LovelyLinks...Autumn Fashion For Your Home

I've been on a little bit of an Autumn shopping bender lately. I've been stocking up on all of my favourite essentials, the things that make Autumn and Winter cosy and cheerful for me and I'll be posting about those on Monday. 

Today I wanted to show you some of the things that I am considering for our home this Autumn. 

I like to have neutral walls and furnishings so that we can update the room each season and keep things fresh and interesting.

Autumn for me is all about getting cosy so I've been on the lookout for new blankets, cushions and candles. 

The links below are a few of my favourites:

• I love a pretty candle, especially at this time of year, and this candle from Zara Home is one of my favourites. Its beautifully carved and intricate, a statement piece that will look great in any setting.

• I'm pretty crazy about scented candles too and Yankee Candles make my two favourites, this one, which is perfect for this time of year as its autumnal without being too festive, and this one, which is pretty much all out Christmas in a candle!

• We actually bought two of these cushion covers last Autumn and they are still available from Dunelm Mill. I love the tartan and they are back on our sofa again for this season. They look festive without being totally-all-out Christmassy. We are in the market for a few more to add to these two this year.

• I love this cushion also from H&M, it just looks so squishy and comfortable yet also very elegant. 

• I tend to go a little red crazy at this time of year and this blanket from H&M ticks all the boxes for me. Its a beautiful colour, a gorgeous knitted pattern and is big enough to fit two people under it for sofa cuddles ;)

• Last but not least I think that this decanter and matching glasses from Next are a great idea and since I'm a big lover of mulled wine this is at the top of my shopping list right now. 

So has anybody else been thinking of a few seasonal buys lately? 

Found any gems?

Leave a comment and let us know!

Pretty Craft Storage

After I finished my craft room transformation I wanted to make some pretty things for it. 

I love pretty!!

 However I didn't want to spend any money though.  

I'm on a thrifty spree at the minute! 

I shopped the house and found this box in the cupboard (see I knew it would be useful!)

I chose pretty paper from my collection,  I believe I got it in the Hallmark store.  

Isn't it adorable! Even better because it was free!!!

It was really easy, I used a spray adhesive on the box, after I had cut the paper to size and it fitted so well

This is it in location, I have to say I really love it, it makes me smile and it used up some of the many rolls of wrapping paper sitting around! 

Craft Room Transformation

I spent this weekend transforming the spare room into a guest/craft room.  I had a very small budget to work with so most of the pieces are things we already had.  Advance warning,  I haven't finished yet but I like to see progress on a project as people are doing it so that's what you guys are getting too.

This is what we had to work with, when we moved in, there was a lot of 

family coming to stay for the wedding so we just put in the bed and that was it.  

Now that I see the photos, I'm not sure I love the layout but it seems to

 give me the most room to work at the desk.

The oak drawers were in my husbands old bedroom so we got those when we moved

The green cabinet was given to me by my aunt when she was clearing out her garage,  it was scratched mdf and so I sanded, primed and painted it.  I used Morris Blue from Craig & Rose 1829 Acrylic Eggshell paints

I used these little ice buckets that were left over from the sweetie table at our wedding.  I plan to make labels for them so I know what is in each bucket.  

I found this desk in Auld tat in Ballymoney, they have some amazing pieces for sale.  

This beautiful doll was given to me by my mother-in-law at my wedding, she hand-knitted her dress and train.  Isn't she amazing!

So that is my little craft room, where I can hopefully create in

 peace without my craft stuff ending up all over the house.

So what do you think? Does anyone else have a craft room or closet?  

How do you manage your craft storage

Craft Room Inspiration

I enjoy a variety of crafts and especially love trying new ones.  The only slight downside is my house is cluttered with supplies.  I realised I needed to create a separate space in the house for crafting.

I decided to use the space in the guest room, I want it to be dual purpose - a guest bedroom & a craft room.  I've been gathering all my supplies together so that I can work out what storage I will need.

As always when I start a project I start researching, I browse magazines, the internet an blogs.  I wanted to share some of the inspiration I got with you.

