Shop Spotlight: The Conran Shop

Inside the shop

As I mentioned in my last post, I have just started a new job as an Art Producer and Creative Researcher at AMV, a creative advertising agency. I'm just coming to the end of my third week and it's flown by. It's a slight move away from design but I'll be working very closely with photographers and illustrators, which is what I love.

The offices are in Marylebone, an area I'm not too familiar with, which means I get to do one of my favourite things and explore! We are minutes away from Marylebone High Street, full of great little shops and cafes.

Neon tags in the stationary section

I popped in to the Conran Store on my lunch break. The flagship store is one of the most beautifully curated shops I have ever been in. You'll find some of their design classics alongside a fantastic art and design book shop. I sprayed a bit of the Comme Des Garcons perfume and spent a while eyeing up the bits and bobs in the brilliant stationary section.

One day my bathroom shelves will look like this!

I didn't buy anything on this quick trip but I spied some bathroom products I'm going to treat myself to when it's finally all done. There's something about black and white products that just look so nice and simple.

The Conran Store
55 Marylebone High Street

Bathroom Update: My first DIY challenge

So the bathroom is midway through its makeover. For anyone on a budget, there is nothing more annoying than paying someone to do a job they don't do properly...

Above is the builder's attempt to do the sealant. Lumpy, thick and just so wrong. I mentioned in Post 1 that I was going to try and do some of it myself. I was thinking more along the lines of putting up a shelf or painting a wall, but my DIY skills were tested earlier than I thought.

I wanted to make the whole process as easy as possible. After a trip to Homebase I discovered a lot about sealant. Riveting? No. Useful? yes.

Not wanting to faff around with the big ones you put inside a gun, I found this Unibond Go, which has a nozzle already built in and is really easy to use.



Here's what it looked liked after I had scraped the first layer off - not a pretty sight.

 Me smoothing down the sealant with my finger dipped in Fairy liquid so it doesn't get stuck. Can you see the bath is full of water? That's another tip I learnt: Always fill the bath up before applying the sealant because the weight of the water can cause the bath to drop a couple of mm and break the sealant (like it did the first time).

So here are the results... I'm really pleased. It was so much easier than I had thought and it's always a good feeling to know you can do something that you would have paid someone else to do.

The only thing I would change if I was to do it again would be to use clear sealant around the wooden shelf as the white is a bit bright - but I think I can live with that.

Project Bathroom

It's been slightly longer than usual since have posted. This is because I have been chin deep in doing up my bathroom. It's tiny, minuscule in fact at 1.5 x 1.5m. Meaning basic things like finding a bath (ours is smaller than standard size) are more difficult with often pretty expensive, limited choices. And did I mention the nightmare of finding nice, small storage solutions to hide away all the bathroom clutter? And all on a budget, of course. 

Old bathroom, mid makeover

The only thing I was sad to see go: Our old original 1950s taps

The poor bathroom was well over due a makeover, but to be fair I was a little late on snapping these as some boards and the tiles had already been ripped off. But you get the idea, it was pretty chaotic. As you can see from our ugly toiletries basket and our broken towel rail, below, we had given up.

Our current storage solution

The broken towel rail

So I have been searching high and low and below are a few inspiration images of what I want it to look like (see more on my Pinterest). But is that realistic in such a small space? Stay tuned for updates on my attempts to achieve scandinavian minimalism in a mini space on an even minnier budget, £500 to be exact, which also means I will be doing some of the work myself.

Love these glossy subway style tiles and a chunky sink...

Love the large nails for towel hooks

Grey and yellow work well as accent colours in a white bathroom...

Monotone always works

I want a 'curated shelf' and might try dark green painted bath...

Raw looking wood against the crisp white works really well.