For radiators

May15

Radiators are not so beautiful, placing them at a not so practical location can make trouble. Of course, they can be changed to another type of heating solution. Details: https://blog.classicinteriors.hu/?p=8844&lang=en. If they have to be there, bring the most out of them.
In Hungary, radiators are placed under the windows most of the cases. The demand to use this space also can occur especially in small flats. A simple console table gives an immediate solution. Push it over the radiator and it will be a useful storage place. The whole radiator can remain open with this method. Take care of putting only heat resistant objects there in the heating season
Certain parts of one-piece, custom-made cabinets – built-in the full width of the wall with the windows – might contain the radiator. They should have densely perforated doors for letting the heat to flow. If the other parts have doors with the same design, but only with a half-cut pattern, the harmony will be more perfect.
Let’s fix a floating shelf between the radiator and the windowsill. The shelf can be placed even on consoles fixed on the wall on the two sides of the radiator also. This is a solution for using the narrow windowsill also, for example for potted plants.
If the replacement of the radiators is necessary anyhow, there will be a possibility to implement a seating bench by choosing low but longer heaters, which can be useful parts of a dining corner or a reading nook, for example.
If we would like to hide only the radiator without building, let’s paint it to the color of the wall or the furniture with the proper heat-proof paint.
If luckily there are old cast iron radiators in good condition, do not change them to modern flat ones, because cast iron provides heat more intensely. Cast iron radiators can be purchased in shops again, which can be ordered in variable colors, this way there’s no need compromise for classic style.
The things mentioned above don’t regard to convectors due to open flame! Ask for help of an interior designer for planning.

Home bar

Apr6

Home bar – not for spirits only

Ordered shed

Feb27

Spring is here soon, it’s the opening season of garden jobs. Starting and keeping the time schedule is much easier if all the needed tools are ordered in their place. The required space for this is defined by the size of the house and the garden, such as the number of persons living there.
The most practical solution is a separate shed with enough space for smaller jobs if it would be rainy. Put a table in it which is tall enough to work comfortable on it standing nearby (plant transplantation, labeling, cuttings etc.). Probably less closed storages are needed, the open shelving is more practical usage of space. Hang hand tools (clippers, scissors, small shovel etc.) to hooks, this way they air better after accurate cleaning and they will be close at hand. Let’s row cords, ropes and thin wires to a kitchen paper towel holder for easier handling. Make custom storage without doors for the bigger machines like lawn mower and garden grill where they can be easily pushed in and pulled out when needed. This way the space above them is free to use because they don’t balk us to reach that wall. Put the bigger tools also on hooks fixed to the wall for the ordered sight and not to bump into them. Choose a shed with window if it is possible but proper lighting has to be ensured anyhow.
If there is no possibility for a separate shed, create the place of garden tools in the garage. Broom, rake, spade etc. can be hung on the side wall. If the building is wide and tall enough, closed cabinets can be built in above head height where pots and other accessories can be stored. Nothing will accidently fall to the car standing there, thanks to the doors.
If there is enough space only in the basement or in the attic for storing garden tools, we can still follow the ideas before, it will be just more tiresome to take down and put up the needed things. Cozy working corners can be also created here with proper lighting. If there is a greenhouse, „workstation” can be organized in one of its corners too. If we have no any other chance, put a cupboard inside the house, near the backdoor leading to the garden, with doors below and open shelves above, this way the most necessary tolls will be at hand going to the garden.
An interior designer can help in creating a functional and decorative place related to the garden also.

Pantry containers

Feb24

Decorative and useful containers in the pantry

Wine cellar

Sep9

Wine cellars in classic style

My project 9.

Sep7

My latest job on the lakbermagazin.hu website:
http://lakbermagazin.hu/lakberendezo/lakberendezo-munkak/2492-1-plusz-2-felszobas-budapesti-panellakas-klasszikus-stilusban-67m2.html

