Project ReModel

Hello again,

So as you guys may or may not know, last year I completely renovated my whole entire house. However with any project like this, it may have technically finished the end of last year, there were a few things to tweak/add... etc. Which has been a major factor for not updating you guys at all. 

But as the final touches start to come together I thought I would start letting you guys in on the final piece and the little tips and tricks I have picked up on the way. 

So as I mentioned, once I got back from Japan and my extensive travels through Asia were over, I returned to a very empty home in the UK. And as it had been empty for almost a year, it was glaringly obvious that the house needed a complete overhaul. And seeing as the furniture wouldn't come back until December it made perfect sense to renovate.

See the thing about redecorating it is 100% easier to do it when there is not a bunch of 'crap' you have to move around. Another thing is when you live in a compact/open plan house *scratch that* if you live in any house once you've revamped one room the other rooms look even worse than they did before. When you realise that the bathroom you thought was white for 7 years is actually grey, once white; many a life time ago, it's quite easy to catch the bug.

As with anything though I tried to be organised because I am a very organised person I promise! I made a long extensive list, I love a good list me.

So this is my MEGA List as I called it, and a warning to this day not everything on it is done... yet!

• Quotes for Basement tanking
• Redo Basement tanking 
• Declutter 
• Paint 
• Kitchen/Hall
• Lounge
• Basement 
• Bathroom 
• Woodwork (whole house)
• Door curtain 
• New curtains in Lounge
• S's bedside table 
• Window seat M
• Window seat L
• Paint TV cabinet
• DIY 
• Kitchen shelves
• shelves
• Glue down puckering wallpaper
• Fix lights is bedrooms 
• Sell 
• bedside table 
• radiator cover 
• sofas x2
• bed
• coat stand
• Buy 
• sofa
• carpet
• flooring 
• chair
• blinds
• armchair 
• Redo Kitchen Work surface ENTIRELY!

There is probably a lot missing, and I can predict that some of these don't make any sense to you but hold tight it will all make sense soon.

It is important to know what you are doing before you attempt a mammoth project like this so I would suggest you make your own MEGA List. As you can see my list is a bit of mess, take it from someone that has made many boo-boos, I would recommend going through each room and writing down everything that needs to be done in that room and then go to the next room and so on.

I also made an accurately measured floor plan, this helped a bunch when looking at new furniture and playing with the orientation in each room. It also helps if you are having trouble visually imagining the space finished.

Me being a budding architect I used software like Sketchup and Auto CAD to do this, however, this is not at all necessary.  You can either do this the proper old fashioned way with a piece of graph paper and pencil and a scale of some sort, or you can use a piece of very easy internet software called Planner5D. Free for amateurs to use to make simple floor plans and even better with one click of a button it makes it a 3D model for you!

My Last tip for the project is, if you haven't already, Pinterest the heck out of it. Create as many boards as you like over some time and reflect every now and again. Pinterest is a great place to hone your aspirations, style and understand the feel you want for each room.

WARNING, try not to fall into the trap of replicating a picture you found, you want to take inspiration but then make it your own. To replicate is to just have a catalogue home and if you aspire to have a home that is 'Pinterest worthy' it has to be clever, unique and desirable. This is achieved through making your own design, by combining the best of what Pinterest has to offer.

So that was possibly a lot of babble, and I know you are dying to know what the house looks like. So ... here is a little sneaky peek... 

Whether you guys are thinking about renovating or just nosey about what my house looks like, I hope you liked it and stay tuned to hear about each room individually.

Toodles, Maria x

Home

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British Byway - Headlam/Gainford

What's Happening! (eww weird)

However weird it's a good question, isn't it, I have been terribly inconsistent even though I have plenty to write about. But the good news is I back! - for a good amount of time *fingers crossed* 

So I've decided to create a little series called 'British Byway' in which I will chit chat about all my wanderings around Britain. 

Which brings me to my first instalment, I decided to join my mum in County Durham. Obviously, you had no idea unless you follow me on Instagram (@solvingmaria), but to be fair neither did I. I travelled up on Saturday evening and I didn't book the train ticket until 2 hours before I had to hop on the train.  

