Saturday 31 January 2015

Our New Bathroom

Our New Bathroom

Our bathroom has been bothering me for some time. It is the only room in the house that hasn't had a major decorate. It is also the room in the worst condition. This is an ex-council house and the bathroom had been poorly kept so the walls could all do with plastering and the tiles replaced. It is not as shocking as I make out, it's just that the tiles are wonky, but they look fine when they're clean. I suppose as we have worked hard on the rest of the house, you want all rooms to the same quality. It always looks clean though. It is just white and the fittings are basic but it has done us for 5 years and we like spending money on other things so it is still this way.
Until this weekend when I decided that I would totally re-do the bathroom and not spend any money on it. I have a house full of paint, fabric and pots. so I knew I had things to make this space better.

To start, I wanted to make it look more countrified so the windowsill was my first task. I made a wooden cover that sits on top on the tiles and makes it look like we have a wooden windowsill. I used 3 planks of pallet wood and a small piece of beading to hold them all together. This is nailed onto the top at both ends and I made sure I had a bit of overhang so I caught the plank that went behind the taps.The result is 100 times better than the tiles. I am so pleased with how it looks and the cost was nothing!



I then changed the curtain that sits around the sink from the patterned bright one to a plane beige one. This was made out of a table cloth that I have had sitting in the cupboard for about 6 months. It has a beautiful trim so in my design I used that as a feature. I cut the table cloth in half, folded over the top and sewed a channel for some string to go through. I then cut and hemmed the desired length. It looks really cute and used up something that was just sitting around.



 We then replaced an old small wicker storage unit with Rob's new Pallet wood shelving unit. You can see he basically used pallet wood to make boxes then using 4 upright pieces screwed them to the edges of the boxes. I am sure he will do a blog post about it so look out.
It is big, but as a family of four, we have a lot to store on it and it's nice being able to store things more out of sight.




The last big thing I did was paint the bath and pipe boxing. It was a blue/green colour before so it always stood out. Repainting it added a whole new freshness to the room. I used my Annie Sloan ''Antoinette'' chalk paint and it covered it all in two coats. The pink allows this room to have a sense of calm and with the wood features it feels very in-keeping with the rest of the house.



I took this lovely step stool from mum's garage and used her Annie Sloan soft grey paint and found that it matches in perfectly.



Then using some chalk board paint I painted inside the photo frame making it match and added a few painted clip boards as signs that I had sat in a cupboard. 


It is amazing what you can achieve if you have a good think about it. I love the look of this room now and as far as spending money goes, it could not have been a cheaper project. There was only one thing that I had to buy but most people probably wouldn't and that was a new shower curtain as ours needed replacing. But if you are lucky, you might not even have to do that!

The trick to completing this was using things I already had. It took me a while to think about where things were going to come from but once I started and when we had the shelves up, it all began to fall together.





Post by Emily
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#SnapHappyBritMums Photo Challenge Day 31

#SnapHappyBritMums Photo Challenge Day 31

The Final challenge word today is 'Cool'. Then only people in this world who we think are the coolest dudes are our children Raphael and Giulietta.
Here they are looking gorgeous and making us feel so proud and happy that they are in our lives.


This whole Brit Mums challenge has been really good but really hard. It has made me blog everyday and bombard readers with loads of photos but looking back on them now it is amazing to see them all together.
It really is a little insight into our life and it is quite incredible to see 31 days of work in one space. Here are all the photos together. Thanks Brit Mums for the challenge, I hope you all enjoyed seeing them!





Post by Emily



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#SnapHappyBritMums Photo Challenge Day 30

#SnapHappyBritMums Photo Challenge Day 30

Today's word choice is easy in that it is ''Dad'' and for me the term Dad obviously makes me think to my father, but also to Rob. Rob is the person who is at the end of my "Dad" exclaims through the day with regards to the kids. He is the father of my children, my beloved husband and he is the one who I am so eternally grateful to, for being on this journey with me. As husband and father I love him dearly. Here is 'Dad'.


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Thursday 29 January 2015

#SnapHappyBritMums Photo Challenge Day 29

#SnapHappyBritMums Photo Challenge Day 29

Today's challenge word was ''Flowers''. After posting about my love of fresh flowers earlier it feels like there is a bit of a theme for today. I'm afraid I am sharing a picture that can be found on that post too but it is so nice I thought it was fair to share it again. 

These pink hyacinths are just so pretty. The shade is so light unlike the fuchsia colour that you get a lot. I love these as it is the hint of pink that makes them so pretty. I popped a few stems of Narcissi with them as I love how delicate they are. So tiny and perfect and a true spring flower.
I love having flowers in the house, it really gives me a spring feeling and the scent of these is just amazing, filling the house with such a beautiful smell. 


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Raphael's New Reward Chart

Raphael's New Reward Chart


With the changing of a few rooms, I always find myself tripping to the charity shop with unwanted house stuff. I took out of the bathroom a metal sign which had sat in there for years. 
It was an average decorative piece. I see them everywhere now, it's nothing special.
What is good about it though is that the picture is decoupaged on, meaning that it is a great base for painting on. 
With that in mind I painted it in 2 coats of Wilko's chalk paint knowing that it would have some use.


In our life amidst blogging and painting we have a 3 year old boy who is being 3! Getting more independent, more demanding, forgetting manners, not sleeping through and still forgeting to tell us he needs the toilet. We have done all the usual methods before you ask. So to help give us a bit of a boost and to really get praising Raph, I thought of using the sign as a reward chart would be good.