Organized desk

Sep5

Parents already bought every needed tool for their children for starting school: exercise books, pencils, scissors, chalks etc. These have to be stored in the children’s room also. Not everybody is lucky enough to have space for a separated cabinet near the desk for this purpose, so this has to be solved on the desk and the wall above it.
Let there be order and system when the child sits down to study: every tool should be found and reached easily, still there is enough free space for „work” and after it, it’s easy to put all back to their place. It’s practical to buy a desk which has some drawers, and if it has upper shelves, even more useful.
Storage boxes without lids in several sizes shall be put in every drawer to avoid disorder: these can be chocolate boxes made of metal or cardboard, small glass bowls or anything else which height fits in the drawer. Crayons, rubbers, drawing pins or every easily spreadable thing can be put in them.
We can make upper shelves for the available desk also: storage box with 2-3 drawers is perfect for this purpose. Fix a box on both side of the desk and paint it to the desired color but they can be wrapped with wallpaper also. If the created storage system is colorful, funny and playful, children are easily persuadable for using it.
Let’s make a back-plate for the desk, one side of it is painted with blackboard paint, the other is covered with cork. This way notes can be written and frequently used things can be pinned out.
Let’s fix some shelves above the desk on which storage boxes with lids and not-used school books and exercise books can be stored. If even more order is required, these can have doors also. It’s important that the child could reach them.
Place an old mug, a recycled tin can or a mason jar on the table as a pen holder. This will be a perfect place for often used scissors, pen and ruler.
Of course, desks of adults can be organized with the methods above… Ask for help of an interior designer for proper usage of the scarce learning nook!

Tin cans

Jul29

Some ideas for reusing empty tin cans

Jewellery storage

May23

Storing jewellery usually means putting them in a box/bowl which is hidden in the drawer or just leaving them on the table in a heap. Let’s be more creative and use our jewels as decoration while not wearing them.
Buy a dressing table which has glass top, so the contents of the drawers below are visible. Usually it is divided to sections, there are separate spaces for necklaces, bracelets, rings etc. It remains showy while it is closed and jewels won’t be dusty.
Let’s fix some nice and small hooks on the side of the wardrobe which is an unexploited area. Even more necklaces have place on each of them. If we would like a more striking sight, we can use drawer or door knobs in different sizes and colors instead of the hooks. Similar solution is fixing smaller hooks around an old-fashioned wooden hanger, this way it will be a great necklace holder.
There are ready-made so-called jewellery dolls with curved metal wires in the place of its arms and head. These are suitable for holding almost all kind of jewels. Figures for storing rings are also purchasable (in the shape of a shoe, a sofa, a flower etc.). These are padded and provide separate places for every single ring, this way they don’t contact each other.
Using a three-storied porcelain cake stand is a spectacular solution. The lower and bigger part holds the necklaces, the middle one holds the bracelets and the upper one holds the rings. It’s easy to find one fitting for the style of the room. We can make it by ourselves of wooden cake stands in different sizes.
Foam boards covered by light fabrics and laces put in frames are perfectly suitable for showy storing of earrings. Even a denser chicken wire can be put in frame for this purpose. Clips can be clipped on the edge of the table lamp’s lampshade.
There are several further solutions fitting for a classic style. Ask for help of an interior designer for planning and implementation!

Shoe tray

Apr4

Frosts are over, the ground becomes muddy because of spring rains and roads are wet in towns also. These can be seen on our boots and shoes of course: we bring the dirt to the porch and hallway. Only some can afford to have a mudroom where all muddy things can be left and it doesn’t matter if the floor becomes dirty. If there is no close hallway or it is small, this is a bigger problem.
Common solution is a plus mat in the hallway to put shoes on it. Its disadvantage is getting dirty soon, and if it is made of rubber, the muddy water remains on its surface and has to be cleaned daily.
A shoe-storage tray is a solution for this, which can be bought in shops also – but we can easily make one by ourselves, this way it will be unique and fit to the interior. All we need is a tray with higher edges. This could be made of metal, plastic or wood (it’s easy to make one from rods), depends on the style. If we just simply put the shoes in it, they would stand in the dirty water. So, let’s fill the tray with a material which lets through the water to the bottom of the tray. This way the soles of shoes can dry out. This material could be small river-gravels, white chads, bigger decor pebbles (black, white, grey) but even glass gravels too. These can be washed in some weeks.
Using corks is a decorative but less lasting solution. Juxtapose them tight. We can raise their lifetime by lacquering top and bottom of them. We can put an outdoor plastic or metal grille in the tray also. In this case we can fill the holes with small pebbles or put a leachy faux-grass on it. Some hard-bristle domestic brushes without haft placed with bristles-up are spectacular and useful solution also.
It’s a more creative way to reuse a fitting object instead of a tray: e.g. a drawer, an old tool box without its lid, a smaller suitcase etc. Its width is important because the biggest shoe/boot should be fit in easily. We can fix wheels or legs on the bottom of them for the more interesting look.
Ask for help of an interior designer for solving smaller problems clever and stylish.