DIY Diaries: Office Update 2.0

I recently did a post on our newly decorated bedroom and with that went my office room! So where has it gone? Well, we actually ended up switching all three bedrooms in the house so what was a guest room has now become my office.

There's a lot of similarities to the old office in the colour scheme and the furniture but there's also some added extras and changes such as the ladder shelving unit.

Radio- Amazon

Rose Gold In Tray- Wilko

Vase- Matalan

Jewellery Tray- Rex London

Photo Frame- TK Maxx

Shelving Unit- IKEA

Ladder shelving- B&M

Desk- IKEA

Chair- IKEA  (old stock, was blue but sprayed it rose gold)

Rose Gold Desk Tidy- Wilko

Rose Gold Magazine Holder- Wilko

Vase- Matalan

Mohair Cushion- Matalan

Desk Lamp- Wilkos

Microphone- Blue Snowball Ice

Photo frames- The Range

Curtains- The Range

Vase and faux plant- IKEA

This was originally meant for the living room but it looked too small for the room and instead fitted perfectly in this odd corner of the room and I really love it for displaying bits and pieces on.

The walls are also white in this room- something I did myself and was petrified about as it was the first room I painted all by myself but you can't really go wrong with white right? Oops I got some white paint on the white ceiling when I'm painting the walls- no biggy!

A big change for me is having a hard floor and although it's not the warmest, it's much more practical than carpet for skidding around in my office chair and easier to clean up after an arts and crafts explosion.

So where did the bed go? It's still in here but now it's folded away and only makes a full appearance when we need two bedrooms available for guests. I painted the end white and repurposed the throw as a bed cover which then doubles up as a cosy throw when the bed is in use! Having the bed folded away makes a huge difference with the space so I can spread out when filming videos or even just a good area to hang clothes that need to dry. Thrilling I know!

I'm actually a lot happier in this space than I was the old office room. For one, the sun comes into the room early morning which is a great motivator for getting shit done whereas it streamed through the old room in the evenings making it super hot and stuffy- not what you want when you're recording podcast episodes and need the door closed! It's also a lot more cosy as it is a smaller room and I enjoy it thoroughly and find myself in this room more often that I ever did in the old space. It's truly a lovely place to work on my blogging, YouTube and podcasting hobbies.

If you need me, I'll be singing away to the radio,typing and sipping a decent brew.

Dotcomgiftshop becomes Rex London! Lets celebrate with a GIVEAWAY!

One of my favourite brands Dotcomgiftshop is rebranding this spring to Rex London! Dotcomgiftshop has been my go-to shop to find the perfect gifts for family, friends and pets over the years. They've catered for gifts for the husband (the bike themed bits obvs), my mum (also a cycling lover but the girly bits), sister (for the homeware) and of course- myself!!

With the swanky new name, they've released some amazing designs for this year which I adore such as the Folk Dove collection and the Tropical Palm Print range.

The Folk Dove collection is a charming new range for Spring 2018 that features women’s accessories, ceramics, and glassware with a Scandinavian folk-inspired print. Its so gorgeous and is perfect to make a gift for a lovely lady in your life.

My real obsession has to be with the Tropical Palm Print!

From eco friendly storage, to travel essentials, shopping bags and kitchen accessories- there is something for everyone to enjoy in this beautiful print; bringing a touch of exotic style to your home.

I'm seriously feeling the pink and rose gold trinket trays. I mean hello... Trays for shiny things with rose gold? It's a bloggers dream! I've been using mine to keep rings, earrings and other little pretties safe and they go perfectly with my rose gold and pink office!

So, the part you've all been waiting for- the giveaway...

To celebrate the rebrand to Rex London, I'm hosting a giveaway to win the following Tropical Palm Print beauties!

To enter, all you need to do is follow the instructions and enter using Rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway The giveaway is set up to run from the 3rd until the 17th of March and is available to those in the UK only. The winner will be announced a few days later. GOOD LUCK and enjoy perusing the gorgeous gifts Rex London has to offer.

DIY diaries- The Living Room

I've been itching to do some DIY and craft posts of late and as some of you may know I bought a house early last year which makes for the perfect opportunity to make and upcycle.

The first room we've decided to tackle is the living room. This space is at the heart of our home where we relax, entertain and just generally enjoy having some down time.

Before

Before

Before

As you can see the room is quite a big space and our tatty old sofas (god rest their soul) looked small and silly in the room. Teamed with our second hand furniture, the colour scheme really didn't go with the grey walled room. Our inspiration for this project came from Pinterest (obviously), in the form of this image.