The train journey was an adventure in itself, seeing as Belle my fluffy rough collie was coming with me and had never been through London. She was an angel as always of course but I felt like a proud mommy seeing her cope so well even on the tube. Even though we had to take hundreds of steps down as dogs aren't allowed on escalators. not to mention Belle is almost 13 she's not so keen on steps either.

Anyway once we arrived it was rather late so the adventures began on Sunday, but I think I'll save that for later. 

Today I wanted to talk about Monday, my mum had gone to work so it was just Belle and I, with no car in the middle of nowhere, pretty much. we had a pretty chill morning and I did some research and found a village nearby. therefore we left for the village to find somewhere for lunch. Unfortunately, after about an hours stroll there we arrived to find that the town was shut on Mondays. 

This is Belles Face as I  left her at the top stile for a moment, 

one of many I struggled to get over. 
Bear in mind there is amount a metre between that step and the ground below.

Trying not to be too disheartened I decided that we would take a public footpath back instead of just the side of the road. Though I'm not entirely sure whether that was a good idea. Well, there were pros & cons; Pros - hilarious photo, cons - we were lost for a considerable amount of time. 

The point is it was fun! and I have some photos to share. 

See you soon, to tell you about ... actually, I'm not sure yet. 

Hey ho, I hope you enjoyed the read and come back soon for more. don't forget you can make this easier by following my blog using the button on the right --> 

Maria x 

Explore

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Travel Diary; Grampians

Morning,

My bad, I have been a little absent recently. I have been one busy lady, they might say.

However, now it is in easter and I'm on holiday. Yay! I will fill everything in ASAP but for now, I have this for you.



Exciting! The past few days I have been in the Grampians about 3 hours away from Melbourne, and I thought I would have a go at a little travel diary.

I really hope you enjoy/ed it, let me know in the comments below and don't forget to follow so that you keep up to date with my erratic post schedule. (I'm trying to combat that)

Maria x

Explore

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Mini Trip to Plymouth.

Good evening,

So aside from the never-ending catch-up, it's nice to write about something a little more current. However, saying that I don't really plan on writing a lot - mostly pictures today I think. But you know me I'll have to get back to you on that because I'm sure by the end it will be completely the opposite.

Anyway, last month I had a weekend off so I decided the normal student thing to do was was travel to the end of the country on a train. Normal of course. Not a completely wasted trip I assure you, a few of my friends are at uni there, as well as my grandma that lives nearby.

First Stop Grandmas, I wasn't going to get away with travelling all that way ad not popping in, I kid, I love my grandma to pieces, in fact, the night I arrived I went to La La Land with her. Side note - AMAZING film. My cousin Amy (Blog) even came up from Plymouth to go to the cinema and catch up.

Next stop Plymouth, my trip was not exactly planned in advance so getting in touch with everyone was a little difficult, however, I did, of course, see my cousin and one of my friends from Tokyo. Geoff (Photography Instagram) and I managed to arrive ourselves, we even went for Sushi, but let's be honest English sushi I just not the same in comparison with Japan. It's expensive and lets not even get into the fact that I ordered a cucumber sushi roll and the rice was warm! Anyway, it was really good to catch up me, I hadn't seen anyone from Japan since June so it had been a long time.

Later on that weekend, the sunshine decided to poke its head out for an afternoon, so we decided to venture out with our cameras in tow. It was still incredibly windy, so it's a good thing I don't vlog, despite many people's insistence, I should.  We went to The Hoe, and it was surprisingly not freezing which meant we were able to take nice pictures of us as well as of the beautiful scenery. Although I had a feeling sunglass were needed occasionally (see picture below). It is just typical British weather you need every type of weather gear possible for one afternoon, sunglasses, coat, umbrella.

The point is we had a great a great weekend and the sunny afternoon brought with it great photos. And now I have visited them down in London its time for them to travel up to see me in bustling London a sure change from the seaside city of Plymouth.

You know sometimes when I start writing a post I have no idea what I am on about! A post full of pictures you say, past maria? You only have photos of one sunny afternoon, Idiot. Although I did alright at keeping words to a minimum.

