All Things Homeware!

Yep, you guessed it.... it's all about HOMEWARE!  Perry and I are currently renovating our new flat that we purchased a few months ago, so at the moment we are living in a temporary accommodation.  However, this has been a real eye opener and has given us a trial to living in our own house and how our interior would look like.  In this post I am going to be showing you all of my favourite go-to styling tips and tricks that I live by when styling my flat.  So without further a do.... let's start!

One of my favourite hobbies when I have a day off from work, is to bake!  I absolutely LOVE baking!!  It gives me a feeling of sheer satisfaction when a tray of freshly baked muffins that I have baked come out of the oven looking and tasting AMAZING!!  I have so many baking books... but if I had to choose two favourite, they would be 'The Hummingbird Bakery Book' and 'Tanya Bakes'.  I bought this big Mason bowl and wooden spoon from my local home shop and I think it is the perfect addition to my kitchen.  It not only helps me with my baking, but it also looks really stylish too.

My husband and I are real foodies and we both love to cook healthy dishes with fresh ingredients, so having a section of the kitchen where we can store our oils, spices and salt/pepper and knives was essential.  I like to have these things together in one place in the kitchen, because it makes cooking so much easier.  A lot of our accessories for the kitchen are in copper, because if you didn't know already I'm obsessed with all things COPPER!!!  So I picked up these gorgeous Salt and Pepper shakers from Next and they have been so incredibly useful as well as making my kitchen look so stylish!  Also I purchased these glass mason jugs to hold olive oil and vegetable oil... In the olive oil, I put a sprig of fresh Rosemary to infuse it and also make it look pretty.  Lastly I put a book stand with my new cook book 'Ready Steady Glow' by Madeleine Shaw to entice me with new and exciting recipes to try out.

A dressing table has always been one of the things that I have wanted for so many years.  I have imagined having a vintage styled unit with a bid mirror and multiple drawers.  Luckily I found this beauty in one of my local vintage stores and instantly fell in love!  It is the perfect size for the bedroom and I love the colour of it.  It was painted using a chalk based paint from the Annie Sloan range and it creates a more subtle look for the room.  I use the drawers to store my ever growing nail varnish collection, makeup collection, sunglasses collection and anything else that I wish to store.  I also use the mirror to hang my long necklaces from it and I have displayed some personal photos and ornaments on it.  It's so great to have somewhere where I can do my hair/makeup rather than using a hallway mirror. 

Is it just me or does a fresh bouquet of Roses always bring happiness to a room?  These beautiful ones were picked up from my local florist, Pipers Florist and every time I look at them they make me smile.  The glass vase was given to my Husband and I on our wedding day and I love having it in the house as it reminds us of our special day!

How cute is this little gold terrarium??  I bought this a while ago because I wanted to inject a bit of warmth to the lounge and by putting a candle inside, it works really well near the fireplace and when lit it looks so magical!  

Another thing I have become obsessed with is styling shelves.  I recently bought a big shelving unit from Ikea and it allowed me to experiment with styling ornaments and books etc.  My favourite way to style is by mixing my favourite fashion books with plants/ornaments.  It gives the shelf height and it allows you to change the books that you want to display. 

I have never really owned a proper jewellery stand.  My jewellery has either been hanging off a hook or tangled up in one of my drawers.  So when I looked at Oliver bonas and their amazing collection of jewellery stands I knew that I needed to snap one up right away!  Unfortunately the one that I bought has now been discontinued, however here are some similar ones that they are currently stocking.  I love their collection because they manage to incorporate different textures and materials... my one is made up of a brass stand with a marble base.  The different levels, allow me to merchandise bracelets, short necklaces and longer necklaces all at once!    

Since I can remember, I have always had a love for cushions of all shapes and sizes.  I constantly find myself in interior shops drooling over the latest cushions with patterns, textures and colours.  My gorgeous big sister very kindly bought these two HUGE cushions for us from Next and they are the most sunning cushions ever!  They are silver with a Morrocan styled pattern running through in a contrasting grey shade.  I always find that Next do the best cushions so check out their website.    

So now all we need to do is finish off the renovations and then my husband and I will be able to move our furniture into our first home... how exciting?!!!  I will be keeping you all posted when we are finally in and give you all a house tour... but until then, I hope you are all having a great week!

M x

Exploring the Thames!

My parents recently bought a boat in St Margarets, because they wanted to have something to allow them to escape and travel.  I thought it was a wonderful idea, because it's like a second home for whenever we want to explore the Thames in all its glory!  So the other week, I went to visit their boat with Perry and my parents to check out the area and have a weekend adventure!

The first stop of the day was a good proper roast lunch and what better way to have that then, right on the Thames edge.  We stopped by The White Swan and it was the most beautiful day to visit.  It was a gorgeous white building that was dressed with various wild flowers. The entrance to the pub is up two flights of stairs, because when the tide comes in... all of the area becomes flooded by over a metre high!

We decided to eat our lunch outside in the garden area and it was so special.  We ate the most delicious belly of pork with crackling, roast potatoes, seasonal vegetables, Yorkshire puddings and gravy.  It was so lovely to enjoy a family lunch together by the river and have the sun shining down on us!  

After our lunch we went for a long walk along the Twickenham river and embraced the wonders that it had to offer.  There were so many beautiful little boats bobbing around and the swans were all dancing in the water.  It was such a pretty setting!

How pretty are these gorgeous wild flowers?  There were hundreds of these all around near the river and they made the area really peaceful and stunning to admire.  It was the most perfect scenery for reading a book or walking your dog,,, the latter was what I did, as my family dog was with us and I enjoyed parading her along the river bank.

On all of the benches in the area, they had numerous quotes from famous literature on them.  My favourite quote was "Act well your part; There all the honour lies, Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind."  It is all about how honor and shame is reflected on the way you act, rather than on your social condition.  An example of this would be when you have a task to do.  Instead of making other people do it for you, you take it upon yourself to make an honourable effort in completing it!

Whilst on our walk, we unexpectedly came across the statues of female figures, which adorn a cascade and pool in the riverside portion of the York House Gardens.  

The sculptures are carved in the renowned Italian white marble of Carrara.  They represent the Oceanides, or sea nymphs of Greek Mythology, and although we cannot be sure of the name of the sculptor, it is believed that they came from a Roman studio in the nineteenth century.  

Unfortunately my pictures do not do the statues any justice... I wish you could have seen what I did. I cannot put into words how in awe I was when I saw them up close!  The whole picture that you see of each individual sea nymph, when you take a step back and allow it to sink in, is incredible as you can admire the precision and detail of each statue, especially as each one has a different emotion on it's face!  Given the fact that they are so old and hand carved, they really are quite breathtaking!

It has been such a wonderful weekend, exploring the Thames in all it's glory.  And I have thoroughly enjoyed Twickenham's company and all that it has to offer!  I'm so excited to return here in the Summer! 

Have you travelled to anywhere nice recently?

M x