Pretty Place for Pretty Things

Hi girlies,

Sorry I've been a little bit absent from blogging over the last week or so. I started a new job on Monday which meant moving city and being really tired from taking lots of new information in every day, so I haven't had the energy in the evenings to blog. But now I've had a lovely lie in this morning I feel much more awake and ready to get into the swing of things! My job is going really well so far - I've had a great first week :-D I'm looking forward to moving into my new flat in a week or so too, and not longer having to live out of a suitcase (MBFGW calls...)

Anyway before I left home for this new job I'd just about got my room at home how I wanted it, so I took loads of pictures. I'm going to miss my room as I'd just got it really pretty and girly, but hopefully I can make my room in my new flat just as nice.

So, despite moving out and so my room at home not looking like this any more, I still thought it would be nice to show you some photos of what it did look like. I've done a post on my bedroom before (which you can find here) but all the pictures were taken for that when I didn't actually live at home and was at uni. However, when I moved back in before Christmas, the room had all my stuff in and so was a lot more 'me' :-) I'm going to do a couple of posts to show how I finally got my room looking, but for now I'll start with my dresser (well, it's not a dresser, it's a chest of drawers, but I used it for the same purpose).

So, here it is, as it was...

The chest was from Ikea and I believe it was about £80, which I think is great value. The mirror is also from Ikea and it was a bargainous £10!

On top of the chest I kept all my jewellery, everyday things that I need easy access to, and a range of trinkets to keep my room looking pretty :-) I'm not a particularly girly girl generally, but I find a girly, pretty room so much more relaxing that any other style.

The 'LOVE' block is one of my more recent purchases. I got it from TK Maxx for just £3.99, and couldn't resist its sparkly goodness! There's also a pair of adorable tealight holders on there. I don't ever light them, but they're cute just for decoration. The flowers are artificial, but added some much needed colour. The dark box is my nifty solution for storing all my earrings - you can see the post I did on it here - I thought it was a cool idea!

I kept my everyday essentials out on top of the chest. I have more brushes than this, but not that I use on a regular basis. I keep a few brushes, emery boards, tweezers, scissors and eyelash curlers in this 'Bridesmaid' mug which I was given when I was a bridesmaid last year.

In the back corner are all my necklaces and bracelets on a mug tree. I find its the only way I can keep them all untangled, which made it much easier in the morning when I'm rushing about, trying to get ready.

Probably my favourite thing on the chest is this lovely glass pot, which I got from a car boot for £1. It actually has a silver lid that goes with it, but because I use it to store all my eye make up, it wont fit on. These are all the eye shadows, eye liners and mascaras I have - not a huge collection, but to be honest if I had any more I probably wouldn't use them.

I got this cute vintage pot from a car boot for just 50p! At the moment it's perfect to store all of my rings. However, my collection seems to be growing rapidly, so I might need to reassess...

Finally, hanging off the handle of the top drawer is adorable sign... so true...

So there we have it - my much loved chest of drawers. I'm really going to miss it now that I've moved out again, as I'd just got it set up exactly how I wanted it.

I'll be doing another post shortly to show where I kept all the rest of my make up and toiletries, and how I stored them while I was back at home.

Have any of you got any cute storage ideas? Send me links to your blog posts on your storage if you've written any...

xx

Getting DIY Design Confident!

As I had a few very lovely comments on a recent post I wrote about a table I bought from a car boot and decorated lovingly (you can see it here) I thought I'd show you my latest creation. Again, I plan to put this to use somewhere in our new flat which we move into soon.

This time round I bought a stool. Again, it was from a car boot and cost £2. It was a pretty basic and boring stool that wasn't in the best condition, so I wanted to give it a bit of a makeover!

This is the bit when I go all Blue Peter on you! he he. Here's me (looking rather scruffy I do apologise :-/) with all the bits and pieces I used. I needed...

- white paint - I just used one tester pot from B&Q which cost 98p

- coverlon (I don't know if it's actually called that, but that's what I call it! You know that sticky stuff you cover your books with at school. Sticky back plastic?)

- piece of wrapping paper

- 1 meter of beading

First up I painted the whole thing (except for the top) white. Obviously you could paint it any colour, but this just went with the look I was going for.

And here's one I made earlier!! I was so into what I was doing that I forgot to take pictures at each of the next steps! But basically I cut a circle of wrapping paper the same size as the top of the stool. Then I cut a slightly larger circle from coverlon, and stuck this to the top. You could then see the coverlon stuck down around the sides, so I superglued some beading around the edge to hide it.

And voila!!...

I think it looks really cute even if I do say so myself :-)

I actually think it's too nice to use as a stool now, so I might use it as a stand with a plant or something on and put it in the corner of the room.

