Teeny-tiny...but thats the way we like it!

Hello again, and welcome back!

For those of you who have been here before, you know the routine, and for those of you who are new, hold on tight, grab some dry biscuits (always good for a bit of motion sickness) and join me on another long-winded post.

Firstly, I thought I'd start out by showing all you lovely people a little more of my teeny-tiny flat (since it's going to be the main star here), and some of it's problem areas...as I see them.

I was going to do a full expose on the frankly dingy state of my teeny-tiny flat (t-tf?). I got as far as taking a few photos (in all its messy glory) and then I made the mistake of actually looking at them...eeeeeww!!! Not a chance! There is NO-WAY I am posting those images online! They are too scary and embarrassing!

So I found some lovely 'empty' ones from the day I signed my lease and hurried over to do some excited-new-flat-cleaning, as well as the outside ones that I took the other day.

This is the outside of my block, you can see the raised ground floor where I am, as well as the windows of my upstairs neighbours. No, unfortunately the lovely bay window you can see there is not mine, but my neighbour's (who is equally as lovely as far as I can tell).

This is the approach to the main front door of my floor. The window you can see in front of you (no, to the left there) is my kitchen window, (big bugger isn't it?). I can stand on the windowsill and still not reach the top of it (yes, yes I know I'm on the short side, but there's no need to rub it in). The outside isn't terribly well cared for (that's rentals for you), but is something I hope I can start looking at once the inside is taken care of.

As this is a studio flat, there is only this main living / bedroom / office area. The small heater on the wall is no longer tagged and sealed off (thank goodness!). My first winter in the flat was freezing! A week later we had epic snowfalls in London, my first proper snow day, (hurrah!) and a chance to meet a lot of the local residents, realising what a lovely area I had moved into! I have a few glaring issues in this picture though, namely the colour of the walls, the blinds at the window and the colour of the carpet. I love the colour blue, in fact don't be too surprised if everything ends up blue, but I just don't like it for a carpet!

Standing at the lovely window above, looking into the flat, you can see the 'entrance hall' and front door (on the far left there), the kitchen in the middle (which is tiny but perfectly formed in my opinion), and my equally tiny (are we spotting a trend here?) bathroom on the far right.

This is the rest of the bathroom, with a strange 'storage' area above it. Have you noticed the ceilings? Well, more like the unbelievable height of the ceilings? 3.3m high baby!!...errm almost 9ft (I think) in old measurements.

As I've been waffling on for a while now, I'm going to leave it there for the time being. Next time I'll look at each of the areas in depth and tell you all about the issues I have with each of them (just what you need, someone explaining their 'issues' to you!). Until then, bye!

Naughty blogger!

Don't you hate it when you read a great blog that you really enjoy, that you hope will just run and run, and then that person just disappears on you?

Well hello everyone, (all two of you) and welcome to my second post.

I know that I have been very naughty, I wrote an OK first post, sent it out to everyone I know, begged them to read it and comment on it, shamelessly promoted myself on a variety of platforms, received some wonderful comments on my first post from some truly amazing people...and then promptly disappeared into the aether!

After reading a few other blogs that talk about blogging, especially the variety that teach you how to be the best blogger EVER and how to get Google drooling all over you in its attempt to become your new best friend...I realised that I had been very naughty. So I am here to say, I am sorry and I will try very hard not to disappear like that again (without due warning)...to those of you who know me rather better than I'd sometimes like, I realise that this is probably at the very edge of my abilities, but I am going to try very hard!

So as blogs are really mostly about photo's (apparently) and people like their information delivered in bite-sized chunks (blame the ADD generation) I will leave you with an image:

So Adieu until next time when I will actually talk about what I came here to talk about...my teeny-tiny flat!

The Start

Hello everyone, and welcome to the very first post on my brand new blog.

I'm going to briefly outline what I am hoping to achieve with this blog and where I would like to take it, but first a little more information about who I am.

Firstly my name is Shannon, I'm originally from South Africa (big shout out to my fellow countrymen), however I have lived in London for about 6 years (give or take a few months / weeks here and there, and a few early attempts at living in the commuter belt that surrounds this fair city...yes I do like London!).

My original intention behind re-locating to this bustling metropolis was to work in the West End (theatre darling!), which I managed in short order and have ever since been shining a much-needed light on those with a lot more talent at treading the boards than myself. This was not a terrible disappointment, do not worry, as other than a few miss-spent years where I was convinced that I was destined to be become a great actress (or at least a working one) I have always been far too practical and hands-on to stay away from the far more interesting backstage components of live theatre.

However after a few years of this, even my interest began to wane. I looked around for something else to grab my attention and after a long search (both with-in myself and with-out) I realised that possibly the 'perfect' career for me would combine my love of creating and making things along with my love of architecture, creating a home and fabrics and textiles...exactly! I was going to become an Interior Designer! So after 2.5 years of intensive yet part-time study, that is exactly what I am, a qualified Interior Designer (at least it says so on my certificate!).

This is where we come to the purpose of this blog...I have lived in my teeny-tiny flat for about 1.5 years (no I can't believe it either!), however it still looks very much like it did when I first moved-in (shock...horror! I know! Me a professional and everything!). I like to think that my time was taken up with much more pressing matters (like being able to afford the teeny-tiny roof over my head and my studies), although that’s not to say that I have been devoid of ideas and plans during this time, more about those in a later post, but rather that I haven't achieved many, if any of them. To that end, after being inspired by this lovely gentleman and realising that as an aspiring design professional (much like an aspiring writer) I should do (write) what I know, I have decided to work on my flat and chronicle it here.

So if you choose to, follow my modest little blog, comment on what I write here, or email me...whatever you feel moved to do. I will try to post interesting articles with a design and small-space slant, as well as some that focus on my little corner of bliss in South East London. Failing that, I will at least chronicle the evolution of my small London flat.