Its where the magic happens...

...quite literally magic did have to occur in this small makeover. Looking back on pictures of when we first came to look at the house it was so tired, neglected and dirty. Since, it has had a brush down, a dust off and a touch of style added to it.

It is nowhere near finished yet as there are worse rooms in the house that need some real work first but for now... I LOVE IT!!

Then.

Now.

We went with grey and yellow as I love the colours together. It's a clean, sleek look and isn't to feminine, as I doubt my other half would appreciate that.

Most of what you can see was done on a budget, the most expensive items being the cushions.
All three of the cushions were from Dunelm Mill and each averaged at about £18.
At the time we had just bought all the huge things like a fridge, cooker, sofa and a washing machine so our funds were pretty low so I decided that bedside tables were not an option. Instead I spotted some collapsable boxes in Matalan (£9). The yellow and white chevron boxes are stacked on top of grey boxes... they make perfect and affordable bedside tables.
My favourite part of the bedroom is the three pictures above the bed, they were inspired by items I had seen on Etsy, I managed to make them myself for a fraction of the price. The love hearts contain maps of the three cities we have lived in and together. The three photo frames were from Tesco in the sale. I used coloured paper from Paperchase for the background and bought a GB road map to make the hearts. I made a cardboard love heart stencil to create three identical shapes. I stuck it all together and there you have it, Etsy inspired love heart maps.

Chrome Lamps - (George at Asda £7)

Bedside boxes - (Matalan £9)

Cushions - (Dunelm £18)

Bedding - (Beddeck £35)

Grey throw - (George at Asda £25)

Chevron photo frame - (Dunelm sale £3)

White candle holder - (Dunelm sale £2.50)

Three grey/white frames - (Tesco sale £3)

♥

Shabby to chic...

Who doesn't love to save some money?
When we moved into our house there was a chest of drawers left in the garage by the previous owner, I specifically remember her saying as she left "you might want to chuck those", I looked at them and thought yeah your probably right, I wanted my house to be more chic than shabby. Weeks past and as I came to start organising our ever growing mountain of rubbish that was bursting from the garage I uncovered them again. We had a gap in our kitchen that left room for something similar, tucked into the return of the fireplace and it needed to be filled.

I visited a local DIY store and came across some chalk paint, I had seen Kirsty Allsop swooning after this so I decided for the sake of £14 it might be worth a crack.

I chose winter grey... a beautifully neutral colour that worked with the coppers, wooden and earthy tones of our kitchen.

I carefully prepped the drawers, sanding them gently and dusting them down and then one by one I gave each drawer 2 coats and the frame itself. It sat drying in the sun while I thought about the handles. With the kitchen having lots of grey black and copper elements mixed with off white cabinet doors I decided that the wooden handles looked a bit naff. Instead I knew of a beautiful gift shop that sold separate quirky/vintage handles. There were so many to choose from but in the end I went for a stone cream handle with a copper/brass design (pack of 8 - £7.99).

The end result was pretty perfect for £21.99, don't you think?

♥

Life is like a whirlwind...

So after leaving University 2 years ago I took a year out to work in a school and then moved on to completing my PGCE, time passed so quickly and now I'm here.

In the time I have neglected my blog I have moved to a little village in the South of Wales not too far from Cardiff.

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!

It still doesn't seem real but we are officially adults, and I am living somewhere I never thought I would ever end up with the man of my dreams (CHEESE!) and it is beautiful.
So while we turn our house slowly into a home this blog is going to become almost a diary. I am so happy with how much we have done already and will begin to document all the crazy and wonderful interior adventures as we go. So if you love a good housey read then be sure to stick around.

♥

Life of a Primary PGCE student...

I have never been so tired/stressed/worried in my entire life.
I haven't posted in way over 6 months due to my commitments of starting a full time PGCE which has left little room for sleeping, never mind actually having a life.

I am training to become a primary teacher on a course that is spread over 10 months. I am 7 months in and am on the home straight now!!! YIPEEEE
At first I didn't think I was going to survive, getting up at 5am to arrive at school for 7am and not leaving school till 5.30pm and then staying awake till 11pm trying to plan and evaluate... it was hard... did I mention it was in a year 6 class. But it got easier and I loved my first placement. Time seems to have literally flown by and now I'm starting my final placement, this time I'll be teaching year 1, a refreshing change. I now know what to expect in terms of work load and organisation so at least this won't come as much of a suprise!

But now comes the battle of the job search, many of my friends have already secured local jobs for September and I am so proud. I, on the other hand, am making the big move to South Wales where me and my partner have decided to settle, the job market seems a little stagnant and the competition for jobs is a lot higher, I'm slowly coming to terms with the fact that maybe I will have to supply for a while to get my foot in the door and do some networking. Although this is slightly annoying after all my hard work I always believe that, 'hard work pays off', and that round the corner there may be the perfect opportunity.

For those who may be contemplating a teaching career, here are some little pointers you may wish to know;

PGCE checklist:

• Buy a printer that is cheap on ink - this will be a blessing during placement.
• You can never have enough stationary, especially plastic wallets and staples.
• Don't sweat the small stuff - your only learning, everyone makes mistakes.
• Organisation - when your tutors say its key... they mean it!
• Give yourself a deadline, if you stay up till 1am marking and planning is this really going to benefit your teaching when your 5am alarm sounds.
• Don't reinvent the wheel, there are already so many cool resources out there for you to use and edit.
• Don't take everyone literally, there will always be that one person on your course who is 'practically a qualified teacher' before they even begin, don't worry they don't have a clue.
• Stay positive :)
• Find a work life balance, once you find a routine it will all become easier.
• It's ok to cry -  providing you can wipe away the tears and shrug off your bad days.
• Being nervous is normal - I haven't spoken to any PGCE friends that didnt have a dry mouth when being observed.