Well, I hope you enjoyed reading/looking at my little mid-term adventure and I will see you all soon.

Maria x

P.s. If you want a heads up of when I post there is a little button in the sidebar just under "about me" called "Followers" hit the follow button to get updates on when I post.

Student

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Design 101 - Who are you?

Introduce yourself to the course - Fact sheet and Collage 

 

Portfolio

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I'm at Uni!

Hi,

Look at me being so efficient! Defying the odds. (Haha, maybe not, I took my time finishing it) However, unfortunately, this may not be a terribly long post, oh well. 

So for those of you that don't know last year, I did my last year of A Levels. I think I'll talk a bit more about that process another time but needless to say, I did well enough to get into university. 

I am now a full-time student at London Southbank University studying architecture!

I remember the day we got our results, I spent most of the night before coming up with plan A.B, C, D and E.(Yes, I literally had that many, no joke)  Only to find out I got into my insurance choice, all that anxiousness and thoughts of being incredibly busy dissipated and I was left with absolutely nothing to do. It was weird.

Anyway, in September I enrolled after another debacle with changeovers, this time with my dance certificate. Why is enrolling so difficult for me and why the hell is a dance certificate so damn important especially for an Architecture course! If I was studying dance I would understand, maybe.

As you can imagine, the first week was terrifying. It was instantly apparent my course was huge and bigger than normal. We are a real mixed bunch, which makes it kind of interesting, but also makes crits incredibly long. Just as well there is a pub round the corner to escape to after.

So it's now February and I have finished the first semester, time really does fly. A major jump I know. And overall it's been a lot of fun so far. We have been studying all sorts from; architectural engineering to the history of Architecture. And for the Studio and design sections of the course our topics have included, the Visible and Invisible City, as well as Room in a City. All of which will appear in the Portfolio section of my blog in due course.

We just handed in our Portfolios for an interim mark so that we get an idea of where we are. So undoubtedly there will be some things to tweak.  And This week we start semester 2 which mixes all of semester 1 topics into one in one very long and in-depth project that will finish in May.

If you would like to know any more or have any questions feel free to comment down below. Other than that I hoped you enjoyed a little overview of uni so far, and I hope to fill you in more as time goes on.

See you soon,

Maria x

Student

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Raffles Long bar

Hi,

I bet you're Surprised, I'm sure you weren't expecting this so soon.

On my travels in the summer, as you are aware, I went to Singapore. You're all acutely aware I love cocktails too so, it was impossible for me especially not to visit the birthplace of the Singapore Sling. The Long bar itself is an experience, it's like stepping back in time. From the colonial facade to the interior teakwood bar and wicker chairs not to mention the traditional reef fans. You can really imagine this being the hub of socialites back in the day. Real nostalgia visit. 

The bar isn't really one of the bars you eat food apart from peanuts. Not the place to go if you have a peanut allergy at all. PEANUTS EVERYWHERE. The idea is that you nibble on the sack of peanuts on your table and then chuck the remains on the floor. The clean organised person that I am thought that the bar needed a clean when I first arrived, but after realising it was on purpose it was kind of exhilarating. 

The Singapore Sling was created in 1915 by Niam Ton Boon at Raffles long bar. At the time women were not allowed to drink alcohol in public, so he decided to create a drink that would not scream alcohol and looked more like a fruit punch. Saying that doesn't mean now it's thought of as a girly drink. However, when we were there were plenty of both genders.

It was just an amazing experience that you must go to, I can't stress that enough. As you can see from the picture below we didn't go in the evening, for us, it was more of a pre-dinner drinks. We had a relaxing girly day prior shopping at the Orchid ion mall, followed by the cinema and a photoshoot for the blog. And after we moved our cocktails and nibbles to a Tapas bar near, also delicious with a great outdoor atmosphere.

So that was my experience at the long bar, and I hope you enjoyed reliving the experience with me. I'm also sure I have adequately wetted your appetite so for the people that don't live in Singapore or can't afford to travel there immediately he is a recipe so you can attempt to make one at home.

