Stylish Sunday - Leafy Living Room

Happy Easter Sunday everyone.  

We have awoken today to some more beautiful sunshine.  Of course it is still rather chilly but it has still signalled that we can head out to to the Garden Centre and buy a few things.  I think yesterday must have been my cheapest ever trip there as there were lots of reduced plants and 15% off everything on top. Hurrah.

Following on from last weeks Stylish Sunday post, I thought I would tackle another room in my house.  This week I must admit I havent been quite so budget friendly.  However, in an ideal world I think this collection would look rather quaint. It's inspired by our current living room colour scheme. So this is how I'd update our current look if I had a few pounds to invest.

- Sources

Baby and Child Bedding

Finding bedding for Nye that is cute but not sickly sweet or massively expensive is quite the challenge.  Nye moved from his cot to a cot bed some time ago when we saw one being given away nearby on freecycle.  We knew his cot wouldn't last forever and getting a bigger bed for free seemed prudent, especially as it came with the attachments to turn it into a toddler bed down the line.  However, I could not believe the cost of cot bed duvet covers when I came to find them.  I have spent months with just one Ikea duvet cover because I refused to commit to paying £25 for a second one.

A few weeks ago I finally took the plunge and won a gorgeous Vertbaudet second hand duvet cover and pillow case on Ebay for a few pounds.  This is highly unusual because even second hand covers seem to be going for £15 and above.  In addition to scowering Ebay I have also been browsing a massive variety of websites looking for good sales.  My top 5 places to shop for baby bedding are:

• H & M
• Vertbaudet
• Mamas & Papas
• Mothercare
• Ikea

And finally this week I couldn't resist buying this gorgeous grey star quilt.

h&m baby quilt £10

If you're on the lookout for lovely baby and child bedding I've put together a collection for you which includes cot, cot bed and single bedding and a range of price brackets.  Enjoy!

Boom! The kitchen lands!

I cannot remember if I mentioned that we went ahead and ordered our new kitchen. If not, we ordered our new kitchen!!

It was actually just over two weeks ago when we drove down to Ikea and just went for it.  I had been designing it using the online planner for a while but it hadn't really occurred to me that at some point we would be saying, YES, let's do this.  Or rather, it hadn't occurred to me that this was something we could do right now. I was a little scared when I sat down to talk to the guy in the shop and Neil occupied Nye.  Neil really hasn't had much input on the kitchen design or content, so if it's not right.  It is certainly my fault!

Yesterday the influx of boxes arrived and we currently have cardboard and polystyrene taking over the kitchen and dining room.  It looks a little something like this...

The whole design process was really easy, after measuring up and inputting the details we chose the units that we liked and tried to find a combination of draws and shelves that would work for us.  Compromises have been made as we know this isn't our 'forever' home so that's a no to the £1000 range cooker or even a double oven.  But we have managed to organise a built in microwave grill which will free up some much needed worktop space and a gorgeous ceramic sink.  The built in microwaves at Ikea are insanely expensive, I think because they have to have front ventilation.  So, on the day we ordered, we left off the microwave to see if our current one would fit, (no such luck).  However, we have  managed to find a second hand one on Ebay that appears brand new.  I couldn't be more thankful to the lovely lady who packaged it up so beautifully for me on it's travels from the south coast.

Last week we spent as much time as we could getting as much of the painting done as possible.  We first used a steam cleaner to give the walls and ceilings a thorough deep clean which instantly made such a difference.  Then, we used some leftover white paint to give the ceiling a bit of love.  It took us a few coats to really make it sparkle but that alone has refreshed the room.  Next we tackled the walls.  Whilst poking around for paint brushes we found a discarded pot of paint we initially bought for the bathroom and didn't like.  We thought it would be worth a try in the kitchen, as it wasn't doing anything sitting under the stairs, and even after a quick test patch we agreed that we thought it would work really well.  As I'd been dreaming of my white kitchen with pops of orange I spent a while sulking but we've since realised that using pops of orange kitchenware will still be possible and look brilliant.  So, we've already been out and bought up a few pieces of le creuset from our trusty TK Maxx. I really can't wait to see them in situ as I really think they will look ace.  So, the colour palette now looks like this:

Kitchen colours by jc on Polyvore.

The kitchen units themselves are an off white colour with a solid wood worktop, and the turquoise, Mountain Rain is being used only on the chimney breast to provide a bit of contrast. I'm also hoping to use some Margareta, wood look fabric to go in the alcoves.  The majority of the paint work is complete now, and we have started taking the tiles off the wall which wasn't too difficult.  Now we find ourselves in the position of trying to work out a good way of taking out the old kitchen, whilst balancing baby duties.  And you know that as soon as you take out the old one, we don't actually have a working kitchen, until we install the new one, yikes! 

So far we've both been googling anything we think will come in handy and have been out to buy a jigsaw to cut the worktops, purchased plastering equipment for the walls and working how we can get the best deal on ply wood for the floor.  It certainly feels like we are getting there, and I have no doubt it WILL be done by Christmas but oh boy is it a daunting task!

Nursery fit for a king

This nursery post has been a long time coming, Nye is now 8 months old.  We did most of the big jobs when I was still pregnant and of course the room was 'ready' for when Nye arrived back in January.  (Although, once they arrive, you soon realise the baby spends a lot more time in your bedroom than their own to begin with.)

This reveal was spurred on by the arrival of his new cot bed and gorgeous natural mattress.  It is such a wonderful feeling to know that your baby is spending his days sleeping on wool and coconut coir fiber (while we snuggle down on Ikea's finest!!)  It sounds so cliche but I find it incredibly fulfilling to do those little things for him.  It's something I breath in when I find myself lovingly folding his reusable nappies every day!  How lucky I am to have him and how wonderful it is to love and protect him.

