The power of a flower

In the past few weeks I've just gone completely mad on flowers and i just know one of these days i am going to get sick of it. Rosali Ikea bought out bedding last year! i had to have 2 duvet covers. This Year they have bought out the curtains so i had to have it. I had some left over curtain material so i decided to cover my stool. Then i covered the dressing table in Cath kidston paper Jesus how does my man put up with me? im just addicted right now. I love waking up to a pretty bedroom in the heart of a dirty city. Feeling country chic with a shabby twist i took a picture of before and after.

After

Not bad to say this was my first time with a staple gun! my friend told me to wear safety goggles i could only find a pair of sunglasses.

Paper Napkins!

So a while back i showed my dressing table that i managed to save from the tip!

I spray painted it white and it looks bare.

Then Eason came along and the house is full of toys and at the moment it is guarded by a very large coffee table, he has a baby walker and destroys everything in sight at the moment i am sticking cushions in front of everything. So anyway a friend left a link on my facebook to a dresser which was on sale on Ebay! it was Cath Kidston style and stunning! it was going at £90 and looked popular as everyone was bidding like crazy.

I looked into it and decided to make something myself. She used paper napkins! at £3.50 you cant go wrong. I picked up a few packs and styles and i tried it out on these drawers.

I cant stop looking at them!

I think in the next few weeks my whole house is going to be Cath Kidston, i just love this and in time it will look better worn down by Eason's dirty fingers.

Shopping with Jess

I have 3 close friends who i love to go shopping with they are all a bad influence on me but we cant help loving pretty things! So the other day we decided to hit the retail park in Manchester and found some bargains as usual. Jess picked up some cute love heart jars and myself a vase in the sale £8 i couldn't miss this beautiful vase staring at me. It was a toss up between a jar of fluff or this vase.

Jess even bought me the flowers :)

Amongst all this i also bought some solar panel lights for the garden i will update you on that once completed.

More cups and saucers

You would of thought i had enough of these bloody things but no I'm a sucker for cups and saucers. I saw an advert a few months back hiring out vintage cups and saucers for tea parties i was envious of all the matching teapots and china tea sets they had to offer. There is something about miss match crockery pretty floral patterns and chintzy designs. One day i will get my tea set out and drink earl grey all day with my little pinkie in the air. Anyway we went for a walk around prestwich yesterday and founds lots of little charity shops as i always do i headed for the china section and picked up these sweet sets.

I picked up these for £8 i liked the detail on the matching plates, cant wait to use these at my son's first birthday. Charity shopping can become really addictive Ive always liked somebody Else's junk.
After a cup of tea and a slice of flapjack in one of the most weirdest tea rooms in prestwich i picked up this mirror from a quirky interior design place.

I bought this for my new dressing table lets hope its big enough.

Baking

Its been a while since i updated my blog and so much has happened :( I've managed to set myself up with a friend and help him bake cakes for his coffee shop. Its a small dainty little shop which is jam packed full of sweet treats for the diabetic. I made a few but the coffee cake won hands down, lately Ive been inspired by the Americans and have started baking cake pops! every time i mention that word "cake pop" people look at me like what the hell is this girl on about. I guess I'm trying to jump on the band waggon and serve the nation cake on a stick rather than a paper case. Ive become obsessed with coloured chocolate and sprinkles not to mention the edible glitter. I have advertised these on local websites and wouldn't mind making them for parties ect. For those who cant imagine what a cake pop looks like here they are.

Ta daaa

Ive become a bit more creative watch this space!

Birthday In Chester

For my birthday weekend me and the beloved stayed in Chester and met up with a good friend of mine Kay, whilst there we did a spot of window shopping. Chester is so over priced but you have to love there cute one off shabby chic shops. One shop in particular my favourite is the one and only Chateau nice shop with nice prices.

 

I made Kay pose outside the shop!

Spot of afternoon tea thanks to Groupon!

