30 day Blog Challenge

mirror mirror on the walls: Bargain hunt in homeware

interior design

Oh I love a thrift and a bargain!

I have 3 mirrors in my home all bought in local charity shops or vintage stores and all 3 for £100.

My first mirror has gorgeous green filigree. It is so heavy and large. It is the first mirror I bought for my house and I love it. Two but this mirror in a proper shop it would be over £300 the craftsman ship in it is stunning. I paid £20 for it!

It hangs in the upstairs hall way and I don’t think it’s appreciated enough!

My second mirror my dad bought for me at a local antiques shop. It was £40 and fills up most of my bedroom fireplace. The frame is like beaten metal panels. I have never seen a mirror like it and I love it. Again it is super heavy and the craftsmanship is incredible.

It hangs in our bedroom and I love it.

My third and last mirror I have bought was in the salvation aren’t store I bought my first mirror, just 7 years later!!

She was £40 and from a cool pub/ theatre me and Gav still go to.

I love a bargain and my three mirrors are all a part of history. They are so beautiful I am glad they never ended up in a tip. There is nothing like finding a bargain.

Be Bold: feeling the insta-worthy pressure

confidence, Personal Experience

Be bold

Is the theme of today’s blog but today I am feeling beige not bold. I feel like I have taken on too much with this challenge. Its not that I don’t have enough time to write it just that I feel like my writing and content is suffering.

Taking on too much is not going to improve my blog it is just going to make it messy.

 I love interior design I do. But I feel like all the images I am putting up are just not good enough. The lights not right and I don’t have any time to fix that.

The writing of the blog is easy but the planning that goes into it and trust me there is a lot of planning.

So, I am not going to stop I am just going to write about what I really care about which isn’t my lovely slightly disheveled house at the moment.

We all know that I am completely obsessed with skincare. Cant stop wont stop. I really love it and I am my skincare regime has turned me into a crazy pharmaceutical scientist. This morning I put all my bottle I was using on the sink. A bit of this, a bit of that. Is that a scientist or a Witch? I don’t mind either comparison.

The wedding was the reason that I started the blog

My running which hasn’t been happening because I just got too freakin lazy! I have run once this week so I am okay with that but I need to start running for 6 miles soon!

Instagram is just so disheartening. I don’t understand what their point of view is any more. My friend told me that she felt like giving up/ disheartened because other account similar to hers where doing amazing and her beautiful account wants. So I gave her some advice and forgot to listen to myself. So I am going to stop.

It’s all too much

Facebook is just a waste of space, I don’t know why they mess with that either. I don’t know many friends who are still active on it. Some one needs to come up with a new Instagram idea where they don’t introduce a new algorithm every 5 minutes. I would join in a heartbeat.

So this blog is about being bold and my house is packed full of boldness. However the boldest thing about my home is me! Yes, I am saying it.

So I need to just be me and stop trying to juggle so many balls in the air.

At the moment my home will never be instaworthy for this 30 day challenge. I am going to work on being in a little Insta community and to be truthful I already have it with some of the girls I talk to on Insta.

So it’s back to me!

Nature inspired interior let’s talk about pineapples

french bulldog, interior design

Today’s blog is on nature inspired so I thought a trip down memory lane may be a good idea!

Not my memory but the Victorians in there interior architecture. Nature was inspired with every fleur de ly, every sconce and carpet runner pole.

They brought nature inside without being too obvious. And round my house is no different.

We have a ceiling Rose that is in desperate need of some TLC the paint needs to come off and a light perhaps installed.

In the hallway maybe my favourite room of the house we have a carpet runner in a plush green carpet. It feels lovely underfoot on our steep Victorian stairs.

The runners are brass. When we first looked around the house I declared look Gav they even have pineapples on them. The owner laughed at me and said if you buy the house you can call them pineapples if you like.

They are obvious not pineapples but thistles. Beautiful brass thistles that contrast beautifuly with the green carpet. They do look a wee bit like pineapples and it does remind me of the billy Connelly story where a Scottish man in Asian tattoo artist for Scotland forever and a big thistle on his back.

The man didn’t know what a thistle was so the Scotsman drew it out for him. And so the tattoo artist wrote Scotland forever and a giant pineapple on this back!

I love this story. I also love pineapples and tropical prints.

I upcycled this little chest of drawers and Becky bought me my gold pineapple! We also insulted most of Spain buy buying these sombreros on a trip to Barcelona!

Note to self sombrero are Mexican not Spanish!

As you can see I love colour, pineapples and prints and they are all Seychelles inspired!

Work it!!!

interior design

My little house really works for us. It’s cool all year round so even in the hottest summer that was last year my Victorian brick house was cool as a cucumber.

This means in winter it gets cold but it doesn’t take long with central heating to warm it up.

Plus we love a fire!

It very cold today but not too cold I can put the heating on! Nor the fire so I will have to settle for a few candles instead!

So confession time, I got confused with which day it was and wrote a whole cute little blog on pineapples and it turns out that is for tomorrow. Because I am following Instagram I noticed that the title was work it. So I am literally typing this right now.

