Blue skies to grey

I have a problem. I love painting, and more often or not, I get the urge at 6am which means I can't fall back to sleep. This morning was one of those mornings. Hubs' always finds it hilarious, because he will wake up mid-morning to a freshly painted room.
The last time this happened, I had been up all night with the dog who was having seizures, and I decided to use the time to paint the living room.

So last night we decided we didn't like the pale blue 'blue skies' colour we originally painted the bathroom, and we thought we needed something a little bolder and darker.

Months ago when we picked a grey for the office room, it was buy one get one free on Valspar. We decided we may as well grab the free one, as we'd need to paint other rooms eventually. I was pondering between a glitter grey or a standard grey, and remembered that giant tub of Valspar downstairs - that won.

Let's just go back slightly and remember what the bathroom looked like when we first moved in....you'll have to forgive me for the awful quality photos. I never really intended to share them hence the dark shadowed areas! But you'll get the idea. :)

 

 

Yeah, floral...!
So when we had it re-plastered, we undercoated it and just picked a light blue thinking that's a good bathroom colour. Unfortunately, it was so white, that it just looked too bright for the room. Then, we had the white tiles put up and the walls looked just as white. It was far too overpowering.

 

I always start painting in a small patch to get a feel for the difference in colour. My tip is to start somewhere darker, out of direct sunlight, to get a good idea of the shade. Usually you'd go for a naturally light area, but in a room like a bathroom, it's never usually overly bright, and the darker shadowed areas give you a better indication.
Don't forget also that paint dries differently than it goes on, so bare in mind whats on the tub!

 

Now although Valspar tubs are designed with a handle grip to make for easy opening, it's not! I ended up spilling the tub over myself and having to throw out all my clothes. Go careful!

 

And here's the almost finished result.....

 

I love it! The grey is a lovely contrast from so much white.
The Valspar is so watery, that it goes on far easier than normal paint, and a little goes
an awfully long way! Be sure to use a roller for even coverage and to prevent drips.

We recently had the glass attached to the shower, also, as we were dying to have more showers but didn't want to risk a soggy floor!
Now that's ready, we are on the hunt for a new flooring and the last few storage pieces. I really must get the mirrored door on that IKEA unit, too!

Thanks for all your advice and help picking colours and paints on Instagram!




Saira xo

Let's Talk About Shelves

Today I finally put up the shelves in the office, and then spent the good part of an hour dressing and re-dressing them. I'm picky when it comes to what's displayed on our walls!

I don't know about you, but I can't just throw any old things onto a shelf. Everything on my walls is carefully thought about, and re-positioned about 198238138 times before I am happy with it. 

I wanted to share with you guys what I think is important to consider when attaching and dressing shelves. 

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1. Consider what style of shelves you want.

Yes, there are hundreds of different shelf styles! 

From picture ledges which are thin and light, to thick base shelves with inner tubing to attach to the wall, you'll be spoiled for choice.
Firstly, pick the style that suits what's going to be placed on it - you don't want a picture ledge shelf for plant pots, likewise you don't want a wide based shelf for small ornaments. 

Once you've picked the style, start browsing. They'll have different colours, different attachment styles, etc, so be sure to read all the specs before you buy. 

 Not all shelves are horizontal - I love these cloud shelves from Tiger!

2. Consider their positioning

Low or wide shelves are lethal for little heads, so if you're going for that style, make sure they're going up high!  
If it's near a door, make sure it's not in the opening line

3. Consider their place in the room 

There are a few things to consider here. 

Lighting - if you have glass frames, you'll want to make sure they aren't too reflective, so pick either areas that are in the shade, or position them at an angle.

The view as you enter the room / from the bed / chair / etc - utilise the space, and decide who is going to get the most enjoyment from the look. Do you want to enjoy it in a room, or is it an eye-grabber as you pass by in a hallway or through a doorway.


4. Consider themes

This should be easy, as you generally put up frames to home something you already have. Kids room? Kitchen? Try and match the items on your shelves to other themes in the room.

5. Start collecting bits to go on it

Once you've decided on a theme, keep an eye out for matching items that would compliment what you already have.

