Post 7: Working week is sorted… for a while! 115 to go!

Kat doodles about life and gets arty:

So here we are. Another post. I was hoping this will be the last one with Mr. Darwin, but I am feeling like hibernating for the last few days and I also have been out being entertained by the big Hollywood screen, so improvement is not as expected.  I basically need him off my wall by Friday, painted over with white and get ready for new one. Deal with myself! Done!

There have been few changes with other work. I got offered regular shifts for the next few upcoming weekends, which is very cool meaning I can focus on painting, interpreting  etc. (eh did I mention fun?) during the week, however time between Friday morning and Sunday afternoon will be a bit more manic. Let’s hope for better weather. Yes, still cycling and not anywhere the car option.

The magic of getting work from word of mouth has worked and tomorrow I am doing an assignment for new language agency, so fingers cross.  There is nothing to worry about really as I have done similar work before, but you know what it is like working for someone new, you do not want to disappoint them. Yours Kat.

P.S. Oh just to say in case you have missed it, new series of Mr. Selfridge is back on tv! That has definitely made my day. Hooked once again from first few minutes!

Post 6: One Day You Will Forget, Where You Left Your Head! 116 to go!

 

Kat doodles about life and gets arty:

My mother always used to say: “Kat, one day you will forget, where you left your head!” She was obviously commenting on my carelessness of homework I should have done, gloves I left God knows where and the obvious household chores I meant to be doing. Well there are some things we all know we forgot purposely, but we are just playing it cool. However recently I am little fearing I am forgetting more than I should be. Of course I know when to go to work and when to pay the bills, but I have noticed that I am getting overloaded with short-term memory.

 

 

I have adopted the David Allen paper note system, which works brilliantly, but there have been good few occasions, when I looked at the task, went on doing it, clicked on New Tab on my screen and thought: “What was I doing?” Feeling idiotic, I had to have little think, than looked at the paper again and went: “Oh yeah I know!” I mean seriously? At my age? What is going on? I can remember stupid little things, which happened weeks ago, but I cannot remember what to do right now?! I wrote all this out of anger just now after picking up my phone and realizing I have no idea what I was going to do. My head has been overloaded with quite few issues over the past weeks, which are quite important, so I guess this must be a way how my brain is dealing with it.

(Or the excuse is that I am simply too disturbed, because every time I turn around from my computer I see a massive head of Mr.Darwin.) With love Kat.

 

Post 5: Painting Charles Darwin! 117 to go!

Kat doodles about life and gets arty:

I should have posted this last night, but I had too much going on. In the past few days I have been mostly flicking through my driving theory book and preparing the next English lesson, all about food.  My student has now plenty to watch online, anything from the Michelin star style Masterchef through to typical swearing Gordon, magician Heston and everyday cooking with Ainsley Harriott.

I got quite excited doing the sketches over the weekend, so I finally had a go on my wall. Mr Darwin is obviously not finished, but it has been a while since I have done something likes this. I just need to keep practicing now. With love. Kat

Day 83: Positive Image Winter Solstice Party! 9 days to go!

Kat doodles about life:

Since coming home at 7 am, I spend most of the day in bed and when I woke up the time got spent by wandering around the house, cooking, eating, and getting ready for long anticipated party. Positive Image organized a very special treat after their art charity auction in a form of decadent 1920’s themed Winter Soltice Party! As you know, I do not like dressing up, but I am glad I did as the venue, where it was held, was a very stylish secret bar called Milkthisle, right in the heart of Bristol city centre. I have walked past many times, not knowing there is such a space, as you have to ring a bell and wait for someone to open the door for you. One of the companies I worked for even had an office two doors down and Bristol Backpackers hostel, where I lived on few occasions,  is in that same street. Even nine years later, Bristol does not stop to surprise me or it might be the case of me not getting out that much. I suggest you check it out yourself and get amazed by three floors of fantastic interiors, which took me back to my childhood, when visiting my grandparents’ home with dark wooden furniture, up to the ceiling bookcases full of classics and the grand piano. As we were all dressed up the part, it all felt like we are at someone’s house party sitting in very comfy leather armchairs, sofas and or wandering around the house to see what is going on in different rooms. And there was the great funky music and the Djs. By the end of the night the intimate atmosphere made everyone talking to each other making new friends and having a great time. Well certainly I did, getting to point of doing my signature move of Russian dancing and spinning around countless times. Oh that was fun! And all for the support of Children’s Hospice Soutwest. There was a group of us coming back home together, so I whipped some pasta pesto with feta cheese to make us all happy and we continued the party. I cannot wait for the Summer Soltice 2014!

