It is with great pleasure that I can now announce we have finished the front of our house! Hooray! I might put up some bunting to celebrate our achievement. I am no longer embarrassed, perhaps even proud now, of how it looks. It’s taken two years though; there was so much to do and we could only afford to do a bit at a time.

At the very beginning we looked at getting a new front door. The original was a scruffy white with gold coloured ‘furniture’ (that’s door speak for the shiny metal bits) but even the cheapest composite versions were over £1000 so we couldn’t really justify it. Instead we painted it with an external waterproof paint in sage green, and replaced the gold with polished chrome. It made an unbelievable difference and set us back less than £100.

The slate house number sign is made to order, and illuminated by the exterior wall lights. They are up & down lighters and look really pretty at night. The only thing that would make them better would be a dusk to dawn sensor so I didn’t have to remember to turn them off!

To complement this the most recent (and in my opinion best) addition is our storm porch. It’s made from softwood as it’s cheaper than oak so has had two coats of primer and the green exterior paint on top to protect it. Apart from the practical benefits of protecting us and the front door from the worst of the elements (our postman is particularly grateful!) It has created a ‘proper’ entrance on an otherwise flat house.

We’re lucky to have a pretty big lawn at the front of the house, and this is where the sun falls in the evening. For the first time last week we took a picnic blanket to the front and the girls ate their dinner outside, it was really satisfying to be able to enjoy a whole new area of our home. It was too open at first so we have enclosed it with a low fence and a picket gate. It defines the area, gives us more privacy and helps to make it obvious where our house ends and next door begins

The huge expanses of empty brick wall needed covering with something, as did the area of new bricks used to block up the second front door. We built a raised bed using sleepers and filled it with as many evergreen plants as we could fit, including jasmine to climb up the wall. My frustration with plants is waiting for them to grow. I love paint because the transformation is immediate, but with plants you have to wait at least a year to even begin to see the fruits of your labour. Now we are entering spring those backbreaking hours are starting to pay off with a new flower or shoot appearing each time I look.

We’ve recently had the moss removed from the roof so our garden is no longer littered with it every time it rains, and last but not least was the removal of the wobbly concrete slabs to make way for a new stone chipping path, framed by block paving bricks. If money was no object we’d have chosen a bound resin or entirely block paved design as they’re a bit easier for pushchairs and wheely suitcases (for my many exotic holidays obviously) but this alternative seems to work pretty well. Stone chippings are more practical than gravel because they don’t spread so easily and end up everywhere but the path.

So, just for my own satisfaction and the chance to be a little bit smug, here is a reminder of what it used to look like. The only bit of this picture I’d like to keep is the sunshine. Come back my long lost friend!

My childhood home was a chocolate box cottage in the grounds of the retreat & conference centre that my Dad ran. Ever since I can remember I was answering the reception phone and helping to lay the dining tables. Every Sunday we’d eat roast dinner with the guests staying at the main house and the little me would chat happily to strangers more than ten times my age.

As a teenager this became my first place of work, I changed bed sheets at speed and became an expert at operating a catering size dishwasher, but that wasn’t all I learnt. A lasting lesson from my life there was the importance of hospitality, to always welcome people into our home without question and to treat those people with an extra level of care and attention. My Dad was frequently bringing someone down the garden for my Mum to produce a meal for, and though she wasn’t always thrilled about it at the time she would never have let on. They always left with a full stomach, and probably late at night, having been engaged in conversation over a glass of whisky or a box of chocolates.

I was taught that guests are sacred, and for this reason it’s always been important for me to have a guest room. Of course this isn’t always possible, but until our girls insist on having separate bedrooms we’ve got a room to spare. I wanted it to be an unfussy and restful space, which I think we’ve achieved.

Our guest room is the second largest bedroom, and the good size is helpful as we have inherited furniture from my Grandmother which fits perfectly. We’ve made few changes to this room, other than stealing a little space for the ensuite on the other side of the wall.

The furniture has touches of pink to it, but I wanted to avoid an all pink room so decided on blue as an accent colour. The curtains pick out the tones in the pictures above the bed but otherwise the scheme is fairly neutral.

For similar accessories:

Asinara White Matt Pendant Light

Hoppvals White Cellular Blind

Wilko Picture Frames

Next Plain Dye Bedding in Natural

I hope we’ve managed to create a restful room in our humble home, and that our guests feel welcome here despite the usual chaos that surrounds them as soon as they set foot through the door. Most of our visitors have to read a bedtime story or two in exchange for their bed and board, but at least there’s somewhere comfy to retire to at the end of it all!

