Tag 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!

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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!

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*I was sent these candles for the purpose of review, but all words and views are my own.
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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..

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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!

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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!

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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!

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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:

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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?

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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.

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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.

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Six Month Fluff Update

Today marks exactly 6 months since our two little rescue kitties, Ozzy and Ronnie, came home to live with us. Back then, Ozzy looked like this:

Now, he looks like this:

A lot has happened since the last kitten update that I posted, with the biggest development being that they are now also outdoor explorers!

Due to their size, and being black cats in dark winter days, we were maybe a little over cautious in waiting as long as we did to let them outside, starting off with a few short, supervised excursions to the garden, and then once we finally got round to getting their pet insurance sorted and getting the cat flap fitted, Boxing Day was when we let them have free reign over the garden.

It was fairly terrifying at first – more for me than the kittens! – but eventually they learned their way around not only our garden but some of the neighbouring ones, and more importantly, how to get back again. The cat flap, on the other hand, was a slightly more difficult thing to teach.. It took a lot of pushing them through, leaving it propped open so they could actually get back in again, and handfuls of treats, but they finally got the hang out not only going out (which they worked out first) but also getting back in again! We have been locking the cat flap at night to stop them going out in the dark, but they’ve actually got so used to their evening routine of dinner followed by sofa time that they don’t actually seem to have any interest in the outside world past sunset!

Obviously they’ve grown a lot. Ozzy is now the size of most normal cats, but that’s helped by all his fluff, while Ronnie remains the smaller of the two, as he always has been. Personality wise, there’s also been a lot of change; Ozzy has become very confident in terms of exploring outside (including being seen following the local fox around the garden), while Ronnie often sits at the back door and meows for people to come outside and play with him, especially if Ozzy has gone off without him! Ronnie is super needy and loves being around humans, and while Ozzy is still the more timid of the two when it comes to interaction with people, he’s come such a long way, and I pick him up for cuddles every day.

I don’t think any of us could imagine them not being in our lives anymore. They snuggle with us on the sofa, Ronnie sometimes sleeps on the bed and Ozzy frequently naps underneath our bed. Even though they love it outside they do still spend a lot of their days asleep inside, probably because its been quite chilly, but also due to the fact that they just seem to like being with us, and we just love that.

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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..

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Bringing the Movies Home*

We all know that going to the cinema these days is not exactly cheap. Chances are, you’re paying about £10 for your ticket alone, and then comes the popcorn craving, which of course means you’re gonna need the biggest drink they’ve got going, and suddenly you’re £20+ down. Ouch.

And sure, going to the cinema is the only way (legally!) to see the latest and greatest movies making their way to the screen, but personally I much prefer to be curled up on my own sofa when it comes to enjoying cinematic greatness. Luckily for us, technology is moving forward every day, and our TV screens are only getting bigger and better; first it was HD, now it’s 4K and OLED, and as I’m just about old enough to remember TVs being as deep as they were wide, screens like this Panasonic 4K Oled TV just blow my mind with how thin they are now, while still being packed with all these amazing features!

As a fan of a good movie marathon, over the years I’ve learned a lot about how you can make home seem like the cinema, just without saying goodbye to your bank balance in the process..

Get yourself cosy

I’ve always wondered why cinemas aren’t a lot more comfortable. For me, a blanket is a must, and I’ll probably be in my pyjamas, but you can do whatever you like – you could even build a movie den with duvets and cushions!

Have all your snacks at the ready

Cinema popcorn might cost a small fortune but at home you can make it for a fraction of the price, plus you can get more creative! Whatever snacks you get, be sure to have everything sorted before you hit play so you don’t have to pause the movie magic when you get peckish.

Limit the tech

There’s nothing worse than that person in the row in front at the movies who checks their Snapchat midway through the film, so if you can turn off your tech at the cinema, why not at home too?

Consider having a break

If you’re running a back to back marathon, don’t forget to allow time for toilet breaks or meals between films, especially if you’re trying to squeeze in a lot of films!

Set the mood

Turn the lights down, pull the curtains and shut out any distractions; this is your movie time.

Make the most of new technology

As I mentioned earlier, the tech behind making and watching movies has improved dramatically over even just the last few years, and if you have the tech, use it! I’m talking surround sound/sound bars for the ultimate sound experience, HD and Bluray for the ultimate visual experience, even 3D in some cases!

What do you do to have the ultimate movie night?

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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!

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Moving In

Despite talking yesterday about Matthew and my plans to move out, today’s post is pretty much the opposite – let me give you some backstory.

Following on from all the long distance, back in July Matthew finally completed his pilot training, and just over a week ago was offered a position to start with easyJet. Its safe to say we’re both thrilled; I’m so proud of all the hard work he put into his training and its such a relief that its all paid off and he’s got a job lined up. The catch? He probably won’t be starting the job until February/March, and until he starts, we don’t know where he’ll be based, aka where we’ll be moving to.

The thing is, after over a year of him being here, there and everywhere, and me being stuck firmly in Bournemouth, we’re kinda done with the whole being apart thing, so we’re moving in together. Well, he’s moving to Bournemouth, and I’m upgrading from my bedroom to the loft in my parent’s house, turning it into our own sorta studio apartment.

