Interiors - Children's Bedroom Inspiration

When my marital home was sold and I bought my own place I had to downsize considerably. Practically I just couldn't afford to maintain a house of that size on my own... the heating and electricity bills were crazy for a start. I'm sad to be in a smaller space with less impact. Interiors are one of my things... I just love interior design (I even did an evening course in interior design when I first moved to Glasgow). Although that said, it probably was good for me to move on and have a fresh start. 

I'm conscious that the kids rooms are really small. The littlest is in the smallest room. Anyway, I've been giving some thought about making the best use of the space that I do have, and I think it's probably time to sell the bulky single beds that I do have and invest in a cabin bed or midi sleeper of some sort. This way I can store plenty of her things under the bed and give her as much floor space as possible. She is four now so I think she's probably safe to be on a raised bed now so long as there is a barrier.

Unfortunately this bed is £2,330 at bobo kids!! But isn't it fab!

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This then got me day dreaming about all the other interior touches that I could add to make the space beautiful, and of course I've been pinning like crazy!!

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What is your favourite interior find that you have in your little ones bedroom (or yours for that matter!)?

Interiors - My Living Room Tour

It's now been over a year since I moved into my new house and things are finally starting to come together. The living room is pretty much finished, for now at least, and I thought I would film a quick vlog whilst it's looking lovely and festive!

My original plan was for the room to be Scottish themed, and I had wanted some tartan curtains to complete the look. However, it's too expensive to get new ones so the room isn't exactly how I had envisaged but I still love it.



Do let me know what you think :-)

{35 at 35: use a power drill, check!}

I'm been making progress with my 35 at 35 list... I'm now feeling confident to score off 'Learn how to use a power drill properly and improve my DIY skills'.

I've been doing a lot of DIY in my new house, and my skills have improved dramatically (I think so at least!).

When I first moved in, I put up a hook but ended up with it being squint :-/ Just as well it's in a cupboard!

Since then I've put up mirrors, shelving, more hooks, a Roman blind, a hanging basket in the garden and even a curtain pole. I'm getting better and better.

The curtain pole I fitted (& I made the curtains too!!)

The Roman blind I made and fitted!

I've also put up a load of hooks in my out house/shed (whatever you want to call it!) and have managed to get the place a lot more organised!

Bit of a mess...

Getting better!

My dad gave me a lesson on drilling through ceramic when I was at the old house. I was putting some holes in the bottom of a ceramic pot so that it could be used in the garden for plants, but the same principle would apply for tiles.

You need to choose your drill bit wisely. I remember the first time I tried to drill into a solid brick wall with a standard drill bit, and struggled for ages to figure out what I was doing wrong because I was getting nowhere fast. I swapped my drill bit for a masonry drill bit (thank you B&Q) and in seconds I had managed to make a sizeable hole in the wall!! For tiles, you ideally need a diamond-tipped drill bit.

The most difficult part of drilling to ceramic is to break through the surface. The drill tends to move about the surface rather than bite into the tile and bore through. My dad taught me to put a cross over the tile in the spot to be drilled using masking tape. Once the bit is started, it's just a case of slowly drilling until you make it all the way through.

I've been really enjoying getting handy in my new place ;-)

{New House - Blackboard Wall}

So I have previously talked about my wish to create a blackboard wall in my kitchen, and I've finally gotten around to finishing it!

I'm really pleased with the end result. I was initially disappointed with it's lack of magnetism, but I've managed to get some round magnets from Sainsburys that seem to work. Thank you to Heather (H34TH3RM4C) over on Instagram for the tip!

This is the paint I used which I purchased at HomeBase

First coat done!

I ended up doing 4 coats in total, and I needed two tins of paint at £14.99 each

Mini artist at work!

This is me apparently!!

I invested in a liquid chalk pen and it's amazing!!! Has made a massive difference in comparison to basic chalk that the kids use.

Instructions for the grandparents for the kids dinner!

The magnets from Sainsburys

My liquid chalk pen that I got from eBay

{My Happy Place}

My bed is one of the happiest places in my home - I love it.

But aside from my bed, another happy place is my desk. This is where I blog!

In my old house I had a home office. In my new place I don't have a spare room but luckily I do have a landing at the top of the stairs which is big enough for a set of shelving and a small desk (both Ikea).

A while back I posted some ideas for making my space a bit prettier, and this Bank Holiday Weekend I finally had the time to paint my hallway and it spurred me on to get my desk a bit more organised and tidy! Let's hope I can keep it this way!

If you're wondering, the paint is Valspar Rocky Shelter (my sister used this colour in her spare room and I loved it!).

Painting well underway!

Ta da! My new prettier desk space.

{and relax...}

I'm feeling inspired after my weekend at the Blythswood Square Hotel and Spa. I'm still thoroughly relaxed after all that pampering and want to try and recreate the amazing atmosphere of the hotel back at my home... (on a minimal budget too if that's possible!!).