Day 74: Internet connection is present! 18 days to go!

Kat doodles about life:

I am sorry if you were expecting this post last night in case I became you daily read before going to bed. Yesterday was quite manic. I know I woke up late again, but it is a part of a recovery plan and no work in the morning, so why not. I am feeling lot better and even managed to get out of the house for couple of hours to get myself prepared for the Friday night at work. Thinking of doing some work I sat at the computer and after pretty much two weeks of no internet connection or barely minimum connection it got the point I run out of my patience and had to do something about. After switching my computer on and off three times, I could not bare trying once more. I decided to try that more complicated option of getting all cables out and moving it from one to the other side of the room to see if moving it four meters closer to the router will help. And it did! I had full four bars showing. And the connection did not fail once, whilst I was organizing a work meeting for late that afternoon.

Unfortunately that meant I am facing the fun activity of completely moving my room once again, which in my nearly recovered state was still not fun idea. So I had to empty both of my bookcases, storage under the bed, my chest of drawers and my wardrobe and night table. The state of my room looked like I have created myself something similar to go ape challenge. I slowly moved all the furniture back and forth trying to figure out the best position according to the plug sockets, still keeping the room spacious and having all the right objects near each other. Eventually I did and here are the pictures. Still messy and not finished, but improvement. Well you would think. I am writing this post in a new spot. The connection has not failed yet, good times, however the connection is only between one and two bars. And just about when I am writing this, it goes to three and back down to one. I wonder if someone is playing a practical joke on me. Hey, these are the problems of 21st century. Back later. Kat xx

Day 66 : Changing feel of the room with colour “4”! 26days to go!

 

Kat gets arty:

 

So this is the last of colour homework and after number three I decided to keep it simple white. Small rooms look better, whiter they are and although it is sunny one and we could afford to stick few cold tones in, I will stick with white this time. Now with this type of room anything will do as long as there are lot of different hues of the same colour and preferably very light. Do not forget if it sisunny room, all tones will appear lot richer then they are. So in my version, if you can see, too literally, (you might have to click to zoom) I have used All White on ceiling, walls, and chimney breast, Wimborne White on two walls along the chimney breast and architraves, picture rails and skirting boards with tone of Pointing. I think that Cabbage White could work really well in some way too. That is it for now. Back soon. Kat xx

 

 

Day 65 : Changing feel of the room with colour “3”! 27days to go!

 

 

Kat gets arty and doodles about life:

 

Quick draft in my Dashboard is asking ” What is on your mind?” Well how very appropriate as right about now it is something like this: Do I manage to post this without another fail of internet connection and spending another hour switching computer on and off. Do I catch up with all four posts I am already missing, because technically I am only posting today to cover Wednesday and do I really need all the other nonsense going on in my life and that includes the ongoing cold I am suffering with third week running. AAAgh!

 

Now once rant is over I can tell you what I was up to on Wednesday. After work, which I just about managed to get through at my state,who would have thought that I will still be ill after having two weeks off and accepting those shifts, I had a meeting for my January project. I had a really good chat with the lady in charge and been handed over CRB forms, now I just need to create a poster, find enough “bodies” and we can roll. So that is well exciting. After I got home I started the battle with internet and catching up with posts once again.

 

So here is number 3:

 

 

Now I will be very honest and I do not personally like this task. There might be few reasons for that. Firstly I like bright high pigmented colours and with small facing room north facing it is not exactly ideal combination. What we need are light, preferably warm colours, as we get the cold light inside. Secondly the Farrow and Ball colour chart, when I scanned different parts of it. colours changed with colour restoration or descreening. The samples did not come out as well as they look in reality. It was not that obvious until I started filling the black and white room with them and thought hmmm this is not really working. I may have to revisit this post and figure some right combination otherwise I cannot rest.

So picture number one is using Great White on chimney breast and walls and Blackened on two strips running along the chimney. You would think Great White will be white, but for some reason during the scanning it got picked up as this purple shade and Blackened looks more of a blue. As you can tell the importance of colour sample tub is very important. Personally I think the Blackened could be swapped for some red to make it little more warmer.

 

Second picture is done with the idea of contrast, what it could look like if you decide to use cold palette. They are Cabbage White on chimney breast and walls and Borrowed Light on the other two. I quite like this colour combination, however as requested in brief, I do not think it is going to work in the space due to the lack of space and light.

