The Ultimate Kitchen Inspo Pictures You Have To See: Pure Scandi Meets Murals Wallpapers

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Two years ago I wrote a post on this blog all about a kitchen company who had blown me away when I had seen their kitchen unit drawer and door fronts used in projects across Pinterest and Instagram. I’d never seen anything like it - there were baby blue doors with polished gold handles, scalloped cloud-front patterns and deep green units teamed with gold metal splashbacks. The company was Naked Doors, a Norfolk based kitchen supplier and part of the Naked Kitchens group, who have since been featured in every decent newspaper ‘Home’ supplement and interiors magazine going. Yet, it wasn’t just the interesting designs and coloured fronts which made Naked Doors so appealing, it was the fact that they sold good quality replacement cabinet doors and drawer fronts for existing kitchen units (or, off the shelf IKEA unit carcasses). You didn’t have to purchase a whole new kitchen to achieve the very desirable, contemporary kitchen you’d pinned to your ‘kitchen inspo’ board.

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Hallway Makeover Reveal With M&L Paints

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This hallway reveal is really a tale of two designs. The upstairs landing is pretty, pink and floral as planned (you can read more about that and see all the ‘before’ pictures here). While the the lower floors are more contemporary and the colour choices were only decided on halfway through the decorating process. For this project I decided that the skirting, doors, windows and coving would be made key features using colour, while the walls would simply be the backdrop. This is in reverse to how the hallway looked before, which was the traditional ‘colour on the walls + white woodwork’ look. The main aim of this makeover was to add some much needed interest to the space and while I had considered adding mouldings and panelling, I felt it would be too imposing on the narrow area. The period doors and and original coving were great features, so it was these that were to ‘sing’.

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Home Office Mini Makeover With West Elm

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I’m delighted to reveal my mini home office makever today on the blog! On my previous post, I talked about how the shared home office I had with my husband wasn’t panning out, while at the same time, the ‘guest room’ in the basement was hardly being used and had turned into a dumping ground. With the help of some amazing and generous companies, especially West Elm, I have now turned this space into my own home office and I LOVE IT!!

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How To Make These Easter Tree 3D Egg Decorations

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In recent years I have really taken to having a little bit of Easter decor around the house to celebrate the season. Rather than a lot of Easter bunnies and chicks, I prefer to create something a bit more grown up to place in the window. These 3D paper decorations are cheap and easy to make, plus they are really effective when hung on blossom branches (real or faux) to create a decorative spring scheme in the home.

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Embracing Pinks And Florals: My Plans For A Hallway Update In My Home

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So it might seem like it’s all talk and no action round these parts - my last post was on a home office and en-suite makeover yet to be revealed - but sometimes projects and opportunities just overlap! Today, I want to talk about my plans for a makeover to my hallway, which has never had much attention and has therefore never really worked. As I have decorated around the house, the hallway has become more of an issue as this is the space that flows between each of these new rooms. Each room feels unrelated and disconnected from the hall, when really it should be an introduction to each separate space.

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My Plans For A Home Office Mini Makeover

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Two years ago I did a ‘before and after’ blog post on creating a home office that both my husband and myself were going to share. As a musician, he was often away travelling and I had only just started this blog, so just blogged as and when for fun. Fast forward two years, he is working from home most of the year and I am running a design consultation business alongside this blog. The shared space was just not working for us anymore. He filled the room with musical paraphernalia and it became a shotgun game to who got to use the desk. I started to think we might be outgrowing the house, when it occurred to me that we had the space, we just were not using it efficiently.

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15 Of The Best new Homeware Products In The Spring/Summer 2019 Collections

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March is usually the month when new pieces from the spring/summer home collections start to become available online or in-store to purchase. I’ve seen quite a few interior bits and bobs this season that I’ve really liked, so I thought I would share some of those ‘must-have’ items out for SS19….

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How To DIY This 3D Dinosaur Art Gallery Wall

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3d dinosaur art with gorilla glue

How to make this 3D Dinosaur art for a kids’ room using plastic dinosaurs and old pictures frames.

3d dinosaur art with gorilla glue
3d dinosaur art with gorilla glue
3d dinosaur art with gorilla glue

If you do not have any dinosaur figures to hand, used plastic dinosaurs are ten a penny in charity shops and car boot sales across the country. In fact, I picked up most of the dinosaurs used in this DIY in the first charity shop I popped into on my local high street! While I was in there I also sourced a collection of frames in different shapes and sizes. I just removed the old artwork and cleaned up the frames they came in.

The first step in creating this DIY is to dispose of the back end of the dinosaur! I took each dinosaur and worked out what I wanted to ‘pop’ out of the frame and what I could get rid of from the back. I mostly kept all legs but got rid of the tail. You do not want your dinosaur to be too top-heavy, but if it is missing a leg it might look strange. Work out your cutting point and then slice him in two using a handsaw. I used a mitre box so that I could make a nice clean, straight chop. However, a mitre box is not essential if you have a good grip.