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I love the wicker magazine files on the shelves, I do love wicker!

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Such pretty storage options!

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I love this one, it's perfect for a spare bedroom.

I'm going to be working on transforming my craft room over the weekend so I'm going to show you my progress on Wednesday.  

What I'm Wishing For...

A Pretty Blue & White Kitchen

So the hubby and I are currently living in a rented three bed semi-detached house. It's a lovely little house with plenty of light, a big back garden for our yorkie Fudge and a pretty good sized kitchen. With it being a rented house we aren't allowed to go crazy with the walls. We are allowed to paint but we have to paint it back to white or cream before we leave (way too much hassle). So far we have only put colour on our fireplace wall and have elected to keep the rest of the house neutral, adding colour and interest with accessories.

With that in mind, we want to re-do our kitchen. Right now its kind of a mish mash of stuff, mostly mine from before we got married, and some things we got as wedding presents. 

These are some things we (okay okay, not we...I ) have been drooling over.

Sources... 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7

What we've got....

A great table, like seriously great. It was my grandmothers and it is beautiful and super sturdy. It seats six and also has an extra leaf so you can seat eight comfortably, ten at a push. I think I want to refinish the top (probably paint it white) since the top has a bunch of marks on it from many, many years of abuse love. I'm going to leave the legs the beautiful oak wood that they are. 

We also have a pair of curtains that I love the colour of, a kind of pale teal or dark duck egg blue. We'd like to incorporate more of this colour into our kitchen. Since we want to paint the whole room white we think the blue would add splashes of colour and stop it from looking too stark. 

One of our favourite wedding presents is a beautiful wooden Newgate Pluto Starburst clock, a design classic that I have always loved. We would like to bring the wood tones of the clock into the rest of the room to give it some warmth. 

What we would like...

New Chairs...*sigh* Oh how I love these chairs. These are reproductions from Cult Furniture, a great place for funky furniture and design led pieces. These are a design classic for a reason and will go with any kind of décor that we might have in the future. Definitely the big ticket item in our relatively cheap kitchen re-do since we will need six of them.

A New Rug....I love the colour and pattern of this rug from Urban Outfitters, we already have the black and white version in our bedroom! I'm not entirely sure how well it will stand up to the rigours of kitchen life though, alas this may be something that we will have to forgo in favour of something a little more durable.  

Some Great Accessories...

I adore these salad servers from Zara Home. Beautiful and useful, what's not to like?!

I love that this bowl, also from Zara Home, encompasses both of the elements that we wanted to bring into our kitchen, a beautiful pop of blue colour mixed with natural wood tones.

These glasses from Next would look fantastic on a white shelf against a white wall, the colour would really stand out. 

I'm a big fan of wooden kitchen items, especially bowls and trays. Food always looks so beautiful when laid out on gorgeous wood. This tray is from wilko.com and is really affordable.

Gorgeous colour and funky pattern, these placemats are from John Lewis and are reversible, which is such a great idea! I love the idea of a white table with these adding splashes of colour on top. 

So there you have it, our plan to turn our sorta-kinda-ok-ish kitchen into something blue and bright and beautiful. We plan on getting it done soon (or at least started soon) so I will take some before pics and keep you updated on the makeover as we go along. 

Is anyone else out there redoing a kitchen this summer? Anyone with any ideas about how to add character to a rented home? What would be on your ideal kitchen wishlist? Drop us a line or leave a comment.
We would love to hear suggestions!

A place to eat...

When we moved in to our new home, we were very lucky,  family members donated pieces of furniture until we could buy our own.  The only problem being that it was a little small, we have a kind of open house at meal times and it just wasn't big enough.  Ill also confess I'm already thinking about Christmas!  I do like to plan ahead...

I love something like this but its much to big for our dining room

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Im pretty sure my husband would choose this one if given a choice 

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However the one we ended up going for was this one.  Its from Harveys,  and we felt it was perfect for us,  it doesnt look to big in the smaller dining room put it happily sits 6-8

I love it so much, the seats are so comfortable. It also extends out in the middle so that we can sit more people if we need too.