Lastly I thought I will try the warm scheme, but not happy about the result. White Tie on chimney breast and walls and Diminity of the other two walls along the chimney. On the actual colour palette, they look quite nice, but again on the screen of a computer, not that well anymore. Disappointed. I think more yellows and oranges will do, but did not want to make it look like nursing home. What I am going to do? This post is a fail. I think that is it for today, this will be obviously on my list again. Back soon. Kat xx

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 64: Changing feel of the room with colour “2”! 28 days to go !

Kat gets arty:

So another one of my homework today. The task is to make large room appear warmer and cosier. Obviously the first thoughts or making something look cosy would be using the typical colours like hues of oranges, reds, yellows. But in the second picture I will show you that is not necessarily true.

Now first example of the room has only red (Picture gallery red) and yellow (Orangery) in. Again Farrow&Ball colour scheme. I used white for the ceiling (and you could use Satinwood on architrave and skirting board) as the colours on the walls are quite bright already, but if I would want go all the way, the Orangery would be probably the way to go. What I wanted to show you with doing two different sample pictures is that you do not have to be scared of using bright colours. I personally do love the first one. Painted chimney breast and the rest of the walls painted in yellow will make the room appear warm and cosy and with the two parts of walls along the chimney breast will give it a bit of edge. If you do not like such a bright colour, you can stick wooden shelves in those spaces to create bookshelves, so the red will only appear where let you it. Again using the opposite colours on picture rail will tie the whole room together. But you do not have to do it, if you do not want to. Just decide once it is all painted and see how it works.

As already mentioned earlier here is example when using the same yellow (Orangery), but with Olive green colour. This colour combination is a bit more pleasing to the eyes you can say, but feel free to jazz it up with some red accessories like cushions or vases in matching tones.

I hope you enjoyed the post, and back with some more tomorrow. Kat xx

Day 63: Changing feel of the room with colour “1”! 29 days to go !

Kat doodles about life and gets arty:

My dear readers, Let me first apologize for my absence on the blogging scene for the last two days. No, I have not given up or got lazy, it is the technology, which has let me down. We have some work going on in our area and although it has been bad, for the last two days my connection just completely disappeared, which made it quite difficult to post the type of files I was working on. Never mind, my mac mini is definitely sending the unwanted message that it will soon leave to Silicon valley after more than many years of loyal service, as it cannot longer pick up better network signal than a simple mobile phone. And I am not even talking about my mood after Photoshop quit, just about when I was going to save the image I have created. 1:30 am I thought ‘I am off to bed, going to work tomorrow morning, I am not even going to tilt the windmills’.

Anyway so today’s post is one of my homeworks I had to do during the  course Designing for Interiors. We got simple black and white drawing of a room with different requirements and change it by using different colours, tones, etc. Today I am posting: A ROOM WITH A HIGH CEILING THAT NEEDS TO FEEL MORE INTIMATE. There will be three more to go.

Now how do we do this? Feeling cosy is usually is associated with warm colour, however in my example there two options. I have picked up Farrow and Ball, the one before the latest colour series, because I do love their tones, and in warm version I have picked up colour  Straw for ceiling and Hay for walls and in “colder” version Pelt and Brassica. Now when say cold in brackets it is not exactly true, they may appear that way, however they have a bit of red mixed in, which still makes them fairly warm. The reason why I am choosing those darker tones on the ceiling is because we want to bring down. Almost as you would feel claustrophobic. Not completely, but if it is a big space, you just want to bring the walls and ceiling bring a bit more closer to you to get that cosy feel. My examples are pretty contrasting, so if you are not convinced just simply experiment with one colour in lighter versions.

What you may also think about is the application of the paint. In the first picture I have used the ceiling colour on architrave, picture rail and skirting board. Depending on what is in the room, I personally think you could even use it partly on the door or details of the furniture.  In the second picture I have done something different. I have introduced third colour, which is Farrow and Ball Plummett on architrave and skirting board and picked up picture rail in the ceiling colour just to give it a bit of edge.

