[Epona]

I have a flat in London, in a small block (5 flats) built in the '60s. I've been here since November last year, and I love it.

2 bedrooms (one of which is my study) - both are a good size.

At the moment I'm in the study - I have Winnie The Pooh wallpaper in here, because it used to be a childs bedroom - bright yellow walls with pictures of all the characters - Winnie and Piglet, Tigger, Eeyore, Owl, Christopher Robin, etc. with little bees and butterflies around them. Was going to paint it but decided it's nice and bright and cheery so it stays for the time being. Blue carpet, lots of bookshelves, my desk and PC. I have a space cleared and when I get more money I'm going to get a sofabed in here - a seating area with a comfy sofa and a coffee table that will convert to a guest room. I have a framed Chagall poster on the wall (Couple sur St. Paul de Vence).

My bedroom is also a good size, and contains my lovely comfy king size iron frame bed, wardrobe, chest of drawers, hifi, and currently my parrot's cage. It's decorated in cream and lilac - wouldn't be my first choice but it's quite tasteful so won't be decorating in there for a while, besides which my lilac/blue bedlinen that I had before I moved in goes quite nicely. Nice thick lilac carpet.

My hallway is horrible - pink walls and horrible 1970s brown floral carpet (yuk) which is worn through - but I can't afford to replace it at the moment. When I have some money, I intend to get some sort of natural fibre/colour textured carpet.

Sitting room is large - 22' long, with a large window at one end. Same horrible carpet as in the hall (and I intend to replace it with the same carpet I want in the hall), and I've recently stripped the wallpaper off the walls uncovering terracotta and mustard yellow paint (ouch). I'm painting it cream, and am going to put framed posters on the walls - I already bought some in anticipation - film posters of Vertigo and Mon Oncle (both orange) and a large b&w 1930s photo of Grand Central Station in NY. The room will have a sofa and chairs at one end, and a dining area at the other. At the moment there are loads of empty cardboard boxes, wallpaper everywhere, and my sofa, TV and hifi at one end!

The kitchen needs a lot of work. I have a fridge, washing machine and microwave, but no cooker. 1 long counter, a couple of cabinets, and a sink. That's it. The floor is stained blue carpet tiles. When I can afford it, the whole lot's coming out and I'm replacing it all with modern/retro freestanding units, and wooden flooring. It's a good size though, also room for a small table and chairs.

I have a bath/shower room with a fair sized bath and a separate double shower cubicle, and a big hand basin, and a seperate room for the toilet. Both are newly refurbished and look nice.

I also have loads of storage space - 3 built in walk-in cupboards, one of which is a room in its own right - but it doesn't have windows so I'm keeping it for storage and will put a chest-freezer in there when I can afford one.

So in all, I will have in my flat 2 seating areas for relaxing (one for TV, one for reading) and 2 dining areas - 1 nice one for entertaining, and the other informal in the kitchen.

It is a lovely flat, but part of it feels as if it's been gutted at the moment and needs some work doing.

The other bonus is that it's in a not too bad area of East London (hey, in East London it's all relative, but it's not as bad as some areas - the place I used to live was the UK murder capital LOL), I have a view of Canary Wharf, and it's well away from main roads - the only access is pedestrian only and lined with trees so it's really quiet, no traffic noise at all, and close to Central London.