Good luck and share the outcome with me on Instagram (@solvingmaria) if you give it a go. I hope you enjoined and feel free to comment down below.

Maria x

Singapore

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The New Year, new me crap & where have I been.

How we all feel in January. (this was actually our version of the boxing day dip)

Good Evening,


So its now 2017, Happy new year!

Before we look ahead let's reflect;

As you all know last summer I went on what I called at the time my summer escapade. You'll also be acutely aware that apart from two blogs from Singapore, you hardly heard anything more. Which at first was not my fault because for the best part of a month I went back to the stone age and had no Wi-Fi. And then lets me honest I got lazy and then extremely busy with Uni (yes, watch this space) and as I had said renovating literally my whole house.

So I've been busy, But I still want to share everything that has happened, for my own logging and also for your interest. But be warned it is going to trickle out of the creative tap.

Well, let's move on from that and talk about the new year and what that entails for the blog. If it wasn't obvious already, the blog is still alive, and fingers crossed not due to die anytime soon. But I did originally start this blog due to my move to Japan and brand it as such. However, I no longer live in Japan, so the plan is to broaden its horizons.

If you know me I love a list, so here a little list of things you can come to expect from this platform;

• Finishing Summer Escapade 2k16 series
• Home Renovation & Interior Design
• Japan - because I loved it so, I'm sure there is still plenty to talk about.
• Being at Uni and Student Life 
• An Expansion of my Portfolio. 
• Travel (I already have trips booked)
• Food/Drinks - who doesn't love to eat/drink!

Ideally, I would like to post at least once a week, but I'm not sure how possibly that is likely to be. Let's start once a fortnight for now. and you all have permission to pester me when I start slacking. 

See you soon, on the next experience at Raffles Long Bar in Singapore so stay tuned.

Maria x 

Update

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Hibiscus Cocktails

Evening all,

Well, I'm writing this in the morning but it's only socially acceptable to drink in the evening after 12 pm at a push if you've had a hard day or your celebrating.

Anyways who cares. As many of you, many of you may know I quite like drinking but I also like experimenting with cocktails. That sentence took longer than it should have, writing what I had in my head without sounding like an alcoholic rather difficult apparently.

Getting distracted! The point is recently I was experimenting is a hibiscus cordial I had acquired from the Great East India Tea Company, and they were amazing if I don't say so myself so I thought I should share. They are good either for everyday or special occasion.

left- Hibiscus Cooler               Right - Hibiscus G&T

So let's get into it...
(warning none of these measurements are precise or technical)

Hibiscus Gin & Tonic

Kinda self-explanatory, a G&T with a twist.

1) Pick your favorite Gin, mine being Tanqueray, and depending how strong/weak you want it, add 1/2 shots 

2) Pick your favorite Tonic, I strongly recommend the fever tree brand especially for this recipe the one with a hint of elderflower. Then add to make the G&T strength you like.

3) Then the new bit, add in the Hibiscus cordial. This is also to taste and how you prefer it. I probably added 1/2 tablespoons. 

4) Add some ice, and enjoy.

Hibiscus Cooler 

A tall and longer drink. Which usually means; easier to drink. In the picture, I did not serve on ice but I would recommend crushed ice as an extra touch. 

1) Add 1/2 shots of your preferred spirit, either in a shaker or chosen tall glass alone with ice. I used Gin again but I have tried since and used vodka, so they are interchangeable. 

2) Then add the mixers into the shaker/glass, which are tropical fruit juice (preferably with passion fruit included) and lemonade of equal amounts. These are the main liquids so add appropriately to fill the glass/glasses.

3) Add the cordial, depending on how big your glass is 1/2 tablespoons and maybe a bit more. Now shake/ stir.

4) Now serve into the glass and add a straw. At this point, I also added a dash of Grenadine slowly down the straw to get the separation effect. And Enjoy!

Now your all set to make an hibiscus flavored drink. Have a go and enjoy, post your experiments on Instagram and tag me @solvingmaria or use the #solvingmariafood

I look forward to enjoying them with you,

Maria x

Food

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