So forgive me if this is a bit crazy!

So I had no time to think about what this title meant.

So I thought I should just write about how my little house works for us.

It does. We actually use every room. The dining room the least as we treat this more like a corridor to the kitchen which means it often becomes a dumping ground. It also has a ridiculously large amount of wedding boxes in there.

As well as all our booze ( and gin).

All the bedrooms get used I made a little art area for me to do some drawings. I am currently practicing my painting so that I can hand paint a few signs.

I made a little space for me.

There isn’t a room that doesn’t work for us! We have a lovely little house and sometimes I think it looks after me a bit better than we look after it!

Old or New in interior design?

interior design

For me it will always be old when it comes to furniture I like to hunt through antique shops and charity shops.

The things you can find are sinply marvellous. Also it suits the house. We have a Victorian terrace so older pieces suit it. This doesn’t mean that I only have old furniture in my house. Definitely not. Our bed was brand knew and so was the sofa.

When choosing them we went for the feel of them rather than the look. They are our most used items of furniture both super comfortable and suit our lifestyle.

The dining room furniture is a mixture of old and new.

Yes those are lightsabers

Our wine rack is a an old champagne holder that they used to store and turn the champagne on. Our Booze cabinet is a Victorian display cabinet by sister bought in Edinburgh for £20 and now lives pride of place in the dining room.

Poubelle diving

We have two clocks in the dining room. Both thrown out. Gav found one and I found the other. The wooden one is an old french station clock that was thrown away at a brocante because they lost the key. I search high and low for a key and then Gavs grandad kindly took on the challenge and within a few weeks found a key.

It is so loud we rarely charge it up but it works really well and is a beautiful clock.

Our dining room furniture was bought with the house and I love the table but the chairs are leather look and not my cup of tea. I dreamed of a Monica style set up with mismatch chairs and different colours.

We don’t believe in replacing something unless is broken or we don’t use it. We don’t want to waste money or fill up the land fill so these very comfortable ugly chairs will remain in my home until they fall apart!

I also have 3 amazing mirrors in my house but i will save that story for another day!

Does my mum secretly work for QVC? Pamper time!

Beauty, skincare, Uncategorised

My mum loves QVC and has been watching Alison in the beauty lounge for a long as I can remember!

There is a reason that my shelves are filled with Elemis, decleor and Gatineau. My mum will send me an email urging me that this is a necessity!

“You don’t want to be pale bride darling”

Hence the reason for my new tanning regime. I did buy a Bondi Sands last year and ended up looking orange and streaky. I knew Gatineau wouldn’t disappoint me and it’s been a month of lovely moisturisation and a slight glow that a pale customer commented on! People are noticing that I am a slightly warmer shade!

Hair time

“Now that you are working on your face perhaps it’s time to consider your hair?”

I hope she doesn’t sound bad or vane. If you knew my mother she is the most supportive light hearted women I have ever met. She is a truly good women!

She just cares about self care.

And that’s not a bad thing. She is not vain either she lives to eat and laugh and family.

but with all the emails lately it does feel like QVC has secretly hired my mum to bombard me with offers especially when I get paid!

Mother knows best!

Unfortunately I am fairly susceptible to her beauty insights so I trust her and go with it.

She hasn’t been wrong yet.

I am working all the hours I have to save pennies for the wedding. So I am tired a lot. My evenings are my time and I love spending them with my little dog and Gavin.

I love washing my face at night. Cleanse, tone serums, acids and moisturiser. I don’t really go in for masks except my baby facial.

I do enjoy a gin! Is that pampering?

A Scented home:I’d rather not but some things are out of my hands

interior design, Personal Experience

Day 5 scented 30day blog challenge

Well this is going well. I am using my Instagram to challenge me to get writing everyday again.

So yes, the majority of these blogs are written on a red London bus and spell checked on my very short lunch. So I do apologise.

And I am loving it.

Today’s image was about scented and this is where I fall down.

Candles

I do like candles but I don’t go crazy for them. I certainly don’t melt them all year round and buy them constantly.

I get the same Yankee candle every year from a family member. I sometimes buy a few candles from homescence and I bought Aldi’s Faux Malone candle and quite liked that.

The truth is when it comes to smells I either like citrus or fresh linen. All my cleaning products are lemon scented. I am not a fan of plug ins but we have a dog now and I am paranoid about doggy smells. So we have a citrus plug in by the door.

Plants

I do love flowers but I hate how wasteful they are. I am a crazy plant lady and I don’t care. If I could my house would be filled with peonies and freesias all year round but budget and wastefulness won’t allow it! I drool over peoples images of Peonies!!

My tiny English suburban garden

my garden at the moment is in full bloom we have a crazy Rose bush that has been spliced. Last year we had dark pink roses every where and one dog rose. This year we have hundreds of dog roses and one dark pink one.The garden smells so good.

When I am at home I always open up all the windows and let the house breath!

Smells are so important and I do have a preference but I like to keep things simple and fresh.

