NURSERY: New Grey and White Star Additions

Grey and white stars is the theme we have in Isabella's nursery, it's not overwhelming but a few key pieces here and there. We went for a subtle grey/white on the walls, a feature turquoise cot and grey accessories - all of which a pretty gender neutral. Isabella won't be in her current bedroom forever, so we didn't want to make the room overly 'girly'. Recently we've picked up a couple of new additions to fit with the grey and white star theme and best of all they were bargains!

HOUSE: Our Bedroom Haul feat. Homebase, IKEA and Old English Company

Our new house is a project and I assigned myself our bedroom as my focus. We still haven't finished it, but it's much further along than the rest of the house. It was a fun, exciting and not too painful journey and now we are living at the house our bedroom is our retreat/sanctuary from the rest of the building site of a house! We took a lot of inspiration from Pinterest and decorating blog posts (if anyone has any decorating blog posts then please leave your link below!), so I thought I'd share with you some of the more decorative items we bought. Let's be honest sourcing, finding and buying the decorative items is the best part of decorating a room! 

These photos were all taken on my iPad, as we were setting up our bedroom at night. Hence the 'atmospheric' (poor) lighting. 

We decided to upgrade to a king size bed, with a baby on the way we were told by a number of people that getting a bigger bed was a must. We opted for the LEIRVIK Bedframe from IKEA (£90 for the frame). We also got our mattress from IKEA but I can't remember what it's called, sorry. It was £250, so not too bad for a king size mattress. 

As we changed to a king size bed we then had to get a bigger sized mattress protector. This Silentnight Mattress Protector was from Homebase (£17.99 reduced to £11.99). It's nicely padded on the top, to make our mattress even more comfortable. It's also machine washable, which I'm sure will come in handy when our baby makes an appearance!

We opted for a Home of Style Egyptian Cotton Fitted Sheet in White from Homebase (£13.99), again very easy to put on the bed and hasn't creased really easily either which is a bonus! 

As our bedroom is following a grey colour scheme Tom fell in love with this king size NYPONROS duvet cover and pillowcase set from IKEA (£45). It matches our room perfectly, the only slight downside is that because our duvet isn't fro, IKEA the duvet cover is slightly too big. IKEA make king and double beds using the EU sizes, which are slightly bigger than the UK's standard double and king sizes. So unless you buy everything from IKEA there will be some slight size difference. The next duvet cover set we buy won't be from IKEA, just so hat it fits properly. 

I had been looking and looking for a king size duvet but they were just so expensive, even places like TK Maxx we're selling them for over £50. I had also originally wanted an 'all seasons' duvet set, so that you get two duvets (one lighter for summer and one thicker for winter) but that made them even more expensive. Tom had really wanted a Duck and Down duvet, since staying in a B&B with one. So when I spotted this King Size 10.5 Tog Duck and Down duvet in the sale at Sainsburys I knew Tom would love it. It was originally around the £70 mark I think. It had been reduced to £39.99 and then when I scanned it at the till it came up at £30! Such a bargain for the quality and size.

I bought these two pillowcases (£25) for Tom's birthday, after seeing them on Zoella's blog. They're from a company called Old English Company and I just think they are such a cute edition to our bedroom. 

This throw is from Primark and I couldn't believe it when I saw it, it looks similar to a number of MUCH more expensive throws I had been eyeing up and it was only £10! It's a really decent size, soft to touch and is a grey/green/cream colour combination. It adds a subtle bit of colour into our bedroom. 

As part of our rather large Homebase haul we also picked up these Angled Desk Lamps in Soft Grey for £15 each in the sale (they are still in stock in some stores). I love the slight industrial design to them and the fact that you can direct where the light goes. We both have one on our bedside tables. 

Tom bought me this cute knitted grey hot water bottle for Christmas and it matches our colour scheme perfectly. It was from eBay for around £6, so a real bargain too. Our house doesn't have any heating at the moment, so it will definitely come in handy! 

Where would you recommend getting decorative items from for bedrooms?

Feel free to leave me a comment :) 

Helen x

HOUSE: The renovation project begins...

^The day we got the keys we started taking the wallpaper off in the bathroom.^

You may have read on my blog that we recently bought a house, that is very much a project. We have an obvious time restriction - our baby girl due in April 2015, so we have had to speed through as many rooms as we possibly can.

Now our DIY skills are seriously limited when faced with an old house full of cracks, various textured wallpapers, in need of a new bathroom and kitchen, plaster falling off left, right and centre, not to mention the overgrown front/back garden. The fact the house as built in the 1800's doesn't help either, although we wanted and love older houses they come with their fair share of 'issues'. As we are very quickly learning! 

