For the last month we have literally been on a spending spree for everything we are fitting in the flat. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm actually a little tired of it. The list of outstanding items is shrinking though (just as the bottom line of what we've spent is expanding!). One of the most fun things we've bought recently is the lighting for the kitchen and dining room.
I've been obsessing over vintage industrial lampshades for the past 2 years, and have been scouting antique shops and the like for a while. Remember these? We even made a trip to Berlin, in which I promised myself and GG we would source the perfect lamps for less than half the cost of what we could get them for in the UK... only to come home empty handed having realised we both needed to travel directly to work in different locations the next day. Didn't think my clients would really understand if I turned up with a battered old lampshade under my arm, not to mention the difficulty of (either one of us) single handedly lugging several of those things around.
And then before we knew it, crunch time. The builder was asking us exactly where the light fittings would go, what they looked like, connections etc and we were totally undecided!! I started looking on the internet, found some excellent market research by the Mouse Hunter, which exactly mirrored my own dilemmas, and somehow from that blog, ended up at Historic Lighting.
Hoorah! They ticked all the boxes of awesome lamp designs for both dining and kitchen, they sell all the fittings, cable and chain, are located in the UK, and do free shipping. But guys, here's a tip - INCLUDE VAT IN YOUR PRICES! You nearly lost me at the checkout. I know, I know - if you go back and look at each page it says 'subject to VAT', but honestly when there's one of these georgous beauties staring at you from the page, my peepholes get a little distracted.
But that's not the one we bought in the end. We got 3 of these in black, because they are slightly smaller, and we can fit 3 of them between the beams on the ceiling directly above the dining table. Had a minor moment of panic as I realised we would have to fix the dining table in place for good, given that I have been having recurring daydreams about the different ways we could position the furniture in the flat. GG, being a creature of habit, was shocked to think I would even consider moving an item of furniture from its home of 1.5 years. Anyway, I'm still not entirely comfortable with it, but its probably something we should have experimented with before we stacked up all the furniture and gave the builder our keys.
In the meantime, here's a few teaser shots of the place. Completed plaster walls on the exterior of the bathroom and hallway:
Today there were 6 guys working in there! That's a lot of people to have in our small flat. They're even working out in the communal hallway, cutting up tiles with a noisy saw, and the hallway is rammed full of our stuff. Good thing GG didn't come along or he would have had a conniption. He's a little worried that the lovely young lady upstairs will take her revenge when we move back in by kick starting her little 2am parties again.
Apparently the painters will be done by Monday. Yikes. Then things will really look different. GG and I have the fun job tonight of going around to the flat and packing up the bedroom a bit more orderly so they can move the stuff out and into the living area in order to paint it... Fun Friday night times.
Hope you all have a great weekend!
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