Once you’ve cut your dinosaurs you’ll find that in most instances your dinosaur is hollow and the sawed plastic rim you need to glue onto your mount inside the frame is quite thin. This is why I chose to use Gorilla Super Glue Precise Gel for this DIY. The gel can be applied in a very precise manner with the thin nozzle. As the glue is a thick gel it will not run, meaning that I can apply it to the cut outline easily without mess. The Precise Gel bonds metal, wood, ceramics, paper, rubber and plastics*. As my dinosaurs are a mix of rubber and plastic to be secured to the card, I knew this was the perfect product to use as they would join successfully.

To make my frames less mismatched and more interesting, I sprayed them all in a variety of bold colours. First of all, I cleaned the frames by wiping them down in soapy water so they didn’t have any dirt or grease on them, then once dry I gave them all two coats of primer in spray-paint form. Once the primer was dry, I used the small craft tins of gloss spray paint to add some colour. I gave all the frames two coats, making sure the frames were covered in paint from each angle.

Once the frames were dry I set about creating the mount to sit inside the frame. To create the mounts I purchased a couple of coloured mounting card boards from a craft supply shop. You need your mount to be strong and not bend as a thin piece of card will not take the weight of a plastic dinosaur. If your frame came with glass you may wish to place a piece of coloured paper behind the glass and glue the dinosaur directly on top of the glass. Both the mounting card and glass options work well for this DIY.

To create the mount I measured the inside of the frame or drew around the glass that it came with. I then cut out my mount with scissors and made sure it fitted my frame and could be easily inserted. Once I was happy with the mount size I applied a small amount of Gorilla Super Glue Precise Gel to the inside of the frame and stuck my card down so it did not shift or move about inside the frame and was completely secure.

3d dinosaur art with gorilla glue

Once I was happy with what dinosaur suited a particular frame, I applied Gorilla Super Glue Precise Gel to the thin rim of the dinosaur innard. As the application is so exact, I did not have to worry about the glue spilling over the edges of the dinosaur and marking the mounting card.

I carefully positioned the dinosaur front where I wanted it to sit in the middle of the frame and held it in place for 10-45 seconds in order for the glue to adhere to each surface. I then allowed my dinosaur art to cure for 24 hours until the glue had completely set.

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3d dinosaur art with gorilla glue

Gorilla Heavy Duty Mounting Tape provides a quick and easy solution to provide a strong and secure, permanent bond to a surface. I simply cut the tape to size with scissors, applied it to the back of the frame vertically (Gorilla recommend this), removed the protective liner then pressed the frame firmly on the wall for a few seconds to grip.

3d dinosaur art with gorilla glue
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My son loves his 3D dinosaur gallery wall and it makes a real statement as part of his bedroom decor. As Gorilla Glue can take real impact, I also know the dinosaurs can take a few knocks without falling off the wall or coming apart.

3d dinosaur art with gorilla glue

Spring Decor Ideas For The Home using pieces from the new collection by Grand Illusions

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The unseasonally good weather we have had this February has made me languish for spring even more than normal. When the New Year begins I always feel that I am just waiting for new buds on the trees, for daffodils to push out the ground and a sign that warmer times are ahead. One of the best ways to anticipate for spring is by freshening up your home with a few new decorative pieces that can help you embrace the season via your decor. All the colour and scent of spring is so enjoyable, why not bring it indoors?

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Picking The Perfect Bunch Of Gifting Flowers With Marks & Spencer

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If there is one thing that I love just as much as interiors (not counting my child and y’know…gin..) it is fresh flowers. My home does not feel complete without fresh blooms perched in the middle of the table or presented on the mantle. People often ask me what is the quickest and most budget-friendly way that they can make a room feel inviting and homely and I always tell them to invest in a beautiful vase brimming with blossoming new stems. What is even better than buying your own flowers is having someone gift you them, so I was delighted when Marks & Spencer popped round with a number of their new gifting bouquets for me to review, as well as give advice on what bouquets are perfectly suited to certain celebratory occasions throughout the year. It is important to remember that flowers are very personal, so you should always pick the right bouquet that will match your recipients personality as well as the occasion. If this all sounds very confusing then don’t worry, read on for my top tips for picking the perfect bunch….

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5 Of The Best Bed Frames

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I’ve not done a ‘best of’ round up for a while, so this week I thought I’d delve into bed frames. Although the online market is saturated with beds, you always just get pages and pages of the same design. Choice is often limited to the plain wood frame, the metal frame or the fabric option with a button headboard. The 5 bed frames that I want to present to you today go above and beyond the ‘basic bed’ design and are real hero pieces that won’t just disappear in a bedroom decor scheme.

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Looking At Kitchen Trends For 2019 With One Of My Favourite Kitchen Suppliers, Howdens.