Its going to be a bit of a working progress – while our loft has already been converted into a habitable room, its since become a bit of a dumping ground, and there’s some work for us to do before we can officially move into it. We’ve spent the weekend clearing out some of the accumulated junk – deciding what’s being donated to charity or sold and then we still have some old furniture that’s destined for the tip – then we’ve started the process of cleaning and repainting to freshen the place back up so we can start to move our furniture in and make it our own.

So in the time between now and whenever Matthew starts with easyJet, we’ll both be Bournemouth based. He’s got a job at the same place that I work so that in the meantime we can both get saving for when we do eventually fly the nest, and of course we’ll get our first taste of what living together permanently will actually be like – the DIY is already proving a good test of our relationship strength, haha!

Wish us luck!

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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!

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Introducing Ozzy and Ronnie

Hey gang, I thought I’d brighten up everyone’s Mondays by introducing you to our family’s fuzziest new additions.


Meet Ozzy and Ronnie! They are 8 weeks old and we brought them home on Friday, so they’re just starting to adapt to our mad house and find their tiny ways around.

They came from a litter of four which were found abandoned in a shed and were rescued by the Cats Protection League, and their mother was nowhere to be found – they were only 4 weeks old when they were rescued.

Ozzy is the fluffy one in the back of the photo, and he was the largest of the litter, but also the most shy, and he’s taking a little bit of time adapting to home life, spending most of his time hiding under the sideboard in our living room, but he’s slowly finding his paws.

Ronnie was the smallest of the bunch, but makes up for such with his big personality aka he’s a total nutter. He goes from sweet and snuggly to moving at 100mph with only a seconds notice.

Like I mentioned earlier, they have only been with us since Friday and they’ve still got a lot of acclimatising to do, but we’re already very much in love with them both. We’ve also never had our own cats so this is quite the learning experience for us too! 

As for the names, any classic rock fans might recognise them as two members of Black Sabbath, and you can thank my dad for that. He had one job..

Keep an eye out on here and my social media for kitty updates!

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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!

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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?

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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?

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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!

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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!

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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?!

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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!

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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?

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Decking the Halls

The first weekend of December is always the most special for a little Christmas elf like myself because in our house its tree time! In one short weekend, our house transforms from an everyday home to a wonderland of fairy lights, glitter, sparkle and Christmas cheer!

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Pride of place in our hallway is the Christmas tree, but while many people opt for colour schemes, or at least some sort of order to their decorations, we have a mismatched tree of memories. Every time we go somewhere, we buy a tree decoration, so our tree reflects our family to a tee, while it may be the nightmare of Christmas perfectionists! Of course, at least half our decorations are Disney!

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Next to the tree is my Christmas grotto, filling the remaining space under the stairs, and the threading of our (now fairly raggedy) holly tinsel up the banisters is a long-standing tradition in our house!

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And all the free-standing creatures..

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We always hang decorations from the ceiling in our dining room, and this year Mum and Dad bought these gorgeous glass balloons which I’m obsessed with!

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And another new addition from Disneyland Paris this year!

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I’ll be sharing more Christmas decorations on my Instagram account, mainly because I could take up several blog posts with all the photos I could take!

Is your house looking nice and festive?

xoxo

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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

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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

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

3. Stuck in the mug Pooh

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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

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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

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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°

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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?

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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!

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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°

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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..

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Or turn them into cute hair accessories..

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Or miniature trinket boxes..

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Or fill a decorative vase..

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Or make into cute little tealights..

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And large shells would make a great jewellery dish..

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Or key dish..

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Or even a soap disc..

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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!

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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.

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

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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.

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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?!

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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!

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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?!

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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?!

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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!

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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..

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It’s here! 😀

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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..

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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..).

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

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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!

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DIY Origami String Lights

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

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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!

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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!)

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

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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.

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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.

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Then plug them in..

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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!

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DIY Mouse Plates

Who wouldn’t want to eat off a personalised Mickey/Minnie plate?!

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There are two ways to make cute crockery like this. The ‘Sharpie’ method is sweeping Pinterest and all other corners of the internet, but personally I’ve never had much luck with it, so I’ve gone for the craft store alternative of ceramic pens. If you’re a Sharpie pro however, you may choose to take that route.

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The Sharpie method, put simply, is to draw on clean (grease and dust free) ceramics with the famous permanent marker, then bake in an oven on medium heat for 30-40 mins to seal the ink into the glaze.

As said before, this has never been successful for me. Don’t know why, I’m probably just unlucky!

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So I used a light coloured Sharpie to do a rough sketch of my design on each plate (as ceramic paint pens do not involve baking, I know that this ink will wash off in the dishwasher).

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Then its as simple as following over your sketch with the paint pen! I’m no artist, so I stuck to a simple outline design with abstract patterns to add colour – minimalistic, I call it!

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Despite a lack of most drawing skill, however, I’m fairly practised in the art of Disney-writing: that is, of course, the font of the great Walt Disney himself, so I added our names to each plate.

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My girls are gonna love these, can’t wait to surprise them with them on Thursday for movie night!

PS. If any of you give this a go, I’d love to see your results 🙂

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