6. Practice different layouts

The fun bit! 

The best advice I can give you is to lay it out on the floor before you stick ANYTHING to the wall! Change it up and see what looks good where. 

Look for inspiration!!! The best place is of course Pinterest! There are some great ideas of layouts. Imitation is flattery, so scribble down any ideas you love! 

I like symmetry, but I also like to experiment with angular layouts - it all depends on what you're putting on your shelves as to what will look best.


7. AND....GO!

Hanging shelves shouldn't be hard.
You'll need a spirit level, pencil and electric drill, and of course the right sort of screws. We went to The Range and bought one of every £1 bag of screws and pins and put them in a selection container. It really does make the job easier!
With smaller shelves, draw around them on paper, mark out the holes, and use that as a guide to drill holes.

Once you've hung the shelves, start decorating. 
Use every combination of layouts, and stand back and take a photo each time. Once you've tried all ideas, scroll through and I guarantee one will jump out at you! It did for me! 


8. Commit!

Don't be surprised if you end up rummaging through old boxes / the attic / your parents garage, for that 'one thing' you know will make all the difference! And you'll start noticing things when you're shopping that will look nice. Commit to a theme and stick with it. My problem has always been that I get bored quickly, so this rule is saving me lots and lots of ££, and keeping me sane!

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The great thing about shelving is that you can change it up depending on it's use. 

Here we have the same shelving dressed for a child's room, and then for an Arizona themed office space. 

Pimp your iPhone! Revisited.

Today we're revisiting an old post - the iPhone makeover!

You'll remember my pimp your iphone post from 2013. 

It's a great way to make your iPhone more personal, and add a shabby, cute touch! 

There are so many themes to choose from, though, that the possibilities are endless!

With spring here, it's nice to change it up! 

Click here for the original post and tutorial! And don't forget to show me your creations, tag me on Instagram using the hashtag #pimpyouriphonesairanaomi or comment here!

 

Living Room Makeover

When we first decided to move house, 2.5 years ago, we spent a day looking around the house and prioritising the work that needed doing. 

We gave ourselves a month to overlap the move, so we still lived in our flat, but were at the house everyday decorating.

There was one room that we decided early on needed to be decorated before we moved in - the living room. People would come and visit us and the 1940's look just wasn't us, so we wanted to make sure the one room that they saw, and that we spent the most time in, was more modern. 

Deciding on paint was a quick job. You'll remember my post here, where we were testing different colours. We went with Dulux Natural Wicker. It went on a lot more 'corn yellow' than we anticipated but it dried far lighter, almost to the shade on the tin. We've never hated it, and luckily it matched the cream gloss wood that you'll remember is EVERYWHERE in this house! 

But more recently, as those of you who follow my regular posts here and on Instagram will know, I'm a real sucker for whites and greys, and when we visited a friends house recently, I fell madly in love with her walls. So much so, that I immediately went and ordered 2 litres of the same paint a few days later! 

This is the Albany 'dovecote' paint that she used and I am going to be using soon. 

If you look at the skirting board, you can see the walls are very close to white, but the paint has a lovely warm blend to it. 

We also have a bare wood floor, and are shopping around for a new fluffy rug, so I know it's going to match well.

With the wood floor, beige walls and brown sofas, it's just always felt a bit too matchy. 

I still haven't found the time to paint the skirtings white, or paint the fireplace tiles white, so that'll be a job for when we do the walls, and hopefully add a real clean feel to the room, which currently only has white paint on the ceiling and above the picture rails (but it's not been repainted in a long long time!) 

Stay tuned over the next new months to see this transformation take place! I'll be blogging every day for a week with updates on the progress, and lots of before and afters (because we know everyone loves them!) 

Xo

10 tips when decorating an old house

When we were offered the chance of buying my Grandparents old house 2.5 years ago, we jumped at the chance. Okay, we thought. It needs some work. But it's liveable! Boy, did that mindset change.

As soon as you move in, you start noticing things. Stupidly we didn't get the house assessed before we moved in, and having been vacant for 6 months, it had really run itself down. Mould, dust, cobwebs, it was starting to look dreary. The only thing to do to wash away that feeling was to decorate.

