Worm's World

It's funny how quickly you forget what something was like before you change it. we didn't really take enough pictures of the kitchen before - so it was hard to really get a sense of the transformation - but here's some before pics of the bathroom for reference. I've thought more then once about painting that wall / shower and do something like this: but more importantly it's going and removing that will make such a difference to the space.

The kitchen tiles were easy - we never thought about anything other then white metro tiles, having been inspired by every hipster bakery and coffee shop we've ever been in. The bathroom's a different beast  - It's a bright room, with 3 windows - and white tiles seemed a little bit stark (also we'd only just sold the leftover kitchen tiles on ebay and it pained us to buy more) Anyway - turns out tiles samples are a thing, and a very necessary thing. Many of these tiles are very different from the pictures on the internet - at least 2 of them are called duck egg' and a different from both the duck egg toilet seat we already have and any duck egg we've eaten. The middle turquoise one that everyone liked on Facebook has a crackle glaze and the guy in the shop couldn't quite convince us it would work in a bathroom. What we also learnt is the difference in looking at tiles in different rooms and lights is outstanding. Tiles we liked downstairs looked like sl...

This time last year we embarked on the kitchen - this year it's the bathroom - the Kitchen was more work then we thought it would be - but it does look amazing, it's been a dream to cook in and a year has gone so we've forgotten the pain and chaos. The bathroom is a funny thing in the house - a full size bath, a shower cubical, toilet & sink running along the length of the extension that squares off the kitchen. It's not small, but it's very narrow. Working out how to make it work better - while being aware it's getting harder to clean the shower tray and the paint is peeling off of the tiles - means once we worked out a way to make it work for us, via Pinterest, Charlotte and too much rum - It was full steam ahead in getting it done. We learnt a few things from trying to project manage the kitchen ourselves - were not great at communicating with trades people and getting people to turn up to even give us quotes was hard work - and it all stretched on...

One of the lovely things about Stafford is it's a nice little hub for creatives - and these things mean getting professional photos done in a pop up portrait studio set up at the back of your usual pub for less then a price of a couple of pints is a fairly normal thing. Kate at Shoot This Media  took them (after convincing me her backdrop would look great) and a lot of jiggery pokery with lights so my glasses didn't look too shiny. There's been a few things recently where I've needed a decent photo and it's very nice to have up to date ones. I might even be convinced to change my regular 'batgirl or an avatar' on twitter, maybe...

I'm enjoying having an amazon echo in the house, and I really like the ability to add things to a shopping list - but clearly something has gone amiss... Unless I really did ask Alexa to add 'Razor Pheasant' to the shopping list this morning. If anyone would like to suggest what I did actually ask Alexa to add to shopping lists at 6:30am answers on a post card please....

Just imagine, there was a time before you even knew gallery walls existed, let alone had one of your very own, in your very own house. Also, it turns out hording picture frames for years and years makes doing this super cost effective - somewhere in the region of £3.60 for all of the printing...

The fitbit app updated last night and I love the new feature of 'FitBit Adventures' - where your steps take you through a google map and panorama photo trek in some very pretty bits of the world. I also love the idea there is a parallel me walking around Vernal Falls in Yosemite while I'm actually walking around Stoke. 15K steps is my target goal for any day - and I usually just hit it (although I don't get too angry at myself if I only hit my soft goal of 12K a day) but it's nice to have that extra motivation. My more gamification side of my brain is piqued by the idea of collecting things so we'll see what this is all about I guess...