Mmmmm Cup Cakes

Make do and mend

So i came across these in Scarborough i had been looking for a cluster of tables for such a long time but didn't want to pay an arm and a leg for them. I saw these in a 2nd hand shop paid £20 and made my mate drag them all the way home. I wasn't too keen on the colour they looked like they had been soaked in tea bags. So i did my magic and spray painted them white, yet again i still didn't prime these so i think they will need doing again. I need to learn to do a job properly without rushing to get results.

I was really pleased with how they turned out, i did a bit of wear and tear with a bit of sandpaper around the edges.

Cath Kidston Dinner Set

If you know me well you will know how obsessed I've become with Miss Cath Kidston, I'm hoping it isn't a phase because I've paid for this ladies retirement home. After doing a spot of retail therapy as you do i came across these beauties in Home Sense, couldn't grab a trolley quick enough. I stacked the trolley full and then realised i was being a bit too greedy and carefully put some them back. As much to my amazement a large group of Asian woman flocked around these hidden treasures and took the whole lot. So i was very lucky that day, I've decided not to use them yet as i want to at least look at them before they get attacked by beans on toast.

I ended up buying another few green plates as they were so pretty.

My collectables

Over the past few years i have picked many pieces of furniture and decorative items to put in my front room. I tried to achieve a Laura Ashley feel in my lounge mixing the cream and white furniture with classic heavy carved picture frames and mirrors. I'm obsessed with photo frames and never find the time to get my photos developed to fill them.

I used to think having a cream living room would be difficult to keep immaculate i did well up until the baby was born and now its become a haven for toys, walkers and bibs.
Im wondering how long it will be before i have to start child proofing my furniture. The table with the lamp was a find at the local tip! my partner witnessed a man throwing it over a wall but before he did i rescued it like a crazy mad woman. It was a dark oak colour so i took a white spray paint in matt and painted it. I wish i had primed it first as its become scratched in numerous places. I think i will sand and re paint this next year. The amoire is the main feature in the lounge it holds most of my glasses and china. Im yet to find a way of child proofing this beauty. I wanted a wardrobe but unfortanatley my house is too small to fit one in so i settled for this display cabinet instead.

Decorating the bathroom

So we decided to splash out and treat ourselves to a new and improved bathroom which was long overdue believe me. After many years of house sharing its difficult to update and decorate without invading peoples personal space. After being pregnant last year i knew it was time to decorate this year for the baby. It took me ages to decide what style and colour we was going to choose but after endless trips to home ware stores we had gone from floral to bold and then settled with basic. This was my inspiration.

The thing that stood out the most was the wooden beading along the top of the brick tiles it gave it a different look in the show room they had painted the beading white it looked great but it was not going to be hard wearing under the power shower. We looked at tiled beading but this worked out to be too expensive, so we settled for plastic! Hmm..... it was the only safest option. Back in the 60's Advacado bathrooms were all the rage apparently i took this picture to farrow and ball and picked my version of pale advacado and chose "Mizzle"

This was the bathroom in the demolition stage it was bearable for 3 weeks, the hardest bit was pulling up the old floor tiles. Everything had to be replaced even the bathroom sink. We used Durable Matt paint to make it kiddie proof. I chose black and white floor tiles as white would be too white with all the white brick tiles. Here is the finished look.

Although the light does not do this colour any justice its much brighter in person.

I was browsing online for a dramatic carved mirror and found endless mirrors starting from £99 i picked this one up from a local Tk Maxx should of been £20 which was a bargain to begin with, but noticed a crack at the top. I asked for a discount and paid £12 for this beauty a splodge of no nails and it was fixed. If you dont ask these days you dont get simples.

Yellow Dresser

I found this dresser on Gumtree its my new hot spot for all things shabby chic, it was the perfect size to fit in my kitchen without taking up too much room. Ive always wanted a kitchen dresser as i have no kitchen storage space to fit all my odd's and sod's. A bargain price of £75 i wasnt too keen on the colour so i decided to paint it with blue emoltion which was left over from my little boys room.



A splash of paint and ta daa....