Luxury Interior Decor Ideas To Elevate Your Living Space
Ever go to a 5-star hotel and wish your home had the same luxurious feel? Give your space an effortlessly chic, high-end look with these tips.
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How To Brighten Dark Rooms
Want to know how to brighten dark rooms? These three steps will help you lighten and brighten — and shed a little more light on the situation!
10 Unique Bathroom Decor Ideas to Create a Personal Oasis
There are so many easy, cost-effective ideas to spruce up your bathroom. Here are the best bathroom decor ideas that won’t break the bank.
Decorating Childrens Rooms with Hand Painted Wall Murals
About 15 years ago I was asked if I would decorate a friend’s daughter’s bedroom; with some hand painted wall murals. It was years before the advent of wall decals and vinyl stickers. But my friend wanted something fun and pretty to break up the vast expanse of magnolia. The room was a bit of an odd shape …
Updating a Room with a Radiator Cover
Have you ever considered updating a room with a radiator cover? I’ve spoken about our ensuite bathroom before and how I was desperate to give it a makeover. Although it’s a nice sized room — with a lovely, old cast iron, roll-top bath — it was fairly bland; and uninspiring, to say the least. It certainly wouldn’t …
Stairway to heaven {how to create a gallery wall up a staircase}
Since we decorated just before Christmas last year, the majority of the walls in our home have remained bare; and most of our framed pictures have been stacked up on the floor, waiting to be rehung. We used to have a ‘stairway photo gallery’ going up the staircase. Dozens of black framed, black and white photographs — in various shapes …
Laura Ashley Press Show SS17
One of the loveliest things about my job is being invited along to the press shows of the amazing brands I work with, so when an invite to the Laura Ashley Press Show SS17 pinged into my inbox I was very excited indeed. It’s a real treat to see the product before it hits the shops and …
Baby it’s cold outside | Modern electric radiators
I wish the weather would make up it’s mind — one minute it feels as mild as spring, the next it’s Baltic. On warmer days, I’ve been sitting in my she-shed with the doors and windows open but on cooler mornings I’ve literally had a blanket around my knees as I’ve been working. To ensure I …
188 weeks and 6 days | Autumn in the garden
Autumn crept up without me really noticing. Most of the deciduous trees, in our area, still have most of their foliage which is a little strange for this time of year. Often by now there’s a crunchy carpet of leaves underfoot. Usually by mid October, everything’s starting to look a little more stark than it did …
164 weeks and 6 days — A mini garden update
I’ve been meaning to write this post for a few weeks now but spare time seems to be elusive and this handful of images, that I took in the last days of March, have been sitting on my camera waiting to see the light of day. And actually, since taking these photographs, the garden has changed beyond all …
Everlasting Blooms (The Best Artificial Flowers Ever!)
Flowers. I love them. But especially everlasting blooms. I think I might have just found the best artificial flowers ever! In all their guises, I’m a girl who loves nothing more than a vase of blooms in the house. Goldfish bowls brimming with tulips, glass cylindrical vases full of lilies, or sweet little forget-me-nots or hellebores in …
Beefayre Candles (It’s Beginning to Smell a Lot Like Christmas)
Disclosure: This is an unpaid post that was written in collaboration with Beefayre Candles. All thoughts, words and images are my own. As well as decorating the house for Christmas, I’ve been burning some amazing scented candles recently so, as well as looking festive, it’s beginning to smell a lot like Christmas too. Orange, nutmeg, cinnamon, clove — these are …
Preparing the home for Christmas | A visitors welcome basket
I love having friends and family come to stay and, throughout the year, our house can be so busy — and full of people — it sometimes resembles a B&B. A visitors welcome basket is a lovely thing to welcome guests with. It’s easy to put together but really makes guests feel looked after. We …
142 weeks | Matalan SS16 Press Show
Last Thursday I spent the afternoon at Somerset House, in London. It’s a glorious place, which is a feast for the eyes, in every sense of the word. A neo-classical building — of epic proportions — that sits between the Strand and the Thames. For years, Somerset House was the national archive for birth, marriage and death …
Leesa Mattress Review — Part 1
AD | I have been (or could be if you click on a link in this post) compensated via a cash payment, gift or something else of value for writing this post. See the full disclosure policy and privacy policy for more details. Looking for a Leesa mattress reveiw? Here’s what we think of ours… Mr D and I …
A Teal Rug From Benuta
