Books, books, books:

Sorting the flat out is an extremely slow process when Craig and I are both working full time...  It's gotten to the stage where every tiny thing I manage to get done feels like an enormous achievement, hence the following photos:

It turns out that colour coding books is much more difficult than it looks, especially when most of your books are either black, or have multi coloured spines (like ALL of Terry Pratchett's books...).

It all went a bit downhill after the first two shelves, but I'm still proud of them!

Update:

Hello, I have internet again!  I feel like I've been offline for weeks, even though it's only been a few days.  Last week was a bit gruelling, but everything has been moved from the old flat to the new flat.  I never thought I'd say this, but thank God we don't have two homes anymore!  Everything is disorganised, and probably will be for a good while yet, because I started a new job today and don't have much spare time on my hands.  Still, here's some photos of what we've temporarily done with the fireplace:

Before...

... and after!

The blank tile that's covering what used to be the open fire is very plain, and we will hopefully cover it at some point with a poster or maybe a large piece of patterned tile that would compliment the original tiling on the hearth.

Excuse the clutter, it won't always be like that!  As you can see, we've hung a mirror that I already had, but it isn't really big enough and looks a bit silly on its own...  I think I'm going to try and get hold of a few smaller, cheap mirrors in different colours and shapes and hang them around this one as a sort of collage.  I was inspired by this photo I found whilst browsing Pinterest:

It would reflect a lot of light into the room, and there is certainly a lot of empty wall space to be filled in this flat!

Quirks and perks:

This is the first chance I've had to sit down and write a post since we got the keys to our new flat on Monday.  The weather is awful here today, which isn't great for moving stuff across to the new place.  I'm currently waiting for the torrential rain to stop so that I can go out and get something to eat...

We spent Monday evening moving some of the bigger items in, including my bookcase, which I love, but which is also the bane of my existence.  It doesn't come apart, and I've had to carry it Chuckle Brothers style (with the help of friends and parents, of course) all over Dundee, and now Edinburgh.  Still, we didn't have to carry it too far this time, and managed it between the two of us.  (To me, to you.)

Craig having a wee rest...

While Craig set to work building an IKEA coffee table that he fell in love with and fought tooth and nail to get a hold of in the sale (and, it turns out, is monstrously big, and will not fit in the living room...), I took some pictures of some of the more 'quirky' features that the flat has.  As you will see, there are quite a few.

'Hmm...'

This cute original fireplace is in the smaller of the two bedrooms, and would probably benefit from some flowers or candles for decoration.  (Or skulls and race cars, if I am not allowed my own way.)

There is a sink/vanity area in the bigger of the two bedrooms, which is a nice idea, in theory.  In reality, there is a lot of beige/cream going on here.  I mean, an awful lot.  I've already started looking into getting easy peel, removable wallpaper or vinyl to put in the centre panel of each cupboard door, to break up the beige without leaving any permanent marks or damage.

I was coming to terms with the ugliness of this electric fire in the living room, when Craig  noticed that the fire itself isn't actually attached to the fireplace.  We hid the fire in a cupboard last night, and although a little bare, the space looks heaps better already.  Again, I will probably put some flowers and candles and other decorative items in there to give us something to look at.  I like the tiles on the hearth a lot, and I love that we have a mantelpiece to display things on now!

Finally, some good old cornicing in the living room.  Most of the places I lived in Dundee had cornicing, and it is my favourite kind of period feature.  This stuff looks like it could probably do with a lick of paint, but it isn't really our place to do that in a rented property.

I spent the whole day yesterday cleaning the new flat and moving things across.  Craig helped me when he got back from work (he can lift a lot more at once than I can!) and then took me out for a pub tea because neither of us could face the idea of cooking.  We moved yet more stuff after tea, and spent a little while unpacking books and DVDs and setting up new appliances.  We now have a posh coffee maker, which was a gift from a friend, but I'm not sure I'll ever figure out how to use it...

Our new mattress and bargain sofa also both arrived yesterday.  The sofa needs some serious TLC, but hopefully it will be a complete transformation when it's finished.  It is very comfy, regardless, which I think is the most important thing, and it's enormous!  Five people could easily cosy up on it, if they had to!

I must have worked hard yesterday, because last night I was more tired (and grumpy) than I've been in a very, very long time.  My muscles are killing me today, so at least I got a good work out.  Today will be spent moving everything else (bar the absolute essentials) across to the new flat.  Wish me luck!  I think I'm going to need it...

A hard day's shopping:

Craig and I went on a shopping mission today, and picked up quite a few of the smaller items we need for the new flat.

As you can see, we bought quite a bit from Matalan.  I really like this cassette tape print cushion, so we got two for the new sofa.  (Craig was also enthusiastic about them, which astounded me as he usually loudly claims not to understand 'the point' of decorative cushions. Apparently this is a common response in boys and men.)

matalan.co.uk

I couldn't find the cushion on the Matalan website, so can't provide you with a link, but we got them for the fabulous sale price of £2 each.  If you are really enamoured with this print, it might be worth popping into your local branch to see if they've got any left!

Coloured utensils: 2 for £3

Mixing bowl: £6

We also got the above 'funky' kitchen utensils and mixing bowl from Matalan.  Again, I can't find either on the website, hence the dodgy photos.  Still, the branch we went to had a large amount of the utensils in a range of colours, so go and check in-store if you're interested!  I love the colour and pattern of the mixing bowl, and it will be a great size for baking.

Our Argos purchases were less aesthetically pleasing, more practical, but you might spot the kettle perched on top of the pile in the first photo!  And I thought we would never get around to buying one...  You will no doubt see the rest of what we bought in later posts, when we get into the new flat and are 'allowed' to start using everything we've bought.  I don't want to open or use anything new until we've moved!  Craig thinks I'm mental, but someone else must understand, right?  Right...?

We get the keys tomorrow (eek!) and then we'll be spending the next week moving from what is essentially one side of a road to the other.  Watch this space for more updates!

A mission statement (of sorts):

I have spent the last two years slowly becoming more and more addicted to reading blogs and watching YouTube videos.  Photography, beauty, organisation, fashion, decor, food: you name it, I have obsessively watched videos and read blogs about it.  I've been inspired by all the charming and creative people I follow online to start my own blog, so here I am.

I had a brief fling with blogging earlier this year, when I attempted to start a blog about my antics during my last semester at uni.  Unfortunately, my last semester at uni kind of got in the way of the majority of the antics I had planned, and before I knew it I was packing to leave Dundee forever.  Since then, I have graduated (see above for photographic proof) and I now live in Edinburgh with this cheeky chappie:

In a few days we are getting the keys to our new flat, which is rented, but unfurnished. Cue total HORROR.  Sourcing even basic furniture on a budget has been stressful, to say the least.  The absolute furniture essentials will be arriving extremely slowly between the 17th of July and the 4th of August, which means we will be sleeping on the floor, living out of suitcases and throwing screwdrivers at each other for a good while.  We haven't even bought a kettle yet, and I am predicting that there will be an awful lot of empty space in the flat at first.

That being said, I'm actually kind of excited about the empty space.  I want to see what I can do with what will essentially be my first "grown up" home, even though I'm not usually very good at the whole interior design malarky.  The plan is to record our progress with furnishing and decorating the flat here, as well as the odd post on other topics as and when it takes my fancy.  This looks set to be the start of a pretty exciting (read: scary/expensive/tiring) chapter in my life, and I like to think that Inferior Design will become a lifestyle blog, of sorts, where I can write about the bums that sit on our bargain sofa, and not just the sofa itself.  (It was a total bargain, by the way, £240 reduced to £80!  But more on that later...)