Your Room Tour Questions Answered [Part Two]
Following on from my living, dining, utility, bedroom and bathroom tours, here is the final installation of your room tour questions, for the kitchen and TV room. This has been fun to do, and has also been a good reminder, that although I never consider a house ‘finished’, it’s nice to finally have the whole house feeling sort of done, and cohesive. It’s only taken fifteen years.
So here we go…
KITCHEN
Corresponding reel HERE
Tall cabinets: Painted in Westmoreland by Mylands, which is a delicious deep greenish brown, and I really really love it. Our cabinets are all Ikea, and I’ve added decorative moulding to the tall ones. I had never intended to, but now I’m thinking that one day I might do the rest of the units too. See? Never actually finished.
Cabinet handles: Metro in satin brass - Heritage Brass / M Marcus.
Shelf details: The floating MDF shelves are made to size by Shelfbar and painted to match the cupboards in Westmoreland by Mylands.
Tipping / Fiddle rails: I got these from Bar Fittings. Pricey but make such a big impact. Decorative and practical and I’m so pleased with them. You can have the brass rods cut to size, and choose your components - whether that’s end, corner, or centre pieces, and they’re available in several different finishes and a few different designs. I went for satin brass to match the cupboard handles. Such a friendly company too. Tell them I sent you.
What’s in the tall cupboard: The one by the garden doors houses the boiler and all manner of, erm, crap, like tea towels, cat food, ten billion pens, but probably only three that work, and random other stuff, and the one at the other end is as close as this kitchen allows me to get to a pantry.
The bench / window seat: The base is Ikea Metod kitchen wall units boxed in with MDF to strengthen and connect them, and painted black. Great, much needed extra storage. The new upholstery fabric is Northiam in Olive by Zinc and I’m a little bit obsessed with it. I also made two lumbar cushions to match and sit just at the window height.
Lighting: I’m more than a little in love with my new vintage inspired Alba wall lights from Pure White Lines, in Amber glass. They’re JUST. SO. BEAUTIFUL. and they add a touch of glamour which was missing in this room before. Finding something complementary for the other wall was quite a challenge, but when I saw these oxidised brass box lights I knew they were the ones. They’re called LOLA by an Italian company called Gibas.
TV ROOM
Corresponding reel HERE
Wall hanging: I bought the Mud Cloth wall hanging from AOE a few years ago with the intention to get an acrylic sandwich frame for it, but shamefully have not, and it’s currently hung using a few tacks along the top edge. I’m not proud of this negligent, sacrilegious approach, please don’t come at me.
Platform sofa: This was designed by me and Ed made the base using birch plywood. As this room doubles as a guest room, the middle section of the upholstery is an extra long single mattress, with two pieces of cut to size foam on either side for symetry. I made the back and side rests by cutting down my old bed headboard and reusing the components, and everything is covered in a wool boucle from Zinc. You can read more about the process of making it (and making it up as we went along!) here.
Sideboard: I really wanted something vintage for this room but it’s a tight spot and I wanted something that made the absolute most of the space, so in the end I snapped this sideboard up in a John Lewis sale as it was exactly the right size for the space. It houses my paint charts, fabric samples, a plethora of mystery cables and tech, plus boring but necessary paperwork. Oh and some of my scented candle collection too.
Paint colour: It’s a brown black, and it’s called Chocolate Colour by Little Greene. It’s such a beautiful deep rich tone, and makes this room ridiculously cosy. I’ve done the full Colour Wash in here (matching walls, ceiling and all woodwork - I also wrote about Colour Drenching here, way back in 2016) for a really cocooning feel.
Cushions: They’re mix of high-end and high-street, from Kirkby Design, Romo, Zinc, West Elm and La Redoute, keeping to a tight colour palette of blushes, pinks and beige and brown.
Carpet: It’s Arcadian un-dyed wool in Helligan from fibre. So far so good, with the slightly risky colour choice!
Right then, I think that’s everything, but if you have any more questions, do let me know in the comments below. One day I might do a tour of the top floor which is a landing, small shower room and the kids bedrooms. However, right now, we are in the process of pulling tiles off the shower area as it leaks and it’s utter mayhem. Let’s just say that twelve years ago, we did NOT do our due research when doing the tiling ourselves. More on that another time!