My Bedroom Makeover Wishlist 2016.

We've been in our house for over a year now and slowely but surely we are going around the rooms and making things how we want them, it's taking longer than I thought, but with a wedding to plan it's currently sitting on the back burner. That doesn't mean however that I haven't got lots of ideas whizzing around my head for exactly how I want things to look and next on the list of things to finish is the bedroom. It's current just a white shell, with almost no personality in it whatsoever, however this does mean we have a great canvas to work on. So here are the thoughts and ideas I have planned for the main bedroom.

Buying Our First Home: 1 Year On.

When this post goes live it'll be 1 year since buying our own house which I have to say is a pretty crazy thought! Not only has the last year gone super quickly but it's starting to feel more like home. 

If you read my last post, 6 months on, you'll know that I was finding it hard to settle in and get that feeling of home. I feel like putting our own stamp on the place has really started to help with these feelings, we've pretty much made the living room exactly how we want it, it's just a matter of working round all the other rooms now and fixing them up.

I know this is a process that probably will never feel complete or fulfilled because I'll always be wanting to do things to the house like adding little touches here and there but after awhile it really has become the place that I can't wait to come back to after work and just relax.

It hasn't all been rainbows and butterflies though, for those first time buyers out there I'm sure this is a common issue but they're lots of things that have gone wrong along the way that we've had to fork out to fix. Not only did we have to buy a whole new set of kitchen appliances when we moved in, the boiler and the old dishwasher broke so we had to repair those. We're also having problems with our guttering at the minute that we're having fixed this weekend, the last thing we want is damp! And to be completely honest, there are still some things we haven't properly unpacked yet and we still have a spare room that you can barely get into because of all the stuff just dumped in there! I am getting to the stages where I'm wanting to sort through things now and really make the most out of our awesome house!

Although we are deep in the mist of paying for our wedding right now, one thing that does excite me about next year is having the funds to start doing the rest of the house up. The next room we really have to sort is the bedroom which is still quite literally a white shell, it has no personality stamp on it what so ever and I can't wait to buy a new bed, loads of fun bed sheets and cushions and really make it more homely. I also can't wait to have all of our wedding photos hanging around the house, that will for sure fill up all of the blank walls and shelves! I mean what else is a wedding for right?

I'm still so happy that we made the big leap from renting to buying our own home, it feels so much better knowing we are paying towards something we'll eventually own and not just wasting money on rent, especially when our mortgage is only £140 more than what our rent was anyway! I'm not about to preach and say this is something you should do because everyone is different but it felt like the right thing to do for us as a couple and we have absolutely no regrets.

It's also an amazing feeling knowing you can do what you want to the place without the restrictions of renting. We can hang what we like, paint what we like and no-one can say otherwise! It's a very liberating feeling after living in rented accommodation for almost 10 years!

Have you recently bought your first home? Or are you saving so you can one day do so? Let me know in the comments!

Interiors: How I Discovered my Retro Lounge Theme.

Over the last few months I've been putting in some serious effort to make our house a home. Although I've been buying interior bits and pieces it didn't quite come together until a couple of weeks ago.
I've been obsessed with analogue photography for as long as I can remember and during a recent Pinterest session I came across some images with vintage cameras on the fireplace. I decided to put one on my fireplace to see how it looked and it sparked huge inspiration in me.

Interiors: Some New Additions.

Since getting our new sofa I've fallen head over heels in love with my lounge. Although I didn't need anymore encouragement to find pieces to make it homely, I'm constantly on the look out to find some new additions

So before I delve into the new stuff, why not catch up with My Lounge Staple Pieces so you are caught up with the last purchases I made.

Entertainment of the Month: March 2016

This month has been a pleasant mixture of old and new entertainment for me. I've been reading much more this past month, or at least trying to, so when I'm reading I've just been popping on How I Met Your Mother because I've seen it all before and it's easy for me to zone out to. However I have watched some exciting new programmes too!

