Last week I treated the man in my life to a few goodies from the ASOS sale. I was planning to buy a dress and jumper from Sugarhill Boutique, which were both reduced in the ASOS 70% off sale, so I decided to browse the menswear section to see if
I would invite all the deceased greats to my spooky Halloween dinner party; Elvis, Michael Jackson, John Lennon and Frank Sinatra, along with some of my favourite fictional folk; Casper the Friendly Ghost, the Genie from Aladdin and Plop, from The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark book. My
As you know I’ve started learning to swing dancing, including lindy hop, charleston and now balboa, all of which are intrinsically linked to the 1940s era. I’ve been going to hangar dances and I’m attending another 40s dance this coming weekend. I’ve been delighted to find that there is quite a
At this time of year, as the seasons change from hot summer to cool autumn, I really get the urge to snuggle down at home and feather my nest, getting ready for the cold winter ahead. I start thinking about hot drinks, casseroles and blankets, and the design inspirations that I’m continuously
With talk of another royal baby on the way, I’ve come over all patriotic. Just like the Olympics and the Diamond Jubiliee before it, this has made me realise how great it is to be living in Britain! We are a multi-cultural nation with so many traditions, wonderful tourism in
Have you every found yourself drawn to a piece of furniture, a homeware accessory or an item of clothing but you have no idea why? Even though it might be the tackiest, most brash, weirdest thing you’ve ever seen, you can’t take your eyes off it and actually kinda want
I have some very long-awaited news for Autumn/Winter 2014 that I’ve been keeping under my hat for a number of months and now I can finally share it with you all – the new footwear range by Orla Kiely has launched! Clarks unveiled the new range at a press event
Before the summer holidays were out, I fully intended to sleep in my caravan and camp out for a couple of nights while the weather is good. In fact, it’s sometimes a little too hot to sleep indoors so I thought that a night in the caravan would be ideal
It’s taken a little longer than I’d hoped, but my vintage dress is finally fixed! My retro tortoiseshell cat’s eye sunglasses are from Sunglass Junkie and shoes from New Look It was mostly down to my laziness over the summer holidays that delayed the repairs but I spent an evening at
I went to an Americana day at Horham airfield recently and had a wonderful time. You may have heard me mention the event last week in my vintage dress blog post: I picked up a lovely dress from one of the vintage stalls and although it needs a lot of
Has your sofa seen better days? If the cushions are losing their plumpness and the seams are splitting, you might want to just throw it out. Or do you? Here’s how to revamp it on a budget…
Ever since I finished making the new table top for the caravan, the space has become my go-to place to eat meals. It’s especially lovely in the summer because the interior is warm and I can pop the window open to get a lovely breeze flowing through the caravan. I
Do you sometimes find your mind wandering off to a place far away where it settles down on a comfy sofa to take in the stunning coastal view from your seafront property? When I’m daydreaming about my dream home, that’s exactly where my brain takes me and sometimes I can
Summer, summer, summer. That’s the only thing on my mind these days, especially as we’ve enjoyed hot sunny weather for more than a week now and it’s led to lots of wardrobe reorganisation at this end:
As an avid interiors blog reader and the world’s most addicted Pinterest user, I love to drool over images of gorgeous homes, and I regularly have my head turned by new design trends. Now, I can’t afford to redecorate my home every time I see a new trend that I like
Hello. Welcome to a day in my life. Wait, don’t go – it’ll be interesting, honest! After my ‘personal branding’ lesson last month, I realised that I really did want to share more about myself with my lovely readers and I think it’s only fair that I give you an insight
Today my best friend is getting married. I am bursting with excitement to see her in her dress (a closely guarded secret!) and watch her marry her childhood sweetheart. You can imagine what an emotional wreck I already am this morning, and we’re still a couple of hours away from
Creating a vintage style bedroom isn’t difficult and shouldn’t have to cost the earth either. In fact, it’s pretty easy if you know how, and I’m having a go at creating vintage boudoir in my cute little caravan for guests to enjoy when they stay over. Take a look at
Do you love vintage? Are you a fan of caravans? Does retro rule? Then this is the blog post for you! I am delighted to be taking part in the Stitch, Craft, Create blog hop today and taking a look at all the gorgeous caravans that are featured in a new
So after many requests to see a photo of my finished sewing project I’ve finally pinned my husband down long enough for him to take a snap of me wearing it. So here is the finished item and me posing in front of my retro caravan (don’t go thinking I’ve
Today I’ve found out some great news that I simply must share with you all – the Oxfam Online Shop Spring Sale starts today! More specifically it starts at 12 noon and you really have to ‘be there’ at midday to get the bargains because each item is unique – they
I think it’s quite a difficult thing to talk about the music you love in public. It shows your taste (or lack of!) like nothing else and is something that divides people the world over. I hate that dreaded question ‘what music are you in to?’ that I heard so many
Is it a big thumbs up or something you’d never ever wear? When colour trend experts Pantone announced the colour of the year I was in two minds as to whether it’s the colour for me…
