New directions

I mentioned a while back that I was training for my new job - well I've had THE email - I've passed my 5 months of training and I am now a fully fledged baby swim teacher! But not just that, as a Water Babies trained swim teacher, I hold the highest baby swim teaching qualification in the WORLD. Yep! How cool is that! We are the highest qualified swim school you can get, and let me tell you, it's quite something to brag about once you get that certificate :) 

We do our Child Safeguarding, Lifeguarding, ASA level 1 and then our ASA level 2 is incorporated into a week long residential course that we do near head office, which is specific to Water Babies. Call it our 'secret ingredient' ;) 

Along with that we are all members of the IoS and we are all DBS cleared of course, which makes this job the most qualified role I've ever held. 

But the most exciting part of all is that I am not only teaching babies lifelong safety and swimming skills in the water - I am also spending some of my time in the office getting to speak to you lovely lot and going to baby fayres to let people know what we do and get as many babies as possible swimming! 

It might just sound like another class to take babies too, swimming - it's just a hobby right? Wrong! Our babies learn how to handle dangerous and life threatening situations from their very first lesson. My nephew is 2, and he only yesterday achieved his 5 metre badge and his ASA stage 1 award! HE'S TWO! Our babies are 2-4 years ahead of their peers in mainstream swim schools, and that just makes me feel even more proud of what we do. But at the end of the day It's not about being the best, it's about saving lives, promoting healthy active lifestyles, and giving people a fantastic experience! I am so privileged to work for Water Babies and if you'be not heard of us before, what are you waiting for?! 

 

Here we go!

We're in that final stretch now where the building work is all but done, and the kitchen has arrived! I never realised how slow it is installing a kitchen - every piece has to be measured to fit, drawn out, then placed. The doors are added, and the handles are measured, marked and attached. The handles themselves take almost an entire day! 

It's great to see everything going into place. I'm sure it'll fly by now with the builders in all week to get it done. Then it's just hooking up all the electric, gas and water, and of course the windows haven't arrived yet so we still have to have that final wall plastered and painted at the very end. 

But here you go folks, here's how we're looking this week so far!

It's hard to see colours in these photos. The cupboards below are Greenwich Shaker Grey, and the top cupboards are Greenwich Shaker White. The worktops are Grey Oak Effect and the island top is solid oak. 

I've been traipsing round The Range today looking for inspiration for the walls but I literally, for the first time ever, couldn't find a thing I liked! I still have a weeks of assessments before I am qualified for my new job so no spending until that's done!

xo

Organisation Station!

There's one thing I've already got my heart set on for the kitchen when it's finally finished - an organisation station. Also known as control centres, they're a hub of obsessive compulsive goodness, and for someone like me who loves lists, it's the perfect way to keep track of life.

Here are just a few of my favourites taken from Pinterest.

I'll be sure to show you guys what I end up with. So far, my chalkboard is the only thing I can think of that I want to include. I'm terrible for hoarding post so I think some little shelves for important mail and things to address would be really helpful. 

And don't you just love the IKEA buckets! We bought some two years ago to put on our rail and grow herbs in but we never put it up, dreaming of that new kitchen they just sat in storage. It'll be great to finally use them! 

Share your control centre ideas with me!

Xo

Home makes: Chalkboard!

 
I had a large photo frame kicking about the house, and like many of you, I just couldn't throw it out without first trying to recycle it. It was a wedding gift last year but just never found it's way onto the wall, so instead of throwing it out, I thought it would be a nice gesture to turn it into something we would use. 
When designing the kitchen, we planned for a chalkboard kitchen cupboard door that I was going to paint when it was finished, but I was too scared to commit to something so permanent, and with a whole tin of chalkboard paint in the cupboard, it was worth a shot to turn this sad looking frame into a chalkboard!

I'm silly, because I forgot to take a before photo. It was a pine wood coloured frame, nothing too exciting about it. I took off the embellishments and sanded the glue off. I wasn't sure whether to paint the glass or the backing board as the chalkboard, so I did both. They both turned out okay but the glass in the sunlight looked really streaky so we chucked that and just kept the backboard. It needed one coat and dried in the sun within the hour. 

For the frame, I wanted the shabby chic look to match the farmhouse kitsch style kitchen we will eventually achieve. I used Annie Sloane chalk paint (this is chalk based, but doesn't have any effect on the working of the chalkboard. You could use anything for the frame.) I chose chalk paint because I wanted to distress it with sandpaper after and then varnish. 

Chalkboards are great 'n all, but unless you're the calligraphy champion of Great Britain (do they even exist?!)they can look pretty naff. Well, not anymore. I'm not sure if this is already a 'thing' but I'm pretty chuffed for thinking of it all by myself...

Now I was only experimenting, so I went small to start. 

1. Find a design you like and print it out. It doesn't need to be any colour or have the grey background, in fact make it as basic as possible because it only gets ruined!