1. Start with the most used rooms.

We gave ourself a month to decorate before moving in, living out of our flat, spending long days painting the new house. We started with the living room - the focal point, the main room. We stripped it (which was far easier than we anticipated as the paper was so old and stiff it just fell off in strips!) and painted the blank walls. 

We did the living room then our room, then the bathroom and toilet. The rest followed. 

2. Timing

We moved in August, the height of the U.K. summer, so we could paint with the windows open, take a break in the sun, then carry on. The motivation from the weather was brilliant and we got the living room done really quickly. 

3. Pace yourself.

When you buy an old house, there's a LOT to do. Sure, I'd have loved to have been able to afford to do up the whole house within 12 months but it just wasn't going to happen. We hope to be here for a long time, so what's the rush! And on that note...

4. Decorate room by room

Finish one room before starting the next. This is one of those bits of advice where I say do as i say, not as I do. I'm impulsive, so there are things in all the rooms that need finishing, and it's not a good feeling.

Instead, choose a room and commit to finishing it before starting another. 

5. Stick to themes

Whether your theme is white, minimalist, pastels, bright, feature wall, or something more specific like the popular Union Flag London theme, or the ever popular shabby chic look, make sure you pick a theme and commit to it.

Since moving in, we knew we eventually wanted a white minimal nautical hallway, farmhouse style kitchen, clean white and mint bathroom and toilet, minimal cream master bedroom with light nautical touches, and the two spare rooms; one a future nursery, white, grey, peach and mint, and the other to host memories of our wedding holiday in Arizona and Nevada. 

Along the way we've experimented with the smaller spare room, and painted it twice with the intention to finally decorate it as an office in the coming months. 

 

6. Buy as you go along

This makes personalising rooms so much cheaper. 

We hope to start a family in the near future, so with the plan to decorate the larger spare room as a future nursery in mind, I often see things that match our vision for the room.

I have a storage box labelled for each room in the house and each box has things in it for that room. Our nursery box is full to the brim, as is the office box! 

It's a great way to make sure everything matches, and to keep track of what you've got and what you still need. 

7. Look for a bargain before you commit 

Everything I see that I want for a room, I first try and source from cheaper means. There are some things I won't scrimp out on, that only handmade etsy stores or Instagram sellers can make, but for things like wall vinyls, prints and paint colours, I feel much better getting them cheaper and using the savings for something else. 

For instance, I have two light boxes.

One is from the lovely little company, and the second I picked up for 1/5 of the price at The Range. Of course the quality of the first is higher but to an outside eye they look exactly the same. 

You'll remember my previous post about bargain hunting - this wall in our spare room gets so many compliments. In total it cost around £20, with the items all being from Tiger (where nothing's more than £30), Primark and the Range. 

8. Colour match! 

I had never heard of F&B or Annie Sloane when we lived in our flat. But now, I'm addicted to browsing endless shades of cream, white and grey. But they're expensive. We used B&Q colour match to create a more affordable version of the colours we loved and in all honesty, who knows? It may not be the exact same finish, but I'm not bothered. Only I know that, after all!  As for AS, a little goes a long way, so I bought one tin of old white and a sample pot of a teal shade and that's lasted me for months. It's great to have in the cupboard for random projects, but it's equally nice to know there are many more versions of chalk paint now that make it again more affordable. 

9. Pay homage to the house as it was when you moved in 

We framed a piece of the old kitchen wallpaper and carpet and it hangs in the hallway now. It's so funny when people ask how it looked before being renovated and we show them that!

We also have the old front door key on a piece of string, painted in holographic nail polish and we hang it on our Christmas tree every year! 

10. Utilise social media

People have amazing ideas. There are some incredible home designers on instagram and Pinterest, so use them for their knowledge! Don't be afraid to ask them questions too, they love what they do and love helping you achieve the same look! 

Do you have any tips that really helped for your move?

Speak soon!

XO

Spring Cleaning

The sun is finally starting to show his head, and with only a month until Spring officially starts, it's that time again - spring cleaning! I like to cling onto winter after Christmas is over. It took real effort to pack the winter decor away...but I feel so much better for it.

