in my home office (the full home office makeover will be on the blog tomorrow). I have included some of the new stationery I have bought, which has become a yearly ritual since I was a child and something I always associate with September. As a child, we  often spent our summers in France and I remember that going to the hypermarche on the way back to the ferry at the end of the holiday was always a highlight as I was allowed to trawl the stationery aisles and choose my new pencil case, fountain pen and school bag (Benetton and Chipie were favourites – does anybody else remember those?) for the new school year. I have also added books and magazines, which are a constant source of inspiration, as I foresee September will be spent looking for a lot of inspiration to figure out what direction I am going to go in now that I have left teaching. The plants (I love the trays that attach to the shelving and I can water straight into them) represent how vibrant and full of motivation I always feel at this time of year, as though the slate has been wiped cleaned and I can start afresh. By the way, the two mint plants in the right hand tray not only smell delicious but are a lovely thing to have on or near your desk because you can add leaves to your water throughout the day, or the occasional iced coffee treat with fresh mint is delicious.

Styling the Seasons SEPTEMBER by Apartment Apothecary

So, there you go, that’s my September ‘shelfie’. I can not wait to see your styling and what September means to you. Hop over to Charlotte’s blog, Lotts and Lots, to see her beauteous September styling, too.

Share your photographs of your styled surface on any day this month – use Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or your blog, if you have one. Please tag me and Charlotte and use the hashtag #StylingTheSeasons. You can also search the hashtag for styling inspiration from the other wonderful bloggers and creatives who are taking part and don’t forget that Charlotte and I we will be rounding up our favourites on our blogs at the end of this month.

Happy September styling everybody!

Katy x

Styling the Seasons monthly blog series on Apartment Apothecary and Lotts and Lots