2. Turn the paper over and, using chalk, colour the whole reverse side with chalk. You can use simple white, or mix it up with areas of different colours if you're feeling fun!
 

3. Now turn the paper back to the design side on top, and place it chalk side down onto the chalkboard. Don't press or lean on any parts if you can help it. 

4. Grab yourself a sharp pencil, and trace over the design. Press down quite hard, you want the chalk underneath to transfer to the chalkboard so it's clear.

5. You've got a cute outline now, and if it's dark enough, you can leave it like that! But if it's not too clear, I recommend shading it in. I used a chalkpaint pen for this - it's about £7.99 from Hobbycraft but it lasts for ages.

And that's it! Simple as that! 
I've been playing today with an Autumn/Fall design. 

Happy chalking!

xo

 

Kitchen

LATEST UPDATE  

November 3rd - Day 51

All the wall units are up and ready to be filled, the lower ones are also in but they keep going in and out as things get plumbed in and connected up. The island is up and ready for the oak worktop to be varnished (6 times!!!) - the sideboard worktops were cut and connected today, ready to be cut out tomorrow so the hob and sink can be connected and put in. We've had a working fridge freezer and oven for a few days now and I can't believe how much I've missed eating REAL food!! The first day, my husband forgot half the meal because he was so out of sync with cooking...!

I've also been buying a few things - even though we said we wouldn't until its finished! Oops. I found some lovely mason jar glasses - anyone who knows me knows how much I think everything should be eaten/drank out of jars (okay, not everything...) and these were a bargain that I couldn't turn down. I also finally found the ceramic jug I wanted, and I may have accidentally bought a new set of coffee, tea and sugar containers. That's what happened when your husband gives you his bank card and you find yourself in Next at Home!!! By the way, just on a side note, their Christmas range is now in store and my gosh, it's beautiful <3!!

We're definitely not going to be finished by the end of this week. We still have an entire wall that needs plastering and painting - the double doors and windows still haven't arrived so that'll most likely be the last job to be done. The floor also needs to go down once the units are done. We're hoping that next week will be the last week but to be honest, we're just go glad and grateful that it's looking so amazing that we don't mind waiting. Scout on the other hand is clearly missing his doggy man-space! He's been super clingy with us and loves the attention but he's a dog that needs some alone time, so he will be super happy to have his bedroom and garden back!


I'll have another update for you soon, and I promise in the meantime I will check in for a post that ISN'T about kitchens! ;) 

xo

Cute Spaces

As our house continually evolves and develops around us, there's one room that I can't wait to fill.

The smallest of the two spare rooms will eventually be a nursery, but until the time that we're expecting, it's a guest room. Now I don't know about you guys but with that in mind, it's really hard to decorate it without baby ideas in mind!

I posted a while back with an update on exactly how the room has taken shape, from how it was when we moved in, to when we painted it blue, to re-plastering and how it looked last time I checked in.

All I knew that I wanted for a future nursery was a tree shelf - my friend Joanna at Running on Sunshine did one for her daughter, and it looked mega cute <3 however we ran into problems when the IKEA shelves were too heavy for the walls and fell off - so for now its just a tree decal, but a cute one at that! 

 You might also remember the shelves from this post - they are the IKEA spice racks painted with Annie Sloan. 

The frames above were originally mint hearts, but they just weren't utilising the space enough, so we used box frames to frame cut-outs of Arizona and Nevada (where we got married and honeymooned). 

The day-bed is the IKEA BRIMNES one, which once we put together, we absolutely loved! 

The bed set is from Primark. We wanted pastel colours and I absolutely loved this summers range of pineapples and flamingos, hence the array of pillows to match! 

A lot of inspiration for this room came from people I follow on Instagram and it's only fair I show them off here to you guys so you can see what my ultimate aim has always been!

These guys have got interior design down to the CUTEST level ever, I'd happily live in any of those rooms :)

I really love the clean, crisp white rooms, and I was just moments away from convincing hubs we should re-paint, and then i found the gorgeous cute room by Petite Vintage Interiors(above) and realised it could look just as cute in the brown. 

 You can see my inspiration in the instagram section above, so I'm sure you'll recognise a few pieces below - I've been collecting these bits for months, but couldn't see their potential until I had them altogether!

Shelves:

Ice Cream lamp - 

LOVE letters - The Range

Mint and Yellow frames - Primark

Flamingo mug - Primark

Owl frame - Next

Owl carved wood - The Range

Strawberry trinket box - Tiger

Wall:  

Cloud shelves - £3, Tiger

Mint heart frames - £2.50 each, Primark

House box frames - £6 each, The Range

You are my sunshine box frame - £5, Primark

 People always laugh when I say the majority of pieces in this room are from places like Tiger and Primark. It's so cheap but can look so good when matched properly! I like to support local businesses as much as possible, but when there are items 90% cheaper on eBay, for example, I'm such a sucker for a bargain that I have to get it. 