My most amazing plant is a lemon balm that my local Fish and chip shop gave my mum as a cutting. I put it outside and it died but I didn’t give up on it!

Do neglect it sometimes but it is really hardy and when you water it or move it the whole room smells of lemons. I have made tea with it and you can add it to salads. It is the most wonderful smell in the world.

so that’s it!

I would rather my house just smell fresh and clean then of fake smells but with a little pooch I don’t really have a choice.

What does your home smell like?

I have this thing with Le Creuset

interior design, Uncategorised

Oh yes I do.

It started with a sugar bowl and it will never end!

8 years ago I moved into an upside down house in Archway. The house was awesome and completely unfurnished. I had to buy everything from scratch. This meant I slept on a gym mat for a few months before my secondhand bed arrived.

One of the first things I bought was a bright red sugar bowl from a charity shop. I think it was 50p and it is still my sugar bowl today!

TkMax and homesence have a lot to answer for. Me and Gavin went shopping one day and treated me to a bright red La Creuset butter dish. It is beautiful and my pride and joy although I don’t use it enough.

Then he found this beautiful black mug there was 6 of them and they were £5.99 each. I wasn’t sure on the colour but they were gorgeous and a french cookware brand I adore.

I bought two.

Used them, fell in love with them and went back to find out there were no more left. These mugs keep your tea warm for much longer and I loved them but I missed out.

Then it grew from there

I have two jugs

A teapot and coffee pot. Honey ares, baking trays and baking dishes. I have two pie dishes and even two pie birds to let the steam out!

They are all red except for the mugs which have also increased. I now have 6 smaller black mugs 8 different shaped mugs and 8 little espresso mugs even though we don’t have an espresso machine. Every time we go in TKMaxx we hunt for these larger mugs. When one broke we couldn’t find it even on there website so Gav bought me a purple one. It hides at the back of the cupboard.

These are hard mugs to break but it does happen and it makes me sad.

Homeward Gifts

I often get LeCreuset for christmas and birthdays and I bloody love it. I would rather get a practical gift then something I never use.

My most used dishes are the smaller bakeware ones as it’s normally just me and Gav. I grew up in a household where food was all laid out on the table so you can help yourself. So my dishes do get used a lot!

I definitely have a thing for Le Creuset. I want some of the cast iron collection next! I just added them up and I have 25 different styles of Le Creuset that’s not how many pieces I have.

This may be an addiction!

Oh so I need another challenge do I? Interior blog challenge

Dreaming, Organising, Planning

So I have seen this account @mybousethismonth and those that run it and it is beautiful. Truly stunning all of them. I don’t even care if I don’t win I just want to try this challenge and see if anyone likes my style man!

Dream challenge really!

So this is it. Some of them are easy some of them will be tricky but it will get me writing everyday. Will get me inspired everyday and get me thinking about how my house looks.

Yes I know I have a lot on my plate but I loved the other blog challenge and now I can share it here.

Yes I also know that this maybe doesn’t help my blog that much because I don’t have a niche or a them that I stick to. But I write because I love it not because it’s a chore!

So join me if you want to. There will be a brief intro on my Instagram after all it is supposed to be a photo not a blog but I thought why not hu?

Join me if you want to!

Last blog of the month: hopes for it

Advice, Organising, Personal Experience, Planning

Day 30, hopes for your blog, 30 day blog challenge.

Oh I am so proud!

It was not as tough so much as time consuming. But I loved it. I do need to take the time and go back through and recheck it, as I know there are a million mistakes but I am so proud of the work I have put into this.

30 day blog challenge it’s done.

There is a hundred day blog challenge but that will have to wait until next year! When I have more time and I can focus on it properly.

My hopes for the blog

Well obviously I want it to be a success. An organically grown success. I want my readers to comeback because they enjoy the topsy turvy world I live in. I want to travel and explore. I can’t wait to write about Japan and New York. I feel like I now have a fresh perspective. A real thirst for blogging more.

I have learned a lot about what are my most popular topics. It’s not what I thought. You appear to love food and self health as much as I do. Which is refreshing. I also learned about popular times and postings.

I am definitely inspired to write a few more blogs so I am challenging myself to 3 a week.

We will see.

This will probably harder then everyday just because more planning has to be involved with set days. When you know you have to write and publish everyday you just have to get it done. 3 times a week is not quite the same thing.

Sharing

This blog challenge has been a lot about sharing who I am and what my goals are. The theme of this blog is great. I am happy to write it.

I wrote in my goals what I wanted to achieve and my blog was a big part of it. But I am a dreamer so I know if I want to achieve this then I have to keep putting the work into it!

I sometimes felt that some of the questions were silly or irrelevant but I guess the whole point was to give you a point of view or subject to write about.

Whilst on this challenge I actually wrote 3 blogs that are sitting in my drafts waiting to be published which is a nice situation to be in.

For this blog I know I have to so find the right photos.

How do you photograph hope?

Thank you so much for being on this journey with me.

I couldn’t have done it without you!