I actually want to use it to focus on all aspects of our life, not just toileting or sleeping. I want it to be for when he helps us tidy up or lay the table or even look after his sister. Just a general system for praising him. As he gets older as well, it is way to get into introducing chores like making his bed and being rewarded for it. Maybe even eventually with pocket money.
But for now I have used a basic chart method and made the 'good work' marker something that Raph loves: Buttons! He adores playing with buttons so I wanted to get them to stick on the sign. Brainwave alert, metal sign surly would take magnets! After testing with a fridge one I went onto ebay and bought 50 small (12mm) magnets that can be used for DIY projects like magnet decoration. This cost me £3.00.
I then stuck a button on each one and left them to dry.






As soon as Raph saw them he got excited. I have had to explain the purpose of them about 3 times today. Really nailing down that it is when he helps us and when he is really good. He says "I am good", so I explain that yes he is good and have used today to really show him what he can get them for. For example, he spilled some drink so I told him to go and get a cloth from the kitchen. He got a tea towel, cleaned it up, then put it back. So I followed him, praised him and let him put a button on the chart. There will have to be a target to get, which will always be to beat the day/week before's number. Then there will be a weekly treat if he gets a certain number like over 25 or something. We will see how well he does then decide from that.





Raphael is not a tricky child but as he gets older, and like all children begins to try and push boundaries, I want to make sure that all the little good things don't get missed and I become one of those mothers who just complains and forget how lovely their child really is.

Do any of you have some methods of disciplining in a child friendly way?

Post by Emily
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My Love For Fresh Flowers

My Love For fresh Flowers


It is so easy for me to bring bunches of flowers home. My family have a flower shop and I work there so they are so accessible to me.
They are something that I loved even before the flower shop but I never had them in the house as much as I do now.
I was thinking about valentines today and how busy we will be. its lovely seeing all the men cone in and order bunches. Last year 3 very burley men came in, all trade workers in there scruffs and with lots of banter and they all walked off with some big blooms of roses. It made us all smile how this day makes saps out of us all.


I also love that spring flowers are coming into the shop now. So many hyacinths and tulips. They just looks so fresh and new. You realise how much you miss them when you haven't seem them for nearly a year. The smells and colours are just mind blowing!



Having flowers in your home is such a special thing. Weather I am filling up a jug or just a small jam jar I find that havering flowers around my home makes recognise the little things and even spare moments away from the kids/house/phone/ipad to just stop and stare and appreciate natures beauty.


Post by Emily

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Wednesday 28 January 2015

New Trug Blue Trug

New Trug Blue Trug


I have had this gardening trug sitting around for ages. To be honest, I bought two at the time, with no need to having them, but like most things in are home, they circulate round and I find uses for things in Different months of the year. Last year I painted one in Annie Sloan's Paloma paint and at the moment it's on the coffee table working as a unit to store remotes. With this one though I have painted it in an Annie Sloan 'Louis Blue' colour and I must say, I think it's my favourite colour yet! It is a very light blue shade and with all that is grey and beige in our house it blends in nicely. I only bought one of the tester pots from ''Top To Bottom Accessories'' on Steep Hill as they are £5.99 compared to the full price tins. I did one coat but it has covered well and only used half of the pot. The key is to really spread it as it goes a long way.



(This picture looks really blue, It is not this blue.)




I love that these trugs are so versatile. A jam jar of flowers fits perfectly inside but so do candles, books, placemats, and a whole hoard of other things. I remember having one for cutlery at my mums house so whatever their use, they are pretty handy.

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#SnapHappyBritMums Photo Challenge Day 28

#SnapHappyBritMums Photo Challenge Day 28

Today's challenge word was ''Sky'' but our sky has just been grey all day and I didn't think it would make for a very exciting photo. Then in a break between the hail and the snow there was this bright blue sky which I was able to catch a picture of.
As I was sat here and Etta was being cute I got thinking about Etta James, the soul singer and how that had inspired me to call a girl Etta. I knew I needed to give her a more formal name so I set about looking for names with Etta in them. With no such luck liking any that we could come up with, Rob and I were driving to church one day and an Alpha Romeo ''Giulietta'' pulled out innfront of us and that was it! We knew then that that was the name we were going to have if we had a girl.
Anyway, back to the sky picture. This picture I am sharing is taken today and I have written on it song words from Etta James' - ''At Last'', which is a song about meeting your love, which is exactly how I felt when we met our Etta.


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Tuesday 27 January 2015

Family Fashion Photo Shoot - Grumpy Giulietta

Family Fashion Photo Shoot - Grumpy Giulietta

This week we braved the wind and got outside in some nice new gear. Raph was sporting a great Next sale jacket which nearly matches the colour of his hair! Etta was not enjoying any of it even though she had a sparkly tutu and shoes on! So hard to please! And I was just trying to make them smile as much as possible.

I wore; H&M coat, but it was bought last Autumn, ASOS blanket scarf, River Island jeggings, Office (sale) shoes, Accessorize (sale) hat, old Marks and Spencer jumper and a new Primark shirt.

Raphael wore; Next (sale) jacket, new season Next shirt, old hat, old H&M skinny jeans and ZARA boots.

Etta wore; Old H&M jumper, H&M skirt, Primark shoes and a ZARA scarf.

















If you want to steal our style click the links;
My shoes were from in store and don't appear online but here are some similar Office ones.
Etta's skirt is out of stock, this is a new H&M one
Primark shirt was from the Lincoln store
Everything else is old but there are lots of similar styles out there.

Photo Credits to Gabriella


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