Upholstery Funtimes

Now located here: Pipsy Designs - Upholstery

Upholstery Funtimes Part 1

So, I'm not very good at this, I've done loads of renovations, of various kinds but have never blogged about them (well not really), so bear with me...

Once we had the flat confirmed and we'd check the size of the kitchen and what furniture we needed, we journeyed to the reclaim yard close to my parents house, Haynes of Challow, if you live anywhere near it, I recommend it, it's great! We went in to the final two sheds (leftover crap/house clearances, that no one else wants). JFo, Tom and I all scoured the place, JFo found a huge leather topped desk that she could have quite happily lived in/on, given a chance, and an antique rocking chair she had a mild love affair with.

Tom found many things he liked, most of which were out of our price range, although he did love a lampshade that was of the Victorian "World" map, it was lovely but he wouldn't buy it?!

I fell in love with everything but I have a love for poor, seatless, backless chairs that require some love, new seating, new legs, new backs, etc. Anyhow, we found four hapless said chairs at the back of a pile of other hapless chairs, and due to them all costing a total of £48, we could justify the £98 for the gorgeous fold out dining table, which has a hidden drawer and is just too charming for words.

Tom's choice was a leather covered chair with a bite out of the back, and a really charming chair, with holes in the seat. I chose two sorry looking chairs, one with the seat falling off and the webbing ripped, and the other with the webbing ripping but the seat, relatively in tact from hessian down.

The one with the hessian intact (see right) was easy to fix, especially as I used some gorgeous fabric from a kind friend, and I threw some new webbing in and a new cushion, for good measure. I also, put some trimming over the staples I used, yep, I totally cheated. I did however, stick the trimming on with furniture pins. I'm learning!

The other one, with ripped webbing and screwed seat didn't quite look like this, when we bought it, it was falling apart, filled with horse hair and had a rotten seat. After I threw out the seat, I ended up with this sorry looking thing (see left). The next exciting thing I did was try to get the nails out and the webbing off. It was interesting, a lot of them, I had to hammer a lot of them in more, rather than try to remove them, as many of them had rusted. I did my best with a pair of pliers, a tack hammer and a claw hammer and some determination (plus one hurting finger, due to a miss hit with the hammer, ouch).

After I'd gotten it cleared, I set about making a new seat base, I had to use curtain tape, as the haberdashery near my new pad didn't have any webbing (damn it!). Curtain tape worked very well though. I used the furniture tacks to perfection, as I totally forgot to buy carpet tacks earlier. They worked a treat and the seat works well. It looks stupid, but I can't wait to put the new cushion and cover on it! It's so exciting!

Isn't it cute!

After I'd got the seat webbing sorted, I set about finding a cushion, I totally cheated, I was going to get some foam and shape a seat accordingly, but instead, I used a cushion pad I had lying around. I was going to use two, but it seemed too poofy, so chose one big pad and shaped it (Although in hind sight, I should have used two, as it feels very thin now).

Once I'd got that sorted, I drapped the chosen material over the chair and started to staple accordingly, tucking the edges in for a crisp look. I found that stapling first, means you've more room to change and adapt. I mainly focused on getting the corners neat, as they have the most work to do. Once I was happy with the shape, I tacked it in place to secure the material.

Due to running out of upholstery pins, I glue gunned on the trim to cover the tack heads (cheating once again). It was a steady job but definitely worth it. I'm really proud of my work, even if I cut corners. Although, now I've sat on it a bit and realised I should have put two pads on the seat, I'm going to cover another cushion in the same material and use it accordingly.

New Flat

With baited breath on Saturday morning, we packed up the car with Tom's property and headed to London, to meet with our letting agency, sign the contract and get the keys. There was a small part of me that had suppressed my excitement about it all, in case it's fell through at the last minute. Once we'd parked up near the shop and walked in the door, I felt all anticipation disappear. We signed the contract, got the keys and headed to our new humble abode. Right next door to Brick Lane.

