Our Festive Home

Well the decorations were put up last week, as those of you who follow us on Instagram will know! It felt early for me to have it all up, but after looking at gorgeous festive photos that everyone on ig was posting I gave in to the pressure! I was glad I did.... we had Christmas songs on and a bottle of prosecco on the go. Owen and Olivia decorsated their bedroom trees next to me while I hung the baubles on the main tree, and Lee..... well, he just looked on really after assembling the tree. I'm far to OCD when it comes to the tree to have him do anything! And yes, we have an artificial tree, I would love a real one, if only they came in white! We've had this colour scheme for 2 years now and I still can't bring myself to change it. Although it's not traditional, to me it feels just so Christmasy, ( not sure that's a word ) possibly because we don't have lots of colour in the house any other time of year, December is my time to bring it on! We're enjoying it while it lasts.... come the 27th it usually all comes down. I'm looking forward to that fresh clean feeling when everything's put away already!

Even the animals get into the holiday spirit!

Everyone has a favourite bauble, the glass pom pom one is mine.

Nearly every accessory gets packed away and replaced.

The hallway.... with a bit of modern retro... kitsch baubles in modern pink! Little tree decorated with our paper garlands.

A little more traditional in this room.... Red, white and silver.... And a bit of homemade thrown in too. These canvases were done a couple of years ago ( and I have to get round to sealing them this year ) the kids enjoyed making them, getting their hand and feet covered in paint, and they're a cute reminder every year of how big they're growing too! If you have children and a couple of canvases you need to break out the paint right now!!

The childrens rooms and landing are all done too. And although I enjoy how happy and cheery it all looks, I love escaping to the bedroom at night.... there isn't any glitter or festive cheer to be seen and it feels so peaceful. Bah Humbug!!

Cool Calenders for Advent!

It's time to get your skates on people if your thinking of crafting your advent calender and haven't made a start..... Oh, thats just me then!

I think I've been so busy drooling over everyone else's creations that my two might end with cardboard chocolate crap! I really need to get a move on with this...... here's what's been giving me inspiration, but unfortunately not the kick up the a*$e I need to actually make one!

Love this..... easy & simple and can display on the fridge! Full details here

Paper bags & stickers from here

This one really appeals to my orderly side, perfect in monochrome and will look neat and tidy the whole month! Buy the printable template here

Too rustic for my home, but so so pretty. See the post for post here for this one.

Love this quick and easy idea from this lovely blog. I think the peg & paper bag route is what I'll be choosing as I have such a limited timeline and I have 2 to make. I'll be filling the bags with fun size chocolate bars and will be throwing in some other goodies on the odd day...... Lego mini figure for Owen, a lip gloss or little piece of inexpensive jewellery for Liv. 

What are you planning this year?

You don't need children for an advent calender, what about one for a loved one, or even the dog! 

Chic Christmas decor....

I know it's only November but I'm getting excited already for Christmas. I'll definitely be making lists this week for presents not yet bought and the Christmas day menu. Apart from the day itself this is what gets me so excited, all the preparation! Deciding what we'll be eating & drinking on the day and the theme for this years wrapping.

 I'm making it easy on myself this year as we'll be keeping last years theme for the decorations and unusually for me I'm going for more or less the same table setting as last year because I loved it so much. It looked so colourful and festive that I can't wait to arrange it all again! Here's a peek at last years on Instagram.

There will be a couple of tweeks to it I imagine and as every year I'll buy some new add on decorations, after all, I decorate 5 rooms so there's always room for more, and that is a post in itself!

But just because I'm keeping the same as last year doesn't mean I've not been drooling over some amazing festive decor..... Here's a selection I'd be more than happy to live with over Christmas. ( All images from www.housetohome.co.uk

See the whole amazing room here 

 White and Silver in the hallway, perfect to set the mood for the rest of the house.

Brights, like mine, but I have to have a white tree!

Love the wall & window detailing 

Gold done the modern way

And just because we love a bit of pink! 

Are you planning your Christmas Day and decor yet? What are you being inspired by this year? We'd love to hear.

Candle re-purposing

After having lunch with my mother-in-law the other day, she ordered another of our gorgeous Fired Earth  Black Tea & Jasmine candle as she'd just finished her last one. I asked her what she'd done with her empty glass jar and she replied she'd thrown it in the bin! My sister-in-law and I were horrified, but I'm guessing lots of people throw them straight into the recycling. I can't even remember the last time I threw a candle jar into the bin. When your spending £20 or more on a candle and it comes in a beautiful glass vessel I find it such a waste to throw them. A good wash and they come up sparkling ready to be reused in so many ways. Here's how I use mine.

