Category Archives: home

Why I Won’t Write About Saving for A House

Its now been almost 8 months since Matthew and I got the keys to our first home, and truthfully I thought I would have written a lot more about the process by now, but between everything else going on in my life and my minor falling out with blogging last year, I just haven’t got round to it.

I have, however, been thinking a lot about the sort of posts that I wanted to write about this, and while at first I thought a ‘Tips on Saving for Your First House’ post would be a great idea, the more I thought about it, the more annoyed I was getting with the concept of that post. Here me out.

Its no secret that our generation, ‘millennials’, are renting for longer, if not indefinitely, and the percentage of homeowners under 30 has dropped more than significantly in the last 10-20 years. I count myself as a minority for becoming a homeowner at the age of 23 and I’m very aware that while I could write about how Matthew and I saved up for our house, there are a whole tonne of circumstantial reasons why this wouldn’t be relevant to a lot of other people.

House prices differ MASSIVELY throughout the country

As a born and bred southerner, I have lived my whole life with a notion of what I thought was the price of a house was based on what house prices were like around where I lived. I started saving as young as I could because I knew that I wanted to buy my own place at some point in my life, and I knew that wasn’t going to be cheap.

But Matthew is a northern boy, and when we did start looking at houses seriously, we knew it would be up north. I was left dumbfounded when I discovered that we could buy a detached house for less than what a 1 or 2 bedroom flat would cost in Bournemouth. Suddenly, the deposit money I had been saving all these years was more than enough for a house, despite being nowhere need what it would need to be in my hometown. The fact is, most people aren’t prepared to move across the country just to own a home, and we were lucky (if that is even the word) to be relocating for Matthew’s job, because the chances of us being able to buy somewhere down south without significant help were slim.

Not everyone can make the ‘sacrifices’ we were able to

I never moved out of my parents’, and Matthew moved in with us 9 months before we bought our house. We both worked at the same place, so it was pretty easy for us to share my car. It would be pretty easy for me to write a post saying that to help save for a house you should move in with your parents, share/sell a car etc, but I know that those options aren’t always an option for everyone.

We all have different histories

I started working at 16, and I didn’t go to university after sixth form, so I had the luxury of no student loans. I always knew that I wanted to buy a place, so I started saving super early, even before Matthew was in the picture, AND Matthew and I were able to buy together, when not everyone can split a mortgage.

We also have totally different histories to previous generations. My parents were married by my age, not fighting for jobs in overcrowded industries like so many people are today AND the housing market was a totally different place to how it is today. We just can’t compare ourselves.

Home-buying incentives and schemes

Because we bought a new-build, we were eligible for the government Help To Buy loan for up to 20% of the value of our house which is interest free for the first 5 years. If you’re not buying a new-build, you can’t apply for this, and to be honest, without this we wouldn’t have been able to afford the house we fell in love with. There are also other options, like shared ownership and Help to Buy ISAs, but again, these aren’t always options for everyone.

Now none of this is to say that people under the age of 30 can’t save enough to buy houses, I mean we’re living proof that it is possible, but I’m just a little fed up of all these clickbait articles saying that its because we love avocados (which we don’t all love just FYI) or some other ridiculously false reason, when in fact its because we’re stuck at the bottom rung of the property ladder with baby boomers stomping on our hands and so many real factors are actually affecting our generation.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this, so drop me a comment!

Twitter / Bloglovin / Instagram
2 Comments

Smells Like Magic* – Maple and Whisky Candle Review

I can’t believe that exactly one year ago Matthew and I were having the most magical time in Walt Disney World! I mean, I know we’ve had the craziest and most incredible year since then, but it still sucks.

In the crazy last year we’ve had though, we did buy our first house, and we’ve spent a lot of time turning it into the home that we love, with a big part of that being adding magical touches throughout to remind ourselves of our favourite places.

Maple and Whisky produce the most incredible scented candles inspired by your favourite Disney memories, including park foods like Mickey Waffles, rides like Soarin’ and resorts like The Grand. Quite frankly, if there’s a smell in a Disney park that you love, chances are, they’ve got it!

I’ve been a lover of Maple and Whisky for a few years now – I’ve got a constant stock of their wax melts on hand! – and they were super kind recently to send me three candles of my choosing to review, which meant I could fill the new house with some magical smells, although the hardest part was choosing just three! I took the opportunity to try two scents I’ve never had before, and to also get a new jar of my favourite M+W scent, Campfire Singalong.

Campfire Singalong smells truly of just that. Imagine toasting marshmallows and melting chocolate on an open fire at a Disney resort, and that’s what this is in a jar – its heavenly! For me, this is the ultimate autumn/winter candle as it fills the room with a wonderful warm scent and glow, but be warned, may cause chocolate cravings!

The second scent I chose was Beach Club, inspired by its eponymous Walt Disney World resort, and I chose it because our of all the resorts in WDW, this is my dream resort which I would absolutely LOVE to stay in one day! The smell is fresh and clean and it really does make me feel like I’ve just stepped into the air-conditioned lobby while taking a walk around the Boardwalk resort loop.

Finally, I picked Spirit of Aloha, which is inspired by the smell of the lobby at Disney’s Polynesian Resort. This time last year when we were in WDW was when Matthew and I joined Disney Vacation Club, and Polynesian is our home resort, so I wanted a candle to remind us of our second ‘home’! Not being the biggest fan of pineapple (and not having a super clear memory in my head of what the resort smelt like), I was slightly worried that I wouldn’t like this one, but actually its lovely! The pineapple is there, but its not at all in your face and is nicely balanced with hints of coconut.

Maple and Whisky offer candles in two sizes, 8oz and 12oz, as well as wax melts, room sprays and reed diffusers. The candles I received were the 8oz size, and they last a good long while! They’ve recently changed the design of their labels, so these aren’t exactly what they look like now but the new labels are even better!

What I absolutely love about these over other scented candles is that not only do they smell amazing up close, but they actually fill the whole room with their glorious scents, and that happens almost instantly, whereas even some big brand candles only smell when you stick your nose into the jar! I would absolutely recommend these candles, and as well as these scents some of my favourites are Adventure is Out There (grape soda scented), Butterbeer (for the Potterheads), Rice Krispie Treats and Sugar Rush! Head on over to their Etsy store to see more!

Twitter / Bloglovin / Instagram
*I was sent these candles for the purpose of review, but all words and views are my own.
1 Comment

The Reality of Relocating

Moving house can be a stressful time for anyone, whether it’s your first or hundredth time. Ok, so maybe you’ll have it nailed by your hundredth time, but you know what I mean.

You are, quite literally, packing up a life, and all of the moments and memories that go with it, into boxes and bags, and taking that life somewhere else. For a lot of people, that somewhere else probably isn’t all that far from where it was before, but when you’re relocating, that life of yours in boxes has got a hell of a way to go.Choosing to relocate wasn’t actually a difficult decision for me because I always knew it was coming, I just didn’t necessarily know exactly where it would be to, but quite honestly, the relocation side of things got a little bit lost in the excitement of buying the house, so it’s only been since actually moving in that the reality of relocating has actually dawned on me.I have to use a satnav to drive EVERYWHERE. The only place I can get to without it is the supermarket and even then I’m lucky because I only have to drive down two roads to get there. I don’t actually know where my nearest A&E department is, so here’s praying I don’t need it any time soon, and I also need to find a GP surgery, dentist and opticians nearby because I can’t really drive the 4 hours back to my current ones..I also have an endless list of things I need to update, from my driving licence to my bank accounts, credit cars, car insurance plus delivery addresses on all of my regular online stores. I’m quite lucky that my previous address is my parents house, so if any posts ends up there it’s not the end of the world, but it’s such an important thing to sort out if not.Criminally, I now have no idea what the good takeaway places are. So far I know we have a Dominos, and we’ve had a decent fish and chips, but there’s been one awful Chinese and that makes me quite sad. I do feel a little isolated. It’s the first time I’ve lived away from my family ever, and as even Matthew’s been working away over the last few weeks I have been somewhat on my own. I mean, I’m pretty good with my own company, but it’s a little bit hard not knowing where I am too well and also not having anyone to explore with, but these things will come with time.Now none of this is to say that this has been a bad experience for me at all, in fact I’ve relished the challenge of it, but it is a completely new life that I’m having to make now, and I think until that life is built properly I probably will feel a little displaced, but you know that they say, all good things to those who wait..

Leave a comment

Our Finished Guest Bedroom

Without a doubt, moving into our first house has been the greatest adventure of my life so far. Its also been a lot of work. Sure, we had the bonus of moving into a new build, so in terms of actual work needing to be done to the house, its been practically minimal, but we knew we instantly wanted to get stuck into turning our empty white-walled canvas of our house into the beautiful home that we’ve been dreaming of since we started looking for places.

Two months later, we have made our mark on pretty much every room in the house, but nothing yet has actually been completely finished. Its things like ‘we need pictures on the wall here’ or ‘we need to finish painting in here’; little things that annoyingly still make the rooms seem incomplete.

We do, however, have one (practically) finished room, and ironically, that’s actually our guest bedroom. I say ‘practically’ because we just haven’t got round to putting the curtains up yet, but we do have them! So here it is, our guest bedroom:

This is the room where we created our geometric feature wall, which you may have already seen in previous house update posts. We actually painted this wall the very first weekend we got the keys to our house – cos let’s face it, it would have been a pain to do once the furniture was in! – and I am still obsessed with it to this day. It absolutely makes this room, and it was the jumping off point for the rest of the room’s decor.

The bed and bedside tables were ones that we already had, which are from the IKEA Hemnes collection, and then we added to what we already to had with the matching chest of drawers and mirror from the same collection. Although the space was big enough, we decided there was no point to having a wardrobe in there, and adding the mirror above the drawers makes the room seem bigger and also makes it brighter, plus the top of the drawers gave us space for some pretty little decorative features! The wall mounted plant pots were from Amazon, and the other nick-nacks are all Home Bargains.

Our big cushions on the bed are actually from Sainsbury’s, which we got on sale, the bedding is actually Home Bargains, and the pinky bedding was on sale in Dunelm.

One of my other favourite features of the room that we DIY’ed (or Matthew did, if I’m being totally honest) is the bedside lights. The wooden brackets are just cheapy shelf supports from IKEA, which Matthew drilled holes into for the cables to go through, and both the rose gold cage and the actual light fittings we from Amazon, although sold separately. Psst, the bin is actually an IKEA plant pot!

Having a stunning feature wall, we didn’t want to do too much to any of the other walls, but I wanted some artwork up and figured the colour scheme made this the perfect place to put up my Disney watercolour skyline prints. I’ve had these for years – they were up on my bedroom wall at my parents – so we just got new frames for them (also IKEA, shock) and they work perfectly in the space we had. Like them, they’re from here!

As I said, the only thing that is lacking are the curtains, simply because we haven’t put the pole up yet. I’m actually taking the curtains that I had in my bedroom at home because they’re a gorgeous light cream that would work perfectly in the room, and curtains are hella expensive so if I can reuse a pair I’ve already got and love, then job done.

So before and after, what do we think?

Twitter / Bloglovin / Instagram
7 Comments

Moving In Update #3 – I’m In!

Well gang, after all this time I have officially been living in our new house for almost two weeks now, yay! I had my last day at work on July 6th, and moved up on the 9th, so here I am, official northerner now.

Since then, however, I haven’t had much of a chance to stop and breathe. The first week was a blur of multiple Ikea and B&Q trips, drilling holes and going through so many packs of wall plugs and command strips I lost count, but all that work means that we are now pretty much finished with every room in the house!