Thirteen

So over the Easter bank holiday everyone on twitter was talking about a BBC drama called Thirteen. Any kind of thriller/drama is right up my street so I basically sat and binge watched the entire 5 episodes. It's about a girl that gets kidnapped and held hostage for 13 years who escapes and the drama follows what happens after that. I really enjoyed this programme, keeps you guessing and constantly on edge!


Daredevil Season 2

I really enjoyed the last season of Daredevil, it took me awhile to get into it but I really enjoyed it. Season 2 is finally live on Netflix and I sat down to watch it right away. To be completely honest, I didn't enjoy this season as much as the last, it seems to be very focused around Elektra. Firstly I don't really know anything about her and secondly, meh, although there are still some pretty impressive fight scenes.


Siblings

This is a new comedy that has popped up from Netflix about a brother and sister who live together. A few familiar faces show up and it's typical awkward situational humour. It's great to just stick on and kind of zone out, but I've been generally enjoying this.

The Night Manager

I was also told about this over the bank holiday Easter weekend, so I headed to the BBC iPlayer immediately. Unfortunately episode 1 had already expired, so I asked my lovely friend Beverley to give me an overview of episode one so I was all caught up. It has an all star cast and hellooo Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie (yes I totally have a crush on him too, it's the accent!). It's about an arms dealer who has been basically untouchable by the police for years and the attempt to bring him down with an undercover agent. I really enjoyed this and if you were thinking of watching it I'd jump in right away before all the episodes expire on BBC iPlayer. Controversially one of my favourite scenes is when you see all of the weapons in actions, it's a very impressive light show.



So this month has been a good mix of old and new, I've really enjoyed watching some new thrillers actually, I wish I knew some more. As always, please send me your TV suggestions, I love watching all sorts of shows, so any recommendations are welcome!

If' you'd like to see what I watched last month, you can do so here.

Interiors: DIY Washy Tape Photo Frames.

I've always been one for displaying my Polaroids on the wall, it's a passion of mine and well, lets face it, they look kinda cool. But this time I didn't want to just stick them to the wall like I had done previously and putting them in a simple frame wasn't 'interesting' enough for my liking.

Interiors: My Lounge Staple Pieces.

After moving into our house last year, it's been one of those 'make do' situations that usually happens while you figure out what to do with your new space and lets face it, save up a bunch of cash.

When we first moved in we had to spend a fortune on buying things we needed, like a cooker, washer, dishwasher etc rather than on making it look nice. That's all about to change this year. I'm going to take some serious time (and money) to do up the house and make it a place I want to spend my hours.

Sunday Sitdown #6

Once again, its time for a little Sunday Sitdown and have a little catch up. Is it me or has the past 3 months just absolutely flown by? I can't believe we're 2 weeks away from April...seesh.

The past months I've been super busy on both the blogging and personal front. So this month I'll certainly be splitting this post into two!

Entertainment of the Month: February 2016

I've been ill twice this month, so I've spent more time than usual binge watching TV whilst feeling sorry for myself. Although I have watched a lot there are a few things that stood out to me, so I'll just dive right into the juicy stuff.

The Martian (2015)

I listen to alllll of the film podcasts and have heard a lot about The Martian since it's release last year but didn't get around to seeing it. Nick came back from the shop one morning after buying his breakfast and had this in hand. We actually sat down to watch this on Valentines day date night. I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this film, its really interesting and entertaining, with the right amount of drama. I do have to admit the ending was a little far fetched but I still really enjoyed the film overall and was happy to finally watch it!


Love (TV Series 2016 - )

My friend actually mentioned this in casual conversation last week and I immediately found it on Netflix and sat down to watch. It's about two completely opposite people who accidentally meet and start a strange love/hate relationship with each other. This is right up my street, both of the characters are quite opposites, one's nerdy and quiet and the other is a rebel and a little chaotic and somehow they just seem to get on. It's also written by Judd Apatow, who wrote Knocked up, Pinapple Express and 40 Year old Virgin, so you are bound to enjoy this if you are a fan of the comedy films mentioned. Very easy to watch and I zoomed through it in about 3 evenings.



