Decoration Inspiration

When it comes to home decor I only feel a room is truly finished when it has been 'styled'. With the bathroom that meant putting razors, cotton buds and cosmetic pads into my thrift store green glass tumblers on the shelves that almost never happened. And while decorating the rest of the house is being put off in favour of getting the rest of the boxes unpacked I do want to style the rooms as I go so it feels more like home. I've just spend a few minutes looking for some inspirational pictures and thought I'd gather them together here for you to look at and as a reference point for myself:

If you couldn't guess from all the black lacquer this is a photo of Anna Sui's kitchen. Oh my god, I want this kitchen. I especially love how she's mixed the cream and white. I didn;t want to go all cream in ours as it is a tiny room and I thought it might be overpowering but also didn't want to go all white as it could look clinical, especially against a dark surface. Perhaps this would be the perfect compromise. I especially love the shaping on the top of the cabinets.

I have a doll's house that my Dad made when I was little - a four roomed town house with a staircase and working light in the bedroom. When our bedroom is decorated I plan on refurbishing it to match (though I'm going to keep the original ditsy floral wallpapers) and then probably spend a small fortune buying furniture despite the fact I'll never play with it.

I love old fashioned glass candy jars and all ready have a few that I have been lucky enough to get for small change from charity shops. My largest is currently houseing all my beads and charms though I think I might put my nail polish collection in their instead and organise my craft stuff into smaller ones.

I have a great thifted dining chair that I'm planning on re-painting. It'll probably end up in the 2nd bedroom/dressing room piled with my lifestyle guides and fashion books.

Cut The Ribbon...The Bathroom Finally Unveiled

OMG it's finally finished. I was seriously wondering whether this day would ever come. Since I've rambled on about it for so long I thought I stick a couple of pictures up so you could see what all that hard work created. I'm very happy with how it's turned out, just wish the road their had been a lot quicker. Note that the floor will be painted white in a couple of weeks when I'm on holiday from work and then we'll decided what curtains we want.

White Shelves Dunelm
Green Glasses Charity Shop
Towels Primark & Tesco
Chair Ikea
Laundry Hamper Dunelm


















White Hooks Dunelm
Mirror Charity Shop
Light Pull Woods Pine
White Shelf Dunelm
Cream Bowl Au Naturel
Soap Dispenser TK Maxx
Toothbrush Holder TK Maxx

The Life And Times Of Moi...atleast over the last few days

While some me see it as being tardy in regards to blogging, I'm quite proud of myself for regularly posting on the blog (to me its regular, ok?)

Anyway, muchos to tell:

• Got my package from E.L.F.! Yay for my postman who put it under my doormat rather than sending it back to the depot for me to arrange re-delivery (which would have meant I wouldn't have received my goodies til tommorow). I've tried everything and will be posting a full review tommorow lunch
• The bathroom is still not finished! Ha, is this really a surprise to anyone? Really it's just the shelves that need finishing but because we're using gloss paint it takes an age. A plus point is that Papa has been round and done the silicony bit around the tub so Friday evening will be the time for the first official proper standing up shower. Woop woop!
• Uniform came round again and I got 6 gorgrous things but I couldn't find everything on the website to show you pics so that will have to come at a later date.
• I just made smily face Smartie buns (this is not really relevant but they make me smile so I thought I'd put it out their)

But most importantly, and what this post is really about, is a little online magazine called Betty. If, like me you are a follower of Miss Susie Bubble's Style Bubble blog then you will probably already know about it but if not (and why not?) then here's the 411 -

"Betty magazine is a new bi-monthly e-publication created just for girls. Empowering, witty, intelligent - quite simply a jamboree of independent style. Betty is your new best friend. Betty's mission is to fill a void in women's magazines, no weight loss or diet tips here, we don't want to play on people's insecurities: our philosophy is for people to embrace who they are and celebrate it. Content is a whimsical mix of editorial, news bits and interviews ranging from 50 word snippets to feature length articles. Betty is produced by two final year BA (Hons) Fashion Promotion students, Hannah Burgess and Charlotte Jacklin from UCA Rochester, who are changing the way people consume their bi-monthly dose of fashion, music, culture and lifestyle."

