Wednesday 28 March 2018

COLOURFUL KITCHEN IDEAS

It's been two and a bit years since I bought my lovely little flat, and I've only just got round to fixing up my kitchen. I was so good when I moved in! I spent hours painting and transforming each room - the bathroom had to be completely rebuilt from scratch (so depressing, but so worth it), I had to paint over intense lime green walls to create a calm, neutral bedroom, maths was needed to get the candy cane striped wall in my study just right, and the living room was pretty much pain-free but still took an age to paint.

The one room I just hadn't touched was my kitchen, which wasn't AWFUL, but it definitely wasn't great. It had off-white walls (that needed painting), off-beige vinyl flooring (that looked grubby constantly), and blue, but-not-nice-blue-more-denim-blue, cabinet doors. And that's how I left it. For two years!

But I've finally worked up the courage to tackle it (on the world's smallest kitchen budget), and here's what I'm thinking...

Colourful quirky bright kitchen ideas
Kitchens: Pinterest
I know they're all over pinterest, but I'm pretty bored of white kitchens. I want something colourful! I'm lucky that my flat get loads of light so it can pull off having colours in each room, without it feeling too busy... or at least that's what I'm telling myself.

I love the idea of bright cabinet doors, against a bright, white room - I've already painted the walls white (whyyy did I not do this years ago?), and have had fun photoshopping different colours onto the existing cabinet doors to see what might work. I'm pretty obsessed with those red cabinets (and it's nice to see a red kitchen that isn't boring grown up dull red), but that geometric bench is also super cute!

Colourful quirky bright kitchen ideas
Kitchens: Pinterest
The other big kitchen update that's happened so far is that the grim flesh-coloured floor is gone! It's been replaced by a fun black and white vinyl floor (which was only £40 from Online Carpets!). Next I've got to change the cabinet doors, mayyybe extend the worktop so it runs the full length of the kitchen, and then the fun bits start. Plants! Shelves! Anthropologie's entire kitchen collection! (Ahem, I can but dream).

So wish me luck on my budget kitchen! I'll keep you updated on how it develops (which, hopefully, won't take another two years...).

Monday 12 March 2018

HAPPY THOUGHTS

Last week was a challenging week. I generally manage to stay pretty zen about the stresses in my life, and I try pretty hard to not obsess or dwell on stuff that gets me down, but I've been totally rubbish at that lately. Work suddenly stepped up a notch and is Busy and Hard, and I'm feeling the pressure of the millions of things I've got to get done before the next Festival rolls around. Aah!

So here's an effort to remember that life doesn't just revolve around work, and there's lots of nice things to be happy about! I remember reading about how making a note of things you were grateful for actually contributed to feeling better in your life, and that's what my happy thoughts series is all about.

These are three of the things that are cheering me up right now...

1. Riley

Riley cat is coming to visit!

If you're a long-time reader you might recognise this furry face - he's my very lovely, fluffy cat, who due to life-happenings, now lives with my ex's parents. For the last few years I've been Riley's holiday home, and it is such a treat to get to hang out with him (even if he covers my flat in cat hairs). Riley's here for the next week and I am so excited for purring cat times!

2. Stardew Valley

Help me, I am OBSESSED. My very nice boyfriend downloaded Stardew Valley for me (which has resulted in me taking ownership of his Switch) and honestly it is the only thing I want to do with my time. I only want to tend my tiny adorable farm, and look after adorable animals, and harvest adorable crops. When I'm not playing it, I'm reading the Stardew Valley reddit, or thinking about my planting strategy.

I am a 32 year old woman! This is not how I thought actual grown ups behaved! But I don't care, it's so much fun, and if you ever enjoyed Harvest Moon or Animal Crossing or SimFarm, you have to give it a go.

3. Queer Eye

If you haven't watched Queer Eye on Netflix yet, girrrrrl what are you doing with your life? I was not prepared for the pure emotion of this show - it's taken all the fun of a makeover show, but added amazing emotional depth and maturity and PURE JOY. It's a spin off from the original show, but this time they battle toxic masculinity and encourage positive self-reflection, and it's so pure and joyful and emotional - I was sobbing in the first 20 minutes of the first episode. It's so good!

I was delighted to discover that Jonathan, the show's groomer and definitely the best one, also has a podcast: Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness. He's just a lovely person to listen too, and I am super into the variety of really interesting subjects he covers - he's got pirates! AI! Politics! Gender identity! Fashion! Sort-of everything! And it's earnest and funny and interesting.

So, it's a new week. I'm going to put my energy into the nice moments, and do my best to not over-analyse or dwell on the stressy stuff (and if I do, I'll just rewatch Queer Eye until I have some perspective and feel better again!).

Monday 5 March 2018

MOTHER'S DAY GIFT GUIDE

Have you remembered it's Mother's Day this Sunday? March 11th for everyone in the UK! If you haven't, don't panic - there's still a week to get something ordered and pretend you were prepared all along.

I'm lucky in that my mum (who I very much hope isn't reading this post and seeing all my present secrets!) is pretty easy to shop for. She's always delighted when she gets flowers, doesn't seem to mind when I gift her endless candles (which in my opinion, you really cannot go wrong with), but she's also into more quirky styles and gifts, which means picking presents for her is really fun (and I can pretend that I'm shopping for me).

Here's a few mum-friendly gifts that caught my eye, and will hopefully inspire you if you're a little bit stuck!

quirky mother's day gift guide

Top row

Middle row

Bottom row