Every year, as I mentioned in a previous post, we get festive tartan throws for the living room. They are from the Home range at Primark, although you wouldn't know it to look at them. They're between £3.50-£5 each, which means that once winter is over, I can replace them at very low cost, and Scout gets two new blankets for his basket! (My dog can't have a normal soft basket as he un-stuff's EVERYTHING so he has a wooden surround, and LOTS of blankets!). 

Primark's spring range is very hippy, boho looking. It's adorable, but it's not my style (I love boho, but just not the over-patterning of everything) so I'm in that transition waiting for their next influx of stock...I just know their summer line will be as spectacular as the adorable pineapple/ice cream/flamingo prints from 2015! So right now, it's back to the yellows - nothing says spring more that yellow and white, and you just know I'll be straight on the daffodils when they're in bloom! They're one flower that lasts more than 2 days, and bunches are really cheap.

Another job during spring cleaning is to battle mould. We live in a very old house, it was only £2000 to buy new when my Grandparents bought it...! So it's only single brick walls, not cavity walled, and only half the house was double glazed, with some of the back rooms still having the old aluminium windows. Luckily having had the kitchen done, we only have two alu windows left but the newer ones still need replacing as they've all blown their seals. Anywho! I am in a constant battle with mould and am always after tips to help prevent it, until we eventually have every interior outer wall replastered with a false wall to create a cavity, which is what our builders did in the kitchen. 

But my favourite part of spring cleaning is the cleaning itself >.<
I know, isn't it sad! But I love washing all the cushion covers from the sofa, pulling up the rugs, moving the sofas and steam cleaning the wood floors. I love chucking all the glassware in the dishwasher (I have still only used it twice...!) and seeing it sparkle when comes out, hanging the washing on the actual washing line and not having to stick the heating on because we haven't reconnected the tumble dryer yet...I just love it. 

 

My tips for spring cleaning....

• Make a spring/summer playlist! Spotify is super for free music streaming, and you can find almost anything on there! Make a happy, bouncy plasylist to keep you entertained as you dance around with that duster. 
• But first - coffee! Give yourself a boost, you're going to need it ;)
  
  
  
  
• Light some candles. We use Yankee burner tarts on a Scentsy electric burner. We love the seasonal smells, but also stick with our all-time favourite classic of White Cotton. COnvince yourself your washing smells great! ;) 
• Commit the whole day to it, and start early! I get up around 9 on my day off. I stick the news on, have a cup of honey and lemon tea then crack on with the cleaning. I'll usually be finished by 12/1 and then I have the rest of the day to enjoy my lovely clean house before 3 long days at work! 
• Treat yourself. Buy yourself something small as a reward. I found this adorable stag/deer head chalkboard in the winter stock sale at Wilkinson's yesterday for £3. I'm slowly collecting bits for the man-cave / second spare bedroom, so this will be perfect! 
  

What do you love about spring cleaning? Do you have any tips? 


xo

 







 

Bedrooms, and more, on a Budget

We all love a bargain, and for those of us who fall in love with every seasonal theme we see, it can often end up getting expensive to keep up to date with what we love. Being a psychologist as well, I fully support the idea that a cluttered room is a sign of a cluttered mind. Although these days, they're saying that people with messy houses have a high affinity for creative reasoning. Who knows, but what I do know is that when there's mess in our house, we end up having a meltdown and the biggest spring clean we can manage. We just hate clutter, and although I love keeping memories, I've started to throw out so much 'rubbish' that I've been hoarding. 

My secret talent is bargain hunting! Now I love supporting handmade etsy stores, and local businesses, but sometimes the price just doesnt justify the item.
If I see something I just have to have, unless it's mega special and I know I can't leave without it, I have a system.

* eBay. Most things I love can be found second-hand on eBay, for far cheaper than their RRP. Always havee a quick search before committing to new, unless you're happy paying out for it. I've found cushion covers for £2 each, when in large stores they've been £7-15 for one pillow. 

* Gumtree. I'm not a huge fan of the second-hand local selling site, but I have come across a few bargains from people moving house and wanting to get rid of furniture quickly. Just be careful how to arrange payment, and check electrical items work before handing over cash! 