Great example of what I am talking is a house of my friend Sarah, who is a photographer and recently just painted her wall in very deep dark grey called New York by Crown. You would think, never in million years I would do that, BUT! It would surprise how lovely it looks. Obviously you have to be quite selective with how much of the room you paint, but you notice how many other colours are hiding in that grey and how they bounce off each other. Morning and general day light make the grey totally different to when it is evening and there are three different light sources on picking up and bouncing off the colours of red and orange sofas, armchairs, and  wooden tables. The house is still work in progress,  but even just using that grey in tiny little upstairs bathroom on one wall made a massive difference and turned shabby space into posh attic bathroom, well at least for that first impression look before she gets on with fully renovating that whole area. If you are still unsure I recommend checking out interior designer Abigail Ahern. She is bonkers! But great!

Back later or tomorrow with the rest, depends how much patience and network I will get. Kat xx

Day 58: Designing for Interiors: Task 2. Colour chart! 34 days to go!

Kat doodles about life and gets arty:

Today finally I had one Godot arriving and for the second one I just have to continue being patient with Vladimir and Estragon and see what happens. So anyway not to tease you the whole post with secrets, I have finished the spatial scrapbook, so all pretty images are in three different notebooks, all nice and tidy.  The next one on the list are the tasks from the course Designing for Interiors I did last year. I already did the first task as a post, very long time ago, but I thought it would be great if I post all my homework and get the unfinished ready, so they can go into my portfolio. The first course was about basic rules such as colour, texture, ergonomics, mood board etc. and the second one was all about history of interior design. We started applying all the knowledge into practice and it was a lot of fun.

Task:  Choose two photos of room interiors from a magazine. Identify the colour scheme for each image e.g. ‘complementary’,’monochromatic’.  By using paint charts, select and match the range of colours for each one as closely as possible. Then select colours which will harmonise or complement each one.

Feel free to join me in doing these tasks and post yours. There is never enough practice, when it comes to choosing the right tone. Back tomorrow. Kat xx

Day 49: My favourite storage solutions on the budget. 43 days to go!

Kat doodles about life and recommends:

Alright today I am not feeling very well, so I only managed to do few things. I thought I have a little reorganizing day and perhaps to pick few things to give away to charity to keep the space clear. Over the years I have moved a lot. In the UK between houses to live in for at least six months it was six times and within two first two years it was fairly temporary, we are talking from days to months. In those days it was easy as I only had a bagpack, now I simply need a van. To keep all my tools, books and other things handy and organized I thought I will share my favourite storage solutions, especially if you are on the budget or do not have time to mess around. Feel free to add your favourites in comments.

These boxes are fantastic. I had them for over three years and now have collection of twenty. You can buy them from Argos and you get four for £20. They are 40 litres each and you find them under crocodile boxes because of their interlocking grey lid. They save lot of space, up to six can fit on top of each other. I use them for tools, fabrics,decorating, storing images and bits for projects etc. Everytime I move, they are the best solution to packing and the great plus after is you can slot one into another and put it away.
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The next space solutions are these metal mash drawer stands. I got them for my studio,because they were pretty cheap, I think somewhere £5-10 from IKEA. If you are careful, you can put another one on top. I use them for rulers, tapes, arty things and also for my paperwork, projects and blog ideas as a part of the Getting Things Done system.

These baskets are from Ikea. I had them for probably seven or eight years, so pretty good for wear and tear for the price, as they not the cheapest if you are looking for quick fix. They had all sorts of purposes from storing my camera bits or photo albums to now being the “In basket” and storing spray cans and fixative glues. And pallettes of awkward shapes of course.

The next two images are organizing toolboxes for bits like beads, screws, buttons, cotton threads. Anything small you like. They are around £5-7 from Toolstation and they sit nicely within the bookcase. If you notice little more,I  also collect the empty negative boxes and mini jam jars for beads. They can be put sideways, but not to get things mixed I suggest you keep flat.

And final picture are wooden cutlery stands I use for pens and pencils straight on hand.

There are many other solutions I like, most of them Ikea. Like simple computer table around £10 each. I have put a big board on top to create one big table, which can be easily taken apart and moved again.
Next thing are those cd/dvd or A4 size boxes. I store photographs in them now and they are practical and look good. Talking boxes they come up with package of two carboard boxes JATTENE, which takes up to 30kg each. I discovered them this summer and although a bit pricey and large to carry home by hand,they were fantastic and well solid for all my books. Cleverly designed interlocking system means you do not need tape, but I did rather use it. When you finish, just flat pack them down. No more need for random cardboard boxes. Very impressed.