Kitchen storage.....

Heavy glass bottomed ones like these make perfect whiskey or Baileys glasses, 

Storage in the bathroom, who wants cheap plastic packaging on display?

Keep your desk tidy and looking stylish,

Make it cosy reusing them for tealights,

This Tom Dixon candle is on my Christmas list and I'm already dreaming about what I'll use it for afterwards!

So what do you do? If you throw them, hopefully next time you'll think twice before you drop them into the recycling bin, or if you have an inventive way of re-purposing them, let us know what it is.
And if your inspired, we've got some beautiful candles in the shop for you to enjoy long after they're burnt out.

Rough Luxe

I'm definitely a lover of the rough luxe look, It looks glamorous and yet not 'try hard'. I especially like this look in winter. it always brings to mind dark and moody but still cosy rooms. 

From one of my favorite interiors blog, Design to Inspire

Some of these rooms I'd give my right arm to relax in on a cold winters night

.

Image, Richard Powers via Man Make Home

See more of this amazing home here in Sweden's Elle Interiors

From Mark English Interiors

Although this look is laid back it's not the easiest to pull off. It's a delicate balance of worn elements mixed with newer more lavish pieces as well as the odd industrial element too. It was definitely an inspiration when we created our new Metallic candle holders.... We love that as they older they'll take on there own unique patina....

In our dream kitchen there would definitely be polished concrete worktops, molded handled gloss white cupboards, maybe a worn copper tap...... and bang up to date appliances mixed with a few old apothecary jars. 

What do you think of this eclectic look? I think its possibly like Marmite, you either love it or hate it and it's love for us! 

It's Halloween in the house!

We finally managed to get the Halloween decorations from the loft this week. For those who follow me on Instagram you'll already know this. It's only been for the past 4 or so years that we've decorated at this time of year, Britain isn't nearly as big on it as in America, but with social media like Pinterest and Instagram us English can feel a bit left out. So we like to get in the spirit of it, even if it's only dipping our toes in with a few sparkly spiders!!

We let the kids go wild with those jelly window stickers and tacky decor in their rooms, and we also decorate the conservatory. The living room with its sparkly skull and Eames black bird brings enough horror to the room according to Mr Donohoe!

We've also made paperchains that are languishing in the magazine box still to be put up, hopefully sometime before Christmas.

Today as there's a possible storm on the way we're staying in the house, candles lit, lounge wear on and decorating our pumpkins and making up the Trick or Treat bags. I'm guessing lot's of people are having their Halloween parties tonight, but our families isn't till next Saturday at my cousins (we just like to be different!) so there will be lots of crafts going on next week ready for that.

Metallic pumpkins from here

Pretty white & gold from here

I'm taking pumpkin inspiration from these images, but I'm not holding my breath that ours will look as good. I'll share the results next week for you to laugh  compliment me on!

Styling on a budget

Very excited at the moment to be helping my friend style her home. Her personal life has recently gone through some changes and so she wants to give her home a bit of a makeover, like a break-up haircut for the home!!

We're going to be making over 2 rooms, living room and her bedroom and we are on a strict budget of a few hundred pounds. Obviously it would be great if money were no object but lets face it, everyone has limits, and I find it more exciting this way, hunting out little bargain gems. When you have to make every pound count it makes the things you do decide to spend the money on more special. Here are some of the Pinterest images we've been getting inspiration from....

With a colour scheme of black, cream with shots of blue for the living room decided on the bedroom will be cosy with white, cream and wait for it.... PINK!! We're working with pieces that are already in the rooms so that helped narrow down colour choices. I think its probably harder to start a room from scratch, to choose from the myriad of colours out there!

We've been pinning like mad woman and are going shopping tomorrow, then Monday night we're going to be painting, ready to do the styling of the rooms on Tuesday. So I'll be sharing the results next week, while my friend snuggles up in her new rooms. In the meantime the mood boards are here and here.

Details, details.......

As I've said before I always think that what makes a house a home is the details, be it little architectural details, of which my home has none, or the little details we introduce in our styling. 

I love nothing more than playing around with home accessories. They are the easiest way to introduce a bit of personality to a room, even minimalistic ones. I've got to say my favorite pieces tend to be glossy monochrome, that on closer inspection have something a bit different about them, usually funny or quirky. They make people take a second look, start conversations and above all else, should always reflect what you love or are inspired by.