There’s still a few bugs to work out; we still have no internet which is part of the reason I’ve not been blogging in all this time, because I’m having to tether my laptop to the 4G on my phone which has DRAINED my data allowance – its crazy to think about how reliant we are on wifi now! We’re also still lacking a dining table and chairs, so we’re still eating on the sofa or off the coffee table, but in reality that’s just because we keep forgetting to order them, and we have yet to get a washing machine, so laundry involves either going to Matthew’s mum’s, or as I’ve been going back to Bournemouth on weekends for hospital appointments, taking a basket of washing to do at my parents!

Apart from these little things, our to-do list is getting considerably smaller, and is mainly small things like shelves needing to be put up, actually unpacking the boxes that are building up in our garage and getting more decorative items up and around, but this has really become our space now.

I’ve still not really had much of a chance to stop and relax, but I’m hoping this next week might be the week I can actually start working through the list of things I wanted to get done once I moved in. I’ve got so much house content planned, including full before and after posts on some of our rooms, how we got some of the amazing bargains that we did and so much more, so I really hope you’re not getting too bored of this stuff yet because it has only really started!

Twitter / Bloglovin / Instagram
4 Comments

Things You Will Need On Moving Day

Ok, so you won’t need all this

Although I’m technically still in the process of flying the nest, Matthew and I have already had our first moving day into our new house, and for me, it was my first ever moving day.

Having never moved out from my parents until now, I had absolutely no idea what to expect, and as our moving process has been a slow one and we didn’t have to do it all in one weekend, I wasn’t even very sure about what we’d necessarily need to bring to the house with us straight away. Luckily, we had my mum and dad to help out with some of the basics, but there were also a number of things that no one thought about, so whether you’re moving for the first time or the hundredth time, here are the things I’ve learned that you will need in your new place from day one.

Toilet paper

If it wasn’t for my dad, we would have all been caught short in our house when we arrived. Even if its just a couple of rolls to cover you until you can take a trip to the shops, its a necessity.

Hand soap

As well as for obvious reasons, moving house can be messy business. Dusty boxes, moving furniture, you name it, your hands will be covered it it.

Towels

This was something that we didn’t have on our first weekend, with the exception of the one towel I brought in my weekend bag for showering, and while I’d never thought towels to be a real necessity, every time I washed my hands I was stuck. If nothing else, chuck a couple of hand towels in the moving van.

Scissors

There will be more things that will need cutting than you could ever imagine, bring as many pairs as you own.

Bin bags

This seems obvious, but we managed to forget them. You can never have too many bin bags.

Basic tools

You probably don’t need the whole of B&Q at the ready, but your basics like screwdrivers, maybe a drill and a level will make your life a lot easier. The last thing you’re gonna want to do is have to run out to the shops when you want to put up a shelf there and then but don’t have the tools for the job.

Folding chairs/beanbags/cushions

If, like us, you’re moving for the first time and don’t have all your furniture yet, you’re going to need something to sit on, even if its just temporary. We didn’t have a sofa, or any dining chairs, but we did have a giant bean bag, and my dad also packed a couple of fold up camping chairs which meant we didn’t have to all sit on the floor while we ate out traditional moving day take out food.

I think moving day is probably a different experience for everyone, but hopefully these little tips will help with a couple of the little things that make moving so much less stressful!

Twitter / Bloglovin / Instagram
Leave a comment

Moving In Update #2

Its been just over two weeks since we got the keys and spent the first weekend in our house, and although Matthew went up the following week while I stayed down south, this weekend we spent our second weekend in the house together.

Being totally honest, I’ve found it really difficult being away from the house, and having another 4 weeks until I finish work and we can move up properly means that the few weekends we can go up between now and then are packed with us doing as much as we can to make it ready so we don’t have to do too much once we’re in for real.

Our main focus this weekend was our bedroom, as Matthew spent the previous weekend painting the wall behind our bed, which meant we could set to work in building the furniture, and by that I mean the wardrobe. The wardrobe was a real test of our relationship and our patience, not so much with the building but trying to put up the sliding doors on it.. But we did it, and it looks good now and we’ll never have to do it again.

The bed went up (even though we don’t have any bedding for it), my dressing table went into place and we hung the mirror and put the lights on the wall, and although there’s still quite a finishing touches to put in the room, its actually a proper bedroom now.

In the last week our sofa also arrived, so we finally have something other than a beanbag to sit on, yay! The living room still needs to be painted, and we’re waiting for a rug to arrive, but we did buy some really nice little plant pots from Ikea to go across the sideboard once we’ve put the TV on the wall. Unfortunately, however, in the last week half the grass in the garden has started to die, so we did the adult thing of buying a hosepipe and a sprinkler and spent Sunday trying to revive it!

The offices haven’t seen much action, although my little pink armchair arrived which I’m super happy about! The ratio of stuff in the garage seems to be tipping more towards having more cardboard and rubbish than boxes of our stuff, which means we might actually be making some progress, and definitely means that a tip trip is in order, but we’ll save that for another weekend.

I won’t be in the house for the next two weekends now at least which makes me sad, but I’m so happy with how its looking already!

Twitter / Bloglovin / Instagram
5 Comments

Our New Build Experience

I can’t actually remember at exactly what point Matthew and I started looking at houses, but I’m pretty sure we’ve always been set on a new build.

If I’m being perfectly honest, I’d never really thought about new builds before, probably because there aren’t so many new builds around where I’ve always lived, but Matthew was pretty set on wanting one, and as soon as we started looking, even just at photos online, I was pretty easily swayed.

We were very lucky in that moving up north gave us a much better range of houses within our budget – we could have never afforded a place in Bournemouth – and we quickly settled on one particular developer that we loved almost every single type of house they built: Bellway. We did look around some other homes from other developers, but we just found that Bellway had the nicest houses, but also the most relaxed and friendly sales staff.

We also very quickly found the house that we wanted – the Oakwood – and it was really just a case of finding an Oakwood in an area that we liked, although we cared more about getting the house than we cared about exactly where it was, so long as it was within the wider area which Matthew’s job needs him to be living in, and that was when we found our house.

One of the draws of a new build for most people is having the ability to choose many of the features of your house, such as the kitchen cabinets, bathroom tiles, carpets and flooring etc. Well, we didn’t quite manage that. Most of the big decisions about the house have to be made before a certain stage of the build, and as our house was already mainly built when when we put down our reservation fee, we didn’t get to choose the kitchen design or any of the bathroom tiles, but the only thing that really bothered me about that was that I don’t like the kitchen worktop, but the rest is absolutely fine. We did get to choose our carpets and flooring as those are pretty much the last things to be fitted in the house, and while we’ll probably replace the vinyl in the kitchen and bathrooms eventually, we really like the choices that we made and they suit the rest of the house really well.

The good thing about the build being started before we bought it was that there were a lot of incentives thrown in. When developers are on a tight timeframe for completing a development, they really want to sell off the houses that are already built before they start on the next batch, and that was basically exactly what happened with ours. Before we’d even seen the house, they’d already upgraded the kitchen to include some appliances that normally aren’t included as standard, such as a fridge-freezer and dishwasher, and when we were looking at putting down the reservation fee, they agreed to also throw in turf and fences for the garden, as well as paying our stamp duty, which saved us a bunch! We did choose to pay for a few additional extras – downlights in the kitchen, and a shaver socket in the bathroom – but that was it for us as they had to be paid for up front.

Annoyingly, due to work being done every time we went up, we didn’t get to actually go inside our house until our official home demo – where the site manager shows us around and explains how to open the windows, where the fuse box in etc – but actually it was nice to just see it all finished.

Really, we had a pretty smooth experience. It was less than 3 months from seeing the house for the first time to completing, and that was a blessing really as buying somewhere so far from where we live right now could have been a nightmare.

There’s going to be so much more house content coming soon, so stay tuned!

Twitter / Bloglovin / Instagram
5 Comments

DIY Geometric Feature Wall

So after sharing pictures of the wall we painted in our guest bedroom on Twitter I had an influx of people asking about how we did it, so here it is!

The fabulous thing about this geometric paint style is that it looks so cool but its actually surprisingly quick and simple to do, its just a case of knowing what you need, and what you need to do, and hopefully I’ll cover all that in this post.

So the things you’ll need:

  • Frog Tape – this is an absolute must, and this is the only thing where I feel really strongly about not cheaping out on. Regular masking tape will not give you completely clean lines as often paint will creep underneath the edges of the tape, but Frog Tape is treated with something that stops this from happening – I swear this post is not sponsored so please take my advice on this. You need the green tape (it also comes in yellow and orange, but its the green that you need for this), and for our wall we used the widest of the three sizes that B&Q keep in stock.
  • Your paint choices – we opted for 3 colours and got 1L of each, but obviously you can have as many or few colours as you like – I’ve seen similar things on Pinterest where people just paint one colour and have the lines as the statement!
  • Rollers/paint brushes, trays, dust sheets etc – y’know, the usual painting kit

Because our house is a new build, it already had a lovely fresh white wall for us to paint over, but if you’re not in the same position then make sure you paint your wall and let it dry properly before getting started on the pattern. Also don’t feel as though you have to have a white backdrop, you could do this with any colour, but if you’re going to use a darker background, you’ll want to do a coat of primer over your pattern before you start on the colours to make sure your background doesn’t show through.

So we started off by taping around the whole edge of the wall to create an outside border. This is totally optional but it gives it a nice edge and saves painful hours of cutting in so I do recommend it. Be sure to also tape around any sockets or switches.

Now the actual pattern we completely improvised. If you want to plan it before you start taping then that’s fine, but we actually were happier making it up as we went along, and the beauty of tape meant that if we did change our mind on a certain line, you just rip it back off and do it again. With a triangle pattern, the one thing I would say to keep an eye out for is that no three triangles have the same border line if you’re using three colours as we did, otherwise you’d end up with two triangles of the same colour touching, so just watch out.

Once we were happy with the pattern, we took a little bit of tape and wrote the colours on them so we could mark out which triangle was going to be which colour, again just to be sure that we didn’t end up with the same colour touching, and also just to make sure we had a good balance of the colours. Before you start to paint just double check that all of the tape is well stuck to the wall by smoothing over it all again.

Working one colour at a time, its just a case of filling in the gaps! When you’re only painting a few little shapes its amazing how much quicker it seems to take compared to painting a whole wall one single colour. Don’t worry about going over the edge of the tape a little bit with the paint, in fact you’re better off doing that to make sure you’ve filled right up to the edge of the shape.

Wait until you’ve painted in all of the colours, but be sure to peel the tape off before the paint has completely dried as this will prevent you pulling up any paint by accident with your tape. Start by peeling the pattern, and leave the outside border to last to peel, and most importantly take your time with the peeling. You don’t want to rush and end up flicking paint into the wrong section or getting tape stuck on wet paint.

Once you’ve peeled everything back off, you’re pretty much set, just allow plenty of time for the paint to dry fully before you do anything else to the wall!

 

So just to recap on the key points that I think are crucial to making this as perfect and painfree as possible:

  • Frog Tape is a must, do not risk using regular masking tape
  • You don’t have to overplan the pattern, in fact improvising can be easier
  • Peel the tape off before the paint dries completely
  • Having a border around the edge of the design saves a lot of time

For anyone wondering, we used Valspar paint in You’re Blushing, Angel’s Sigh and Petite Pirouette, as shown below:

Twitter / Bloglovin / Instagram
12 Comments

Mahabis Slippers – The Best Thing Ever?

From the first time I saw the advert on the tv, I knew I needed these slippers, and when I got my annual bonus back in March, I treated myself to a pair of Mahabis.