It is perfect, bigger than either of us had remembered. Far too much surface space and storage in the kitchen (if there is such a thing). The sitting room was deeper, the bedroom bigger, than I remembered too. We can see Brick Lane from our flat window (it is only a 30 second walk after all) and the Gherkin from our kitchen window. It's truly perfect. It's easily accessible from Euston Road, outside of the Congestion Zone and surrounded by nice pubs, bars and shops. I couldn't be happier. Oh yes I could, we met our landlord on Sunday morning (there I was in knickers and a cardigan, hungover to fuckery, meeting him for the first time), and he's lovely, friendly and helpful. He mentioned our mouldy shower and instead of doing an Oxford Landlord classic (grout over the old mouldy grout), he's going to completely retile the entire thing, as well as the kitchen. I'm still pinching myself to ensure I'm not in the Matrix or something.

After a 30 minute wait at the One Stop Shop to get parking permits and visitors permits, etc. With the aid of a very kind and friendly lady who worked there and the direction of another extremely kind and friendly member of staff, who told me what to say, I had applied for and was in receipt of said permits. Which made the entire moving 1000 times easier for us. Thank you kind people of Bethnal Green One Stop Shop.

We unloaded the first lot of Tom's property, with the kind help of James, and off we set for the second load. A three hour round trip and Tom was moved in, I was stressed, Tom was happy/hot/sweaty/patient/kind (delete where appropriate) and I was also in the possession of a cold glass of wine, thanks Tom.

That night we finally made our way out to the pub, Carpenter's Arms, which if they'll accept us, might be our new home from home. A great selection of wine, a good looking menu, small courtyard garden and friendly staff = a very happy and drunk me! At the pub we sat with James, his partner, Caroline, and her school friends, who were far too kind, friendly and generous, for their own rights. Eventually, I realised I was wasted and departed for home, via our late night offy, right around the corner from my house, what perfect location! Although, their bacon is shit!

Back home, we watched Kill Bill Vol.2 in our new bedroom, drinking wine and eating bacon sandwiches. Eventually I passed out in our new flat. The next morning I woke to some arse tooting a horn at 7am, I struggled out of bed, mid slumber to shut the windows, to then hear the chorus of neighbours telling said wanker to shut the fuck up. I love our neighbours, already love them! Back to slumber and eventually woke up to the Sunday market, where people of the world gather to sell food, clothes, art, antiques and stolen stuff!

Did I mention that I love our new flat? How I love our new Street? Did I mention that I couldn't be happier? Yeah, I didn't think so.

All that is left now, is to move all of my crap (there is a lot of it) into the flat, with the generous help of Tom, Lianne and Chris and I'll be as happy as the pig in shit, while I pay my kind friends with food, drink and entertainment. Let the new period of my life, dwelling in London Town commence...

Oil issues!

I've a car conundrum. I've owned my Nissan Almera 1.6 05 since October 2008. For the first year or so, it ran beautifully, then Autumn last year, it started making very sporadic grring noise, I got it checked out when the noises became regular (as Mechanics need something to go on) and stupid me, I had no oil. I was dry. I was dry to the bone! I was arid, more like the desert (my poor car. Since then, I've had a very hollow horse sound within my engine (no oill damage, of course).

Ever since that oiling up, I've run out of oil within three months, regardless of trip length, I drive quite a lot for work and pleasure, doing about 13,000 miles a year. I popped to my local garage earlier and they advised me to get my engine steamed, so they can see clearly where the leak is. Mr Steamer, who is a lovely and helpful guy said there was hardly any oil on the underside of my engine and was unsure to why my car would be using so much?! I've now left it with my mechanic he's going to look at it, he suggested I could be burning it through my exhaust (but that seems crazy), I guess we will see. But if I am burning that much oil, that's awfully expensive and seems ludicrous! And if that is the case, boy am I glad that I'm selling it come August.

In case, you're wondering, it has 60,000 on the clock and has never had any major, or minor, issues when being MOT'd.
And confession time: I haven't done the engine check (putting cardboard under the car overnight - silly of me, I know) but oil speaks have appeared outside work when it's been parked up for 8 hours, they seem to be the size of a penny, which is nothing I know, but over time, obviously...

