Lockdown: At Home - Eve

What’s your name and what do you do?

Hi my name is Eve and I work as an Executive Office Manager for TBL International, the company that runs Titanic Belfast.  I am very much missing walking into that amazing building every day to go to work and at least I can just about see it from my make-shift office at home!

Who lives in your home?

Monday to Friday it is me, my husband Michael and our daughter Ella and then at the weekend my step kids Bella and Josh come and join the party.  

How would you describe your home?

Our house is a victorian terrace so has lots of period features that I just love but we have also brought some modern elements into the mix with a modern kitchen, concrete flooring in the kitchen and dining rooms and our furniture is mainly modern but with some beautiful vintage pieces thrown into the mix like the stunning old wooden locker cabinet that is in the photo.  We like to keep things quite clean and simple with minimal clutter but I bring in cosiness with textiles and plants.   I love colour on the walls - something I had to convince Michael about (but I am stubborn and he gives in ) - we have a pink kitchen, green dining room, grey living room, blue hallway....the only room in the house that is white is our bedroom!

What have you enjoyed about your home during the lockdown?

The house is three storeys and there are lots of nooks so there is always somewhere to hide when you need a bit of space or a quite spot to read - a definite advantage during the current lockdown! But the best thing is definitely our roof terrace which we added last year - before the only outdoor space we had was a small back yard that gets no sunlight.  With the fantastic weather that we have been having during the quarantine we have been able to be up on our completely private outdoor space looking out over Belfast.  I don't know if we would have survived this with our sanity in tact if we did not have our little rooftop oasis!  The kids slept out on the terrace for the first time a few weeks ago and it was magical.

Is there a DIY job you've got round to that you're proud of?

Ugh no!  My husband and I are still working full time from home so by the time the weekend comes round we are ready to relax.  I did do a few room clearouts but then realised that the dumps weren't open so there was nowhere to get rid of all the stuff I was clearing so that brought an end to that - only so much I can hide under all the beds in the house.  Not really DIY but I did manage to revive some outdoor plants that were looking near their end after winter so I am proud of that!

If you could change anything about your home, what would it be?

To have more privacy at the front of  the house.  Being an end terrace and with only a very small patch of land at the front of the house we are very close to the footpath, so when we are sitting in the living room it can feel like the world is looking in on you.  Its definitely not a deal breaker in terms of how much I love our home, but if I could somehow just screen us off a little more it would be perfect.

What’s the most recent thing you’ve bought for your home?

A Stelton coffee press from Maven - disaster struck a few weeks ago when our beloved Muuto coffee press cracked right down the middle and we were left with the prospect of not being able to make coffee but I ordered from Maven in the morning and like an angel Patrica appeared with our new press before lunch! And a Magimix blender which I am loving - if it doesn't move, it gets blended.

What’s been your go-to meal in the last few weeks?

I don't really have one go-to, I like to try and keep meals as varied as possible, but I am addicted to sour dough bread.  Sour dough with nut butter and strawberries, sour dough with coconut yoghurt and roasted plums, sour dough french bread, sour dough with eggs... you get the point.  I haven't got on the sour dough baking band wagon though as there are so many people supplying amazing loaves and buying it is supporting a local business.  

Is there anything you’ve started to do during lockdown that you’d like to continue as ‘normality’ resumes?

Margarita Friday's!  Of course made with my new blender   I am also really enjoying the slower mornings - when your commute is only up the stairs it gives more time to relax before work.  I would love to be able to keep a bit of that stillness in my mornings when I am going back into the office and the school run resumes.