There’s nothing quite like new bedding. I love it. I’m also more than slightly addicted to the At Home with Ashley Thomas range at Debenhams at the moment. Santa brought us some eye-catching Heirloom Ashley Thomas cups (which are also the optimum size for my cup of tea) and this beautiful Lorna bedding, which I had my eye on since painting our bed blue. Santa was especially generous because he also upgraded us to Superking sized bedding, quilt included. It’s huge! Continue reading
Author: chellemillar
Up the wall
Despite my recent post about looking for a house, we’re still trying to make improvements to this house – let’s face it: it could be years. Our bathroom on the middle floor has had a hand held shower but tiles only a foot high around the bath since we moved in, oh… six and a half years ago. We never really used the bath until recently (to bathe Scarlett), but I always felt a bit sorry if guests used it. If they wanted a shower, they would have to sit in the bath – which seems something like a punishment – or use our ensuite. Continue reading
Ikea kitchen: a quick review
No, we’re not revamping our kitchen just yet! Our main Christmas present for Scarlett this year (well, last year – happy new year!) was this Ikea kitchen.
We went full circle when we started looking. She showed an interest in this Duktig in Ikea, so we went home and started researching bigger, fancier (and yes, pinker) kitchens online. My bookmarks are still full of expensive wooden masterpieces. But we got a grip. She’s not even two, she already enjoyed playing with this one, and it does add up with the pots, pans, utensils and food. This was a fantastic £49 total for the two bits (they split it into the bottom bit and the top bit), not including the accessories. We did buy it on sale – it’s normally £65 for the two parts. Continue reading
New year, new… home?
We’re way off buying a new house, but we’re stepping up the search now. As Scarlett is nearly two, her school options are coming closer and closer, and we’ve started thinking now might be a good time to have a look to see what’s available on Ye Olde Rightmove.
We started looking in two directions: towards my work and towards my hometown. These are diametrically opposed. We went as far as to view a house near my work this weekend. It was a beautiful Victorian house, gorgeous stained-glass windows with light pouring in, big kitchen, porches, nooks and crannies, and period features everywhere. Needed loads of work to make it live-able, so slightly out of our price range because of that. We could have worked with it. But it didn’t feel right. We’d have been moving to an area we didn’t know, to be closer to a job that I don’t know how long I’ll have. And no closer to familial support, which is what we’re lacking. Continue reading
Nursing chair: after the hiatus
Wow, this nursing chair has taken a while to complete. I was given it in late 2012, and spent much time the week before I gave birth in February 2013 on my friend’s sewing machine, reupholstering it with grey fabric – you can follow its progress here, and see it with the matching footstool here. Continue reading
Bed: a mini project (stage two)
Stage one of overhauling our bed was hacking the top off, opening up the lines of our bedroom again and giving me less things to bang my head on in the middle of the night.
Stage two involved sanding as long as I could be bothered (not long), inhaling yellow dust (I know because when I sneezed, it came out of my nose), wiping the sanding dust with a teatowel which really shouldn’t have been used for that purpose, all to get it ready for the paint (which I got on the carpet). There’s a reason I usually let Barry do all this. Continue reading
Bed: a mini project (stage one)
I mentioned a couple of months ago that I wanted to attack our big yellow Ikea four poster because it was ruining the lines in our room. For once, we didn’t just talk about it for months and then throw it onto the pile of other discarded ideas, Although our time and money is stretched at the moment, this was a fairly straightforward project, which Barry really kicked off when I came home to see that he’d already gone ahead and sawed the top off our bed. Continue reading
Scarlett’s birth
My daughter, Scarlett, will be two in a few months, and I haven’t felt the urge to publish her birth story until now, although a slightly edited version did appear in our local NCT magazine shortly after the birth. It might have something to do with my best friend’s baby being due any day, and making me reminisce. This is the unedited, gory version, be warned. Continue reading
Plans for bed
I have an idea for our bed. Put those thoughts to one side, this is a house and home blog.
The reason we fell in love with our house was the master bedroom. And the reason we fell in love with our bedroom is the light that comes from both sides of the house; it fills the space and makes it feel twice as big. Continue reading
I got sunshine
…on a cloudy day.
That’s what I think when I look at the sunflowers in our flower bed, anyway. Scarlett was sent home with a tiny green shoot in a flowerpot for Mothers’ Day, back in March. And yes, I did cry. A couple of my friends (you know who you are) think it’s hilarious that I cry whenever nursery give me anything Scarlett’s made, painted or planted, but it makes me so happy! I digress.
So, we left it in its little pot and set it on the kitchen table near the window, where it started to grow. I’ve never been very good with plants, but I tried my very best with this one. You know, because my then 12 month old daughter planted it with her own fair hands (with help, granted) and such. Continue reading