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Friday 28 October 2016

Teen Girls Bedroom Makeover

When we first moved here five years ago everything was done quickly and on a tight budget. Not much thought was put into decorating and we chose what we thought the girls would like. So for the last five years they have lived with cream and pink stripes that apparently they hated. They also didn't really have any kind of organisation to their room. They are both typical teens that can create a huge mess looking for one item. I had grown sick of telling them to tidy their room and put things in proper places but that was the problem. They had no proper place to store all of their things. Make up everywhere, straightners left on the side, hair bobbles and bobby pins in every crevice. It was only going to get worse too since my eldest started her hairdressing course at college. So a change in their room was needed.

I knew in my head what I wanted, the girls did too. My only contribution that was used was a decent dressing table and shelving unit to sit at put on their make up and do their hair(60 times a day). I love the shabby chic look, the girls also share my taste so I trawled through the internet looking for furniture ideas. Then that is when I stumbled across a beautiful dressing table that was grey and white. It also came with a hefty price tag. My search continued and I found Annie Sloan chalk paint. This paint has had my creative brain working in overdrive and my husband wanting to hide and dreading the words "look at this".

I set about my search for a dressing table that needed some tlc. It was about 3 months later that I found a solid pine dressing table on a local selling site for £20, that same week I found a mirror and I dragged some old pine, plate shelves out of storage. Preparing them was easy, you don't need to sand with chalk paint. Painting them was a little trickier since the weather had turned. I protected paint with a water based varnish which finished them off nicely.

I gathered wallpaper ideas from the girls and went with one they both could agree on which was a duck egg owl print. I thought it would be too much of the same thing but it really does look beautiful on the wall. The girls loved it which was good as I was not about to change it.

grey bunk beds, cheap bunk bedsIt was at this point that my bedroom make over went slightly down hill or should I say costly. When I was moving their bunk beds to paint behind I noticed that they had a very bad wobble to them that didn't disappear when I tightened all of the bolts. So once again I took to the internet in search of bunk beds that wouldn't break the bank. I found a site called Mattress Man. They had beautiful grey bunk beds and were a bargain at £209 with free next day delivery. I ordered them and true to their delivery terms they arrived the next day. Unfortunately there was a small crack in one of the upper rails which made me regret buying cheaply momentarily. However, I can not fault their customer service. I emailed them and had a quick reply and a phone call. They also sent out a replacement part the next day. I dread buying online as I have dealt with so many companies that fob you off once they have your money but I can honestly say that is not the case with Mattress Man.
I think the beds finish off the room nicely and look nice with the decor.
Annie Sloan Paris grey Paint
The last few items to go in were the dressing table, mirror and shelves. All that is left to do is find them a nice duck egg rug, a dressing table stool or maybe I could paint a Tripp Trapp again and then new wardrobes.  I have two wardrobes from Mattress Man on my wish list for their room but those can wait till after Christmas just don't tell my husband.

Both of the girls love their room. They have already made great use of the dressing table and I hope that they actually keep it tidy. Otherwise I am shipping them out and moving in myself.

Thursday 13 October 2016

Paint Your Own Fairy Door

Being a Fairy Taler for The Irish Fairy Door Company brings us lots of little fairy treats which my children adore. I think one of my youngest daughters favourite has to be the Paint Your Own Fairy Door. I think it would make a fantastic present for any child this Christmas. It helps to bring the magic alive through imaginative play. 

Little lady set about painting her door as soon as she laid her eyes on it. She refused help and wanted to do it all by herself. Well that was until her purple smudged onto her pink and asked for "just a tiny bit of help and that is it, don't do anything extra mummy" were her words. For just £24.99 in this set you get the door, paints, paintbrush, felt tip pens, a selection of decorations, and as with every door the magic key in a bottle, three stepping stones, the Family / Fairy Lease Agreement, a notepad for your fairy and the Fairy Welcome Guide. Little lady decided she wanted this fairy door to be in her bedroom as the other fairies live in the garden. No sooner had it dried she was off up the stairs to find the perfect location in her bedroom. We had some Fairy Rainbow wall stickers left over so decorated her chosen area in her bedroom. She then named her fairy and wrote her a cute little note. 


Now our fairy is a genius. She replied on a few occasions telling her to be good and kind but has since decided that she can not come out to leave a note until her bedroom is tidy. This has got little lady tidying her room. Nothing has ever worked previously to get her to put her toys away and keep her room in a relatively clean state. The fairy magic has worked, see like I said our fairy is a genius.
I plan to utilise the door and its fairy magic on the countdown to Christmas. I am certain there will be plenty of fairy accessories on her Christmas list this year.



Saturday 1 October 2016

Storage solutions and space savers for tiny kitchens


Recently we had our kitchen and bathroom renovated. The dust and the mayhem that went with it was not pleasant at all. It was a month of tripping over clutter, workmen and each other as we tried to manage the best we could with the heart of the home not being accessible. But now the dust has cleared and the kitchen is transformed. I am happily filling it with pretty, yet useful things. We are a large family with a tiny kitchen so making use of all of the space available is a must.
I kindly had a few products sent to me. Firstly I was sent the Forminimal Utensils/ Knife Holder and Board from Red Candy. This handy utensils holder sits perfectly in the corner on top of your work surface and holds everything you need to prepare a meal. We store our knives in the side with the carbonised bamboo sticks. We bought all of our knives separately so never had a holder for them which meant we would be searching through the drawers for the knife we wanted. Now we can see which one we want and grab it with ease.
 In the centre of the utensils holder is the integrated bamboo cutting board. Now the board is on the small side, yet it is large enough for what we use it for. It has had lots of use on a daily basis and still looks like new. My only recommendation is to not leave it to soak in water as it is made from bamboo. To the front of the utensils holder is a large enough space to hold all of your cooking utensils. Despite it being compact we really do manage to store a lot of utensils neatly that once cluttered our drawers. It blends in with my kitchen perfectly and I think it is worth the £40 price tag. 

I was also sent a selection of OXO's Cereal Dispensers. Prior to us receiving these we had one full cupboard that was designated to just cereal alone. Again being a large family of seven with different tastes I had boxes of cereal all squashed into one cupboard. Some half full, some on the occasion empty as the teens have not yet discovered where the recycling bags are. Sometimes I had two boxes of the same cereal open at the same time. These cereal dispensers have made our mornings a little easier. They are available in three different sizes and we received a selection of all three. The 4.2L dispenser can easily hold two boxes of cereal. The 3.2L and 2.3L dispensers can both hold one standard size box.
All of the dispensers have airtight seals that have one handed opening and closing. There is a contoured grip on each of the transparent dispensers which helps you to grab them out of the cupboard and hold securely with one hand whilst pouring the cereal into the bowl. Every part of them can be easily cleaned with instructions on the packaging to show you how to refit the seals after cleaning, but to be honest it is a really simple task. I love these cereal dispensers and would not hesitate to buy more. All of our cereal is fresh, the children can see which cereals we have available and I can see which cereal we are running low on. The prices start from £14 which I do think are worth it as the space we have saved and money saved due to not having to throw out cereal that has lost its freshness.

Both of these products are a great addition to any kitchen but are excellent for those like me that have a really small kitchen.