Warehouse sneeky peek photo's

So I suppose I should wait for when we open to reveal the new look, but a sneeky peek won't hurt...

Tip 2 - Flooring

Laminate and wood flooring has become a popular choice of flooring and its great for so many reasons the common one is its durability!

However, although this flooring is great with most interiors it can be a little cold and hollow, rugs are a good option to resolving this but can work out quite costly, a cheaper option is to buy carpet and have the edges whipped, in the image below you will notice the rug is almost the size of the room and co-ordinates beautifully with the rooms decor.

Large carpet rugs are also a great way of zoning open plan living spaces, and with such great designs available it can really enhance your final look!

Inspirational Images

Anyone who knows me will know my love for America, my love for interior design is hugely influenced by New England, most of the images that I will be posting will be from the great US of A! However, one thing I've never been able to understand is how the Americans do fitted units so well, when we do them they look so tacky and 80's, yet when they do it it looks like fantastic pieces of carpentry!

A fantastic site for American Design http://www.houzz.com/

Warehouse before photo's

Back and forth to the warehouse, this is the bit I enjoy the most get things organised, flooring, signs, plumbing and electric's, holidays are not helping and on quite a tight deadline, and today snow!

But here's some pic's to give you the before's...

It actually doesn't look that bad in the photo, but the bar's up the windows are leaning the design towards a prison theme rather than shaker!

Tip 1 - Linen Organisation

This is an awesome tip from Martha Stewart's book on organising! 

If you find bed linen gets all jumbled then try storing your bed linen in one of the pillow cases to keep it all together, this book is full of neat idea's for organisation, I highly recommend it!

Chapter 2 - Saturday 30th March

Saturday morning and its 2 days after I got the keys to my warehouse, my daughter who is 8 lays beside me in bed, gently snoring as snow flakes lightly fall outside my window, it's an awesome start to the day!

The last few weeks have been fraught and I'm not ashamed to share that I have been on a roller coaster through hell, panic attacks, constantly fighting off the overwhelming feelings to just pack up and run, but now the commitment is made those feelings have subsided and now, the challenge begins!

I have a minuscule budget and a enormous warehouse, the test of my interior design skills will be proven!

I have mapped out the structure of the new business, I have a role out plan for the various components and I have created a business forecast, and whilst doing this I am still trying to run my other business the cafe bar.

But what I haven't done is finished decorating my house or spent quality time with my daughter, dog or guinea pig!

Spreading myself so thinly that something has got to give, and it will, but believe it or not I am preparing myself for that too, I'm not super woman and I can't do it all.

Know your limitations!

So what is the future of Urban? .... That's tomorrow's problem because today is about making pancakes and rice crispy nests with my daughter.

Chapter 1 - Thursday 28th March

Do you read articles in magazines and get totally enthusiastic, but then roll out of bed and forget everything you've read!

Well if your like me, the busy lazy person, then this blog may inspire you to get up and do something!

Follow me down the road of my new adventure, having owned and run a cafe bar for the past 4 years, I'm now on a journey of old...

A little over 10 years ago I was made redundant from a mundane administrative job,  since then my life has been anything but mundane or administrative, I opened a little home furnishings business, called 'Urban Home' it was lovely, slightly modern and quite homely!  My joy was the day I burst in to my parents home and said... "I have a shop!" my Dads response "what are you going to sell?" my breathless and excited reaction "I have no idea, but I have a shop!" as many would say the rest is history, but in truth that history has been a number of lessons based on business, life and the truth about myself!

You have to believe that in life, everything happens for a reason, and its all a journey, people come and go from our lives, some appear for a moment to help us through some momentary crisis, others are there more for the long haul, but don't grip on to these people to tightly as nothing is forever, appreciate them for the time you spend together and learn from what they bring to your life... Even if sometimes it's not always pleasant!

In the last decade I have transcended from a small home furnishings shop to a cafe bar, which has over the years tested my will to live, it has tested almost every relationship from family, friend and lover!  But I wouldn't change a thing, in fact I'm about to embark again and from this point is where you will join my life!