synesthesiac's Profile

Mostly, I love it; what a refreshing change from the studied minimal curation that's so in vogue at the moment. It goes a little far for me; love seeing all those pictures on the walls, don't like seeing pictures propped up against things on the floor - at that point my tidy-brain gets a bit anxious. Also, my personal take is that having such a huge number of artifacts about the place almost homogenises them and makes it difficult to appreciate them individually. Still, I like it overall. I love all those rugs on the floor...you can't go wrong with beautiful Middle Eastern and Asian rugs. Love seeing all their treasures displayed as really loved objects, and mostly like the taste in furniture - heavy carved wood is always beautiful.

It looks like an extreme version of my family's houses I grew up in and visited as a child, so it's rather comforting!

My pickiness tends to revolve around what food is cooked in or dressed with. I'll eat almost any meat, and I'll give much fish ago (even things like squid which I'm a bit scared by really). But the minute something is covered in cheese or vinaigrette/balsamic, or any kind of white sauce (only exception being the bechamel on lasagne) I just can't eat it at all. I also don't like the taste of things cooked in butter. Mac & cheese horrifies me! Anything else, even if it's out of my comfort zone, I'd rather try than put my host out. The safest bet for me is always a tomatoey pasta/meat dish, or nicely cooked meat/potatoes/veg.

I prefer to make other plans with my friends than expect them to cook for me though; it's less stressful on both sides!

My kitchen is too small even for an island! The floorspace is 5ft x 5ft.

Some of these ideas are great though. I definitely want to try and use the up space in my kitchen, and as my kitchen is tiny but its window is huge, I know how much of a difference sunlight makes.

I think the moral of the story is, if you're going to make something for your beloved, aim for something that can be completed in their lifetime!

I made mine a curry.

Aah. If there's one place that the much-overused chalkboard paint is actually appropriate, it's a refrigerator door, that time-honoured home of magnets and passive-aggressive notes :) I like it!

#5 is beautiful but as I progressed through these pictures, one thought flashed louder and louder in my mind - "imagine if you didn't know where you book you wanted was. Imagine having to crane your neck and shuffle about on a ladder, for HOURS, trying to find it. Imagine how exasperating that would be." I completely hate #7.

I like #5 because it accommodates the point of all these books - to read! That lovely space up there would be amazing with a big deep reading chair, and that two-storey wall of books looks great. But mostly I agree with when - these are each an exercise in showing off, not a home for truly loved and oft-read books.

Paint the top half of the walls white or a pale tonal offwhite, and the lower half a softer, dustier blue (definitely not darker though), all the way along, with a dado rail dividing the two colours. At the moment the perspective means the ceiling bears down on you, and the floor rises to meet it. Separating the two with a very pale colour up top and a cool, light tone below will open up the top half of the hallway for the illusion of more space.

I think little clusters of pictures would be nice, all framed in a similar fashion. One big picture could work as well, spaced further along - I think the main thing is to first open up the space with colour.

I think the new look is more attractive. It's a very pretty blue and you've done it beautifully. The floor's better without the rug (looks much more spacious!) and the bed really benefits from that white. But there's also a naivety to it that would make it a dream children's room, but personally not my ideal bedroom. I think the painted ceiling is what does it. If the ceiling were white the pale blue would be less toyroom-ish.

I do absolutely love the bed, very luxurious. I dream of having that much storage. If I owned that bed it would be in a white room with floorlength drapes, a tiny mirrored dressing table and some Louis XIV-esque chairs.

Spelling mistake - I meant 'prettily done'!

I love my washer-dryer SO MUCH.

I desperately wish I had some form of combo-dishwasher mini thing. I went from a medium-sized kitchen with a tall fridge-freezer and a lovely big dishwasher and double sinks.... to a mini kitchen with a mini fridge and a mini sink and no dishwasher. Boo.