* Facebook selling pages. These are fab, especially when they're local and you can collect for free or have it delivered for a couple of pounds. It's also great when people you know are selling things - you often end up getting them for free ;) 

* Avoid labels. I'm not mad about labels at all, whether its for clothing (although I love my Fat Face and Saltrock items!), or anything else, and when it comes to home-wears, I prefer value over brand names. I treated myself to a few items from the home range at NEXT when we first had the kitchen done, but most of the rest are all generic versions of popular brand items. I originally bought a lightbox for £50 for my kitchen - I love them, and think they're so versatile for occasions and look adorable. But then I found that The Range were stocking them for £10....!!! No brainer ;)
 
Primark's home range is amazing, and if you haven't ventured into the aisles of candles, throws and decor, I suggest you get your butt in gear! The great thing about their range is that's it's constantly being updated. They have seasonal themes, but in between they tend to update their shelves every month or so. You'd expect bad quality from the cheaper end stores, but even their Home range is up there with other budget home ranges such as B&M and the new New Look home range. 
Their range has caused one issue, though. I am obsessed with bedding. Over winter, we slept in their super warm extra thick cotton sets, through summer, the thinner, pastel shades are a welcome change. 

The great thing is that they display the sets in store, so you can see what matches. As I write this post, the current range is a bohemian hippy style, with camper van prints and spirograph style patterns.

Here are a few images from the themes in our home....

Our smallest spare room is a future nursery, so the theme has always been fun, childish and uni-sex. The theme was based on Primark's last summer season range - flamingos, pineapples and pastels.

Mint frames and sunshine box - Primark
Cloud shelves - Tiger
House frames - The Range

Day Bed - IKEA
Bed set - Primark
Pineapple cushion - Primark
Flamingo cushions - Primark

Ice cream lamp - a lovely little company
LOVE letters - The Range
Wooden Owl - The Range
Strawberry jewellery box - Tiger
Box frames - Primark
Flamingo mug - Primark

Frames - Primark
Glitter paper and buttons - Hobbycraft

ARIZONA and NEVADA silhouettes

Primark summer theme

I also love the George at Home, from Asda. I still find lots of their items on the pricey side, but they too do some great seasonal items, and when I was in my 'stag and deer' obsessed phase, they definitely helped curb the appeal by supplying more than enough items to keep me happy! (They also do cheap Yankee tarts, if you're like me and love them!)

After I've been to Primark, I always head to The Range and B&M. B&M is a monthly/fortnightly trip because we don't live overly close (20min drive, as opposed to 2 min drive to The Range), and it's not on our travel route to anywhere, so we have to make an effort to go there.  B&M is my guilty pleasure for kitchenware - they sell the cutest mason jars, and those kitsch, shabby chic homely items that you always see on Pinterest and Instagram but have no idea where to buy. We bought two sets of mason jar glasses before Christmas and everyone loved them for their mulled wine, complete with cinnamon stick and orange slice. 
B&M also do great imitation items. I say that because I often find versions of things in there that I see in places like Dunelm Mill and Next, but for half the price. This little candle holder is ceramic. I almost bought one from Next that was an electric version, with a bulb inside, but for a fraction of the cost (this one was £6.99), we get to burn our favourite Yankee candles and it looks just as sweet.

My other secret is the 'all or nothing' deorating rule. 

It's almost Christmas, and you love the Nordic, tartan theme. It's everywhere, so you buy the curtains, the rug, the throws, the cushion covers. 

You have a choice. After Christmas you pack them away and only dig them out again next year, or you keep them up all year without the decorations that make it christmassy. But you have to commit. If you're going to do the latter, then you can justify spending more for more durable products, but if you're only getting it out for 6-8 weeks of the year, then my advice is to keep it cheap. 

So there you have it. Making a house look homely doesn't need to be expensive, nor does following the Pinterest and Instagram trends.

Be sensible, frugal and realistic - do you need to spend £32 on a kettle when theres one just as pretty, that does the same job, but without the brand name on the side for £10?



Let me know your secrets!