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Whether you are thinking of installing a whole new kitchen in 2019 or just changing things up a bit, looking at kitchen trend predictions is actually a great way to ensure that you create a kitchen that you love, which also feels current and contemporary. Rather than thinking of trends as styles that go in and out of fashion in a blink of an eye, trend round-ups tend to focus on colours and materials that are elegant, stylish and therefore timeless. This is what Howdens have succeeded in doing with their new kitchen trends e-book for 2019. Spotlighting on four very different kitchen trends, Howdens can help you create your dream kitchen by identifying your core interior style.

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Pretty In Pink: How I Saved Money And Was Sustainable By Updating My Existing Furniture With Grand Illusions Chalk Paint

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When we moved into this house 4 years ago there was an alcove in the kitchen/diner that was screaming out for a display cabinet. The alcove to the right of the fireplace contained the fridge, but with boxes bulging with glassware and cake tins, it made sense that the other alcove accommodated a cabinet/dresser. The space is relatively narrow and the ceiling low, so it took me a long time to hunt down the right piece of petite furniture. After a two month search, I finally found the exact right thing on eBay and this pretty cabinet below became mine for the small sum of £40.

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Using Treron, One Of The New 9 Farrow & Ball Colours, In My Home.

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In September this year the esteemed paint manufacturer Farrow & Ball released 9 brand new colours to take their palette up to 132 hues. Without looking like I am very late to the party, I held off writing about the colours until they had been used in abundance in ‘real homes’. The thing is with Farrow & Ball press images is they are just so good. They hire the best stylists and produce the most amazing pictures, they could probably rub a dog turd on the wall and it would look like a desirable colour to paint your guest bedroom in. What I really wanted to see was how the colours would look in different types of homes and in different settings. Plus, when I received the press pack (which included sample tins of the 9 new shades) there was one colour in particular, Treron, which I flagged for use on the tongue and groove in my bathroom.

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My Prediction For The Big Interior Trends of 2019

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A few weeks ago I attended a bloggers dinner at the Miele London showroom to talk all things interior trends for 2019. Before the event all the bloggers were asked for their predictions beforehand and it was quite surprising to see that we were all pretty much on the same page to what we think is ‘over’ in interiors, and what we think will be the next thing that everyone will be doing in their home.

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7 Simple Christmas Styling Ideas For Festive Instagram Pictures

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‘Tis the season for…..doin’ it for the ‘gram! Chances are if you read my blog you are either one of two things (or both): an interior fanatic who loves changing things up at home and / or addicted to interiors on Instagram. There is nothing like a bit of festive inspo on Instagram when it comes to this time of year (although the vast amount of ‘Christmas In November’ on Insta this year has rightly had a few people shudder in horror.) This Christmas I was lucky enough to collaborate with House Of Fraser, styling a few of their Christmas collections in my home

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Giving My Kitchen A Facelift With The Karbon Single Lever Tap By Kohler

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Sometimes it is the simplest changes that can transform a room: a new cushion to refresh a living space or a new vase as a great focal point on an old table. Our kitchen at home is looking a bit tired, but we are years away from replacing it. Yet our kitchen tap was chipped, leaking and covered in ‘you’ll never be able to remove it in a million years’ limescale, so I decided I wanted to swap it out for something special and new to try and reinvigorate the area. Our old tap was a basic chrome bridge tap - so standard, so simple. If I was going to make an impact with a new tap then I wanted something really exceptional and individual, something that would draw attention as the ‘hero’ piece in the kitchen. Instantly, I thought I would want an instagramable polished brass tap, but as I have been working closely with bathroom & kitchen suppliers Kohler this year I was introduced to their very modern, very sexy Karbon single lever tap.

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DIY Advent Calendar Indoor Wreath

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I was recently commissioned by the chocolate company Green & Black’s to create some Instagram Christmas content with their Miniature Bar Collections. I decided to create an indoor wreath which also doubled up as a DIY advent calendar, as this way I was creating something decorative for the home as well as it having a function! This is the end result below, which I was quite happy with as it looked quite pretty and filled the house with the smell of eucalyptus.

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How To Easily Restore A Lacklustre Cast Iron Fireplace

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The cast-iron period fireplace in my kitchen had not been looking its best for a good while. The front of the fireplace had glimmers of rust (I’ve since found out you should never clean a fireplace with a wet rag or it will rust - who knew??) with the edges of the fireplace having a chalky white rust all around. Before I completely redecorated this space I needed to sort it out. It was suggested to me by a lot of people that I give the fireplace a coat of black metal paint, but I knew that would completely ruin the beautiful iron shine and make it look flat and inauthentic. Instead, I wanted to restore this fireplace properly, so I did quite a bit of research into how I could do that. I purchased the following products and hoped for the best, luckily the fireplace turned out better than I could have ever expected! This is why I want to share this on the blog today as I was so happy with the result and thought it might help others (this post is in no way sponsored, I purchased these items with my own money).

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