Conveniently for us, the living room had been painted not too long ago and we loved the colour the previous owners had chosen which made decorating a breeze. All we needed to do was dress the room and add some touches to make it our own.

The main feature for us was going to be sofas. We love big roomy ones with plenty of space to stretch out and this suite from Furniture Village spoke to us. They were actually the first sofas we came across and instantly fell in love. After looking at some other options we soon went back and ordered them the next day. The puff (poof? You know what I mean) is handy for when we have lots of people over at one time and helps to fill the space but is also nice to extend the three seater out for some extra room on a duvet day.

The L shape corner sofa is ideal for both Chris and I to sprawl out comfortably and still be near one another.

Looking at our shabby second hand furniture, my immediate thought was to chuck it out and start a fresh however looking at what was available and our budget, we soon decided that revamping it was a much better choice for us. There was nothing seemingly wrong with it so we replaced the door knobs with these metallic cracked glass ones, stained the wood work and spray painted the legs and body of each piece. A lick of paint and some new knobs have given it the lease of life it needed and came in at just under £50- result!

Keeping with the grey and white theme, we had to do something with the fire surround. After a bit of tinkering we figured out how to unscrew the wooden fascia and set about re-vamping it. Initially we had thought about leaving the fascia off but then the plug was exposed and the fireplace stuck out awkwardly from the wall. The "wooden" fascia turned out to be MDF so staining it wasn't an option hence the spray paint but were pleased with the effect and how it ties in nicely with the room. To finish off the spray paint extravaganza, the log basket got a good coat too, ensuring it matched in with everything.

The finishing touches were the throws, curtains, candles and other bits and pieces around the room. The throws were an absolute steal from Primark as were some of the candles. Considering they were so reasonable I personally think they look a lot higher end than they actually are and the throws themselves are incredibly soft and smooshy (yes that's a word.)

Sofas- Furniture Village

Coffee table and TV stand- second hand and upcycled

Clock- The Range

Silver Lantern- The Range

Coasters- Next

Tartlet burner- Yankee Candle

Lamp (on TV stand)- The Range

Glass lamp- IKEA

Throws- Primark

Candles- Primark, Elemis, Yankee Candle

All in all both Chris and I are very pleased with the final result. We're still tinkering here and there and adding some extra pieces like art work but this room is basically done and is a perfect haven for us. Can you tell we like grey too!?

I can't wait to share the next room with you in my DIY diaries series which will be the dining room! It's almost finished and soon we will be cracking on with the master bedroom. What interiors are you loving at the moment? I'd love to know!

Top Five Designer Dupes

I've never really done a post like this before and I must express that I use the term designer rather loosely but recently I've found myself drawn to such items but not their price tag so in true thrifty style I've found some similar alternatives...

Kate Spade spade stud earrings

I love me some Spade but I can't always justify a pair of earrings around the £40 bench mark. The latest signature spade studs are these gold ones in Selfridges, retailing at £30.00.

Now take these little beauties which are oh so similar and almost identical to the gold except they're silver. These retail at Jewellery Box for just £3.95, being almost a tenth in price and they're sterling silver! 

These are from Jewellery Box who also do a silver and enamel pair, similar to the Kate Spade gold and black enamel pair from a few seasons back. 

Jewellery Box- £4.95

Kate Spade- £40.00 

The Marble Side Table

As we all know, marble has been a huge trend for a while now and doesn't appear to be going anywhere. This side table from Dwell is pretty perfect for resting drinks or casually displaying some coffee table reads but at £249 I think I'll pass...

Meanwhile at George of Asda (yup you heard me right) they have this slightly smaller but taller version at a very reasonable price of just £25 and it's a solid marble top too!!

If you're not feeling the white legs you can spray paint them silver, copper, etc which I think you can stretch to, having saved £224 not buying it from Dwell. 

Alphabet Glasses

I loved the alphabet mugs in Anthropologie a few years ago and now they've moved onto glass tumblers which would look perfect on a drinks trolley ready for a cocktail. They retail at Anthropologie for £14 each and they are oh so pretty but I can do one better...

Say hello to these £4 beauties from Matalan! They are practically identical to the Anthropologie ones except that the gold looks a slightly different shade but for £4 I think you can let them off no?

The Chloe Nile Bag

Everyone has gone rather gaga over this Chloe Nile bag and admittedly I'm one of them. There's something about that ring detail that makes this bag irresistible but at £1,150 they're not within everyone's budget, including mine!