The last but least storage are BILLY bookcases. Easy to put together,shelves can be adjusted to your needs and one little secret if you go for white option you save somewhere between £15-30 compare to the rest of the range. Since everything in my room is white, it makes it all look bigger even with so much in.

Just to be clear, I have not been  given any items above or asked to write about it. I just simply find them practical and on the budget,ideal for someone in a similar situation as me.

Back tomorrow. Kat

Day 16: My new interior design and diy corner of knowledge! 76 days to go!

Kat doodles about life:

So here it is, another addition to my white collection of furniture and white painted room. I have run out of space in my main two bookcases, so i thought I will keep my new bookcase just for my collection of interior design and diy knowledge. I have to go through and tidy it up properly, but I want to keep anything here from my inspiration scrapbooks, interiors design magazines (Elle Decoration and World of Interiors mainly), leaflets, brochures, books, list of stockists, wallpapers, paint samples etc. For the moment I put in also Domino Toolboxes for storing beads, buttons, sewing and modelmaking from Toolstation. For £5.40 each I think they are perfect for storage. The room starts to finally look more spacious and more organized with everything more on hand.

I am planning to do a post on bookcases, so feel free to take photographs of yours and send it to katerina.t.designer@gmail.com and you never know it may feature as a great example.

With love Kat xx

Studio finally finished and in full use.

Designing for Interiors. Task 1. Image.

Kat gets arty:

So far, Angela proved to be my little angel. I have realized how hungry to learn I am again and that only two years since graduation feels like forever. We had five classes already and Monday evenings became religiously something I cannot even think to miss. Not even when I am fighting with flu like last week and honestly, I felt quite bad for coming in and probably passing it on to others. I just simply could not resist.

Right, for the first task we had to choose an image and had to do following. Choose three key words to describe an interior and then talk about ‘background information’, ‘physical proportions’, ‘content and decoration’ and ‘physical feeling’. Over the past few weeks I came to a realization that theatre is massive part of my art thinking. Whilst most of the class has chosen some pretty images of kitchens and living rooms, I have chosen this one:

Image taken from the magazine World of Interiors, issue February 2011. It is an advertising campaign for Italian furniture company Chelini.

To describe this space I would use words such as ‘old’, ‘grand’ and ‘full of character’.

Background Information

This is a large entrance hallway. Most likely it is in a big grand house, perhaps before renovation, but most certainly it is a period property. Since this photograph is taken for an Italian company and their advertising campaign, I would say the location is Italy. However, it could also be in Prague or Paris as the flowery decor on the staircase gives impression of art nouveau style.

Physical Proportions

It is a large space with high ceiling and curved wall. We cannot see any windows, but enough natural light coming from the right hand side gives a clue of an alcove with a window. Main architectural feature is the spiral staircase, which leads the natural traffic and flow around the house. There is a door on the left, but does not look like the main entrance, which I would expect to be more grand for this kind of property.

Content and Decoration

Style of this image makes the property period and makes it feel very theatrical. Colour scheme supports this impression. Metal and stone colours, mostly in hues of white and grey are in contrast with bright velvety purple. Plaster wall finish covers bricks and stone. Natural stone is in use for the floor and staircase. To soften the feel helps the upholstered sofa and flowery ornament decorating the banister of the spiral staircase. Risen floor level in front of the sofa must have been a feature or had an important purpose in the past. To decorate the space I would use sculptures, vitrage, flowers in big pots or tall vases, perhaps even little trees. Hanging mirrors or artwork would give more statement to the space, however with curved wall may be proven difficult to find a space, where to hang them.

Personal Feeling

I love this kind of property and I can imagine quite happily living there. I appreciate craftsmanship and would love to renovate house like this. Old things, furniture and interiors excite me and by upcycling them, or using my theatrical background would make them look more expensive for no money.

Suggestions

Before renovating this property I would research the type of heating used in the past and modern alternative to it, which would be complimentary to the style. When looking at the state of plaster finish, I would suggest looking into either renovating it according to the rules for renovating period property if this is a listed building and getting some professional advice. The same would apply to cleaning rust of the banister and cleaning the steps. On curved walls, I would use bespoke pieces of art or adjusted mirror pieces. Part of the research could be visiting another grand house or visiting local theatre.

Upcycling!

Kat recommends:

Talking upcycling, check out blog recommended by my friend Alice, who is an interior designer  http://greenfancy.blogspot.co.uk Interesting ways how to turn old maps for example into hot looking lampshades.

Source: http://greenfancy.blogspot.co.uk/