Well after reading the magazine and enjoying it very much (for me it's kind of a mix between Nylon and Neet but more accessible and a little quirky) I decided to go out on a limb and contact Hannah and Charlotte about whether they would like some help from me as a copy editor (stylistics being a sick and perverse obsession of mine lol). And I waited...and waited...and then, despite the fact I made it very clear in my e-mail that I in no way meant my comments as patronising or condescending, felt a fool, sure that they where scorning my behaviour. Then I forgot all about it. Not until several days after did I check my e-mail (I check it even less frequently than I post if that's possible) to find an e-mail from Charlotte taking me up on my offer. Yippee! Not only will I be involved in a cool new online magazine but I didn't make a twerp out of myself




x

More Dramas From The Bathroom

Firstly. I apologise in advance for any missed spelling mistakes - the kitten is wandering across the keyboard and computer desk (I'd probably move her if she wasn't so darn cute!)

So yes, more bathroom issues. There I was scrubbing the floor and mopping up the water with my new mop (I'm a bit of a Monica with this mop) when I heard a buzzing. Assuming it was a wasp or blue bottle I had a quick look around the room. Then the buzzing got louder and I figured since the window was open I could just hear someone doing something in their backyard. Went to turn back round but being the clumsy clown that I am I overbalanced so put my thumb on the radiator to stop myself........WHICH IS WHEN I GOT ELECTRICUTED! So now the buzzings real loud and little orange sparks start coming out from a gap in the floorboards. I had no idea what it was but obviously knew sparks and water don't mix so started frantically mopping. Once all the water's up I bent down to have a better look and try and figure out why the hell my floor is doing this which is when theres a bang (which even he heard downstairs but just figured I'd dropped something, a fair assumption) and a ball of orange about 1/2" from my face (I swaer if I had been any closer I'd be writing this without the joy of eyebrows).

Proper shit up I explaioned it all to the boy who said we'd need to get an electrician. 'No' said I, 'I'll call my Dad'! Even though my Dad doesn't work with electrics he's one of those guys who knows a bit of everything. So he came round and it's a friggin' bare live wire thats sticking up between the floorboards (about 2" from the hole the cat keeps investigating which is the thing that scares me the most - that shock definately would have killed her) which was from an older water boiler. Looking in the fuse box unearthed a fuse for said water boiler, though the bang had obviously fixed it. So why was a fuse that led to nothing not noticed by the £450 surveyor we had to get in as part of our mortgage agreement? Why did the idiots who previously owned this place think that cutting and leaving a live wire was acceptable behaviour? I spent an hour on the sofa with a major headache watching The Hills, which I think I could become quite addicted to.

On a lighter note, this is what the cat's doing now



LMAO

And The Decorating Of The Bathroom Goes On

Seriously? Still Decorating the bathroom?

Er, yeah! Much to my annoyance we are still powering through with getting this room sorted (FYI it will be the only room decorated to our taste when its finally finished which is why every spare second is going on it).

So why the hell-i-o has it taken so long? Well first there's the two full time jobs we hold down (mine with random retail hours and his with overtime). Then there was the painting - I swear that the previous decorators had mixed glss in with the emulsion used on the ceiling and in the end we both found we got better coverage with mini paint rollers and the sponge heads meant for gloss work. Then the tiling - I have no idea how to tile but so as not to spend £150+ on getting someone in, and so I'd learn how to do something new in the process, I decided to give it a go. Unfortunately, thanks to uneven walls, I got to a point where I was really rather stuck so Mummy came to help (she also taught herself to tile and is where I get my 'well of course I can do that' attitude). However, in the process I may have inadvertently given her swine flu - I was really the only person she's seen in the last 7 days as she spends a lot of time at her allotment and while I have no symptoms I could be a carrier (I do have a rockin' immune system).

Dear Daddy has fitted the shower and shower rail, which included a little physical manipulation to get it to work with our angled loft ceiling (the kitchen and bathroom having their own little roof, seperate from the rest of the house).