So what if I don’t want to spend £9 on a cocktail on a Saturday night in a swanky bar in the city? It doesn’t mean that I’m dull, ‘square’ or poor – it just means that (for the second time in two days) I’d rather put that money towards
At the weekend I told you all that I’d finished sewing the cushions for my bedroom that I’d been putting off for ages. I finally powered through my sewing-block and used the leftover fabric from the bottom of my bedroom blinds to rustle up a pair of cushions for the bed. It
I’ve discovered a new method for improving your living space and making rooms seem bigger and brighter than ever. It’s quite simple. Put up tons of Christmas decorations, live with them for a few weeks, then take them down again. It’s simply amazing what a difference removing my festive décor has made
That retro-knitwear staple, the snood, is very fashionable again this year, with all kinds of patterns and colours available in high street shops. But you don’t need to splash out on a new accessory to keep you warm this winter. You can simply upcycle an old festive jumper or cardigan that’s past
My birthday is coming up soon, and what with the Christmas celebrations, I often overlook it myself! I get too excited about the festive season and forget to make any plans to celebrate my birthday. This year, I thought I’d treat myself to a little pink-and-red party in my vintage
This week, when hubby had a half-day off work, I cooked us both a yummy soup for lunch. It’s definitely the time of year that I want to have something warm to eat at lunchtime (there was actually frost on the ground here this week!) so I looked up recipes for
You’d be forgiven for thinking that we have gone back in time to our grandmother’s era, when shops didn’t sell off-the-peg clothes, and make-do-and-mend was a way of life rather than a quaint Pinterest board. But no, this trend is happening right now in the 21st century and tons of people are choosing to
I’ve received fantastic news that my little lifestyle blog has been honoured by REXLondon.com as one of their favourite blogs. They contacted me to let me know that I’d won this little award for my crafty sewing projects and that they had shared details of my blog on their ‘beautiful crafting blogs’ page.
Today’s recipe post is another which focuses on apples. To say that mum had a lot of apples on her tree is an understatement and they all needed using or preserving. As you know, last week I made apple and blackberry jam (here’s the recipe), and a flavoured vodka (which
It started with the party dress… and now I’m already looking into festive lights for my home. It’s funny how one thing leads to another when you’re searching for ‘Christmas shopping’ online and I ‘accidentally’ started browsing through fairy lights and christmas trees! I’ve only had one previous Christmas in
Can you believe that it’s nearly Halloween? Have you got your costume sorted out and your treats ready for visitors? I recently wrote about decorating your home for autumn and how you can easily turn your decorations into a spooky Halloween decor with just a few changes – carve up those
Over the weekend I went for a lovely chilly walk with my hubby and collected a few bits and pieces for my harvest display. I’d planned to decorate my home for autumn (as we discussed in this previous blog post) and I’d finally found the time to nip out to
This is a big moment for me – I’m sharing the first sewing project I’ve done in my little vintage caravan after starting the project to makeover the old retro van into my new sewing studio. I’m still quite far off finishing my ‘office’ but I’ve got a table and
Can you guess what I got up to this weekend? Does the title of this post kind of give it away? Yes, I had one of the most laughter-filled days ever on Saturday when I met up with my friends for a day filled with sausages, cider, glitz and bingo –
It’s the dream of all young couples isn’t it? Up there with getting married and having children, buying your own home is at the top of a lot of my friends’ and family’s wish lists. I’ve been adding ‘dream home’ pins to my Pinterest board all year, so even though I
When the leaves begin changing and the pumpkins start arriving in the stores it can only mean one thing: it’s time to start decorating your home for Autumn – or at least that’s the case according to Pinterest ha! It’s certainly a new trend here in the UK to start
I’ve always been one of those people who love ‘back to school’ time. I’ve not been at school for many years now, but I still remember getting excited about choosing my new pencil-case and buying stationery supplies ready for the new term. In fact, I think that’s the reason that I stayed at
Those of you who have been reading my blog for a little while will know that a few months ago I bought a caravan! While she may not have been the prettiest looking caravan, it definitely gave me a project to sink my teeth into. I set up a Pinterest board
You may have noticed in my last blog post about the caravan that there was a roll of carpet plonked in the middle of my seating area. And the even-more eagle eyed of you will have noticed that I’ve painted my inner wheel-arch cover with a dark pink shade. This
If you’re getting a little bored of your sunglasses after wearing them all summer, or if you’ve picked up a bargain pair in the summer sales, maybe you’d like to funk them up with some cute appliqué accessories?! I’ve spent an enjoyable hour gluing lovely things to my sunglasses and I’d
This week I’ve moved on to the interior of the caravan and I’ve cracked open a few old tins of paint from the garage to see what colours I already had (I am trying to fix up my caravan on a budget after all).
I recently bought some frames at a bargain price from The Range and wanted to make my own unique artwork for my bedroom. The frames were very large carved wooden frames in a lovely dark wood that I thought would go perfectly with my bed frame. I loved the frames, but
The phrase ‘vintage modern’ has been floating around the vernacular for the last few years, but what exactly does it mean? And how can you achieve the look in your own home?
