Welcome back in 2014

Hello All,

First of all…

Apologies for an extended break on a blogging front. Life is so busy at the moment. It seems like everything and everyone is going through some sort of change…let’s just hope for the better.

I’ve got high hopes for this year, and a long list of things to do in the house. Thank God, not a heavy duty DIY, but mainly styling and re-organising. Surely, I’ll keep you posted.

I went for a walk in our local park, and saw this lonely tree, which made me realise that without any creative pursuit, I’m like this tree.  It’s time to change it. Winter is almost over, isn’t it!

Have a lovely weekend.

Before & After: Living room

Dear All,

Hope you had a lovely Christmas in the company of your family and friends.

As promised, I’ve started working on Before & After posts to summarise our house transformation.

Let’s start with our living room. The next three pictures show you the extent of our makeover.

The work included: new gas central heating installation, new sash window, stripping wallpaper, wall replacement (hardcore DIY), replastering, repainting, new wooden flooring…let me catch my breath…new open shelving (thank you George), new furniture…If you want to see more detail, click here.

In terms of the colour scheme we went for a mix of white, pebble beach and grey. The sofas came from Habitat and the coffee table and TV unit were made by Unto this last.

In terms of the lighting, the main light is called Kaigami, and the side copper lamps were purchased at John Lewis.

We are almost there with this room now. Just a couple of things to do: putting pictures on the walls (should be fun), getting a small rug (I’ll share my research with you soon), and perhaps a magazine rack.

What do you think? Do you like it? Is there anything we could have done better?

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

Teal and hot pink bedroom

Hi All,

Hope your weekend is going well. Let’s hope the rain will go away soon.

I thought I’d share with you few changes we’ve made to our master bedroom.

It was one of the first rooms we redecorated when we moved in. I had a vision of a teal and sage green, elegant room with a damask wallpaper on a feature wall.

I was happy with the room at first, but during our renovation process, our design decisions were skewed towards a more modern interior, so we felt our master bedroom needed to reflect that.

As much as I love teal, the room required an extra colour, which would liven this space up.

I was drawn to hot pink, and slowly started researching home accessories in this colour.

In my opinion, teal and hot pink are a perfect colour match, don’t you think?

 

1. I love the colour and shape of these Habitat Fitz table lamps. They also make the room look very romantic at night. Winning!

2. My boyfriend took this picture during our fabulous holiday in Brazil.  In order to match the scheme, he kindly adjusted the colour to fit with teal and hot pink scheme.

3. I was looking for a pink/magenta throw for a long time. I knew I could count on John Lewis…and it was on sale. Winning again!

What do you think? Do you think I picked the right colour?

Enjoy your Sunday!

 

Creative visualisation

Hi All,

I forgot to tell you that I wrote an article for We Blog Design.

Please let me know what you think. I’d love to hear your thoughts about creative visualisation and so-called moodboards like these two below.

Inspiring places: H&M Home

I got super excited last week seeing a new H&M Home store on the Kensington High Street. It’s worth a visit if you are looking for an interior inspiration. 

I’ve got my eye on their kitchen and bathroom accessories, as well as a range of blankets.

Also, if you are looking to refresh your kids’ room, they’ve got heaps of colourful and cuddly toys, cushions and so on.

Have you bought anything from H&M Home before?

Sweetcorn yellow and dove grey kitchen

Hello Dear All,

Hope your week is going well.

Apologies for being silent on a blogging front, but you know we’ve been very busy for the past few weeks.

All of you who follow me on Instagram must have seen some of the pictures taken along the way of creating our dream kitchen, but for all of you who missed previous posts, please see below.

We are very pleased with the end result. A mix of sweetcorn yellow (the same paint we use in our utility room) and dove grey makes this kitchen fresh and welcoming. The flowery wallpaper is, suprise suprise, from Homebase, and the yellow pendant came from Habitat. I even manged to sources a kettle in the same yellow shade as the chimney breast:))

I love this kitchen a lot!!! Buying accessories for this colourful place should be fun. We’ve started with the cactus trio.

 

The cooking already is a pleasure. After eating takeaways and sandwiches for few months, I absolutely adore cooking home-made meals.

What do you think? Where do you buy your kitchen accessories? Where can I buy a funky yellow blind?

Have a good week.

 

Kitchen update

Hi All,

Hope you had a great weekend soaking up the sun.

A quick note from me to show you how the kitchen transformation is progressing.

We managed to secure an excellent carpenter who was working very hard to make our dream kitchen come true (if you live in Essex, and looking for a carpenter, get in touch).

We still need to paint the room and sort out the electrics, but we are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel…

I’m going to start looking for a wooden extending round table, which I could restore.

What do you think of our new kitchen? Any advice about the wooden table?

New kitchen window

Hi All,

Apologies for being silent, but the kitchen transformation has taken over my life. For the past two weeks, we’ve been trying to select a kitchen fitter, electrician, plumber, carpenter…Madness!

All jobs are interconnected. You can’t start plastering before you do the door; you can’t lay a floor before you do electrics and so on. Chain reaction!

S’s dad  was so kind to help us fit a new window as the old one was too low, and needed to be moved up. It happened last weekend, and it took two days. Thank you George!!!

S’s idea was to purchase the window with a latch at the bottom allowing us to have a full view of our beautiful garden. Genius!

Please wish us luck with all the rest. Our kitchen is unsuable at the moment.

We are going away for a week (expect lots of Instagram pictures), and then we need to stay patient for another two weeks…Watch this space!

Hope the weather will improve wherever you are.

 

It’s all about honeycomb interiors

Hello hello,

The sun is hiding again, and it was so nice for the last few days…Apologies that my posts are not very regular at the moment, but the new kitchen re-design is taking over my life!

Just a quick note about the honeycomb pattern that I’m seeing everywhere. After redesigning our utility room where we used the honeycomb mirrors, I’ve be drawn to this trend.

The honeycomb shelving is attention grabbing as well as the honeycomb-patterned walls and floor.

What do you think? Is it your cup of tea or not?

It would be great to hear your thoughts.

 

 

Images source: Shelterness, Style at home, Newravenna and Home decorators collection

Yellow utility room

We’ve got a sunny Sunday in Essex, finally!

I thought it’s a good time to show your our transformed utility room.

We decided to paint the back wall yellow, the sweetcorn yellow to be precise.

Last time I went to Ikea, I fell in love with HÖNEFOSS mirrors, and here they are on our wall. We need to get another 2 packs to finish the job though.

What do you think of our utility room? Do you like the colour?