We then decided to pull up the lino after a massive cleaning frenzy in which I even took the toilet seat apart to clean in thoroughly. We where going to do this anyway, especially after seeing what fab condition the floorboards where in, but sooner rather than later seemed the best option when faced with 30 mins of removing tile adhesive blobs from something we didn't even want.

So, now its just a waiting (and careful bathing) game while the grout dries before we can put silicon sealent on, and while the gloss on the shelves dry before we can do another. Then there'll be a little drilling action while we fix everything on to the wall. And then it will be, to all intents and purposes, done with just a few weeks wait until my next holiday when I will be paintng the floor.

Introducing...

...our gorgeous kitten Charlie

Half Way House

So, for some reason I thought painting the bathroom would be a one day, one coat job! Foolish me. I've done abut half of it (and FYI am hoping to get the boy to help out with a little roller action this afternoon!) and it's definately going to take two coats. Then there's the tiling to do so we can finely get a shower and then the finishing touches...and after over 2 months of living we will have one room completed lol.

Aye Carumba

I can't believe it's been a month since my last post. We've been moved in for about 4 weeks now, got unpacked pretty quick and put the flatpack together. We only got the internet set up yesterday as we had to wait like two weeks just for a regular phone line. We're both on holiday in a couple weeks which means unpacking those last few bits, putting up a lot of shelves (to house said last few bits) and getting everything looking pretty. I imagine (or should I say hope) taht there'll also be a little decorating going on. Which is what I need to get back to.....I'm furiously trying to cover the wishy washy 'is it blue, is it green' of the bathroom with a sexy sand colour and am getting angry at whoever last decorated that room (what have they done to make the woodword and wall kinda meld into one...gggrrrrr??????)

Bad Blogger, Bad!

Very quick post as I need to catch some 'z's' before getting up early. Just wanted to apologise for being a ridiculously bad blogger and promising that things WILL get better soon (though not immediately as I will be without internet for a while). Basically the sale of our house went through (yay!) and so it's been all hands on deck buying furniture, cleaning and of course packing - something it turns out I'm really bad at because however much I want to move in and live my lovely boy it's just not enough motivation to get me to pack...don't worry I don't get it either.

It's now gotten to the point where I'm just filling boxes with anything I want to take and labelling them 'random', all hell to the consequences.

There's also going to be a lot of good stuff that I don't want anymore so think I'll be coming home in a couple of weeks (my mum will actually be over the moon about this) and box it all up and do a car boot. Have a few things that'll be going on Ebay but it probably only makes up about 10% of the things I no longer want.

I'm also getting a kitten on Tuesday which I'm so excited about - I have bought a Kitten Starter Kit with all the basics and a chocolate brown fluffy bed that matches our sofa.

So, gimme a couple of weeks and I'll post pics of kitty (yet to be christened) and many pictures of my lush new house.

xxx

Damn just realised I haven't packed even one pair of shoes yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not getting the blog off to a good start!

It's 1.27pm GMT. I have yet to properly get out of bed and have been no where near the shower. That's right...I'm hungover! But then that's what you get for drinking a half bottle of white wine, a little beer, 3 vodkas and then a large quantity of a friend's whisky and coke. Bread and butter, OJ and salt and vinegar crisps have helped for the most part, and a nice hot shower, clean hair and a make-up free face I'm sure will help with the rest.

So, obviously this is a brand new blog and is something I've wanted to set up for a while. There's not really any set themes that it will revolve around, just the general goings on of my life - though I will try to stick to the more interesting things when possible.

I am going to try my hardy hardest to keep the blog up-to-date. Occasionally this WILL slip as I have some laptop issues that no one seems to be able to pin point to one problem. All I know is it randomly turns itself off while I'm halfway through doing something and then won't turn back on and whatever the issue is it downright annoying!

In a few weeks I will however have the use of a PC when we exchange contracts and finally get to move into our house! I just received the jersey cotton bedding that I bought off Ebay and its made me excited all over again (the fact we don't yet have a sofa, haven't looked for one, and probably won't have one for our move in date has been conveniently pushed to the back of my mind).

So now I've introduced myself a little I am going to scrub myself free of the smell of stale cigarettes and booze, hopefully post a little more throughout the day, then make my way to the boy's house for a vegging out night.