One thing that has never bothered me is whether others share or even like my taste in some of my more unique pieces. As long as I look at them and they make me smile, then they have a place in my home, no matter what anyone says about them! You wouldn't believe some of the comments I've had about my Eames House Bird by Vitra, and thats a design classic!

My object of the moment is a piece I didn't even buy, but won on Twitter from BoConcept Manchester!

I never win anything, but to be fair I never enter comps either. This was just a weekend giveaway, where you had to retweet and follow them, which wasn't a problem, I'm happy to retweet for them, I'd never do it just to win something, I genuinely love what they do! (They do these giveaways every weekend btw, and I've not been paid, given anything apart from my prize, or got any special treatment to include them in this post!)

After winning, to my surprise, I got to choose which style of candle holder I wanted, white, surprise surprise, they packed and shipped it and I received it on the following Tuesday. It has been in use every night since. 

It's gorgeous. It reminds me of a miniature pineapple. 

And it looks even better at night lit up.... but you'll have to trust me about that as the picture does it no justice!

I'm sold on this one, I think it'll be staying around for a while. 

The Finished Wall.....

Well my last post left off with my wall plates all painted, but they weren't yet ready to hang, so I started googling. I knew I definitely didn't want those hangers were you see 4 little prongs on the outside, so I googled invisible plate hangers. The first thing that came up were these, and they were just what I wanted

But, not only would I have to order them off amazon and wait, they were between £2 and £3 each and I had 9 plates to hang. Lets not forget what inspired my plate wall in the first place,Free Kirsie's Fill Your House For  Free and I'm sure when the lovely Kirstie Allsopp made the programme she wasn't expecting anyone to go out and spend nearly £30 on something to hand a project that cost £6.00. 

I obviously then typed in DIY invisible wall hangers ( what did we do before google? ) and lo and behold there it was, hot glue, large paper clips, and a bit of felt, except I only had the large paperclips!! But I'm nothing if not industrious, so instead of hot glue out came this......

And instead of felt, I raided the childrens craft box and cut some foam circles into strips, et voila, invisible wall hangers....... for free!!

I'm not sure I'd do this with any expensive plates I have, if it hadn't have worked it wouldn't have been the end of world if they'd ended up in pieces on the floor.

I left them for about 9 hours to cure, just to be on the safe side, and then I got hanging.

I'd like to say I made paper templates, blah blah blah, to get the placing right. I didn't, far to faffy. I just hung one at time, took a step back after each to see where I wanted the next.

And here it is.... not great photos I know, but a photographer I'm not.

The bottom shot shows the true colours best, and made me even more determined to find a new lamp. I love the shadows the glass crystals make on the wall, but I think a tripod or industrial type lamp would look amazing in this space! I'll keep you posted on that one!

Oh and nearly forgot, my verdict on wall plates, I'm definitely thinking Fab.

Wall plates, fab or drab??

When we first got the gorgeous Cowy Horn, ( Kids choice of name!!) and put him up on the wall I was instantly smitten, he was big and fabulous and shiny, what more could I want?

 He even gets fairy lights at christmas and bunting for any occasion!!
But that was over 6 months ago and recently I find he's looking rather lost on the wall on his own, but I didn't have a clue what to add to the wall that wouldn't detract from his fabulousness. ( is that a word? it is now!)
I thought of a couple of smaller animal heads but thought they'd take the limelight away from whats supposed to be a focal point. On and off for the past few months I've been lusting after some gorgeous plates to display like these by Andrew Tanner

And although I love them, again I thought they may make it look all too busy for what is essentially a room to relax in. I was also very worried about channelling this sort of look

when what I really wanted was this style from House to Home

so, nothing has happened to the wall, and I put it to the back of mind in one of those I'll know what I want when I see it kind of way. I was right, I did know it when I saw it!
Watching Kirstie's Fill Your House For Free on Tuesday night I saw the perfect solution in one of the houses they revamped. I spied a wall of plain white matt plates hung on the wall, they were all different plates but looked the same texture so I guessed that they were painted, and there was my answer..... Surround my gorgeous gazelle with plain matt plates!
So off I went the next day to the charity shop and came home with these,

Very twee and vintage floral, fyi, not very 'me', plates. So after sanding them down and giving them 3 coats of paint ( tester pots from B&Q) I had these

I'll be the first to say they aren't going to stand up to any scratching, the paint may well just come off, but they're going high on a wall and I'd be surprised if they stay around for years, I change things often. So for what I want them for they're perfect. There are 9 of them in all, and fingers crossed they'll be up on the wall tonight.

Can't wait to get them up and show you what they look like!