Unique Stock instore

One of the best parts of owning my own little business is the shopping for stock !  I am asked on a regular basis where I buy from and of course I couldn't possibly tell !  But it is a selection of new and immaculate quality used items.  When I source new stock I will always sell it for below the RRP as I firmly believe in showing people you can have a beautiful home on a budget.

I found these gorgeous pieces this weekend and feel for sure they will not hang around for long.

 

Hand crafted in Portugal.  I have two sets of bowls, side plate and dinner plates.  All beautifully decorated in turquoise and cream, made from ironstone with a high shine glaze they are truly beautiful.

 

The bowls are £6 each (RRP £11)  the side plates are £6.50 each (RRP £13.50)  and the dinner plates are £8 each (RRP £16.50).

Tots 100 & Homebase Storage challenge - After

It's taken a while longer than I had hoped but I did have some valid excuses.  My 50th Birthday, The Queen's Diamond Jubilee and Half Term sort of got in the way. 

I was thrilled to be asked to be a founding member of the Tots100 Home club in association with Homebase  . The first challenge being "storage".  As you may know I work from home (out of my dining room).  I have to admit that "stock" had taken over the room to the point of not being able to see any surface and the family eating meals on their laps in the living room !  Here is the before post
How the room looked
Hubby has promised to build me my very own office *shed* in the garden this summer, if it ever stops raining, he can get enough time off work and we can find the funds ! so in the meantime I continue to work from what is now a lovely, tidy and organised space in my dining room.

These days I love a bargain, I particularly enjoy utilising things that you wouldn't normally associate them with.  For example I have stacks of vintage suitcases and wicker picnic hampers which I use for storage.  So for this challenge I wanted to try and find something in Homebase that would suit my taste, but which you wouldn't normally think of for indoors in your house.

I chose this :

The Homebase timber potting table.  Available at Homebase at the moment for £29.99

In fact I loved it so much I bought TWO one is going in my shed/office when it gets built !

What do you think of the end result ?

Hubby put it together for me, as it was made from timber it was rough wood, I rubbed it down and  gave it a few licks of paint with another Homebase great find; Sanctuary Matt Emulsion in Chalk White.  A tip, just because it says its suitable for walls and ceilings doesn't mean you can only use it on those surfaces.  This is my new favourite flat, chalky paint and I will be using it on my furniture projects.  It comes in a gorgeous array of colours.  Perfect for my Shabby chic lifestyle and reloved furniture projects.

It's so lovely to have a tidy room back again.  Just hope I can stay disciplined and keep it this way. 

 Although I loath plastic storage boxes I also purchased several of the Rolling underbed storage boxes.  I have them under the sofa in the living room, perfect for storing books and magazines.

If you have enjoyed reading this post, you can follow what we get upto on the Tots100 Home Club 

 You might even like to put together your own mood board with the great app available on the Homebase Facebook page

Here is my moodboard  The White Approach

I'm off to start on the next project making your bedroom a sanctury !

I miss my flowers

One of the things I miss most around my home is all the flowers I used to buy when we were "living the dream" .  After the bubble burst one of the first things I had to give up was the extravagance of buying flowers.  I was spending about £50 a month on them, obviously when times are tough this was first to go, along with trips to the hairdresser, new clothes etc.

Since moving to this house with its established garden I wait for this beautiful  Weigela to flower and my goodness it never disappoints me.  It only stays around for a short while so I make the very most of its beautiful blooms.

The Twins room

It's taken a while, but the twins finally have a room to be proud of.  It combines my love of light and bright but is also still boyish enough to please them.  As this house only had three bedroom, we decided to give the twins the biggest room.  We knew as they grew they would inevitably need the extra room to have a sense of their own space.

These pictures show their room the day we moved in.

When I look at the above photo's I wonder how on earth we coped.  Every room was full to bursting with our stuff, we had six month old twins and a 10 yr old who sulked and hated the house not understanding why we had left our previous large, beautiful home for this filthy house ! 

This is how their room looks now :

The view through through the twins bedroom door into their room.  The blue cupboard is the white one you see in the first photograph.  

On the wall where the fireplace was my husband built floor to ceiling storage shelves

My husband also made the wooden letters spelling out the twins names

The twins "reading Corner"  bookcase made by daddy and cushions an absolute steal from Primark. Blinds and chairs from IKEA

New white bunk beds from Ebay, wonderful luxury childrens red and white gingham bedding generously given to me by my sponsor Mel who owns babou and a makeover for an old chest of drawers, along with a fantastic vinyl sticker clock from the wonderful Etsy seller chocovenyl complete the look.