To the untrained eye, these might just seem like a regular pair of slippers, but the beauty of Mahabis is that each pair comes with a pair of rubber soles that clip onto the bottom of your slippers in a few quick seconds, meaning you can wear them outside without ruining the base of your slippers. The soles fit on with the help of a little popper at the back of each slipper, which you just attach through the little hole in the back of the sole, simple!

Now given that I love a good pair of slippers, and would happily wear them as my only footwear, the ability to wear slippers outside was super exciting to me. Now strictly speaking they’re only designed for light outdoor use, such as running out to get something from the car, taking the bins out etc, but the bases are pretty tough and I reckon they’d stand up to good wear – I actually wore mine on the drive home from Manchester last weekend and walked around Keele services in them no problem!

Oh, and if you’re wondering about the comfort, lets just say I could happily wear these all day! As you can see in the photos, they’re a bit more than a pump style, I’d describe them as being the slipper equivalent of a pair of Toms, with a lambswool lining that’s backed onto a synthetic base rather than sheepskin, and they’ve got a nice stretchy heel piece which is a little bit grippy also so there’s no risk of your feet coming out.

They’re a premium pair of slippers, but I honestly love them and am so glad that I treated myself to them. They also have some variations including a lighter design of ‘summer slipper’ and also a hardier pair of ‘outdoor slippers’, not to mention the fact that you can make your slippers fit your style with a range of colours of additional soles, including gold and pearl pink!

Are you a slipper person?

Twitter / Bloglovin / Instagram
Leave a comment

Our First Weekend In Our New House and What We Got Done

So even though it feels like we’ve waited forever, in reality its only been 2 1/2 months since we saw our house for the first time, and on Thursday we officially completed and its now ours! We picked up the keys on Friday and the weekend has been the first phase of our moving process – I don’t actually leave my job until July 6th, so until then we’ll only be able to visit on weekends, but that hopefully means by the time we’re up there permanently, it will be mostly finished in terms of unpacking and decorating! (This is a bit of an unedited photo dump so apologies that some pictures are a bit dark)

We went up with my parents in a one car, one van convoy, both packed to bursting with the stuff we already have, and then once we’d unloaded that all into the garage, it was on to Ikea for the big furniture shop. I won’t bore you with the details, but 5 trolleys and one delivery coming on Tuesday, and we’re actually still not completely done as we realised we’ve picked up a few things in the wrong sizes and forgot a few little but key things like hinges and legs for cupboards.. As that was a fairly manual labour filled day, we didn’t build anything that night, and Matthew and I had what I believe is a traditional ‘first night in new house’ evening of takeaway pizza on the floor because we don’t have a dining table/chairs or even a sofa, and slept on our mattress on the floor because its our bed being delivered on Tuesday..

Our current living room set up

Saturday morning my parents brought round some food for breakfast; we got to use our toaster and kettle for the first time with toast for Dad and a cup of tea for my mum. Matthew and I then headed off to do a bit more shopping with Mum while we left my dad to start building some of the Ikea stuff. We hit Costco (for mainly cleaning supplies at this point), B&Q for paint and decorating bits and then went to DFS to order our sofa, which was a pretty easy job as we’ve had it picked our for ages! On our way back to the house we decided to try out our first local chippy to see how it was (a solid 7/10) and then after we’d eaten, again on the kitchen floor, Matthew and I set to work painting the feature wall in our guest bedroom. (I’ll be doing a full post on how we did this later on this week!)

Once the wall was painted, we could then build the bed in there and position all the furniture, and then my parents headed home. Matthew and I drove into Crewe for another B&Q trip, this time for paint for my office, plus some screws and wall plugs and a few other bits and bobs, and I spent the evening painting the feature wall in my office.

Sunday morning was another coat of paint in my office, then we headed back into Crewe and hit Home Bargains and Dunelm for some things for the bathroom, grabbed lunch in Nandos and headed back to the house where the Sky man had just arrived to set up our Sky box. I built all the bathroom bits, then while Matthew screwed them into the walls, I built the desk for my office and got that all set up.

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing some finishing touches in the guest bedroom, which is now pretty much finished apart from a mirror needing to be put on a wall and a few other little decor additions, then tidied up all the mess into the garage.

So one weekend in, we have pretty much finished the guest bedroom and the bathroom, bar a few little details, and made a start to pretty much every other room. We still haven’t decided how we want to decorate our bedroom or the living room, but as neither have that much furniture in them right now we’ve got plenty of time to decide! If you want to see how some of these rooms looked before, check out the first look at our home here.

Twitter / Bloglovin / Instagram
4 Comments

A First Look at Our First Home

So after what feels like forever and also no time at all simultaneously, yesterday, for the first time ever, Matthew and I got to step foot into our first house.

Its been just over 2 months since we fell in love with this plot and put down our reservation fee, and ever since then its been a whirlwind of mortgage applications, legal documents and everything else that comes with house-buying, but its all coming together in time for us to get the keys next week.

Us being in Bournemouth (my home town) and the house being in Winsford has been an obvious logistical nightmare, so while most buyers would be able to check up on their new build as and when, we’ve only been up to see it a handful of times, all of which up til now have been while work was being carried out, so we’ve never been able to see the inside of the place that we’ll be making our home.

Well its safe to say I’m in love. I fell in love with the house from the first time we visited a showhome, but this one just seems so much shinier and more beautiful because its ours. Because we bought so late in the build of the house, we didn’t get to make many choices – the kitchen and the bathroom tiles had already been picked – but we did get to pick the carpet and the flooring in the kitchen and bathrooms, and while it was pretty hard when you’re just looking at samples, we managed to nail it and everything goes perfectly!


I can’t wait to get in next week and start the slow process of transforming this empty (but beautiful) shell of our house into our home, and I’m planning on doing before/after posts for each room as and when we finish them, plus everything else along the way, so be prepared for a whole bunch of house posts in the coming months!

Oh, and on top of having a beautiful house, we have the most amazing back garden! I’m feeling really super blessed that we managed to get this house, and even though I’ll probably never have savings again, it seems absolutely worth it.

Twitter / Bloglovin / Instagram
11 Comments

4 Shops for First Time Buyers – That Aren’t IKEA

Whether you’re buying your first home, or just moving/re-decorating, its no secret that it ain’t cheap. I mean, its a big enough purchase as it is, but all of a sudden you’ve gone from buying one thing to having a shopping list longer than your arm and a bank account that’s crying just a little bit.

For this, the world has learned to love the wonder that is IKEA. Its the answer to a whole bunch of your home needs and is pretty friendly to any budget, but despite my love for the big blue stores, there are a couple of things that you either can’t get, or I wouldn’t get there, and now I’m actually in the process of becoming a home-owner, I’ve suddenly realised that there’s a world of other stores out there that can also save me a pretty penny.

Home Sense

Sure, it can be hit and miss, but Home Sense is an absolute gem if you’re prepared to do a bit of digging. Stock is completely random, but its big brands for low prices, and you can grab yourself a real bargain – Matthew and I really wanted the pastel blue Smeg toaster and kettle for our kitchen, and would you believe that we randomly came across one tucked on a bottom shelf in our local store for £40 off the RRP! You can also find a lot of brands that are known to be a little pricey, such as Joseph Joseph and Le Crueset, for crazy good prices and there’s always a good range of Pyrex and Tefal. We’ve also picked up some amazing throw blankets and cushions for prices you won’t find in the likes of John Lewis or Next.

TK Maxx

TK Maxx actually own Home Sense, so a lot of the stock can be found in the home section of your local TK Maxx if you don’t have a Home Sense nearby, and unlike Home Sense, TK Maxx have an online store, so you can shop the deals without even leaving the house!

Supermarkets

Do not underestimate the home section of your local supermarket. Both George by Asda and Sainsbury’s home have some really nice ranges of kitchenware, bedding and soft furnishings, and even if their styles don’t take your fancy, they’re also a great place to pick up your basics – white plates, drinking glasses etc – for a good price.

Home Bargains

So the actual home decor stuff can vary from super tacky to actually pretty good – we’ve just bought some decent nest tables for £20 – but even if the home stuff doesn’t take your fancy, Home Bargains is an amazing place to buy a bunch of the things that you probably buy from the supermarket all the time for even cheaper than your rolled-back, price-matched prices; cereal, biscuits, chocolate, ketchup, all branded stuff for lower than your own brand equivalents, so its a great place to do your shopping once you’ve spent all your money on furniture!

Do you have any favourite places to nab a good deal?

Twitter / Bloglovin / Instagram
Leave a comment

My January Sale Buys

January sales are a weird concept. We’ve just spent all our money showering our friends and relatives with gifts, and have been showered in return, yet the second we see a sale poster in a shop window, or a promotional email slides into our inbox, we suddenly forget our credit card bills and piles or presents and shop til we drop. What can I say, I’m a sucker for a bargain.

As you can see, the majority of my steals were homeware – including the gorgeous throw blanket that I’ve doubled as a backdrop here! Its the prettiest creamy-blush colour, not to mention being crazy supersoft, and d’you know where I got it from? Homesense, £16.99, boom. I’m also completely obsessed with this yellow neon ‘hello’ sign by Talking Tables which I got on ASOS. I had my eye on it before it went on sale, but as soon as I saw it was less than half price, it was in the bag!

Also from ASOS, I picked up two of these amazing pastel furry throw cushions for only £8.50 each, and also this Skinnydip ‘Time to Get Ship-Faced’ bag for future Disney cruises, which was also half price. This little plant pot is one of two which I got from Homesense for just £2 too!

Lastly, Matthew and I picked up some tealights and diffuser oil in Passionflower and Mango, which smells amazing! Both were half price and under £2 from Sainsbury’s of all places.

Have you managed to resist the sales?

Twitter / Bloglovin / Instagram
6 Comments

Things I’ve Learnt Since Becoming a Cat Owner

Its been almost 4 months since our furry companions came home with us, and quite frankly life hasn’t been the same since.

Now our kitten experience hasn’t been an entirely normal one given the circumstances. Ozzy and Ronnie are rescue kittens that were found, along with their 2 siblings, at 4 weeks old in an abandoned shed, and we don’t know if their mother was ever around in the first few weeks of their lives, but Cats Protection did a great job in looking after them until they could come home to us at 8 weeks. They were tiny and very timid, once upon a time, that is..

Now we have two fledgling little cats, and as the first cats that this household has seen, its safe to say we’ve learnt a lot in these last 4 months. Wanna know what?

No level is safe

Within the first few weeks of being home, these two little monsters had learned to shimmy up the curtains, and while they couldn’t really do much damage up there, they’re now perfectly capable, should they wish, to get up onto the kitchen worktop, dining table, banisters, and even now they’re trying to find out how to get on top of the fridge!

Cats can be needy as hell

I think this is just a kitten thing that they’ll grow out of, but Ronnie especially has to be wherever you are, even if this means squeezing his way onto the same chair that you’re sitting on..

They also want their space

It takes a cat about half a second to change their mind from wanting your attention to not wanting it. You’ll know.

You cannot eat anything in their presence

That is, unless you want company; open a packet of crisps and its like turning on a cat magnet. Even Ozzy, who is still timid at the best of times, will practically be on your lap if you have food out.

They sleep in the craziest positions

Stretched out like a sausage, belly in the air, spooning each other, sitting on each other’s heads..

Cats really do love boxes

It must just be in their DNA. The first box we ever left out for the boys they were in instantly. They simultaneously loved sitting in it but also destroying it. Cos, y’know, cats..

They also love keyboards

I get no peace if I’m sat with my laptop on the sofa, but they’ll even climb up onto a desk to walk across the keys if it takes their fancy. Spoiler alert, it always does.

You start to ignore bumps, bangs and crashes

At first, every little noise will have you running to see what’s been knocked over this time, but eventually it just becomes so common that you know you’ll find it inevitably. In any case if the cat comes running from the sound, you know they’re not hurt.