The Big Bang Theory Season 7 & 8

Netflix has finally added the 2 most recent seasons of TBBT, I've been waiting to watch these 2 seasons for ages so I'm finally up to date. A lot kind of happens in the two seasons, along with plenty of filler episodes but I still love this programme and I can't wait to watch season 9 after the exciting and very sudden ending to season 8.



The Walking Dead Season 6

For all the mega fans of TWD this month was the month that the season started back up again after a mid-season break. It's been pretty fucking drama filled as you would expect and a great start back to the season! I literally can't say anything without spoiling things but you will not be disappointed as a TWD fan.


As you can see I've been enjoying quite a lot of TV this month, I really am planning on watching more movies from now on. I really want to watch Room, The Revenant and Deadpool this month.

Let me know what you've been binge watching this month! Any suggestions welcome! :)

6 Months On: Buying My First Home.

It's been about 6 months since Nick and I moved into our first home together and to be honest, it still hasn't really sunk in yet. Sometimes when you come home from work to your own house or wake up on a weekend and realise that you are in your own home, it freaks you out a little (well it does for me anyway!)

So the idea for this post is to write down some of the thoughts about settling down here and making it 'home'.

The first thing I struggled with and still do sometimes, is the feeling of 'home'. I'm a very impatient person and seeing the house unfinished and not how I imagined in the daydream of owning my own perfect house, is something I struggle with sometimes. You really do have to learn to live in a constant state of 'work in progress' which I'm coming to terms with. There are the usual factors of money and clashing of ideas you had for the house but often you are lumbered with the unseen things that can't be changed, like the shape and size of the house. You have an ideal in your head of what you want each room to look like but then you can't have it that way because the room literally wont let you, then trying to deal with that and adapt is the next challenge. I recently read somewhere that the things that make your house a 'home' are not the new things you buy but the pieces that are given to you, which are turning out to be true!

The next thing  I'll say is the realisation that it is actually your own home, so when shit breaks, you need to fix it. You can't call up your landlord or blame your estate agents for all the things you need doing to the place and rant at someone else to get it out of your system. It suddenly becomes yourself you are frustrated with for not doing all those little niggley bits that need doing or finishing off, oh and of course the cost that comes with this. We learnt this the hard way when we had to spend £400 right before Christmas to get the boiler fixed so we could get heating...but you realise that £400 is totally worth it compared to freezing your ass off.

Realising all the things you hate about the house that you never saw when walking around and viewing the house, no matter how many times you see it before you buy! There will be things with every house you buy that you don't like, surely? Learning to just accept them and move on is a struggle but as this is our first home, it's things we can look out for when we eventually move onto the next house. It's all a learning curve and we all have to do it at some point.

I should move onto the positive stuff now right? Well of course you get to start buying amazing interior stuff. This is literally my dream. I'm obsessed with interior design, all different types and styles and picking which ones you want in your house is exciting stuff. It's just hard piecing it all together without costing a fortune but I really do class this as a 'hobby' so I'm constantly looking around for pieces to fit into our home. Although I do like the clean and modern look I do find myself adding random little bits here and there to make it feel a little more lived in and loved. So as you'll probably guess, the house will be a mixture!

The next point ties in with the previous one really, which is being able to do whatever you want. No more landlord saying you can't mount pictures or paint something a different colour, you have the freedom to do whatever you want to the house. Get a dog, get 5, ain't no-one to stop you!

Finally, realising you are paying towards something that you will own and will be your future is very re-assuring. Once you've gotten over the scary fact that you are borrowing about a billion pounds from the bank, you soon realise that paying a mortgage towards something you will eventually own is much much nicer than wasting half your earnings on rent every month. If you are lucky, in some cases this is cheaper than renting or you get a better space for a similar price.

This was a very long and rambley post, but I hope it was interesting!
Please let me know how you felt after buying your first home!

Urban Outfitters Under £20 Home Gift Guide.

Clock wise from top left. 

I feel like writing a blog post entirely on website is a bit cheeky and won't be for everyone but I'm really digging Urban Outfitter recently. I think the home ware stuff is really nice and I've already bought some pieces from the store. So I'm putting together a little home ware gift guide from UO for those that love interiors, design and general cool stuff.