Let me introduce you to these eBay gems, retailing at £16.81 if you're purchasing from a U.K seller but they're even less if you're willing to wait for one to be shipped from Hong Kong or China. Now admittedly I can't take much credit for this dupe. Gemma from Lifes A Catwalk brought my attention to this dupe over on Amazon but I then found these cheaper ones on eBay. Notably there are some differences between the genuine article and the fake; with the ring handle being significantly larger on the dupe and the obvious Chloe logo is missing. Of course the quality won't be there with the dupe but for some throwaway fashion and a bit of fun- they're pretty decent!

Craft a home of Happiness- a round up of recent crafts

Some of you may or may not be aware that I moved house at the beginning of January. It was quite a big move, as I’d previously lived in Cyprus until September 2014, then moved into my mum’s temporarily until our house was ready. To say this was a stressful time is an understatement, what with Chris being away in the Falklands and me having to do the move with just my Dad to help out (thank you Dad you life saver), but we’re very much settled in our little home now and I’ve been doing my best to make it as cosy as possible.

As a keen crafter I love making bits and pieces, so adorning our house with things I’ve made on the cheap is something I really enjoy and find very satisfyig. Chris and I don’t want to splash lots of cash but certainly want to project our personalities on the place so here’s some things I’ve been crafting..

It’s OK Banner

You may have seen this banner before as I did a tutorial on it back in March. I’d been lusting after one for quite some time but every time I’d go to buy one, they were never in stock! Frustrated I decided to create my own (which was much more satisfying), making it a bit smaller than the original- perfect for this little corner of our living room.

 Chartreuse Canvases

Sooo we’ve got this bedding… Could I find any art work to match it? No. Or if I did, did we like it enough or thought it was worth the price tag? No… We took to Pinterest and came across these wonderful quotes and typography (originals here and here) and I got out my watercolours and gave it my best shot to re-create our own. We changed up the colours and went for chartreuse, greys and blacks. It took me so long to find a proper word for “yellowey green limey but not too green or too yellow” and chartreuse is the word!  I must admit I was pretty chuffed and relieved at how they came out and Chris praised me too- yay! The canvases I picked up at my local Factory Shop- two for £6!

Polka dot table cloths and pretty pretty curtains

Now I’m no sewing expert, in fact I’m quite the novice!  Thankfully I have a Mothership with much more expertise and knowledge to guide me so when I told her I wanted to re-vamp the kitchen a bit with curtains and a tablecloth she was happy to help. The table cloth and curtain material both came from Dunelm and are just adorable! The table cloth was incredibly easy to make. Measure your table, allow some excess and have the material cut- done! It’s oilcloth so it doesn’t fray and is easy to wipe over too. Sorted! The curtains were a bit trickier but so satisfying to make and now I know how to make them I’ll definitely have another go in the future.

DIY Dog Bed

Our home wouldn’t be complete without our hound Harry. He’s such a big part of the Rayment household and I wanted to make him a lovely dog bed whilst in keeping with our living room. I came across this lovely fabric (which if you look closely has a dog pattern on) and thought it was perfect. I did another tutorial on how to make this (here) but it’s crazy simple and I guarantee it’s something you could do! He loves it as I made sure it was a nice big bed for him to stretch out on and I love it because it’s not a typically garish dog bed- yay!

Sundae Candle

Back in April/ May time I took part in the Craft Blog Club’s spring clean gift swap.  In a nutshell the challenge was to spring clean some old craft supplies whilst creating a secret gift for another craft blogger. I made a sundae candle for Robyn of Simple Little Pieces plus more (see post here) and made an extra one in case I cocked up the first one! Thankfully her candle came out lovely, leaving me with one too which is a cheery fun decoration for our kitchen. It’s confused plenty of our friends mwahahaha…

  

Craft bench make over

Having the perfect craft area is crucial for spreading out materials and having space to create and again I couldn’t find anything I liked within my price range *sobs* so yet again I rolled up my sleeves and decided to make my own out of materials I mostly already had. My desk started off as a teeny tiny laptop desk with a shelf balanced on top. After sourcing the same desk, I drilled another spare shelf top on top and with a lick of paint I created a long craft bench. One end is aimed at being office like, with laptop and printer whilst the other I leave clear to use my sewing machine and create other craft projects. It was super cheap to devise and I think the chalk based paint helps it fit with our shabby chic guest room. I’m planning on doing a craft room post in the near future so watch this space…

And those my friends are a few little ways I've made our house a little bit more homely on the cheap whilst incorporating crafts! It’s so much fun and god do I get a kick out of it when people ask “where did you get that from?” and I can reply, “I made it myself.”

 What have you made for your home?