You’ll call them by a lot more than just their name

Ozzy, Oz, Oswald, Oz Monster, Dolphin Boy, Fluff, Little Fluff, Squish. Ronnie, Ron, Ronald, Baby Ron, Baby Ronald, Trouble, Silly Cat, Furry One, the list goes on..

Off-limits means nothing to a cat

Even if you shut a door to a cat, it doesn’t mean they’re not gonna find some way to get in there. Ozzy and Ronnie’s particular favourite is waiting until you have a basket of laundry in your hands and using that opportunity to sneak into the garage when you open the door..

And that’s just the start of it! Who knows what I’ll learn next..

Twitter / Bloglovin / Instagram
4 Comments

A Kitty Update

Its now been six weeks since our little rescue kittens came home, and its been six weeks of craziness and fluffiness! Read my first post here!

So what’s been going on?

Well the biggest change in our kitties is definitely in their size – they’re practically double the size they were when they came home! They’ll eat practically anything you put in front of them, and we’re giving them more than double the amount of food they used to eat. We give them both wet and dry food, and we’ve been using as many different brands of cat food so they don’t get too picky!

The other main change is that while previously we kept them in just one room, they now have total freedom within the house, which just means more space to cause trouble – they’ve already learnt to climb onto as many surfaces as possible, and very much enjoy knocking things off my dad’s desk, plus Ronnie can scale the curtains.. They’re still too small to go outside, and they also haven’t had all their vet visits yet so they’re just indoor cats for the time being!

Both kittens have learned their names, and will generally come when called, although not when they’re busy playing, and as well as being referred to by their actual names, they can also be Oz and Ron for short or Oswald and Ronald if we’re feeling fancy.

Ozzy is still very shy but he is coming out of his shell. He never used to let us even stroke him, but now he’s happy to curl up on the sofa with us, and he loves tickles under his chin, plus if he’s nice and relaxed he will let us pick him for a cuddle. Rather than a proper meow, he tends to squeak and make noises a bit like a dolphin, and when he can’t find Ronnie he makes a little crying sound and Ron will come running for his brother! He absolutely loves sitting in the window sill and watching the world outside, but I think when the time comes he’ll be too nervous to venture outside without the protection of his brother.

Ronnie on the other hand is very comfortable with everything. He’s definitely taken on the role of big brother, despite once being the smallest of the litter, and at their last vet visit he actually weighed in heavier than Oz, despite Oz’s fluff giving the impression that he’s bigger – this is due to his ability to eat a lot faster than Ozzy! Ron can be picked up and carried around with no issues at all, although if he’s in stalking mode he’s much more interested in chasing his own tale. Ronnie is desperate to go outside, and makes every attempt to sneak out of the front door if given the chance..

They both still suckle on anything fluffy due to their lack of a mother – including my sister’s rabbits – and this is something that they will probably never grow out of, but other than that they seem to have adapted to normal life really well, even if Ozzy is still getting there..

We’ve well and truly become cat people!

Twitter / Bloglovin / Instagram
2 Comments

Welcome to Our Loft

Last month I made the big announcement that Matthew and I were finally moving in together, and that we’d be turning the loft into my family home into our own little space. Well I have no idea where the last month has gone, but I’m so happy with our loft and just couldn’t wait to share it with everyone!

The loft was converted into a room for me and my sister to use when we were teenagers, but over the last few years became somewhat overlooked and needed a good old clear out and a little bit of TLC. Matthew and I spent a good few days sorting out all the accumulated rubbish, donating furniture to charity shops and taking anything that couldn’t be salvaged to the tip, and then started the mammoth job of repainting, which we still haven’t actually finished completely, but our main priority was making the room ready for us to move in, and we can patch up the paint over the coming weeks.

When you come up the stairs, first thing on the right is the window bay, which Matthew has turned into his desk area, but I also have my sewing machine set up as well as a few bits and pieces for my businesses, but I’m not much of a desk person so its really his space.

We used the sofa as a sort-of room divider, which created a bit of storage space. I’m still keeping my clothes and bits in my bedroom, so again this space is really for Matthew’s clothes – hence the little clothes rail! – but its also created a nice little display space for some of our photos and my Lego Disney castle.

While the sideboard, cupboards and TV stand were new from IKEA, we managed to save on buying a new bed and sofa as Matthew already had those so he just brought them down from Manchester, along with his TV and bedside tables.

Our bed area is probably my favourite part of the whole room. At the end of the bed we have a huge beanbag, adding to the seating around the TV, and I love that it also matched the colour scheme of our bedding – in fact the whole room is generally themed yellow, blue and grey, or Donald Duck style, as I like to call it. Our amazing bedside lamps are also IKEA, and they create so much light alone that we rarely have the main lights on in the evening.

Moving into the loft also gave us the opportunity to set up the Nanoleaf Aurora that I got Matthew for our anniversary earlier this year, and I just love it!

I’m so happy with our little space, and I’m so happy that we’re finally passed the long distance part of our relationship, and the future is looking exciting!

Twitter / Bloglovin / Instagram
6 Comments

Affordable Acrylic Storage with Songmics* – GIVEAWAY!

I recently announced that Matthew has just moved in with me at my parent’s house, and that over the next few months we’ll be starting to look at buying a house and moving out, and with all this in mind, I’m not only having to think about keeping my stuff neat and tidy to make space for him, but also about how I’ll want our house to look, whenever it is that we get one.

I’m not gonna lie to you, I have a lot of makeup. Sure, its probably less than some, but its in no way a small collection, and up until recently, it lives for the majority of the time on my bedroom floor in front of my wardrobe mirror, and anything that’s not been on the floor has been in a box file on a shelf. Not stylish, and not practical at all, so when I was recently contacted by the lovely guys from Songmics and asked if I’d like to receive some acrylic makeup storage, I couldn’t say no! Songmics are a German brand that specialise in practical and stylish home storage and organisation, and their products are available in the UK and worldwide via Amazon.

I’ve eyed up various acrylic storage solutions before, such as Muji and even Ikea, but have always been put off by the price tag, but the two tier organiser that Songmics sent me is only £15.99, and if you’re an Amazon Prime member, hello free next day delivery! But let’s talk about the product..

My first impressions were that it was a lot sturdier than I had thought, which was great as I was worried that it might be thin and cheap feeling – definitely not the case! My second worry was that I didn’t think that one organiser was going to fit much of my makeup in, and while it doesn’t fit everything, I did manage to fit a LOT more than I thought I would – in fact, I managed to fit all of my day to day essentials and then some!

This organiser is actually comprised of two sections, with the top lifting off of the drawers, and the components are all designed to be stackable, so I can buy an extra set of drawers which I can fit into the mix, should I want to expand!

I’ve used the top section for all of my most used products – foundation, mascara, brow palette, favourite lipsticks etc – then organised the drawers into eyes and face, with the two smaller top drawers being my eyeliners and eyeshadows, then the larger bottom drawers are blushers/bronzers in one, and highlighers in the other.

If I’m being a little picky, I wish there was more room for palettes, as I’ve only been able to fit two in the slots at the back, but I’m definitely a convert to the acrylic storage club, and I’m already thinking about what else I can get to add to my setup to get the rest of my stuff in!

Want to win your own? The guys over at Songmics have got another two tier organiser with one of your names on it, just enter below and the winner will be announced on October 4th! (Widget isn’t supported on all browsers, so if you have any issues just click the link below!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway
https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js

Twitter / Bloglovin / Instagram
*I was sent this product to review, but all views are my own
6 Comments

Things That Happen When You Start to Think About Moving Out

So I’ve hinted a lot recently about big changes coming up in my life, and undeniably the biggest of these changes is that very soon I will be flying the nest, and Matthew and I will be moving in together.

While this might not seem like a big deal to some, it will be the first time I’ve ever left home; I didn’t go to university, and places in my town are so expensive even to rent that I was much happier living at home and saving up for when this time came. With that in mind, now we are in the process of not only trying to find our own place, but also brace for all the adult stuff that comes along with it – mortgages, show home visits and what not – a few more things start to happen..

You sign up for an Ikea Family card, and any other loyalty schemes you can find

The B&Q Club, Tesco Clubcards, you name it – anything that could either get you some money off or earn a few reward points suddenly seems like the best idea in the world.

Pinterest boards appear

Rather than spending evenings scrolling for holiday destinations or beauty tips, suddenly its all about decor, furniture and kitchens, plus any home DIY pins you think you’ll actually be able to accomplish successfully.

You start to evaluate your DIY skills

Suddenly thoughts like ‘how do you even put up a shelf?’ and ‘can I be trusted with power tools?’ pop into your head at random times and you fear that everything might just have to be held together by duck tape..

Important discussions occur

If you’ve never permanently lived with your soon-to-be new housemate, you’ll end up having long conversations about whether you’ll be a ‘shoes off at the door’ kinda house, or if you keep ketchup in the fridge or in the cupboard.

You start to panic over hosting people

Having your own place means that inevitably people will visit from time to time, and in these times its always vital that tea and coffee is stocked and there’s milk in the fridge, and does this mean you should always have biscuits in too? Is it rude to not have biscuits?!

Cashback websites become everything

Now that you actually have to worry about your own bills, when weighing up which companies to go to for things like power, broadband and insurance, its all about who works out as the best deal when it comes to that all important cashback.

You realise how many things at home you take for granted

Sure, you’ve thought about what furniture you’re gonna need, and you’ve basically decided on your dream home’s decor in your head already, but did you think about the fact you’ll have to remember to buy an ironing board, a dustpan and brush, batteries and ziploc bags?

If you’ve recently moved out and have any tips, please drop me a comment!

Twitter / Bloglovin / Instagram
4 Comments

How to Create a Disney Inspired Desk Space

In reality, my desk is a very fluid space. It goes from my creative space, complete with sewing machine, a million pins and strewn with fabric off-cuts, to my blog photo studio, to the place I pile up rubbish I need to get off the floor, all in the space of a few hours at times.

Every now and then, however, I can bring order to my little desk, and last weekend was one of those occasions. With the help of my recent Disney Store purchases, I was inspired to create a magical little work space, perfect for any dreamer and doer.

Want to create your own? Here’s what you’ll need!

The desk lamp

Proper lighting is super important when it comes to an area that you’ll be working in – eye strain is not cool. My desk is a subtle nod to the classic Pixar lamp, but there are a tonne of cool Disney themed lights out there to match the look you want.

Adorable stationery

Can anyone honestly say that they don’t have a weakness for cute stationery? Notepads, pens, sticky notes, you name it, I’m all about it. Right now, Disney Store are absolutely killing it with some of their stationery, but there are so many places you can buy Disney inspired products on the high street and online.

My Mickey Mouse highlighters were from John Lewis a few months back, but there are similar ones now available on the Disney Store website!

All the mugs

I’m all about any excuse to buy a new Disney mug, but they’re so multi-functional! Sure, you’re gonna need a lot of mugs for drinking from while you’re busy at work, but they also make for excellent pen pots, or storage for push pins, paperclips.

Practical decorations

I’m obsessed with my new Mickey and Minnie washi tape dispenser and Mickey glove business card holder from the Disney Store, they make for great desk centrepieces but are also actually useful. You can also find practical uses for some of your favourite Disney items; how about using a Funko Pop as a paperweight?

Magical artwork

Now your desk is kitted out, bring a little magic to your walls! My desk is surrounded by Polaroid style prints of my favourite Disney trip photos from Sticky9 (who also do cute little magnets!), but there are also so many amazing Disney artists out there – try Etsy and Redbubble!

How do you bring magic to your workspace?

