Our Home: The Lounge

We bought our first house almost a year ago now, which still is a dream come true - I really think the housing market is so unfair these days how anyone can buy a house is beyond me and we were really lucky to be able to. Anyway, so lets just say it's a bit of a project, the house was built in the 50's and is an ex - council house, and needed loads doing to it. We optimistically thought we'd get loads done very quickly, but budgets and time weren't really on our side....but anyway one room we definitely wanted to get done was the lounge. Here are the before photos (excuse the quality, I took these on my phone when we first looked round with the estate agent!)

Just slightly dated huh?!! One thing I knew we definitely wanted was to have an awe inspiring wallpaper, and I absolutely love this yellow dandelion mobile design we chose from Miss Print. I can't stop looking at it, and it really brightens my day every morning when I come down. 

I also love our grey Ikea sofa mixed with our other hand me down and vintage pieces, we have a Parker Knoll chair in the corner and record cabinet left by the previous owner. Our beloved Anglepoise lamp, BT phone and retro milk bottle and jug.

We kept all the walls a light grey to counter the yellow wallpaper, and the 2 alcoves a slighter darker shade, however after living with it for a few days I really felt like we needed another colour kick and so painted this side wall bright yellow and I absolutely love it! I really think you have to live with a room for quite a while before you can get it right - I love the way that things evolve like that. I'm sure that in a couple of months it'll be different again.

I love this little nook, I know they're completely out of fashion but I have always wanted a serving hatch! We saved this one as it was boarded up by the previous owner - I love being able to ask Ian to get me a cuppa from the sofa! The lights are by Cable & Cotton, the clock was a gift and Mum bought us the vintage BabyCham tea towel.

We've only just put up these clipboards and I'm not sure they're right yet, but I love the fact we'll be able to swap pictures and scraps of paper whenever we fancy it.

Mum made the curtains from Ikea fabric and I made the lampshade from a vintage tablecloth. The type drawer we picked up from a carboot sale and I can't wait to fill it with lots more tiny treasures!

Ideally I'd love to have more things out,  but living with a toddler has really made us have to change the way we set out our home, but I really don't mind that. I want it to be a fun room for all of us (although I did hide the huge bucket full of toys from the photograph!). It's by no means finished, but it's a start and I can't wait to see how it changes as we grow as a family.

I won! Pretty Dandy/Kat Got The Cream Giveaway

Yippee! I found out just a few weeks after Christmas I won a fantastic giveaway over on Kat Got the Cream blog - a £25 voucher to spend at the wonderful Pretty Dandy - a gorgeous new online interiors boutique which specialises in beautiful handmade, vintage and new designers home accessories.

It was so hard to choose what to get, the vintage crockery on the site is amazing, but really there's only so many teacups and pyrex a girl can fit in her kitchen cupboards (or maybe I should just put up some more shelves?!) So I decided to get something we would really use and need in our house. I'm not sure if I posted about it but in the summer we bought our first house, and lets just say it's definitely a 'project', and one thing that I can't wait to get stuck into when it gets a bit warmer is the garden. So I decided that the main purchase would be this beautiful handpainted birdhouse. I would have taken a picture of it in our garden as it s now, but frankly it's such a state that it really doesn't do this gorgeous little home any justice so here is the picture from the website - I think it's going to be the starting point to our first family garden, and I can't wait to see it being used!

The next thing I chose what this set on coasters which I love, I always love a bit of geometric imagery on things, and I think these are the perfect accompaniment to our charity shop Ercol coffee table (get me!) They're the most gorgeous quality melamine topped wood with a felt base, and I just know they're going to be something we love using for a very long time. Check out their the Pretty Dandy website to see more of their wonderful gifts.

And for those of you who aren't familiar with Kat Got The Cream blog, here I would like to introduce you to the lovely Kathryn! The blog features gorgeous thrifty finds, creative projects and her style posts, which I love. The blog is really happy, and I love to have a long read of all her recent posts on a Saturday morning when I have some baby free time and a large cuppa on the go.

Excitingly she's just about to start a new business designing and making childrenswear and accessories. If you take a peek at her blog she has some photographs of some of the types of clothes she'll be selling and they just looks so comfy, practical and beautiful (definitely something I will have to buy for Delilah!) This little top and bloomers are my favourites, I adore the fabrics she's chosen and the shapes are perfect too. I look forward to her online shop opening!

                           

Thanks so much to Kathryn and Pretty Dandy for the amazing giveaway!xxx