Having written about the ongoing saga of my bedding size issues last week, I thought I’d round up by telling you about our master bedroom. This was the last room we sorted out, which meant that I went to bed every night for a year gazing at piles of boxes and dusty clothes, and getting increasingly frustrated at our lack of proper storage. The trouble is that wardrobes seemed to be the only type of furniture that were almost impossible to do well cheaply. It’s fair enough, I was looking for two matching large items which needed to be sturdy, practical and attractive. I did hours and hours of research and eventually settled upon the IKEA Hemnes Wardrobe for £260 each. The main attraction was the sliding doors, which allowed us to position them close to the bedside tables without causing an issue when opening them.

After

Before

The other alternative we considered was to add built-in floor to ceiling wardrobes, but this would have shortened the bedroom. If you want to maximise the appearance of space I think it’s better to retain the ceiling space above the wardrobe so that you can see the wall behind. Otherwise the room would appear to stop at the wardrobe line, losing a huge 60 cm off the length of the room.

Our curtains were another find from Next Home Clearance which is my go-to site for window treatments. They inspired the colour scheme for the room. The ceiling pendant with the gold inside was my first purchase however, and I love it. I find lighting very hard to choose but B&Q have one of the best affordable ranges I have come across Kapsel Pendant from DIY.com

Our bedroom decor is a combination of old and new items which I think prevents it from looking like I’ve just copied it from a catalogue. We’re lucky to have inherited several pieces from family and I’ve re-purposed a few items. Our ‘terrarium’ on the windowsill is a broken lampshade donated from a friend, and our gold lidded jar came from M&S with chocolate truffles in-from the same friend, she obviously knows my taste!

Here are my Top 5 Bedroom Buys this week:

Seersucker Duvet from Matalan

Available in double to superking for £35-£45. No need to iron! Say no more.

Cactus Print Cushion from George Asda

Add a touch of colour to your bed. Orange and Turquoise with blue pom poms £6

Skarig Wall Clock from IKEA

Navy Blue with Gold Detail. This classically styled clock has a quartz movement so should keep accurate time, unlike some of the cheaper clocks on the market. £14

Jacquard-weave rya rug from H&M Home

Available in light green or beige. 140 x 200 cm for £119.99. The thick pile would be soft underfoot when you step out of bed.

Markham Blue table lamp from B&Q

A slimline bedside lamp in matte finish. £18. Being my favourite colour I am drawn to this, but this looks like it could cost four times the price.

You may be able to tell that I’m a virgin blogger: I decided to start writing in order to give myself a creative outlet, and to stop myself from boring my family to death with talk of paint colours and soft furnishings. Since making that decision I’ve had, and still have, a great deal to learn about the art of blogging: How to write in the first place (a pretty important place to start), tags, categories, Facebook, Instagram, images, links, titles. The list goes on…

It was a priority for me to write the About page, as that’s the place where people learn who you are and what you are really writing about, so I called on my friend Holly Marsh to take some pictures of me for my profile. Holly took possibly my favourite photo of me ever on our wedding day: A relaxed, unposed photo. Six years on it is still my Facebook profile picture and I’m not planning on removing it any day soon. I challenge myself to beat the wedding day me – let’s see how the new gym membership works out!

Holly lives in Stroud so we decided to meet halfway at the Malt House Emporium, partly because they have a Tea Room where we could have lunch and a slice of cake (try the lemon sponge), and also because we both wanted an excuse to have a look around. Luckily, Holly shares my affection for all things interior.

From the road The Malt House (Ashchurch, junction 9 off the M5) is a pretty uninspiring modern warehouse style building, but inside you’ll find an amazing collection from over 70 unique antiques and interiors dealers. We didn’t have time to explore all of the stalls (school run at 3.15, life goes on!) but I really could have stayed there all day. The items on sale range from Cornishware and antique toys to concrete planters and quirky prints. There really is something for everyone and it is the perfect place to find that little, or big, something to make your home unique.

As is usually the case I dragged our youngest, Charlotte, along with me. Holly also had baby in tow. I envied Charlotte’s unashamed posing. Her ability to relax and just be in front of the camera. I, on the other hand, found myself to be incredibly awkward and embarrassed when confronted with a big fat lens to smile at. Somehow, Holly managed to coax the 3 year old out of me and got some good shots. (I have removed the ones that my Husband said made me look like a smug author).

I’d like to say thank you to the Malt House for allowing us to take our photos there. I look forward to my return, when hopefully I’ll have the time to truly enjoy all it has to offer, and maybe even buy something!