Departure

I'm moving to London, as of mid June. Tom and I have been planning it for ages and are finally getting everything sorted. We've found a flat, busted many a groove around our new district (Bethnal Green/Shoreditch) and applied for 1001 jobs. No jobs as of yet but they will come soon enough, positivity is the way forward.

But this does mean that I'll be departing the dizzying heights of Courtyard. 9 years of Courtyard loving and I'm finally leaving them all behind. They've kindly offered me a lunch to say "adios", which obviously I've said "hell yes" too. I'm no fool, free food + drink = funtimes Pipsywoo!

I'm a little excited about the future but I'm constantly feeling emotional about leaving this part of my life behind; work, friends, my parents being accessible and my grandma. I feel extremely bad about leaving my grandma behind but I have committed 10 years to caring for her, and my mum is soon semi-retiring, so will have more time to offer her.

For my departure lunch, I'm going to get drunk off my arse and wear sequins. I love sequins, they are so happy and sparkly! It won't be the first time I've been drunk at work, or with work colleagues but it will be the first time it's in the middle of the day and not the next day!

I'm a little worried I'll cry all the way through lunch, there I'll be, wearing hot pink sequins, drunk on red wine and crying inbetween bites of my meal, sobbing my heart out with every mouthful, declaring my undying love and appreciation for everything my bosses have done for me. Oh what a sight it'll be!

Eek! I'm so excited! Sequins, good wine, a three course meal and, me, a sobbing mess, is there anything more perfect?!

Osama

I originally posted this on ThisBarThatBar but I've decided it is quite a personal statement and probably belongs here, due to that fact:

I'm not sure I believe this story! It all seems so ideal. There seems to be no evidence at all, it was him and yet, America is claiming they've killed Osama Bin Laden.

I get that their intelligence is extremely high and they, probably, wouldn't go in and kill anyone, I do believe that they believe it was him and maybe it was. Let's be fair, it probably was him and he has just been hanging out in Pakistan for years, chilling and enjoying some iced tea (I like the idea of him drinking Iced Tea, while in a deck chair?!).

I've been saying for years that he's working in one of the middle American States flipping burgers, but seriously I think he's been dead for ages. I personally don't believe he was killed at the weekend. I'm not sure why I feel like this, maybe it's the cynical, doubtful Brit in me, or maybe, I just like a good conspiracy theory. Who knows?! It all seems so perfect and ideal, especially politically standing, when people were starting to doubt Mr Obama, especially as people seem to think that a countries leader will change things over night, and supposedly he hasn't changed anything so far?!

I agree that Osama wasn't a nice person (within the highest order. What he represented, was horrid and for him to claim the instigation and actions of 9/11 is unforgivable and disgusting), but didn't he deserve to go on trial and get a relatively fair one at that? If there is such a thing. To have gone in to kill, seems extremely heartless, and don't get me wrong, he was a very warped and horrid being but I thought democracy was about the right to a trial and judgement by your peers, etc. I'm just so confused. For what he represents; death seemed apt, but there is still a part of me that believes, the way it was dealt with, will cause more issues in the future.

At least Saddam Hussein received a trial, by his own people. I know Osama doesn't really have his own people (most countries disown him), so therefore he would have been extradited to the UN, where he probably wouldn't have even made it to court anyway, but?!

I guess in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't really matter if he's alive or dead. The extremists will continue to hail him an icon and he will represent their beliefs. We Westerners will still see him as one of the purest forms of evil and responsible for some horrific acts by human beings.

So I guess the real question is: Is his death actually relevant?

Suicide by Rock n Roll

David Bowie - Rock n Roll Suicide

Every time I hear this song, I see it used in a film, where the main loveable character sings it at karaoke and looses their head by the end of the film. Here's hoping that one day, Hollywood reads my blog!

Get a Handle Pipsywoo

I'm currently hoping someone will employ me to be their assistant in London. Tom and I are heading that way in June. I'm overly excited, a little anxious and generally pissed off, but I'm only pissed off right now, in 30 minutes I'll be fine.

