prue's Profile

Denture cleaners (the tablets that dissolve in water) are great for cleaning vases, too.

Errrm. Correct me - but shouldn't it be "it's comprised OF"? (Or: it comprises.)

@Leon Roi: I have bought myself a measuring cup and use it for these recipes, also for dry ingredients like flour that here in Europe are generally measured in weight and not volume. It is like a 500ml cup, so it is not too big and it helps A LOT. The rest of the measures I just convert looking them up on the internet, usually here:
http://www.digitaldutch.com/unitconverter/mass.htm
Actually, I just had that website open, which proves my point.... :-)
Enjoy baking, the recipes are worth it!

What about a picture ledge like IKEA's Ribba für $10?
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20126065/

While there certainly may be people who drink Jaegermeister as a remedy, in my generation and below (and I am 40!) it's definitely known as a shot, and nothing, nothing !! else. It's famous as a shot, and it's even marketed as one : http://www.jaegermeister.de/de-de/produkt/jaegermeister-shot/

To me, a shot is not sophisticated, but if the liquor comes in a shot glass and is then being sipped, it's even less sophisticated. Shot glasses are for shooting. Which is why you don't serve your whisky (intended to be sipped, not shot) is served in a tumbler.

in these instructions you can see what the mounting hardware of IKEA's Lack looks like:

http://www.ikea.com/assembly_instructions/lack-wall-shelf-110-cm__AA-24442-5_pub.PDF

Would you please stop saying that something is "European" just because it might be a custom SOMEwhere in Europe? I have never heard of sald being eaten as anything else than a starter or side dish (or main dish, if it's pasta salad or the like) in either Germany or Spain or England. So how European can it be? Research, please. Europe is not a country, it's a continent. We are different from each other (and we want to be!).

Actually, the Brady house also has shutters.....
As long as you can't afford a wider window, I'd leave the shutters for the proportions. I'd definitely remove the shelf above the window. I am not sure about the planter (at least if you'd consider planting it), but I think what bugs me most are the ornate brackets underneath it. Maybe you could replace those?
Paintwise, I can very well picture a greenish-grey, as others have suggested; with white or light grey trim. Light grey might have the advantage of letting that enormous garage door fade a bit more into the background.
Additionally, as soon as that garden is cleared up, it will look much better anyway.....

If you covered the lower part of the "longer" window you'd have two similar windows left. Furniture? Frost it? Build a wooden frame, cover with plywood, paint it, paper it, .....?

Depending on how tight your tight budget is, I'd do the following, possibly bit by bit, as quickly or slowly as money stretches:

a) raise that bed:
There are lots of solutions on the internet: some on AT:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/5-diy-bed-frames-with-built-in-114077

and many, many more on the aforementioned IKEAhackers:
http://www.ikeahackers.net/search/label/bedroom

One solution I could imagine is actually putting the bed on top of three Expedit 2x4s (like in the first suggestion on AT).

Then, maybe later on, you might want to fill the gaps between the 3 Expedits with two smaller Expedits on casters (you'd have to consider the additional height when mounting the first Expedits, of course, so they all line up in the end.)

Something like this:
http://www.ikeahackers.net/2012/04/expedit-for-compact-living.html
but with three long Expedits not on casters and two short ones on casters.

b) I'd also try to find one of the high Pax wardrobes (2,36 m), or rather a wide one and a slim one, so that you have a width of 1,50m, which should fit between the window and the radiator.

c) As suggested, use paint to pull things together. For example, if you go for white shelves, spray paint that minishelf on top of the chest of drawers white.

d) Declutter or cover. That open nook is an eyesore - maybe find a small curtain rod and cover it with the blue scarf you have got on the wall. Then center the print over the bed.

e) Use the space underneath the windowsill. Build very slim shelves from wood bought at the DIY. At least here in Germany they do cut it to measure for free. Paint them white so they blend into the background and use for paperbacks and CDs.

Check out ebay for both Pax and Expedits: http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=pax%20wardrobe&_clu=2&_dlg=1&_dmpt=UK_Bedroom_Furniture&LH_PrefLoc=0&_sadis=100&_fpos=AB1&_fspt=1&LH_Distance=AB1..100

f) Do something about the curtains. They stick into the space a lot AND don't pick up any colour or pattern that's already there but add another one. Therefore they take away space and at the same time add visual clutter.

g) It's difficult to say how much space there is between the bed and the wall with the radio. Also, I'm not sure if the main door to the room is at the top end of the bed or at the bottom (top, I understood, but I'm not sure).
Do consider the idea suggested here:http://www.ikeahackers.net/2012/03/ikea-self-hack-pax-as-walk-in-closet.html#more

Good luck!