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.

♥