The reason I'm peed off is: I've signed up with a creative industry agency in London, whom everyone recommended. They seem extremely professional and nice. The lady who called me was so, so lovely and she organised me an interview at their offices on Monday, when Tom and I are hoping to get irritated and pissed off at the lack of flats in our chosen area.

To save time, they've sent me through an online prove it test, to ensure that I can use a computer (mainly, I think it's to prove I've at least a whole brain and can switch a computer on), I tried to take the test the evening I got it, but I decided I'd drink beer and watch bad TV instead, as I got nervous. Then I thought about it last night but I watched a sad film and cried instead. Today, I finally bit the bullet and I found that my Mac isn't eligible for the programme required, luckily my work Mac has a PC on it too, I'm still unsure why?!

I got it running and had a go. I thought I'd try Excel first, as I can use it to a relatively competent level, although my main usage for it is to make guest lists, calendars and touring budgets, nothing more exciting, like pie charts but maybe one day. I fucked up the test big and royally! Firstly, the user system she sent over was PC based Office 2007 (I knew it would be but I didn't realise how different it is to Mac's Office setup). We use Mac based Office 2011, and were on 2010 until a month a go (this transition alone took me two weeks to master). I spent most of the test trying to find where everything was and then I fucked it anyway, as I didn't realise that the first few questions were actually supposed to change things, instead of you click on the correct area, get no response and then move on. I'm a dick, I've never done one of these tests before, I only wrote my first CV, ever, last month.

I'm guessing I've got about 50% right, when in fact it should be at least 90%.

Secondly, after nerves and annoyance, I settled for a typing test but I freaked and started looking at what I was writing, instead of what I was supposed to be writing, then my hands started to shake so I kept on hitting the wrong keys and then, bang, just like that, the test was over. I got about two paragraphs just finished, if that, and they were tiny paragraphs.

I've got left Word (I feel mildly confident but am crapping my pants, due to feeling relatively confident about Excel. I'll end up searching for the right list, option, key, etc for most of it, again) and Powerpoint (which I've already explained I've never used, so that could be fun?!).

The thing is, I don't want to blame it on the different user faces, as that is bollocks and I've got to remember that most office in London use PC's. I've got to reacclimatise to the grey, non-sensicle, awkward world that is Microsoft. Whether I like it or not. Which won't be that hard, it's only been 10 years since I was using one actively. But I'm a quick learner and once I'm dealing with a PC everyday, I'll pick it up in no time, no time at all but throwing myself into a test which is wholly PC based and having never seen Excel or Word in PC Office 2007 format before, has made me feel crappy about the whole thing.

I just pray to god that my interviewer likes me, otherwise I'm screwed!

Man V. Food

I exposed my housemate to this TV show at the weekend, and she loved it. It's perfect weekend TV and it never fails to make me hungry!

I think he's great, what could be better than watching a guy devour shit loads of food?! Yum!

Some people wonder why you'd want to watch a guy eat copious amounts of food, my question is "why wouldn't you?", it's a feat of human accomplishment, I stupid accomplishment but one, none the less! I could never do it and why isn't he the size of the house?!

I wonder how often he films the epic eating? I'm assuming one a week, maybe?! One a day in a row would be crazy talk!

Just watch him eat 5 Fat sandwiches, god I'm starving now!

Gertrude Jeannette

What an awesome woman Gertrude is!

And I'm loving the tagline on the right "Woman: I had no clue my lover's dead granny was in the bedroom closet", it's so Jerry Springer! I can almost imagine Jerry saying "And here is the ex-lover's dead granny to have her say..".

Claudia Winkleman

I really dislike *Claudia Winkleman, I'm not sure when I started to dislike her, or when it became an over whelming desire to eradicate her from my television but I do.

