November 22, 2019
When we renovated our kitchen in a month (remember that madness!? I’m still exhausted just thinking about it!) one of the parts I was most excited about was our copper sink and tap set from Olif. I seriously never imagined a sink could be as beautiful as the one that’s gracing our worktops right now.Read more...
May 1, 2019
Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans. I don't think I truly understood the poignancy of this quote until we started our home renovations. EVERYTHING takes longer than you expect. EVERYTHING costs more, EVERYTHING is more complicated than you think it'll be and every time you feel like you're making significant progress life throws a curve ball or another challenge at you and oh look, the bathroom is still not finished!Read more...
April 2, 2019
One of the most stressful, yet satisfying, house projects we've done so far is our kitchen which we did last summer in just a month (!) as part of an interior's challenge called Revamp, Restyle, Reveal. For those of you who missed it, here's the drill: A group of sucker-for-punishment bloggers + a selection of generous sponsors + a room of our choice + four weeks to make it over = a fuck load of unexpected stress, a ferociously active group chat and a whole heap of fun!Read more...
October 21, 2018
it's been a while since I've given you any kind of house renovation updates because the reality is.. there hasn't been anything to report! This year has been rather insane on the work-front for me, and Gareth was pretty much wiped out after doing the kitchen in a month (!) so we've been taking a bit of a break from it all. Of course we've done odd-little jobs here and there but nothing really exciting enough to write about.Read more...
June 6, 2018
If there’s one thing that got the most comments when I shared our new kitchen, it was our copper sink. Someone even said they'd be HONOURED to wash up in such a beautiful thing and you know what, I think I agree with them. I would leave my husband for this sink and tap combo, they're just that beautiful (not really Gareth I love you forever).Read more...
May 28, 2018
When it came to my choice of kitchen worktop, I'm not ashamed to admit to being a bit of a cliché. I wanted Carrara marble and I wanted it now. It was my dream before we'd even bought the house. Even Gareth was in complete agreement without me having to put up a fight... and that never happens!Read more...
May 17, 2018
You're doing the kitchen... in four weeks!?!?" That was pretty much the standard response we got when telling people about our insane plan to gut and basically rebuild our entire kitchen in a month. So why the ridiculous time frame? Well, we were invited to take part in Revamp, Restyle, Reveal - a challenge with ten bloggers, nine sponsors, one room (of our choice) and four weeks to make it over... And well, apparently my husband and I are suckers for punishment.Read more...
April 22, 2018
Wow that's a lot of words beginning with R right there. I am so very VERY excited about this project though so all that alliteration is worth it to share the news! Revamp, Restyle, Reveal is an interiors challenge which I was asked to take part in by interior designer Lisa Dawson (I mentioned her in my favourite interiors Instagram accounts a few months ago, isn't it funny how these things always come full circle!?) and blogger extraordinaire Bianca Hall of French for Pineapple. The concept is simple: 10 bloggers, 9 brands, 1 room, 4 weeks. It's kind of like Changing Rooms meets 60 Minute Makeover but without Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowen, Linda Barker or Peter Andre (didn't he present 60 Minute Makeover for a hot minute? It's probably quite shameful that I know that).Read more...
March 25, 2018
Hi friends! Goodness, it's been a long time since I've had a house post for you hasn't it? I have to admit that I think I was a tad ambitious thinking I'd be able to update you weekly on our renovation. I've mentioned this before, but things have progressed really slowly (aka they haven't progressed at all!) over the winter months. The motivation to tackle big projects has been seriously lacking but now that spring is finally here (allegedly!) we are PSYCHED to get back on that reno-train. IN FACT we're doing the kitchen next month, which I am SO EXCITED about so I'll have lots more updates for you soon.Read more...
March 1, 2018
There are two great life lessons I've learnt since embarking on our renovation project: Everything will take 1716 times longer than you hoped it would, and IKEA is basically brilliant. OK so I knew the latter already, but when you have people coming around for your first attempt at hosting Christmas Eve and you realise that morning that you haven't got enough chairs for everyone... Well let's just say I thank those Swedish home gods everyday that they decided to open a branch in Reading.Read more...
January 7, 2018
December 10, 2017
I hadn't planned on talking about our bathrooms for a while. Although they both definitely need replacing at some point (the downstairs on is a delightful shade of avocado) they are were perfectly functional, and actually in much better shape than the one in our own place, despite their age. That was, until this week when I dropped a glass bottle in the sink in the upstairs bathroom and shattered the thing... No, not the tiny glass bottle of Primark room spray, THE ACTUAL FUCKING SINK. Ughhh, how is that even possible?Read more...
December 3, 2017
November 19, 2017
Renovation pro tip: If you want to get your significant other to step up their DIY game then plan a photo shoot in your building site of a home as a matter of urgency! A few months ago I booked a collaboration with a super cool wedding brand (more on this soon!) and had the idea to shoot some of their products in our house. At the time I figured that surely by November the rooms we wanted to shoot in would almost be finished… or could at least be passable for the purposes of some staged shots.Read more...
October 29, 2017
October 22, 2017
October 8, 2017
I have a new obsession: Coloured contact paper. Since I've discovered I want to upgrade all of my inexpensive furniture items with it. It's usually less than £10 a roll, easy to find (Amazon has an enormous selection and I've also seen it in B&Q and Wilko) and comes in a myriad of colours and patterns. It's also the easiest thing to do, honestly if I can do it, anyone can!Read more...
October 1, 2017
There's something about moving into a new home that makes you want to finally replace those things you own that have really had their day. You might have made do with the slightly past it sofa in your old house, but there's nothing like a brand new setting to make you realise how desperately it needs updating. Since moving in we have updated no less than three major things: Our saucepans (which we'd got as a wedding present nearly 10 years ago - definitely time to go!), my chest of drawers (my old, secondhand one really didn't suit my very exacting plan for my office - ha!) and most recently, our mattress.Read more...
September 24, 2017
Things have been moving very slowwwwwly for the past few weeks. I have a pathological need to always be doing something productive, so it's been quite frustrating to not feel like we've made any progress. But I keep telling myself that a) we're really, really busy with work stuff right now and b) there is literally no rush. We are perfectly happy with the house as it is (although it's a little rough around the edges!) and we're going to be here FOREVER. I also know that if we got everything done really quickly, in five years time I'd want to change it all again anyway!Read more...
September 10, 2017
I've had so many messages since I started this series from people who are either buying their first house, or buying a renovation project, and are wondering if I have any advice. If you read my first post in this series you will already know that we had a DOOZY of a time trying to secure this place (I'll tell you all about it over something alcoholic one day) so actually, I do have quite a few words of wisdom/ warning (delete as appropriate) for you!Read more...