Twitter / Bloglovin / Instagram
3 Comments

My Creative Space

Something that has been making me really happy recently has been my return to the world of crafting. I’ve never been artistic, but I’ve always been creative, so while I can’t draw or paint, other activities like sewing and papercraft are absolutely my jam.

In the last month, I returned to the world of sewing, and my desk is once again being used for its proper purpose, rather than a dumping ground/photo space, so I thought today I’d share my little creative space, and the supplies I keep on hand for those crafty moments!

my craft drawer

craft drawer

craft drawer

My craft drawer is in no way Pinterest-perfect, but there’s a place for everything, and everything’s in its place. I use this plastic organiser tray to separate out my little bits – buttons, patches, spare bobbins, elastic etc – as well as washi tape, bias binding and ribbons, with zips tucked in the front and spare little boxes at the back. To keep my thread spools tidy, I used wooden dowelling and Sugru to create little stands for them, and I’ve also got a stash of fabric paint, paintbrushes, pens and pencils, as well as my fabric scissors and all my stickers.

creative space

On the shelving unit next to my desk, I keep a small selection of my fabric, although there’s almost always a load of it stacked up on my desk too, depending on what projects I’m in the middle of! I also used more wooden dowelling and Sugru to make a little shelf for my bigger rolls of tapes.

sewing area

sewing space

For prettiness, I’ve got my Ikea gerberas tucked in the corner, and my watercolour castle print to match my pastel pom poms! My desk area is probably my favourite part of my room, which only adds to the happiness that being creative gives me. Watch this space for some of my creations!

Twitter / Bloglovin / Instagram
Leave a comment

DIY Travel Memory Frame

I’m a crazy sentimental person; I keep all kinds of silly things that remind me of certain places or days, and this is multiplied by a billion whenever I go on an amazing trip. These items will normally end up stuck to the fridge, or on a noticeboard, a great talking piece when people come round, but only occasionally glanced at the rest of the time, so when I came back from my recent trip to New Zealand, I knew I wanted a way of being able to keep the memories so that they didn’t end up as fridge fodder.

Taking inspiration from the lovely Kayley (@kayleymills89 on Twitter), I set about creating a shadow-box style collage of my trip!

DIY Travel shadow box fram

I used a Ribba frame from Ikea, but any deep photo frame would probably work. What goes in the frame is entirely up to you – they’re your memories! I’d already had some of the photos from the trip printed by Sticky9, and saved my boarding passes and tickets to places we’d visited, so I set about arranging these on the backboard of the frame and made sure I was happy with everything before sticking them down, then trimmed any overhanging bits.

DIY Travel memory box

Inside the frame, I stuck the little penguin USB stick that we got as part of our penguin experience, and added some confetti from my birthday present. I also bought a few stickers from Redbubble, and used the New Zealand silhouette sticker on the outside of the frame.

dsc01153

Pop the backdrop into the frame, and voila!

dsc01156

I’m so happy with how it turned out, and I definitely think I’m going to be making this a holiday tradition from now on! And if you love this idea but don’t fancy making it personal, check out Sammie’s Autumn inspired shadow box tutorial here!

How do you keep your holiday memories?

Twitter / Bloglovin / Instagram
5 Comments

July Favourites

It feels a bit strange writing a monthly favourites post, when I’ve actually spent the majority of the month out of the country, but actually there have been some things that have really stood out as superstars this month, both on my travels and at home!

July Favourites

Sweaty Betty New Balance Vazees

When I saw that two of my favourite fitness brands, Sweaty Betty and New Balance were collaborating on a trainer, I instantly fell in love with their creation. I talked myself out of buying them for a while, but when raiding the SB sale I decided that I would bite the bullet and buy them, and THEY ARE SO COMFORTABLE! I’d never run in them because I’m quite picky about my running shoes, but they’re great for the gym and I wore them for the majority of my trip to China because they are so lightweight and beautiful. Definitely worth the purchase!

Mitchum deodorant

So I fell pray to TV advertising.. I wanted to know if it was as good as the advert made it sound, and while I don’t want to be crude, we all sweat guys and there’s nothing wrong with that, but you don’t need to smell. It claims 48 hour protection, and I was so impressed finding that even after 24 hours solid travelling (I’m talking stuffy planes, trains etc) I didn’t feel at all sticky or smell of anything. Also the fragrances are great and not overwhelming like some deodorants can be!

Feel Unique Pick’n’mix

Um, did you know you can try 5 products a month FOR FREE from Feel Unique?! Well, you pay £3.95 for postage, but that comes back to you in the form of a voucher to redeem against a future purchase if you fall in love with the products. I got my hands on a sample of Benefit’s Ka Brow! and a few other cool bits that looked worth a try – I can’t wait to do it again!

Primark scented candles

I went into Primark to pick up some last minute holiday bits, and saw these pink grapefruit tealights on the checkout for something crazy like £1! They smell great and last a good long while; you can’t really go too wrong with tealights but these were better than I thought they would be.

Nyx Euro Trash lipstick

I’m obsessed with this shade! Its perfect for everyday wear and there’s just nothing like a matte lipstick in my opinion, plus its cruelty free!

What have you been loving this month?

Twitter / Bloglovin / Instagram
3 Comments

Mini Primark Haul

Call me crazy, but I’m not a huge fan of high street shopping. I like to shop from the comfort of my sofa in my pyjamas and avoid the public as much as possible. I think that’s reasonable, right?

There are a few exceptions to this rule: H&M, because I can always find so many more amazing things in store than I can online, and Primark, because they aren’t online, but because I never seem to find the time for regular trips, I tend to do big shops whenever I do make it into town. I’m also always seeing amazing Primark finds posted on Twitter and Instagram so I normally have a little shopping list ready, which is what today’s haul is primarily composed of!

Primark homeware bedding

First up, a little bedding haul! I have a slight addiction to bedding, which can be really pricey at times so I always love when Primark have cute stuff in because its always so much cheaper than elsewhere! The donut duvet set was £11 for a double, then I got the prettiest pastel throw for £5 (its SO SOFT), a double fitted sheet for £6.50 and pillowcases for £2.30; a total steal if you ask me, especially when even IKEA bedding can be £30 for a duvet set at times!

Primark Mickey Mouse shorts

Primark sports bra

Next up, my two £4 bargains! The Mickey Mouse shorts are a little thin in terms of fabric quality, but for wearing round the house in the summer they’ll be perfect, and for the price I really didn’t mind. I’m also totally loving the criss-cross back of this sports bra and the pretty blue band. I don’t imagine its supportive enough for running, but the quality feels good and it’ll be perfect for the gym or beach yoga.

Primark unicorn pyjamas

Lastly, a little bit of unicorn love with this cutesy PJ set – just look at the little sprinkle shorts! – and a three pack of unicorn socks, because if you go to Primark without buying socks, did you really go?

Have you found anything good in Primark recently?

Twitter / Bloglovin / Instagram
4 Comments

YearOfFit – Home Gym Essentials

These days there are a million ways for you to stay active without paying out for a gym membership.

There’s workout videos, YouTube, dancing, Pinterest, and you can even buy your own machines so you don’t need to share with smelly strangers, and if you’re doing any of these things, you might be thinking about setting up a little ‘home gym’. Yeah? Well here are a few bits of kit you’ll want to consider!

Home Gym

1. Swiss ball

There are a lot of things you can do with a Swiss ball, from pilates to core work; you can even use it as a chair or bench!

2. Skipping rope

Skipping is a great way to get your heart rate up and burn calories, and a rope is a really cheap piece of kit!

3. Resistance bands

Another budget piece of kit, but a great way to save paying out for pricey strength training equipment

4. Kettlebells

Although I really hate them sometimes, kettlebells are a really versatile option if you’re thinking of buying weights

5. Foam roller

Most people, runners especially, have a real love/hate relationship with the foam roller. Personally, although it can hurt, my foam roller is my go-to for tight calf problems and general muscle aches and pains.

6. TRX/Suspension cables

If you’ve got somewhere safe and strong to secure them, suspension cables are a great piece of kit that utilises your body weight for strength training. The possibilities can be endless!

7. Step box

Whether you’re using it for an aerobics workout, a weight bench, or just a general prop, a box can be a great purchase for your home gym area

8. Dumbells

Dumbells can be a pricey piece of equipment, but if you want to take your home gym to the next level, a pair or even a set of dumbells is the way to go!

9. Mat

Save yourself from workout out on cold or uncomfortable floors with a foam or rubber exercise mat!

Do you prefer to workout at home or at a gym?

Twitter / Bloglovin / Instagram
3 Comments

Changing with the Seasons: Winter to Spring

Its March 21st.. HELLO SPRING!

Ok, its still pretty cold right now, but Mr Sun has been poking his head out a lot more in the last few weeks, and despite having to still occasionally de-ice my car, I’m definitely starting to feel this Spring thing coming on.

So with the seasons changing, what else do we change?

SONY DSC

Scents

Say goodbye to cinnamon and winter spiced scented candles and hello to fresh floral fragrances. There’s also significantly less pumpkin spice and gingerbread smells coming from Starbucks.

Colours

Oh hi there pastels! As much as everyone rocks deep lipstick colours, the sunshine welcomes back the reign of pinks and corals, and the same goes for our clothes too.

Food

As the mince pies disappear from supermarket shelves, we obviously can’t wait for the return of Creme Eggs! Suddenly the warming soups we’ve turned to in winter are dropping off menus everywhere and being replaced with fresh salads and pastas.

Wardrobe

While we aren’t always lucky enough to put our warm jumpers away just yet, we can welcome back the idea of light layers. Of course we’re already thinking about our summer wardrobes at this point, so tights become every girls best friend as it gives us an excuse to wear those cute new dresses we snagged in the ASOS sale.

Home

Yay for fresh flowers, and excuse to buy pretty vases, am I right? Its also time to put away the extra blankets we’ve piled up on our bed over the winter months, and of course, with all this spring cleaning, we’ll be feeling like domestic goddesses!

Are you ready for Spring to begin? I know I am!

Twitter / Bloglovin / Instagram

 

 

Leave a comment

Friday Favourite Five – Scented Candle Brands

In classic blogger style, I’ve been obsessed with scented candles since I bought my first Vanilla Buttercream Yankee way back whenever.

Since that day, my poor bank account has had to suffer my need to fill my bedroom with amazing smells, and in classic Friday fashion, I’m gonna share my favourite candle brands today!

1. Yankee Candle

SONY DSC

Yankee Candle is the probably the most well-known candle brand in the UK and US, and with the enormous range of scents available, its no wonder why!

2. Maple and Whisky

SONY DSC

Maple and Whisky are a UK based company that handmade the most delicious Disney inspired soy candles and wax melts – I’m obsessed and not even sorry..

3. Lily Flame

SONY DSC

These adorable tin candles come in an incredible range of smells, I can’t wait to try more!

4. Jelly Belly

SONY DSC

Jelly Belly is such a fun brand, and my blueberry candle smells good enough to eat!

5. Ikea

SONY DSC

Curveball, but I almost never resist buying new candles when I go to Ikea because they’re such good value for money! They might not be as pretty and well packaged as ‘branded’ candles, but when you’re paying a fraction of the price, who really cares, right?

What’s your favourite candle scent?

Twitter / Bloglovin / Instagram
Leave a comment

January Sale Homeware Haul

Being away for the first half of January, I was a little late to the sale shopping game but totally ready to make up for lost time!

SONY DSC

The first bargains I stumbled upon were these amazing cushion covers from h&m, which I’d actually been eyeing up back in December when they were full price. Yes, ok, the text ones are Christmas themed, but I just love white and gold and they were £2(!!!) and the star print was £4, plus isn’t the point of January sales to buy cheap Christmas stuff?!