Disclosure: I was kindly sent this lovely teal rug for the purposes of this review. You can buy it in various sizes, shapes and other colours — plus lots of other lovely rugs — from the Benuta website. Pop along and have a look www.benuta.co.uk All photos, thoughts and words — as ever — are …
Extending a Listed Building
I’ve mentioned before that our home is listed. The main part of it was built in the 17th century with a shiny new extension added in 1890 (modern hey?!). But even though it could really do with being dragged into the 21st century, extending a listed building is easier said than done. That said, 15 …
Our Happy Home | A Bathroom Tour
A couple of months ago I turned a little shoe rack — that used to house towels in our bathroom — into a little bench seat in an IKEA bench seat hack. I took some pics whilst I was doing it, with the intention of creating a little tour for one of the smallest rooms …
The Jubarb {a gin and rhubarb cocktail}
What could be better, in the heat of midsummer than a gin and rhubarb cocktail? Recently we made some homemade cordial with the rhubarb that we grow in our veggie patch. It’s a lovely alternative to pies and crumbles and a fabulous way of using the endless supply of rosy tinged stalks, that we seem to …
Bedroom makeover & Wallpapering a Ceiling
I’ve mentioned in previous posts that we live in a wonky old house. Built in the 17th century — it is Grade 2 listed — has warm stone walls and a tin roof. There is thatch underneath the tin but, in the war, the thatch was covered in a layer of corrugated metal, in order to stop the incendiary …
Nursery Inspiration in Green White and Yellow
Very recently, my friend Louise had a baby girl. Throughout her entire pregnancy people had said she was having a boy and — given the fact she already has a little boy — it wasn’t beyond the realms of probability! 50/50 in fact ;) But when the announcement came that my lovely friend was the proud mother …
Home is Wherever We Are Together
Home. A little tiny word with enormous meaning. What feelings and emotions does the word ‘home’ evoke? What does it mean to you? I’ve been thinking about this long and hard and I can’t think of a single straight answer. Home means so many different things to me. I can’t narrow it down to just one …
112 weeks and 5 days | The MADS awards 2015
So Saturday morning I woke up as usual, stretched our my arm to grab my phone, squinted at the time then went to check my Twitter feed. And LOOK what I saw!! I’ve been nominated for the The MADS awards 2015! To say I was thrilled is an understatement! I think my reply — You …
112 weeks | Working from home
I’ve been working from home for around 8 years now — something that I’m incredibly grateful for and don’t ever take for granted. Only last week, in fact, I was reading the blog of another mama who — as she’s a doctor by profession — is struggling to decide on whether she can even afford to go back to …
110 weeks and 6 days | Cool kids wallpaper
On Saturday, when I was at BlogCamp in Birmingham, the venue that it was being held at had a feature wall that was covered in wallpaper that could be coloured in! A couple of the girls I was with commented how this would be great wallpaper for a kid’s room so I thought I’d have a look …
A Chest of Drawers Makeover With Chalk Paint
Disclosure: I upcycled my IKEA chest of drawers with chalk paint I’d bought. But I was gifted some beautiful drawer-knobs to complete my chest of drawers makeover too. Trinca-Ferro have so many lovely designs to choose from — pop along and grab some inspiration from their website. The Easter bank holiday gave me so many opportunities to roll up my sleeves and …
Our Plans for an Ensuite Bathroom Makeover
What do Bowler hat lights & egg shaped baths have in common? They both feature in my plans for our ensuite bathroom makeover! I love our home. It’s Grade 2 listed — built in 1690 something — and I think the best way to describe it is ‘quirky’, I love the wonky walls. The tin …
Colour Your World | #4 Pantone Lucite Green
In the third part of our look at the spring colour forecast, we’re looking at Pantone Lucite Green. It’s quite a retro colour; reminds me of 1950s kitchens and cars (and also toothpaste for some bizarre reason)! It’s a soft, jade green; Pantone say — ‘Light in weight and also in tone, Pantone Lucite Green seems …
Colour Your World | #3 Pantone Scuba Blue
Last week we began looking at Pantone’s spring colour forecast and focussed on the first colour in their palette — Aquamarine — and how we could use it in our homes. This time we’re looking at ‘Pantone Scuba Blue’. As it’s name suggests it’s another aqua inspired shade — although probably most people would call it turquoise! It’s a vibrant, …
Colour Your World | #2 Pantone Aquamarine
So a couple of days ago I was talking about the colour forecast for this spring and I started thinking about how we’d use some of these shades in the home. This time round I’m looking at Pantone Aquamarine. It’s always a little easier to keep up with trends and fashions for our wardrobe — as the …