Luckily, both of our Dad's are very skilled in the DIY area, my Dad has always had old houses and enjoyed renovating them. We are very much at the beginning of the renovation project, with the kitchen and bathroom completely stripped out and other than our bedroom we haven't even touched any of the other rooms. Being pregnant and my lack of skills meant that I wasn't really any help in the bathroom or kitchen (those rooms need the most work), so I put myself in charge of our bedroom. I have tried my best to document the process, which I will be sharing on my blog as we progress closer to creating a home rather than a shell of a house!

^After we ripped out the old kitchen.^


Does the idea of taking on a 'project' house excite you or terrify you?


Feel free to leave me a comment :)


Helen x

BOOKS: Vintage Interior Inspiration

Part of creating a home is making it your own, putting your own touches here and there, as well as incorporating your personal style. I love dreaming about what my 'perfect home' would look like, if money was no object, don't we all? We are buying our own house at the moment and it's a project to say the least. We really wanted a house we could completely make our own, while adding value too. Every room in our house-to-be needs a lot of work, think new carpets, wallpaper, paint, decoration, plastering, whole bathroom, whole kitchen etc. It's going to be a big project but I'm sure it will be so rewarding too.

There are the obvious websites perfect for inspiration but sometimes getting a good interior design book, snuggling down with a cup of steaming hot tea and a roaring fire beats sitting online. I have found two beautiful vintage interior design books, which not only look pretty sitting on your coffee table but are also filled with endless inspiration.

Vintage Home: Stylish ideas and over 50 handmade projects from furniture to decorating by Sarah Moore (£14.39) has such a striking and eye-catching front cover. I love the composition of all of the items, as well as the combination of colours, textures and patterns. That's something that the vintage interior style can do so well - mix up patterns, colours and textures in the most perfect of ways. The author, Sarah Moore, also has a website filled with vintage goodness where you can buy many interior design items.

This book is filled with DIY vintage decoration projects that can really change the design of a room. There are bigger projects and smaller ones, ideal for everyone. This book is perfect to slowly browse through, while noting down the projects you fancy having a go at.

The Vintage Modern Home by Katherine Sorrell (£16.97) is another vintage interior design book I've been enjoying browsing through. This book combines modern touches with the wonders of vintage design beautifully. The book is split up into clear sections, making it a really easy read and easy to use for inspiration. The photography throughout the book is stunning, it's like Pinterest in a book.  

I love having these books sitting on our coffee table, ready to dive into whenever I feel like some interior inspiration. My home interior shopping list is always so long after looking at these books!

Do you know of any good interior inspiration books?

Feel free to leave me a comment :)

Helen x

Who doesn't want a pretty home?

I met my boyfriend at university up in Durham about 5 years ago now, we were just friends for a couple of years and then decided to risk our friendship and make 'THAT' change into a relationship. Luckily it worked out and we've now been going out for nearly 3 years! But after 10 month's of being in a relationship our degree came to an end and there came a massive decision, do we move in together or not?! It wasn't actually a hard decision for us, we knew we wanted to live together, so we started looking for a house we could rent. The first house we looked at we fell in love with and took the plunge to sign a 12 month contract! Then it dawned on us, we have to pay for everything to go into the house, rent and bills!

During the summer after our last year at university we searched, shopped and made a lot of the main furniture - wardrobe, bed, sofa, book shelf, chest of drawers etc. I never wanted to see another flat pack after that summer, we practically lived in IKEA. Having said that, it was such an exciting time, creating a home together is such a magical experience! But when funds ran low we stopped buying things and now almost 2 years later we still haven't 'finished' any of the rooms.

Currently we are very lucky to be looking to buy a house but haven't found a suitable house yet. I am so excited to have a bigger kitchen (my biggest priority!) because the kitchen at our house now is very small, with barely any cupboards or surface space. Searching for a house that we can decorate, style and change is very exciting and prompted me to search for pretty house accessories. Also, as it's my birthday on Sunday so I wanted to find some things for the house I could ask for my birthday :)

I thought I'd share with you some of the cute, pretty and shabby chic house accessories I've found....

H&M Bakery Cake Tin - £7.99



dotcomgiftshop.com Bontanical Non-Slip Doormat £19.95



H&M Tea Towel £2.99

  

melodymaison.co.uk Cream Post Rack £9.95



melodymaison.co.uk Postcard Cushion £12.95



melodymaison.co.uk Set of 3 Vintage Floral Suitcases £23.95

 

amazon.co.uk Gisela Graham Wooden Recipe Book Stand Holder £10.80





spottybutton.co.uk Patchwork Bunting Cushion £9.95

This final item is my biggest dream at the moment, I really want a KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer in Ice Blue! Problem is, they are edging on £450 - very expensive! But they are such an iconic kitchen accessory, I love the way they look and as I do a lot of baking it would be so useful too! How pretty is it?!

John Lewis £429.95



What do you think?

Do you like decorating your bedroom/home?