Hello Party Peeps

Confession time… I’ve had this blog (like many) sat in my drafts for like ever but I’ve never seemed to find the time to finish it off. That is until the ever so talented Grillo Designs created a work station in the nook under her stairs, (read all about it here) and I promised I’d get this thing published… 100 weeks later here it is!

There are so many obvious ways to create beautiful and functional interior spaces but what about those awkward spaces, those ugly spaces and those tiny, tiny spaces? What if we think outside the box and turn these zeros into HEROS?!

Here are just a few ways we’ve tackled these spaces in the burrow…

‘Non-space’

My other half will hate this term but you all know what I mean. Non-space consists of those nooks and crannies that are just there, part of our homes that are just a nothing space.

For us, this was the Wall and tiny landing at the top of the stairs. It’s a bit of non-space that I was never happy with, especially as it could be seen from so many different angles – the bottom of it from the front door, the top from the main landing and not to mention walking up the stairs. For years I plonked a “trip hazard” (AKA table) there and I had intended on making a canvas grandfather clock but it just didn’t do it for me.

Enter the gallery wall of picture ledges (I can’t find the damn Pintrest image I used as inspo). Using ledges from floor to ceiling, or in our case floor wall light, creates interest from every angle. Using the ledges instead of hanging a traditional gallery wall also allows serious faffers like me hours, and hours of fun.

Awkwardly placed doors

Our dining room had a traditional layout, you all know the type – The chimney breast and alcoves wall, the window/ french doors wall, the blank wall and the door into the room wall. Except in our case the door into the room was smack bang in the centre of the room causing all kinds of headaches when it came to furniture layout and storage.

Excuse my poop doodles (Lets face it, if you waited for me to draw these up in some fancy software, you really would have waited forever)

By building something bespoke, like a library wall, not only does it utilise the space but it also allows you to fall in love with that annoying feature you swore to loath for ever.

Annoying load baring walls

So at some point an ex-owner of the burrow had knocked our kitchen into the original coal shed/ WC, fab, except they did a bloody half-arsed job at the opening meaning our kitchen was still basically split in two.

We tackled this by turning it into feature rather than trying to disguise it. Painting a chalk board in the nook, adding some amazing bespoke artwork to the arch and adding some statement lighting into the lean-too.

Forgotten walls

So we all know and love the ‘Feature Wall’ but what about the other walls, what if we think out side the box and make a hero out of them?

From the moment I saw it I knew I wanted Cole & Sons Woods wallpaper in our hall but I also knew I had to do something with the double height drop over the stairs, one drop of wallpaper however, and my roll was pretty much all gone and therefor useless! Our hallway is a bit of an odd shape with lots of nooks and crannies. We painted the obvious feature wall a feature colour, then made a statement of some otherwise forgotten walls by adding the feature wallpaper.

Useless space

I’m guessing our bathroom was originally a bedroom because it was big – silly big. I mean, most bathroom apparatus goes around the edge, doesn’t it? So what do you do with the massive empty space in the middle?

We decided, against lots of advice, to make our bathroom SMALLER and to extend the landing. Why do that you ask? Well, the bathroom is now a much more sensible size but it also added some much needed storage in the way of an airing/ linen cupboard and mini walk in wardrobe…

Before & After layouts… I mean, what could we have possibly done with that empty space between the loo and the door?!

Now excuse the images that follow… this is the new area we created on the landing with the linen cupboard and walking wardrobe. No amount of tidying could make my wardrobe tidy!

Corridors

Last but not least, ladies and gentlemen, corridors. We all have them, why ignore them?!

One of the things I want more than anything (apart from a kitchen island) is a boot room. Using Grillio Designs super easy build a bench tutorial (Yes I may have a girl crush), I knocked up a little bench and created a tiny boot room in the corridor from our kitchen which is right next to the coat cupboard.

Well there we have it folks, not the best blog post but hopefully useful none of the less…

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