I started to question my mental state this week when I couldn’t wait to get home to move my wooden spoons into my new utensil pot. The girls were hungry, I had to get changed to go to the gym and I had the usual five hundred or so items dumped by the front door waiting to be put back in their original place. But no! They had to wait! I needed to take the bubble wrap off the pot and put those wooden spoons in their new home immediately.

Ta Dah! Large Utensil Pot from Le Creuset Bicester Outlet Village

So I did that, and all was well with the world…for about 30 seconds until getting pasta and cheese on the table became a matter of life or death.

I know I have a very real obsession with interiors. Some find it exciting to receive a much coveted pair of shoes, to try out a new gadget, or to research the latest cars on Autotrader. I, on the other hand, take great pleasure in arranging whisky bottles into height order, and moving every piece of furniture in a room just to hide one cable. But when it comes to our homes most of us would agree that the kitchen is the most important room to get right. We spend hours in it cooking, eating, cleaning and entertaining. That’s certainly true for me-though usually I am just entertaining my daughters who would rather watch a fully grown adult opening Kinder eggs on the i-pad than engage in conversation with me. Anyway, with the image of familial harmony in mind, when doing the building work we knocked through a small galley kitchen into the main lounge to create a kitchen/dining/family space.

Charlotte checking up on the builders

The view to the hallway

New french doors

This would become the desk area

The kitchen mid-build

From the kitchen to the dining area

The ‘blue’ kitchen

Pine table can be extended

Red Moroccan Rug

The kitchen today

The U-shaped kitchen area itself isn’t huge but I really enjoy using it, as everything is within easy reach. I really don’t want to have to walk 20 steps just to make a cup of tea! My friends can sit on the sofa and chat while I cook, and it’s easy to serve people at the table.

I hunted for weeks to find the right blue tiles, and finally found them at Miles of Tiles in Leamington Spa. They were really affordable (if you don’t count the cost of fuel for my two return trips to buy top-up tiles due to a miscalculation in quantity). I love the blue, and with the LED under-counter lights they really stand out.

Our kitchen is from Magnet and we were really pleased with the value for money. We chose units from the Simply range which is the lowest priced, but the Haptic handles were among the most expensive and they transformed the look of it. We also found a pull-out larder unit from ebay for a fraction of the price.

We tried to use as many items of furniture, appliances and accessories that we already had as we could. It’s easy to replace things later, but building work and renovations are so costly that we wanted to minimise the unnecessary spending in the early stages. In all, I’m pleased with what we have achieved. This is a space that we really enjoy spending time in, and thanks to my new utensil pot I’m pretty sure I won’t be making any changes for at least a month!

When I open up my laptop to add to this blog there are so many things I can write about. I look forward to sharing on here the things in our home that I’m most proud of, as none of it has come easily. We have changed every inch of this house and I’m constantly thinking of the next thing to tweak. I can’t help my obsession with interior design, with rearranging the kitchen drawers to make the storage space that little bit better or looking at where we might extend or adapt the space.

We’ve come to the point now where we’ve become a little bit in love with our house, something I never thought I’d say. I’m proud of the fact that we’ve worked extremely hard on it. We’ve painted and sanded late into the night and spent every last penny we have, to the point that even doing the grocery shopping made me nervous. Now, I like every room and even the front almost looks pretty! (just waiting for the tiles on our storm porch & then I’ll write about it).

However, with it being mothering Sunday my thoughts have turned to the other people who have contributed to our life as it is now. We bought our first house with a great deal of financial help from my in-laws, and invaluable advice from them with regards to the renovations. I’ve always been a person who knows what I want things to look like, but structural alterations were something I knew nothing about. My father in law was so confident about where to move walls that I trusted everything he suggested, and rightly so because it all worked out so well. We all got on so well that my now husband and I lived with his parents while renovating that house…and again once we’d had our first child…and the next…and then just a bit longer while we renovated the next one. For this unquestioning generosity I will be forever thankful.

A moment that will stay with me forever when we moved into that first house was when I was talking about a piece of furniture I wanted to buy. My Dad told me that ‘sometimes you just have to make do’. I thought I already knew that. I thought that the fact we were missing a wardrobe and that the builders hadn’t caulked the skirting boards meant we were managing to live in a less than perfect situation thank-you-very-much. Looking back on it, that 25 year old me didn’t realise how lucky she was, and his words have resonated with me ever since.

Sadly, neither my Dad nor my Father in law are alive now for me to tell them how grateful I am for their wise words, but thankfully the mums are, and I’d like to tell them thanks. Thanks for your help. Thanks for your advice and support. Thanks for the flowers you bought to brighten up the new house. Thanks for the childcare, and the cleaning, and the money you lent us when things were tight. We couldn’t have done any of it without you, and we will be eternally grateful.