A good room is a mixture of bargains and handmade one of a kind pieces.

I can't wait until we're expecting a little one! Just another excuse to get my craft on and put that stamp on it. Oh, and get all new furniture ;) 

xo

Wallpaper. On a floor?

As cute as my toilet looks now it's had a lovely fresh coat of paint, it still needed the finishing touch - a new floor! 

There's not much you can do with bright red Lino, except burn it. Or so I thought. 

By now you've probably seen or at least heard of people wallpapering their floors. It's a growing trend that I heard of first about a year ago, but never really looked at as an option until I was pricing up laminate last week. It looked easy enough - a bit of paper, some glue and a good varnish. 

Would it be one of those things that looks too good to be true? 

Would it look great for a day until shoes go on it and it splits? 

If you're like me and were looking for a handy how-to guide, you've probably found that there are two conflicting methods.

The first, the more fiddly of the two, involves soaking the paper and folding it in a way only origami specialists would be comfortable with. 

The second, and the option I chose, was simple. Cover the area in adhesive, lay the paper, and then varnish. 

I did change up the details slightly, so here follows the method I used and a few tips and hints of what to expect.

Preparing the floor 

You'll want a nice clean floor. Give it a wash and then completely dry it. 

A really great idea I was given was to paint around the edges of the existing flooring with white paint. This would mean that any gaps between the paper and the wall would be camouflaged by the paint. It just allowed for a bit of reassurance and it was a great idea. 

 Now I used chalk paint for this, which wasn't ideal, but I had some Annie Sloan in white left over from painting the window ledge and wanted to use it up. It actually worked out well as it dries with a slight cream tinge, so it blended into the colour of the paper. However, as you'll see, with the cutting method I used, no areas were missed. 

And now we wait for the paint to dry before we can start laying the wallpaper. My advice? Yoga ;) 

Prepping the wallpaper

I measured my room from back to front and cut a piece of wallpaper that length. I allowed for 2-3 inches on either side and the ends to cut off, so take that into account when cutting and add a bit extra to the length.

I measured the width of my room and the paper and worked out that even with the extra width on the paper, I would only need two pieces stuck side by side. 

I found it best to roll the paper up lengthways so you can stick it against the wall and roll it out with no bubbles.

So now you're ready to apply the wallpaper. I know, that easy! 

Applying the wallpaper

Glue the floor in the area in which the paper will be placed. 

I used Diall wallpaper adhesive. It's already prepared and is nice and thick so easy to manage.

Now, I found one piece was too much to control and lay at the same time, so I cut it in half (well, almost. My guess was off but you get the idea!) 

Press the paper into the skirting board and then grab your Stanley knife and slide it down the line where the skirting meets the floor.

Press it into the crevices and cut as you go, especially with curves and corners.

Go slow and don't rush. It pays to be careful, but don't forget that you have extra paper to play with :) 

Spot the join ;) 

Now don't do as I did - start with the farthest piece and work forward. I kept standing on the first piece to lay the rear piece and it kept moving and bunching up and I had to constantly keep brushing it down with a dry wallpaper brush to remove the lines. 

So when it came to the right hand side, I started at the back ;) 

Now LEAVE IT ALONE for 2 hours!!

If your husband needs a wee, tell him to go in the sink ;) guard it with your life!!! 

I'm kidding (kind of!) - if you're very gentle, you can step on it but be barefoot and don't put too much pressure onto it.

Varnish the floor 

After two hours, you'll be able to feel that the paper has adhered and dried to the flooring. This is when you want to get that first coat of a polyethylene varnish on.

I used Ronseal diamond hard floor varnish in 'clear'. This stuff is expensive, but you want a nice hard finish that will protect the wallpaper from damage and discolouration so this is your man. 

I used the wallpaper pasting brush that I had previously used dry to smooth my wallpaper with (and remove bubbles). Make sure to paint the varnish right up to the skirting boards so it doesn't leave areas unvarnished that could peel back. 

This now needs to dry for 2 hours. It's annoying and you'll want to stick the next coat on after half an hour but don't.

Go make a pot of tea and let the dog out for a wee. 

Come back and repeat the process. Leave for another two hours. Make sure you let the husband know in between coats so he can use the bathroom before you varnish the next layer ;) 

I would recommend three coats. Some people say to lightly sand after the second but I didn't want to ruin the paper so I missed this step and went straight to later 3. It worked. Two hours later it was rock solid and looks absolutely amazing!

Any questions, please message me or head to the fantastic Facebook group 'Grillo designs' where Medina Grillo the creator, myself and other members live and breath crafts and DIY and will holefully between us answer any questions you may have!

Let me know what you think in the comments! :) 

Xo