I don't remember hating her back when (in fact I used to like her), but right now, I really dislike her and whenever she comes on the radio or tv, I want to remove her orange face and over khol'd eyes from said item. It's not personal, it's more that she seems a bit pointless. She currently hosts 'Film 2011' and yet they employ an film expert to tell her what the film is about and why it's good. I've never seen such a pointless situation in my life?! God, it makes me so so angry!!! I guess it's Film 2011 fault and not her's but I've some how morphed my issue on to her.

I bet 'Film 2011' ratings have declined massively since Jonathon Ross left, why not just have the film expert host it, or James King from Radio1 host it. Or launch a new face, who is charismatic and obsessively informed about films.

I saw her host "Nevermind the Buzzcocks" a while ago and she was pretty rubbish on that also. Unable to banter with the teams and bad timing with jokes but in an unfunny way. I'm sure she's a lovely person but couldn't she open a flower shop or a cake shop instead of hosting everything I want to watch!



*I dislike her so much that I considered linking to her Wikipedia page, to help identify her for you but couldn't be bothered, because I dislike her that much!!!

Blonde Moment

I always thought that an "airstrike" was when other countries forced your country to not fly planes or helicopters. No shit!

And I've always wondered why that would cause such disruption to civil war, etc. I knew it was wrong but never really thought about finding out what one actually was. I now know, it's all cool and it makes loads more sense, obviously!

Laurence Olivier

I'm not sure why but this is one of my favourite photos. It's by Terry O'Neill and I think it's perfect in every way!

Community Blogging

I'm trying to start a community blog with some female friends, who I think highly of.
I'd like it to be a collection of thoughts, feelings, desires, reviews, etc. that is what I'm aiming for. I've asked numerous friends to join me and I'm hoping eventually it'll pay off. It could be very interesting, if it works out.
Here's hoping for the future of This Bar / That Bar.

The Wire

I'm 28 minutes away from the end of the final episode. I'm going to lay my cards down and declare Bubbles "Reginald" the winner of the show. He's the only decent one out of the lot of them. Bloody hell, I'm going to miss it, it was a slow burning love but it is bloody great!
If you haven't seen it, do so!


- Posted from the pit of despair

Thank fuck for the NHS

I read this article today and it makes me thank god that we in Britain have the NHS. You may snipe, bitch and criticise it for how slow everything is and how crap it is run, but without it, we would all be having to pay huge bills for simple things like: doctor appointments, dentist check ups, operations, birth control, STD tests, etc.

We are one of the lucky countries, where most of this is, or can be free. And we should free privileged to have such an infrastructure. One that also will help tourists and aliens within our borders, without prejudice.
No, it's not perfect and a lot of the time it's dealing with twindling finances and constance 'round the houses' to get new policies in place. But it is something that we all take for granted and don't appreciate enough.

Maybe if we lived in a society where to get an abortion (a simple, private procedure), you have to face ignorant people, who feel it's their right to tell you, you'll burn in hell for killing a baby, regardless of considering there might be other issues at stake. Or if we had to pay for all of our birth control, or every visit we made to the doctors just to get a sick note, maybe we would then start to appreciate it?

PS I recommend the article above, it's well written and interesting to have an "abortion provider" talk openly about there profession. Especially from within a country where abortion can be seen as a huge taboo.

Kristen Schaal

I love love love Kristen Schaal, she's 100% amazing! If I was gay "hell yes"! Ever since I first saw her as Mel in "Flight of the Conchords", I've adored her. She's funny, intelligent and oh so adorably cute!

Here is a rather entertaining moment of her on "The Daily Show with John Stewart"!

Corinne Vionnet

Thoroughly enjoying her current project

An open letter to Hollywood...

Dear Hollywood,

Unless you have a magnificent computer generated film with a shit storyline, or an action packed film. There is no need to use 3D! I know it's all the rage at the moment and you can charge an extra £4 per ticket at the cinema, and make your film less interesting story wise, but it doesn't mean you can abuse this effect. Certain films are better with it and without it, pretty rubbish. Others have their own merits and should just stick to good old classic, silver screen style film making!

Kind regards
Pipsywoo

Drunken Countries

Here's a map of the drunkest countries. I like to think that I'm helping Britain stay dark purple!