SONY DSC

I totally blame Kayleigh for my next set of purchases. I am a self-confessed stationery addict, so when she posted her pretty new planner on Instagram, I figured it was time for me to make a purchase. I looked around and decided on Kikki-K, a company I’ve been a little bit obsessed with for a while now, and guess what – they were having a sale! While I can be a sucker for pastels at times, yellow is my one true love, so of course seeing that most of the sale items were yellow just proved it was meant to be! As well as a planner, I got a set of 3 A5 notebooks, some of the cutest little notepads and – non-sale – a happy healthy habits box, which I’ll be reviewing separately once I’ve given it a go! Its all just too cute, I can’t wait to use it!

SONY DSC

SONY DSC

Last, but definitely by no means least, on Friday 29th I set my alarm for 6.45am in order to be awake for the elusive Nikki McWilliams biscuit sale. Psst.. go look at Nikki McWilliams and you’ll fall in love! In the biscuit sale, products with minor defects are sold off at low, low prices, along with discontinued bits and bobs, and stock flies out in minutes! For example, in the time it took me to add everything I wanted to my basket, three things had already sold out, waa! I did, however, still get some great bargains (and the two cushions I bought haven’t arrived yet) and I look forward to the next!

Did you hit the sales in January?

Twitter / Instagram / Bloglovin’
6 Comments

Friday Favourite Five: Artists of Etsy

The discovery of Etsy was both the best and worst thing to happen to me in terms of online shopping; it opened up an incredible world of handmade and vintage items from all over the world, making me a very happy girl, but my bank balance a little sad!

I love that you can buy almost anything, from food products to home furnishings, but today I’m focusing on artwork, and sharing my favourite five artists and graphic designers!

1. Teacup Pirahna

I’m obsessed with these vintage travel poster prints inspired by Star Wars, Disney and Game of Thrones, and quite frankly all the art on the shop is amazing!

2. CoconuTacha

Natacha’s artwork is beyond impressive, and she’s such a lovely seller too! I have 6 of her skyline prints, and I’m in awe of them!

3. Kayley Draws

I discovered Kayley through Instagram, and fell in love with her castle print tote, which I bought for my Disneyland Paris trip, becoming a member of her Forever Princess Club!

4. Underland2Wonderland

Danielle’s shop is filled with Disney inspired prints and photography, but my particular favourite is this Lord of the Rings piece!

5. Vivid Editions

Looking for watercolour prints? Look no further! This store is packed with amazing Disney watercolour artwork as well as vintage style park posters, and the best part is they’re normally on 3 for 2!

Who’s your favourite?

xoxo

3 Comments

Friday Favourite Five – Disney Mugs

Now I am a great anomaly: I don’t drink tea or coffee.

BUT, that doesn’t mean I don’t like mugs, and I’m fairly certain that a lot of cold drinks taste better when you drink them from a mug, and the cuter the mug, the better! So this week I’m sharing my five favourite mugs from my Disney collection:

1. Art of Aurora

SONY DSC

Sleeping Beauty was my favourite movie as a kid, and I love the artwork on this, and the little bird on the handle!

2. Wall-E and Eve

SONY DSC

Ok so this is two mugs, but they have to be together, right?

3. Stuck in the mug Pooh

SONY DSC

Despite the really simple outward appearance of this mug, how cute is little Pooh stuck on the inside? Also its a really big mug!

4. Tokyo Disneyland Hotel

SONY DSC

I picked this up during our stay at the hotel in July; I love the Victoria style artwork, it reflects the hotel perfectly!

5. Hamm

SONY DSC

When I saw this on the Disney Store website, I knew I had to have it, so when it sold out I was pretty gutted.. Until I stumbled across him on a trip to my local Disney Store!

Are you a bit of a mug collector like me?

°o°

Leave a comment

My Disneyland Paris Haul

Oh goody, goodies!

SONY DSC

What is a Disney trip with a fabulous haul of park merch? For me, souvenir shopping is one of my favourite parts of any trip, and being the over-preparer that I am, I always plan ahead; making sure I have room in my case to bring stuff home, and also doing a little bit of research on what I might want to look out for!

I was fairly restrained on this trip, mainly due to a tight-ish budget, but I knew I wanted to commemorate the visit with some special goodies, so here they are!

SONY DSC

First up, two things I didn’t actually pay for! When we checked into the hotel for our stay, and the CM found out it was my birthday, he wrote out a ‘Touch of Magic’ voucher so both me and my sister could choose a pin each, it was so sweet! I’m not a pin collector like many Disney fans, but these two caught my eye, and Hannah wasn’t fussed so she let me have them both!

SONY DSC

While I might not be a pin collector, I do have a big Vinylmation collection, so seeing a new collection in the parks always gets me excited! The Peter Pan collection looked fab – there wasn’t a single one I didn’t like – and I got this little cutie: Michael!

SONY DSC

I’d been eyeing up this candle holder on the Disney Store website, and being in the Halloween shop in the parks seemed like the perfect time to buy it!

SONY DSC

Ok, so this is another thing I didn’t buy, it was actually a surprise extra birthday present from Mum and Dad, but they were for sale in the Lego Store in Disney Village, and I love him!

SONY DSC

Isn’t this mini carousel sweet? It’s a little musical piece, which plays the Its a Small World song as it turns, and I couldn’t resist it.

SONY DSC

Last but not least is Lumiere! I saw these in WDW last year and resisted, but now they’re available in DLP, it seemed almost too perfect to buy him in Paris.

SONY DSC

°o°

3 Comments

Tokyo Disney Haul

For me, the only thing that was going to be more exciting than my Tokyo trip, was all the wonderful goodies I knew I would find in Japan. I packed the bare minimum (which by my standards is still probably more than anyone else) so I could fill my case to bursting with amazing ‘stuff’ to bring home, and I think I did a pretty good job..

SONY DSC

This isn’t even all of it! BUT a fair few of these goodies are for giveaways, so its not all mine, but I’m going to share what I did buy just for me!

SONY DSC

Nanoblocks have a small following here in the UK, but they were everywhere in Tokyo Disneyland; every character you could imagine in teeny tiny Lego-like building blocks. I was going to resist, but when I saw the castle I couldn’t help myself, and because the Tokyo Monorail was just so darn cute, I ended up getting that one too, and I’m really excited to give building them a go!

SONY DSC

SONY DSC

Next, the wearable goodies! The Japanese really go all out when they dress for Disney, and the range was endless! From the parks, I got myself a pair of sparkly Minnie ears, a Minnie scrunchie, the amazing LGM ears, monorail socks, and Winnie the Pooh clip-on ears. A lot of people in the parks choose to wear clip-on ears, and they came in a pretty impressive range from Minnie to Pooh to Stitch. I picked up some Tsum Tsum hairbands from the Disney Store just outside the parks, and the Tsum Tsum socks came from some crazy shops we found in a Tokyo shopping centre.

SONY DSC

SONY DSC

As we all know I’m a total homeware nut, and I honestly expected more of it in the parks but the range didn’t span much more than mugs and chopsticks in most places, but I did manage to get some cute lunchboxes, a large rice bowl and a plastic cup, as well as a Tokyo Disney mug and a Tokyo Disneyland hotel mug to add to my collection, as well as some Winnie the Pooh nail clippers – random, I know – and The Queen of Hearts plate came with one of our desserts in the Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall. From another store in Tokyo I also got some cool Pooh and Mickey sushi mould sets, as well as my favourite buy of the holiday: a Toy Story Little Green Men tea set! I had really hoped to get a tea set while in Japan, and this little guy stole my heart. As you can see in the top picture, the cups all stack up into a tower, and the head lifts off the teapot to act as another cup/sugar bowl, while the body is the pot; I’m in love!

SONY DSC

I also picked up a few crafty bits from various stores around Japan: a Minnie Mouse tape measure, some Disney washi tape, sew on Tsum Tsum appliques and a tin of little paper tsum tsum cards!

As well as all these wonderful goodies, there is one more beautiful buy, which I’ve snuck a picture of as its going to be my birthday present, so I can’t have it until October (waa!), but I have to share..

SONY DSC

We came across a Samantha Thavasa store in a shopping centre and I just wanted to have a quick look until I found this beautiful Dumbo purse – the picture doesn’t do justice to just how gorgeous it is!

I’m a pretty happy girly!

°o°

5 Comments

Dream Home with HomeLife Direct

I don’t keep it much of a secret how much time I spend thinking about my dream home, and although I write a lot of wishlists about home decor dreams, I often overlook furniture!

So when I was invited to take part in HomeLife Direct’s Dream Home Competition, I jumped at the opportunity to browse their selection of beautiful, good quality furniture, and pick out a few favourites to share!

HomeLife Direct

The products on the site are categorised by room, making it super easy to browse and visualise where your picks will fit into your home!

Now quite honestly, I’ve never really pictured my dream home with a conservatory (wicker furniture is always something that reminds me of my gran’s house!), but I had a little browse of their range anyway, and was surprised to be quite taken with the Chester Banana Leaf collection:

Chester Banana Leaf Conservatory Suite Set

I definitely picture my dream home having more of a contemporary design. I love simplicity and clean lines, so the Geo Oak range of dining room and living room furniture caught my eye.

Geo Oak Dining Set

This is the extendable dining set, and I love that you can choose your own fabrics for the seat pads to make it your own style!

Geo Oak Media Unit

There’s also a selection of matching furniture, like this media unit, and sweet drawers and tables to tie everything together. I just really like the simplicity of the design; it could fit into any home!

Finally, my favourite piece, and this is a total guilty pleasure item..

Orange Faux Leather Tub Chair

I know, I know, it probably doesn’t fit in with all the other classic items I’ve already talked about, but I love tub chairs, and this orange faux leather one is so bright and beautiful. It would be perfect to curl up in with a book!

All of the materials used by HomeLife Direct are from sustainable sources, which is a big plus for me, and they offer free UK delivery and a 12 month warranty with every product!

What furniture would be in your dream home?

Leave a comment

Disney Art Wishlist

There is so much beautiful Disney artwork out there. My collection started when I fell in love with Thomas Kinkade paintings in Epcot last summer, and I ended up bringing home a canvas box print of his Tangled piece. Since then I added to it with a Finding Nemo World of Disney print from the Disney Store, which I got for Christmas.

So today I’m sharing a few more beauties that I’d love to have in my future home!

Honey Lemon Disney Watercolor Print, Big Hero 6 Watercolor Poster, Kids Decor, Girl Room Wall Art, Not Framed, Buy 2 Get 1 Free! [No. 46-1]

After watching Big Hero Six when it came out, I immediately fell in love with Honey Lemon as she is literally me in Disney character form; I’ve never really totally identified with a single princess, but a yellow loving chemistry nerd is me to a tee.

Free Delivery

These Art of Aurora lithographs from the Disney Store are really sweet. Sleeping Beauty was my favourite princess as a kid, so I’ve got a total soft spot for anything Aurora.

Free Delivery

Another from the World of Disney collection, this Up! print would go perfectly with my Finding Nemo one.

TachaDesigns on Redbubble has the best collection of watercolour silhouettes of Disney Parks. This is the California Disneyland print, but there is also Disneyland Paris, and all of the Disney World parks, and I’d love the full set!
Main Street U.S.A.,® Walt Disney World®
thumbnail
Another few Thomas Kinkade designs from the Disney Dreams collection.. The full images are actually rectangular, but my box canvas print from Epcot was square, and I’d love a few more of those to go with my Tangled one.
I’m not sure what I’m going to do tomorrow, but it seems to be turning into a wishlist week, so I’ll come up with something!
°o°
1 Comment

Disney Kitchen Wishlist

I love window shopping; its what I spend at least half of my time on the internet doing, and of all the window shopping I do, most of that is for my dream home of the future. I know that’s probably a little way off, but a girl can dream, right?