But here we have it, a grand old room full of fun and laughter for my big boy.

Most of it was kindly picked up via freecycle, lovely friends with a few special gifts from mummy and daddy.  I like to think it combines a good mixture of modern and vintage bits and pieces.  I'm terrible at 'picking' a theme and colour scheme.  I'm like a magpie with an eye for anything colourful and fun and that's sort of how every room turns out when I'm in charge.  Thankfully, I like how it all comes together.  The pictures here look a little more cluttered than many a nursery photo shoot but I like to think that this reflects that it is a little boys place to play and cause havoc at will.

There are a few sneaky DIY bits and bobs mixed in here, including a personalised lamp shade which I made last week with a £2.50 balloon shade.  I have to say, it's the best £2.50 I've ever spent.  I'm also so proud of learning to crochet and making him a blanket, just like my mum made me when I was small.  You can catch a glimpse of this, peering over the edge of the cot above.

So to my 8 month little boy, here is your first ever room.  It has evolved with you and you may never remember it but it will always be a place of sunshine and happiness.

I hope you all like the way it's turned out.  Do let me know if there's anything you like and I can probably tell you where it's from.  It has been many months of love, tender care and tweaks to get it to where we are now.  Now I just need to find the bobbin for the sewing machine and finish the black out curtains!

Creative Sunday

Oh there are so many good ideas out there of the little things that make a house feel like a home.  I made a map cupboard for Nye's room, for storing his blankets and bed linen a while ago, but I've seen so many clever ideas and uses for maps recently.

It's going to be a long few days here as my husband just left this morning for the last of his teacher training.  Last year when he went I was in the depths of pregnancy morning sickness and working in a corporate hell hole.  Now I'm free and easy at home with a beautiful son to look after.  Frankly a 6 month old is easier and better company than a gaggle of office junkies!

I'm going to try and tackle some house DIY while Neil is away which is made much easier by the fact he stayed up till 1am so the house was tidy when he left. Love you my darling husband!

Here's just a few DIY map projects that I love!

Love where you live - County, Borough, Country.

Map Pinwheels for the perfect party

Love this lamp shade and it's associated cockerel

Can extra large letters ever be overdone!?

map lampshade!

I think I might try and make a DIY lampshade this week.  There are so many amazing ideas out there, now I just have to get to it.  Although I am always a little worried about whether doing something like that is a slight fire risk... Anyone any ideas for not setting the house alight?

Have a great Sunday!

Bathroom's at 50%

Yet again it has been too long, yet things have been chugging along nicely.

Since my last bathroom update we have tided up but we're still in the in-between stages.  After Neils parents left on the Sunday (weeks ago now) we were left with a fully functioning bathroom but with a long list of finishing touches to be done.  

Here's a breakdown so we can cross them off one by one.

• Fill in holes in wall left by tiles, screws, nails and bad plastering. (Sunday 13th November)
• Make good bumpy walls
• Choose paint colours (Saturday 5th November)
• Test paint colours next to tiles/coving etc. (Sunday 20th November) 
• Clean and repaint bath
• Tile remaining walls
• Stick and paint skirting board
• Finish cutting and sticking down flooring
• Wipe down and paint all walls, (decide which colour goes where)
• Find and hang bathroom mirror
• Find bathroom cabinet and arrange delivery
• Choose bathroom fittings

The bad news for today is that although we love the white we have chosen for the bathroom (that sounds mad to me, how can there be a good or bad white but I am convinced).

Oyster by Wickes

Our bargain blue paint from Homebase just doesn't look dramatic enough to really make the room and it should.  I think it should be bold and grand to suit the rest of the suite.  So it's goodbye mountain rain (which is no longer on their website) - it looked a bit like this...

So we were thinking of going for something a bit more like this instead...

Hague Blue @ Farrow and Ball

Upcycled pine TV stand - Before and After

Ever since Neil and I were first gifted a pine TV stand when my dad arrived with a van load of belongings from his cow shed, I've been meaning to sand and whitewash it.  This was in the hope of making it look less like a hand me down and more like a priceless style icon (haha). But as procrastination hit new levels on Tuesday afternoon I decided to go for it, threw everything neatly placed upon it, onto the floor and carted it out to the garden for a re-vamp.

At first I thought it would take all afternoon to sand it down but then I got the paint out and thought after all the sanding, mixing up paint would be like the silver lining of furniture decoration!

So here we are ready to begin - TV stand in sight, Neil's Christmas present sander in hand.

And we were off, hand juddering away as we stripped what felt like 10 layers of varnish! (With sunglasses on to protect my eyes from the dust)

I think in total all of the sanding took about an hour on and off.  It was really difficult to do all the edges and the inside of the shelves.  Therefore on the protruding surfaces I sanded diligently, but I have to admit I didn't work so hard to do the internal bits (praying the paint would just cover anyway...)

 So once I was at this stage it was time to mix up the paint.  I have to admit that I am very lucky to have stumbled across exactly what I was looking for by chance, in an amazing shop on our honeymoon, The Brooklyn General Store.  They sell the gorgeous Old Fashioned Milk Paint and we decided to go for Oyster White and got enough  to use on both the tv cabinet and a pine sideboard we also want to recreate.  Here I am mixing it up. It says to add water and powder in equal parts but when I started to apply it I realised it was far too thick so just added some more water to get the washed effect I was after.

Once mixed it was really easy to apply and even covered the parts I hadn't sanded down very well. But it was clear that it was drying quicker and with a nicer finish to the bits I took more time on.  So, where I only needed one coat on the top and sides I needed two on the insides.

And here we are with the finished product, awaiting a slight retouch which I've just done today. (Needed to get it in place to surprise Neil when he got home from work so please ignore the messiness!)

And to top it all off, Gemma even fit in some sun bathing!