If you’ve not already read about my new caravan workshop project, please have a read of how I came across my little caravan (and all about clearing it out in preparation for painting) the links are below. I like the shape of my caravan – I think it’s small and round
I am starting my new caravan makeover project with a clear out. If you didn’t see my first blog post about my new caravan please read back over my blog post a couple of days ago on 14th August and you’ll know why I need to begin with an excavation
First and foremost, I’d like to welcome all the lovely new visitors from Creative Crafting’s blog tour – I have been waiting for this day for a while now and I’m so pleased to be able to welcome you to my blog. While you’re here please have a good look around
My hubby brought home a bunch of stunning orange roses for me last week. I’d never seen orange roses before and they coordinate perfectly with my retro living room design, so hubby gets extra brownie points for good taste! I totally forgot to take a photo of them when I
Have you noticed that a lot of charity shops are now allocating a good portion of their display space to stocking vintage items? I’ve been in many charity shops recently that have dedicated a whole ‘department’ to vintage clothing, accessories and even retro homewares. Some shops that I’ve visited recently have
I’ve had a bit of a result today when buying a piece of vintage clothing. I spotted a Laura Ashley dress in my local charity shop and snapped it up, thinking that I’d be able to take it in if it was too big. The tag said size 14 but
I don’t know about you, but when my house is untidy, I just can’t relax. I don’t mean that my home has to be in über-clean condition, but if there’s mess covering my surfaces, my mind feels just as messy and I really want to tidy up before I can get started on
As you know, I’m a thrifty kinda gal and don’t like to buy a whole new wardrobe each season when sometimes just a few key accessories can see us through a season. As Summer 2013 bounds into view, I’ve asked one of my favourite vintage stores Mela Mela to put
It was hubby’s birthday last weekend and, as we are both still big kids, I wanted to get him something fun to play with, so when a new follower ‘Little Posties’ popped up on my Twitter feed (@LittlePosties) with their awesome range of funky crayons, I clicked through to their
This week I arrived home after a hard days work to find a massive box on my doorstep. The arrival of a parcel is always exciting and it was especially great today as this was a delivery of flowers from Debenhams. I am baffled how a bunch of flowers can be sent through
Here’s a photo of my latest attempt to turn a piece of rubbish into something special – a champagne cork cage twisted into a tiny chair. I particularly love this one because the cap had an orange pattern on it ~ ideal for my retro living room! I have previously shared
I tried out this fairly kitsch recipe for a pineapple upside-down cake for the first time this week and I wanted to share the results with you all. I love how 70s retro the finished cake looked: there was a pretty hairy moment when I was trying to turn the cake
Well, it’s true. The 90s are back. The catwalks are showcasing 90s-inspired fashion and the shops are packed full of ‘last millennium’ shoe trends. I can’t believe that I’ve already reached that age where my teen years have become ‘retro’ and I’m seeing those outfits coming back the second-time-round. That’s the quickest way to make a girl
With all this cold weather we’ve been having recently, there’s been a sudden cold draught whipping through my house from the kitchen (why are kitchens always so cold?) so I needed a new draught excluder for my living room. Now, if you’ve seen my previous blog posts you’ll know that I couldn’t
I’ve been working on a little craft project especially for Mother’s Day and here’s my finished item, based on a tutorial that I saw on Pinterest. The original idea came from this image from Pretty Pastels and then I went looking for instructions on making a DIY version – which I
You may remember that I wrote a blog post last week about this vintage pattern by Simplicity that I found whilst rummaging in my local charity shop. I wanted to make myself a this skirt but didn’t know where to start with buying fabric – everything I’d found online was a bit pricey
As avid readers of this blog will tell you, I love tea. I am forever stopping half-way through a task to have a cuppa. It helps me chill out when things are getting stressful and without the excuse of ‘having a cuppa’, I’d never take a break. So I am
I recently picked up this vintage Simplicity sewing pattern from a charity shop and I am going to have a go at making this skirt for myself. The sizing is unusual, because it is the old-fashioned “Miss” sizes which is somewhere between child and adult. Luckily I have a very good
Back by popular demand, here’s Lacey in Places to share the story of how a holiday two years ago led to one of her most random purchases to date – the Quillow. Back in November 2010, I decided I needed was some winter sun. So where better to go that’s warm
I was washing up this morning and my mind started wandering, thinking about the way I wash up, when I remembered how I first learnt to wash the dishes ‘correctly’. I remember being in the Brownies, the younger cohort of the Girl Guides, back in the 80s and as such
Here’s a guest post treat for you all today – a craft project from my photographer friend Claire who blogs over at Lacey in Places. She’s going to share her experiences of lampshade making with you and give us a step-by-step tutorial on how to do it ourselves. Take it
When you think of interior design, does it evoke thoughts of spiritual health or improved decision-making? This is exactly what a peaceful home can provide. Applying the general principle of feng shui, you can invite positive energies into your life with the way that you arrange your living space, especially your
I am pleased to say that when I told my friends and family that all I really wanted for Christmas were books, they listened – and just look at this haul of fabulous new books for me to browse through at my leisure during the year! I received a couple of
Last year was really a significant year for my blog – I started writing more, taking more photos, chatting to my readers and other lovely bloggers and have posted pretty-much every day for the whole year! I started to take myself more seriously with my blog writing and I dropped the
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