So today I’m featuring a few of my favourite goodies that add a bit of Disney magic to the kitchen!

kit

1. Mickey and Minnie Salt and Pepper Shakers from Disney Store

2. Mrs Potts hand painted teapot from Hannah’s Hut on Etsy

3. Finding Nemo Cookie Jar from Hot Topic

4. Azul Plate from Disney Store

5. Mickey Casserole Dish from Disney Store

6. Simba and Pumbaa Salt and Pepper Shakers from Hot Topic

7. Starbucks ‘you are here’ mugs exclusive to the relevant Disney Parks

For someone who doesn’t drink tea or coffee, I own a lot of mugs, pretty much all of which are Disney, so I’ve tried to avoid looking at mugs, but I’m totally in love with the Starbucks ‘you are here’ mugs. You can only get them in the park they represent, and there are six altogether as you can also get ones for the California Disneyland parks, so I’m hoping if they’re still available I’ll be able to pick up each one in January! I also dream of owning a proper Mrs Potts and Chip tea set, so when I stumbled across this beauty on Etsy, I had to add it to my favourites.

As well as great clothes, Hot Topic also has a great collection of Disney homeware. I struggle to choose favourites, but thought today I’d feature the Finding Nemo cookie jar and Lion King salt and pepper shakers.

The Disney Store obviously has a fab lot of kitchenware, and the newly released Azul Dining Collection has definitely tickled my fancy; there are dining plates, bowls, mugs etc, but they’re selling quick! I also love the casserole dish, there was a similar one in the Disney parks.

Tomorrow I’m going to do a little feature of my favourite Disney artwork 🙂

°o°

Leave a comment

Colour Outside The Lines – Valspar Paint Giveaway!

This is so exciting!

This week I’ve been working with the fabulous Valspar Paint UK as they’ve been building up for the big reveal of a huge project they’ve been working on as part of their Colour Outside the Lines campaign, and today the UK gets to see what they’ve been painting..

House_art2

This amazing work of art has been painted on the side of a building in Clerkenwell Road in Islington, London to inspire the people of Britain to ditch magnolia walls and boring white woodwork, and take up their paintbrushes to colour outside the lines, and we’re going to give you a little helping hand..

120.0029201.330

We’re offering one lucky follower a chance to win these Valspar goodies:

2 x Valspar tester pots 236ml

1 x 5L Valspar Premium for Walls and Ceilings

2 x 2.5L Valspar Primer and Undercoat

Worth over £100!

All you have to do to enter, and here’s how:

1. Follow @lottieanddisney and @ValsparPaintUK on Twitter

2. Tweet your answer to the following question: how many shades is Valspar available in? (We might have let the answer slip in our last post!). Use the hashtags #ValsparColour and #lottiedoesdisney

Entrants must be UK residents as vouchers will be sent to the winner in order for you to claim your paint!

°o°

2 Comments

I See What You Did There, Valspar..

I’m a bit of a DIY junkie. I can’t wait to move into my own place and start decorating and re-decorating constantly, and one of the things on my Disney Bucket List is to have at least one Disney themed room in my house, so this week, with the help of Valspar Paint UK, I’ve been looking at ways you can bring a little Disney into your home, without going too overboard!

The challenge I set myself, and this is going to be an ongoing series with different themes each month, is to pick out colour schemes to represent Disney films using Valspar colours, but only if the name of the colour relates to the film! You see, each of Valspar’s 2000 pre-selected colours has its own name, from the cutesy Party Pattie and Freshly Squeezed to the slightly stranger Cabbage Juice and Warm Alpaca!

Every colour can be mixed in whatever paint you need, from matt emulsion for walls to gloss for wood and metal trims, and even masonry paint, so you can throw old ideas of painting plain out the window, and colour outside the lines!

So this week I’ve taken on Disney princess films!

SONY DSC

Frozen – Cold as Ice (R191E) Frosty Aqua (R219F) Snow Flurries (R184E)

Once I found Cold As Ice, the rest of the colours came easy. Lots of the pale icy colours look great together, but I really liked the hint of purple Snow Flurries brings to the table, without being too in your face.

SONY DSC

Brave – Fiery Sky (133E) highland Loch (R193D) Shadows of Time (R220A)

The names of these colours are a little more loosely linked to the film itself, but Shadows of Time really reminded me of the magic in the movie, and Fiery Sky made me think of Merida’s fierce personality.

SONY DSC

Tangled – See the Light (R143A) Birthday Bouquet (R63C) Purple hibiscus (R50D) Lantern Glow (132C)

I actually had a fifth colour for this colour scheme called Sun Sparkle, but it was very similar to See the Light. I think the names of these are really self-explanatory, but the photo makes the colours look a little darker, they look better together in real life!

SONY DSC

Princess and the Frog – Bayou Serenade (R13C) Ribbet! (R236A) Frog Prince (R226A)

I love that all the names of these tie in together because they look so good together! Bayou Serenade would make a great main colour (grey is totally in right now), with Frog Prince as a feature wall and Ribbet! for the skirting and other features.

SONY DSC

Mulan – Ming Dynasty (R160A) Green Reflection (R225F) Samurai Fusion (R70E)

My camera’s gone a little wacky today, Green Reflection isn’t quite as light as it seems here, its a shade or two lighter than the green Mulan wears in the films. Samurai Fusion and Ming Dynasty are great feature colours!

SONY DSC

Pocahontas – Nice Tan (R114C) Soul Searching (R6F) Soul Blue (R168C)

I really like this selection; I watched Pocahontas last night so I’m feeling it right now. Soul Searching is more brown than the photo shows!

SONY DSC

Aladdin – Three Wishes (R227E) Bengal Tiger (W24C) Glistening Aqua (R128E)

Ok, so Glistening Aqua doesn’t strictly fit into the theme of the movie, but I’m sure you can say water is somewhere in the film, and the colour matched Jasmine’s outfit so perfectly!

SONY DSC

Beauty and the Beast – Bonjour (R140C) Consomme (R119C) Pain Au Chocolat (R98F)

I struggled a lot with this one as there are so many colour scheme options that could all represent the film, but I went for a French theme that incorporated Belle’s classic ballgown!

SONY DSC

The Little Mermaid – Cajun Shrimp (R72E) Enchanted Mermaid (R220C) Purple hibiscus (R50D)

Ok, so Enchanted Mermaid is the perfect name, and a great colour. I kept to Ariel’s classic look when picking out the colours, which are all very bold so perfect for playing around with artsy stripes and tape tricks.

SONY DSC

Sleeping Beauty – Sleepy Kisses (R29A) Budding Beauty (R32A) Princess heartbreak (R68E)

The camera has washed the pale pinks out a little bit, but either would make a great light wall colour, with the other for accents and skirting and Princess heartbreak as a feature wall.

SONY DSC

Cinderella – Daydream Believer (R61B) Little Glass Slipper (R171E) Periwinkle Dream (R159E)

Little Glass Slipper, come on! I was half expecting to find a colour called A Dream is a Wish, but no luck so I settled for two more dreamy colours that look perfect together.

And I totally failed with Snow White, but mainly cos I totally spaced and forgot about her!

If I’ve inspired you, keep an eye out for our next post and you could win your next decorating project!

°o°

Leave a comment

Sea Shell DIY

In keeping with this week’s Little Mermaid theme, I’ve been crafting away with sea shells.

Shells are a great craft supply; if you live near a beach, you’ve basically got a free supply right there and a lot of fancier seafood you can buy from the supermarket comes with shells now too. Cleaning them up is easy enough with hot soapy water in the sink, but you can also put them in the dishwasher too!

So here are just a few quick little DIYs to add a little under the sea to your home!

 First of all, you could spray paint them..

SONY DSC

SONY DSC

Or turn them into cute hair accessories..

SONY DSC

SONY DSC

Or miniature trinket boxes..

SONY DSC

Or fill a decorative vase..

SONY DSC

Or make into cute little tealights..

SONY DSC

And large shells would make a great jewellery dish..

SONY DSC

Or key dish..

SONY DSC

Or even a soap disc..

SONY DSC

°o°

Leave a comment

DIY Tangled Inspired Lampshade

This has been a working progress for months now, only cos I can be lazy and unmotivated, but I’m so happy to have finished this..

SONY DSC

I’ve also really struggled to get a good photo, but it looks better in person, promise!

SONY DSC

SONY DSC

SONY DSC

SONY DSC

It was super easy to make, all you need is a lampshade (preferably a plastic lined one), a needle, and a template/artistic talent!

I printed off the images that I wanted, and while holding them in position with sewing pins, used the needle to make holes along the outlines.

SONY DSC

Although its a little fiddly, you’ll get the best results working on the design from inside the shade (poking the needle through to the outside) because the lining will pucker outwards, making the light shine through better.

SONY DSC

SONY DSC

SONY DSC

With no light, it looks pretty sweet..

SONY DSC

And then BAM!

SONY DSC

°o°

Leave a comment

So I’m a bit of a collector..

Disney girl (noun) – a special kind of female who’s life is controlled by a major love of all things Disney. Symptoms include spontaneously bursting into song, a need to bring Disney into all aspects of day to day life, and a serious hoarding problem for Disney collectibles.

SONY DSC

So this is the start of my collection of collections: models, figures and tsum tsums. I’ve had some of these for a few years now, but I’ve only really just got round to getting a proper unit that I can display them on.

SONY DSC

The top makes the perfect stacking space for my Tsum Tsums. I hate how they’re not available in the UK yet, but its been announced they’re coming soon (eek!), so until then I’ll have to stick to eBay. I have two medium sized Tsums and 13 minis, 8 of which are Halloween edition.

SONY DSC

Also on the top are my Wikkeez. This collection started off with my mum buying me a packet, and although at first I wasn’t entirely sold, I’m ashamed to say I now have 20 out of 51 available!

SONY DSC

So then comes the vinyl shelf: Vinylmations and Vinyl Pop figures. My Vinylmation collection began in 2010, although grew massively thanks to my 2014 Disney World trip. The collection includes one 9″ figure, a few Star Wars themed, some Mystery Bakery figures, one variant and one chaser: Mr Toad.

I’m relatively new to the Funko Pop scene. I decided I’d rather build up my collection one film at a time, but I’m not sure how well I’ll stick to that over time; I really want Wall-E and Baymax soon!

SONY DSC

Lego runs in my family, and I have an enormous collection, but only two sets of the recently introduced Disney Princess range: Rapunzel’s Tower and Merida’s Highland Games.

SONY DSC

I know its designed for kids, so I’ll overlook that the builds are really quite basic, with lots of pre-formed pieces, but they’re sweet little sets all the same.

SONY DSC

Then there’s my little R2 unit. I built him in Once Upon a Toy in Downtown Disney; you pick your own body, arms, head and Mickey ears or novelty hats to create a unique little droid!

SONY DSC

And Olaf.. Olaf is a handblown glass ornament who came from the Arribas Bros shop on Main Street USA. My super sneaky parents bought him, and got him back to the UK without my knowledge so he could be my birthday present; he’s super sweet!

SONY DSC

So yeah, just a measly collection..

In the weeks to come I hope to share more aspects of my Disney home, including artwork, homewares etc 🙂

°o°

2 Comments

Giving Ikea furniture a DisneySide

So its DIY Friday, instead of Wednesday this week due to a mix up in my work shifts. I’m also sharing a bit of my DisneySide, which I’ll follow up tomorrow 🙂

Nevertheless, the posting must go on! And as Fantasia is a bit of a jumble of a film, I struggled to find anything specifically from the classic to settle on for a DIY, but as I’ve spent my whole week honouring the main mouse himself, I thought I’d concentrate on him, and share my latest addition to my Disney bedroom. As part of my new craft/Disney area, I bought some basic shelving units from Ikea (I really love that place), but I wanted to add some hooks on the side, and also Disney it up a bit, and managed to kill two birds with one stone..