I'm in the process of making over a couple more items that I've managed to get my little mitts on over the past few days, so if anyone is interested I'll post pics of them too. Let's just say I plan that one item will incorporate a feather boa!... should be interesting!

xx

Car Boot Bargains :-)

After writing about my new ingenious storage solution (even if I say so myself!) for my earrings that I bought from a car boot recently (see post here) I thought I'd share a few of my other recent car boot buys with you. I tend to buy a real range of things from car boots - anything that catches my eye :-) Also, as I'm moving into a flat with my boyfriend soon, I've been on the lookout for anything that might be useful for that. So here goes...

Leopard print mirror - £1

We'll need a mirror in the flat, and I've already got a full length one, so I thought this would be perfect for doing my hair and make up. I know leopard print can be a bit Peter Stringfellow-y, but I think it's cool! And plus, £1 = bargain!

Girly reads! - 10p/20p/50p each

I have to be honest and say I'm not much of reader, so when I do pick up a book I just want something girly that's easy to read. Marian Keyes and Cecelia Ahern always have me hooked, and I heard that Eat. Pray. Love. by Elizabeth Gilbert is a book 'every woman should read' so I thought I'd give that a go too.

Flower letter rack - 50p

I thought I could put this to use in our new flat to hold all my letters, post it notes etc. Cute and girly is always a winner in my mind :-)

Retro Cadbury tin :-) - 50p

I really want to use this tin for all our chocolates and other naughty treats in our new flat! I have huge affection for Cadbury as my nan used to work for the company so it's always been part of our family, so I thought this was a really cool find.

Finally, this is my favourite recent buy. I picked up a really basic round chipboard table with legs that can be unscrewed for just £1.50. It was really plain and boring, but after getting back from the car boot I thought I'd make it my afternoon project to transform it into something unique for our flat. So I set to work...

Plain chipboard table - £1.50

And this is what I ended up with...

I'm so pleased with it! First up I painted the whole thing white, then on the legs I used masking tape to create a different design on each leg with bright pink paint - one is a spiral, another is stripes, and the third is squares.

For the top of the table I printed out a picture from the internet on to normal paper, cut it out and used it as a stencil.

This was my first little step into DIY design (I've never done anything like this before in my life) so I'm really pleased with how it looks. I think it will be perfect for my bedside table. Now I'm on the look out for a similar one that I can paint with a more manly design/colours for the boy's bedside table.

I really want to do other mini projects like this cos I really enjoyed it, so if any of you have any ideas of things I could do I'd love to hear them :-)

So that's just a few of my car boot buys. I'm off to another one tomorrow, so hopefully I'll pick up some goodies there too!

xx

My Little Piece of Heaven!

As I settled down in my bed to write this post tonight, I thought what better to blog about than the very room I am sitting in...

So this isn't strictly about fashion, but I love looking at pictures of where other people blog from, so I thought I would do the same myself, just in case anyone is a little bit nosey like me!

The room I am in at the moment is my bedroom in my parents house which has recently been decorated - and I was in charge! I could design it how I wanted and it would always be my room, but it couldn't be too personal as I would hardly be spending any time there due to university and moving away, and so it would mostly be a guest room. Overall, I decided to go for a kind of girly, chintzy kinda look, although I was on quite a tight budget.

So, here are some pics of the overall look and some of my favourite bits:

My absolute favourite thing in my room is my lampshade - I think it's amazing! I stumbled across it in the Next Home sale for about £7... absolute bargain! It's basically made up of loads of strips of white plastic flower shapes that you clip on to a frame. It's about 3ft long (!) and really stands out. I love it!

On one of my walls I have black metal words that read 'Live Love Laugh' that I placed diagonally alongside my bed. I wasn't sure how the black would look in the mostly pale room, but I think it really works. The words were from Dunelm Mill and I think they were £10 for the set. Another bargain! I know they're really common now (I've even seen them on someone's wall on Coronation Street) but I don't care cos they look good!

On the other wall I have three simple canvases of flowers that are also from Dunelm and are quite rustic-y looking...

Here's my set of drawers, which is the only real furniture I have apart from my bed, as I have a built-in wardrobe for all my clothes. They're from Ikea and were £80 which I think is good value. On the top I've got two really cute tea light holders which were only £2.50 each from Dunelm Mill again, as are the photo frames. They've got a vintagey look and the photos are my little personal touch in the room. I think the mirror may be intended for a bathroom, but I reckon the chintzy look goes well.

Finally on my bed I have a really cute, girly duvet cover and four cushions, but I'm on the lookout for loads more. I want all different designs so that it doesn't look too put together. I really want a faded Union Jack design, but am just looking for the right one at the moment.

What do you think? Did I do a good job? I certainly love it!

I can't wait til I have my own flat that I can decorate exactly how I want it! I am collecting little bits and pieces here and there already!

xx