There's something about the spa that instantly relaxed me... I think it was most certainly a combination of the lighting and the incense. (When I was on honeymoon in Thailand there was a different incense each day in our villa... a really nice touch).

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I'm still in the process of doing up my bathroom, and I'd like to eventually have a few candle holders, maybe a miniature Buddha ornament and an incense burner on a shelf. I've thoroughly enjoyed having a few baths this past month (they help my Crohn's symptoms) & look forward to relaxing even more when I get my hotel inspired bathroom finished!

I bought a gorgeous glass silver tea light holder from Sainsburys for £2 and I was given a beautiful silver heart cut-out tea light holder as a house warming from my friend Vicky. Both are perfect for creating some mood lighting in the bathroom!

I've also spotted a Buddha ornament on eBay that I like the look of, and I'd love to get some hanging lanterns for candles too that I can suspend from the ceiling on invisible wire. Something along the lines of these...

Meditating Thai Buddha on eBay

Marrakesh Lantern on eBay

Two Moroccan Metal Lanterns on eBay

Final touch will be some incense and then I'm sorted :)

Long soaks in the tub with some soothing music, here I come!

{New House - The Kitchen}

I thought I'd share with you some of the work that's been going on in my bijou kitchen in my new house.

I've not done very much other than change the kitchen door knobs (from bronze star ones that weren't my taste to some smaller simpler silver ones that I found on eBay), change the linoleum, my dad fitted some shelves and a new induction hob and I painted the walls. Oh, and I had an electrician fit a new light into the alcove. I have some material to make a Roman blind but I've yet to get around to that.

Before

Changed the linoleum... making good progress!

Started painting! That's more like me now!!

Painting some more!

The shelves as they are today... the basket is full of crisps, Mini Cheddars, yoghurt raisins... the star tins are full of cookie cutters (and possibly the odd chocolate treat - I still have some chocolate coins from Christmas!)... then you can see an elephant tin of tea on the bottom shelf next to the kids marble reward jars... followed by an assortment of containers!

The kitchen is small, and as such all my plates and glasses are stored elsewhere in a display cabinet. Which isn't very handy, but I'm getting used to it.

1. Some kitchen equipment - Magimix accessories, barware etc

2. A broken extractor fan :-(

3. Tea, coffee, sugar plus mugs!

4. Tea towels

5. Some more kitchen equipment

6. A broken dishwasher :-(

7. Cleaning products and a leaking stop cock which is yet to be fully sorted :-(

8. Storecupboard essentials

9. Cutlery

10. Pots and pans

The cooker is also full of baking trays as I just have such limited space!!

There is a small alcove with my fridge/freezer and I think I could probably organise this better to make more use of the space available.

This cupboard (number 8 in the photo above) is a total disaster and I know that I need to organise this better. I think I could make much better use of the space if I had it planned right.

With a broken dishwasher, and limited counter space, I need to be careful because most days the kitchen worktop looks like this... a total bomb site!

Trying to resolve some storage issues! These little hanging pots can be detached from their hooks... so when the kids are setting the table for dinner, I just take their cutlery pot down for them. Likewise, if we're baking - the other pot comes down :-)

One of my other major issues is what to do with my recycling. It normally ends up all over the floor... more on this later as I'm on the hunt for the best solution!

{New House - The Bathroom}

The bathroom of my new house needed a bit of TLC.

The ceiling height is very low & as a result the shower over the bath isn't high enough for me (I'm just under 6 foot). The shower is also pathetic compared to the powerful ones I'm used to. But for now the shower is the least of my worries (I've had a variety of house problems since moving in... the roof, sewage, leaking pipes....).

Anyway, when I moved in there was horrific green linoleum and a horrible looking mirror on the wall. Thankfully the suite is white and the wall tiles are cream. So it's not taken too much to get it looking nice :)

I had some new lino put down from Vallance Discount Carpets on Clarkston Road (a recommendation from a friend of mine, and they were excellent). What a difference that made!!

Since then I've now changed the mirror to an Art Deco style bevelled mirror from Homebase and added a few shelves and an additional mirror (the one above the sink is too low for me to stand in front of!).

Before!

Before!

The bathroom now :-)

Much better!

Another new mirror & shelving

My mum collected shells, and so you'll find a number of them in my bathroom!

Some luxuries that have been gifted to me along with some more shells!

Yet another shell!

I still need to sort out my storage, or lack thereof. In my head I would love a wooden vintage style display cabinet but I'm yet to find one that has the correct dimensions.

I also plan to paint the teal coloured mosaic tiles a bright lime green... just so they match the colour scheme a bit better.

Isn't amazing though what a couple of little touches can do!

Glasgow Mummy on Instagram :-)