SONY DSC

I have a huge Vinylmation collection, so I bought some cheap, damaged models on eBay (I’d never use a good one, I’m too much of a collector), and spray painted them white to match the unit. I used project enamel because its designed for use on all kinds of materials, it dries quickly and has a good finish.

SONY DSC

Depending on the original colour, it can take 2-3 coats, and be sure to let it dry properly on each side before flipping it to do the other. Once dried, work out how you’d like to arrange your figures, marking if point if you find it easier, then carefully apply superglue to the back of the head and feet.

SONY DSC

Then place the figures into position, holding them in place for a little while to allow the adhesive to bond properly. Superglues are instant adhesives, so begin to hold straight away, but you’ve got a minute or so during which you can re-position them.

SONY DSC

And while the glue set quickly, you should ideally leave it overnight to 24 hours before hanging any weight from them.

SONY DSC

°o°

1 Comment

Ohana

Its a DisneySide Saturday, the day of the week I allocate to general ramblings about my life and Disney, and today I thought as I talk about them all the time, I’d introduce you to my family, without whom I don’t think Disney would be such a huge influence on my life.

DSC00094

First of all there’s my dad, Peter.

An absolute Disney pro, he’s been visiting Disney parks since he was 10 years old, his first trip being to Disneyland California in 1975.

Around Disney World you’ll find him snapping pictures, mainly of the iconic monorails, and getting endless compliments for his awesome Disney and minion themed tshirts.

His year of birth Disney classic is Mary Poppins (1964)

I don’t have many memories from early trips to Disney parks, so my favourite Disney memory of my dad was on our August trip to Disney World, when the two of us spent an afternoon photographing Epcot’s World Showcase 🙂

Then there’s Mum, Sue.

DSC00114

She was introduced to the world of Disney parks by my dad in 1991, just over a year before my sister was born.

If you ever need to find my mum, you’ll most likely find her going round and round Buzz Lightyear’s Spaceship Spin, forever attempting to beat her high score (that the rest of us aren’t allowed to come near to beating!), and avoiding any rides that might make her chuck!

Her year of birth Disney classic is The Jungle Book (1967), which is the only Disney film my grandparents have on video/dvd.

My mum is probably the biggest supporter of my Disney dreams, from following my blog to nagging her friends in the states to send me US items to save on international shipping!

I have one sister, Hannah.

DSC00016

That’s her on the left dressed as Belle (we’re about 5 and 3 in this photo).

She’s been visiting Disney parks since she was in the womb (not an exaggeration!), and I will forever have to catch up with the number of trips she went on before I was born!

If she’s not hanging out on Main Street USA, she’s probably sneaking in another showing of Finding Nemo: The Musical in the Animal Kingdom!

Aladdin was the Disney classic that came out the year she was born (1992).

While she may not be quite as obsessed as her darling younger sister, Disney plays a big part in her life and work as a merchandiser for childrens toys for a large supermarket chain, and she’s forever full of exciting news and gossip!

My auntie (mum’s sister), Lesley.DSC00402

She made her first trip to the happiest place on Earth in 1996 when she joined us on our adventure, and likes to remind me that whenever I fell asleep during/after an exciting day in the parks, it was her who always got lumped carrying me!

Her birth year Disney classic is The Aristocats (1970)

On our most recent Disney excursion, a trip to Enchanted Tales with Belle had us all in stitches as she was chosen to play Madame Bouche (the large, opera singing wardrobe) in our little re-enactment of the story!

wd001wdw2014229110085387_19And her husband, Uncle Vito.

Vito joined our Disney team on our 2000 trip to Disney World, Florida, two years after he married into our crazy family.

An absolute shopaholic, you’ll find him scouting out goodies in the gift shops, recognisable by his signature hawaiian shirts.

He shares his year of birth with Disney classic Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971).

You can always guarantee that if there’s an audience participation moment, Vito will be featured, the most recent example being when he was picked on during the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor by one of the monster comedians!

Bella is the oldest of my cousins.wd007wdw2014227109218350_19

She loves The Little Mermaid and Lilo and Stitch.

The Incredibles came out the same year she was born.

Like her daddy, she tends to seek out the limelight, taking part in Enchanted Tales with Belle and Turtle Talk with Crush.

For a 10 year old, she was oddly obsessed with The Carousel of Progress, asking to go on it several times, although I think it may have been her sneaky way of getting out of the heat of the day!

wd037wdw2014239113840115_19

Sophia is the middle child.

She has long blonde hair, so is basically Rapunzel.

She loves Olaf, and all things Frozen.

She was terrified to the point of tears by the thought of The Tower of Terror, but actually loved it from the first drop, silly girl!

She was born the year Cars hit the big screen.

Despite no one else wanting to, she queued for half an hour to meet Mr Incredible and Frozone, and had a rocking time with them!

wd007wdw2014230110616921_19

Liv is the youngest of our crazy crew.

She joined the family the same year Wall-E and Bolt were released.

For a 5 year old, she was a total adrenaline junkie, going on all the rides she was tall enough for, and chose Space Mountain and Expedition Everest as her favourites.

The girl can sleep through anything if she’s tired, including a show as loud as Fantasmic!

Like every other young girl in the world, she loves Frozen.

My absolute favourite moment from our Disney World holiday was when after keeping the girls up and waiting for the Main Street Electrical Parade (hello grumpypusses!), at the sight of Tinkerbell on the first float, her face totally lit up with excitement!

This is my family. I wouldn’t change them for the world and I am so lucky to have so many magical memories of our lives together. Here’s to many more, starting with Disney on Ice this Christmas Eve!

°o°

2 Comments

DIY Pocahontas Bedding

Posting a DIY a day late to disguise that I’ve been too busy this week for a Foodie post, ssh!

Another bedspread; working while inspiration is high!

photo 2 (6)

Yep, Pocahontas style!

So it just so happened that I already had a reversible brown and blue duvet set, ace! By folding over the top to show a little blue, it creates a duvet ‘necklace’, and you can opt for brown pillowcases (above), or black (below) to match her hair.

photo 3 (5)

And I came across this fab Colours of the Wind throw pillow on Redbubble, just to top it all off!

photo 1 (6)

°o°

1 Comment

DIY: Mickey Mouse Bedding

This week was a little crazy so I combined DIY Disney Wednesday with DisneySide Saturday.

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about how to bring more Disney magic into your life, and the most important place in your life is home (or Disney World!), so that’s where I decided to start!

A sad but true fact about Disney is that official merchandise, and even some unofficial merchandise, can be expensive 😦 I was looking into bedding, a guilty pleasure of mine, and the only real options for double beds are designs from independent artists on sites like Redbubble, which although amazing are around £60+shipping, ouch! So I took a little inspiration from fellow blogger Kayleigh and her DIY Disney bikinis, and realised I could do it myself; slightly less impressive, but the options are infinite if you’ve got the imagination, and leave a considerably smaller dent in your bank account!

But where to start?

Where it all started, obviously: with a mouse.

SONY DSC

There are tonnes of ways you can get Mickey’s style. I went for the classic: black mouse, red shorts, white gloves and yellow shoes, you don’t get more Mickey than that!

 I came across black and red reversible duvet cover on Amazon (two birds, one stone), and teamed it with my yellow fleece throw from Ikea, because who doesn’t love a £3 throw?!

SONY DSC

The pillowcases were a mini project: I bought plain white pillowcases from my local supermarket, and added the design of Mickey’s gloves on using black fabric paint and a basic elongated oval template. I think they add a nice touch and were really easy to do, but plain white pillowcases would work just as well.

Then of course you can cover the bed with all your Disney stuffed toys, tsum tsums and pillow pets!

Leave a comment

Personalised Disney Chopping Board

If you’re a regular reader, you’ll know I’m a big fan of Etsy shopping. Not only is it packed with a load of fabulous vintage and handmade items, a whole lot of them are Disney related, so what’s not to love?!

sop

So I was browsing through Disney kitchenware when I stumbled across some cute Disney chopping boards from Katez Kreationz, so I quickly popped it onto my favourites list and continued browsing. Not long after, Katherine (the shop owner) sent me a message offering me 40% off my first order, how could I resist?!

message

And then I found out about Katherine’s shop background.. She plans to be the first Canadian Female under 30 to run a marathon in every US state, and all her profits straight towards her charity marathons as she doesn’t have a sponsor.

It was a tough decision, but I settled on her Mickey Mouse design. All the chopping boards are woodburned by hand onto 100% bamboo, all can be personalised with captions or messages, and if you don’t like any of her designs (not that you wouldn’t, I want all of them!), you can ask her very nicely for a custom!

board

Once I made up my mind and added my personalised caption, all I had to do was pop in the discount code I had been sent and bam! 40% off!

Now, you’d expect a handmade, personalised item to take AGES to be ready for shipping, right? Nope. My item was shipped the next day, along with a lovely message letting me know that my purchase is going towards the Leukaemia Lymphoma marathon in San Diego 🙂

And only 10 days from my purchase..

SONY DSC

It’s here! 😀

Leave a comment

Winnie the Pooh Decor

Interior design has always been a not-so-secret love of mine.

I love a good trip to Ikea and work in B&Q (UK equivalent of Home Depot), and if I had a house of my own I don’t think I would ever stop redecorating!

So I decided to share my Disney decorating inspiration, and today it’s..

Winnie

Winnie the Pooh!

It’s gender neutral, making it perfect for shared bedrooms or play rooms! Start off with a bright feature wall, as above, then use a less busy pattern to cover the bottom half of the other walls, topped with a contrasting border (wallpapering the bottom half of a wall is great if you have little ones who have a tendency to draw on walls..).

SONY DSC

You can then use wall stickers or other wall art around the rest of the walls.

Winnie ikea

Apparently white furniture is very ‘in’ at the moment. I’m not totally sold on this, but consider it a blank canvas that you can customize with wall stickers, or you even use spray paint to add colour. The leaf canopy is great for adding a touch of the Hundred Acre Wood, and chunky tables, chairs and storage make it a proper kids room!

Leave a comment

DIY Origami String Lights

Anyone who uses Pinterest knows the addiction that comes with it. So many craft ideas, so little time!

waterbomb light

So when I came across this amazing tutorial for upcycling old string lights (click image for original source), I had a eureka moment..

Disney-fy them! I spent probably more hours than I should have designing 20 characters in cube form to make these fabulous papercraft lights!

SONY DSC

You will need:

String lights – new or old!

Scissors

Paper – you can print off the images I made myself (link at the end of the article), or use the blank template to create your own (your kids might like to draw and colour them!)

SONY DSC

Cut the image out on the outermost line, leaving the white border

SONY DSC

The basic chinese lantern is known in the origami world as a waterbomb. You can use the image above as the tutorial to make your Disney waterbombs, or find them one online or in any origami book.

Fold stages 1-5 with the image on the outside, but when it comes to stage 6, fold the triangle with the face on the inside, as below.

SONY DSC

Once inflated, you should have the hole at the top, and all you need to do is pop the bulb of the string lights into it. Depending on the style of your lights, it may hold itself in place just fine, or you may want to secure it with some tape.

SONY DSC

Then plug them in..

page

As I mentioned earlier, I designed all of my own templates on MS Word (I don’t get on with technology), so you may wish to design your own, but if you like mine, you can download them here!

Leave a comment