An indulgent evening.

Once a week I have the house to myself (after the children are in bed of course), as David goes to our friends' house to play games. Usually I take advantage of having the space to myself sans children and tidy stuff, or at least spend a fair amount of time looking around the ground floor of my house mentally tidying, re-arranging and decorating. Last night I did none of those things as a teething baby and a tetchy (nursery is tiring him out) toddler makes for a tired mummy. So, armed with a bar of Dairy Milk and the remote control, I turned to Channel 4 for an interiors TV fix. I was not disappointed.

At 8pm, and just in the nick of time, I found that George Clarke had a new series called Amazing Spaces where he tours around the country in search of innovative uses of small spaces. 

Image from here.

My favourite build was a conversion of some old underground public toilets in London's Crystal Palace. Architect Laura Jane Clark had picked up the old amenities from the council for a pittance and converted it into a light-filled, tastefully furnished studio apartment complete with guitar den and outside space! 

Image from here.

Image from here.

She had even used the original wall tiles as the splashback in her kitchen! These looked great, but caused George Clarke to nearly throw up at the thought. I assume she'd had the tiles chemically treated and sealed before cooking anything in there! If you're interested, Clark documented the entire project on her blog, Crystal Palace Underground Toilets Renovations.

Image from here.

Other ideas included transforming an old bus into a plush holiday let, and the first step in George's own renovation - re-doing an old 60s static caravan into something an architect would want to be seen relaxing in with his family.

Then at 9pm, I indulged myself even more after seeing an advert for Sarah Beeny's Selling Houses! Good old Channel 4 - it rarely fails me! 

Image from here.

In the second of the series, Beeny took on three vendors who were having trouble selling their properties - one bed flats in Clapham, London on the market between £305k and £350k. Yep, property does seem to be that expensive there! The vendors were allowed to have a snoop around each others flats to see how their own flats shaped up against the competition. Each seller was then given £1000 to make changes to their property in the hope of clinching a sale. Towards the end of the programme, Sarah Beeny showed a prospective around all three properties in the hope that a deal could be done. Simple TV, perfect for someone who enjoys nosing around other people's houses.

By the end of the evening I was super relaxed and took to bed with my iPad to gather inspiration for Astrid's upcoming birthday (I know, I can't believe she's nearly one either). I was soon forced out of my reveries by Torin who was then up for the next few hours with a temperature and then, once finally creeping into bed at 1ish, woken by Astrid at 5.40am who was not at all interested in going back to sleep. Fingers crossed for more sleep tonight!