Dining room

Kitchen

I posted about my new home a couple of weeks after moving in and it looked a bit bare then. I had started to put my stamp on the house but I think it looks a lot better now. You can take a look and compare for yourself here.


I bought Martyn this print because we visited Tintern on his birthday and we're both huge train geeks. We had bare walls in our bedroom for months so I was glad to see this go up and add a bit of colour. The bedding was a ASDA £6 sale bargain, Martyn loves the Alps and we are going on holiday there in June so I couldn't leave it in store. I know it's not Christmas anymore but it's still ski season so it's staying on a bit longer.



It's hard to jazz up a bathroom but I found this glass bottle in a charity shop and we bought the picture whilst on holiday in Dorset last year to add some interest.


I'm a bit of a magpie so my room is fast becoming full of junk and nick nacks. My brother brought this frame back from his trip to Florida (can't believe he went to the Wizarding World without me) and I've picked up some cheap and cheerful bedside tables and bookcases from Ikea.


Some more George bedding in my room, isn't it cute?! You really need to check out their bedding because it's usually only about £12 and they always have something I like. If you're looking to make your halls of residence room a bit more pleasant or want to impress some guests using your spare room for next to nothing then bedding some budget bedding is the way to go.


I moved the old record play in my room because Martyn treated himself to a fancy new one for Christmas. He can listen to punk downstairs and I can blast Morrissey and 60s girl bands upstairs.


I bought this pink glass dressing table set from a charity shop, lego librarian is obviously drunk and has fallen over. I've got a few dressing table sets but only one dressing table, I'll have to rotate them. I just can't leave them in the charity shop for 3-4 quid.



I think the biggest improvement since I last posted  about the house has been in the kitchen. The tiles used to be brown but I forked out £50 for some white tile paint and it's really made a huge impact on the kitchen. I also painted the little cupboard white and added some eBay handles to the doors to give it a new lease of life.
There are a few more things I want to change like the strip blinds that are in some rooms which are a bit dated now but I'm trying to hold back on spending more money and put it into my house deposit and renovation fund. Most of the houses I've looked at in my budget would eventually need a new kitchen, bathroom, contemporary blinds and new flooring. I'm having to weigh things up because I'm going to be in this house for a couple of years whilst saving so I want it to be comfortable but I also want my own place to be kitted out with the best.


This hanging frame was a Wilkinsons bargain, it was about £6 and was the perfect place for me to hang my Budapest holiday photos.


The pride and joy in my kitchen is my new KitchenAid. Is it weird that I clean it more than anything else in the house? I don't like it to gather any dust. She's a beaut!


So there you have it, a closer look at my house and all my little knick-knacks. How have you made rented accommodation feel more like home? Any tips for budgeting and saving for a house?

My last Brit Pack post was an outfit post but as a girl who wears mainly black a pastel theme is a little tricky for me. I am now the owner of a glittery mint jumper but that didn't arrive until last night so I thought I would share a post about what I'm obsessing over at the moment, homeware. I'm moving house (sorry to keep going on about it) in a few weeks time and I've been looking at items to spruce the place up.

My boyfriend and his friends have been living in the house for a few years. The others have all moved on now but the house still feels like a bachelor pad. There really wasn't a feminine touch to the house before I met Martyn and I've slowly been filling the place with useful things like a little bin in the bathroom and adding some colour with new bedding. Now that I'm moving in I want to add my stamp on the place and make it feel like our home.

Martyn's bunny called Buttons has ripped some wallpaper and I want to paint my bedroom but there's not much major work or repairs that needs to be done so now I'm getting all excited about soft furnishings and I'm going to go for a pastel colour theme in my dressing room/guest room and in the kitchen. I've already got a lot of things in these colours so I won't need to get much but it would be great to have some items that we have bought together for the house.

As I've mentioned on here previously I've made the big decision to start saving to buy my own home. I love living at home with my family but I really don't want to be living at home much past the age of 30 and want to give my mum the opportunity to downsize and enjoy herself with the proceeds from selling the house. There is no 'Bank of Mum and Dad' for me to fall back on, no inheritance I can spend and I really don't earn a vast wage so it's going to be quite the struggle but hopefully worth the long wait.

I've got two options open to me when it comes to searching for my first home. I can either opt for a terraced house in the Valleys with plenty of space and room to make a profit if I make a few improvements or I can opt for a smaller property, a flat in Cardiff or Newport. Living in the Valleys and not a city really doesn't bother me if there is a train station in the town and the idea of space and spare rooms appeals to me. A more modern flat would need a lot less work and would mean I'm closer to friends so I've a lot of thinking to do.

I've found a few buildings I wouldn't mind living in with a bit of character and I've already made a Pinterest board to get a few ideas together for some interior inspiration. I've also started reading blogs such as this journal because I really don't know the first thing about dressing a home . If you know of any blogs about homes and saving tips then please leave me some links.

• Mortgage arrangement fee - This can be up to £1000 or added to your mortgage.
  
  
• Valuation fee - This is the fee lenders charge for a valuation to check the property exists and that it also offers sufficient security for the loan. This can be about £300.
  
  
• Legal fees - I'm looking at about £500, maybe more for this.
  
  
• Stamp duty - I might get out of this one as a flat or house in my area would be under £125,000 and therefore exempt.
  
  
• Surveys - Definitely going to need one of these to check if the house I want to buy is sound. This will set me back another couple of hundred pounds.
  
  
• Removal costs - I don't have much to move and have access to a van, one thing I don't need to worry about. 

• House repairs - There's bound to be a leaky sink, painting and other odd jobs to do. Going to need at least £500 for paint, carpet and other bits that need refreshing.

I also need to think about essential extras: light bulbs, lamp shades, toilet brush, washing up bowl, door mats, extension leads etc I will be moving in from my family home and not a rented home so I have none of these things.I've got a separate savings fund for these items and I'm picking up things as I go along and storing them in the garage for the day I get my own place.I've already amassed quite the kitchenware selection from charity shops and I treated myself to some lovely Le Creuset items with vouchers I was given recently.



I'm aiming to get as much furniture as I can from Freecycle and local auctions to keep costs down and I like the shabby, antique kind of look more than sleek lines so  I'm happy to paint any furniture I can find and have it a little mismatched until I can replace it with my own new items.

Any homeowners have some tips for me? What have I forgotten and what are the major pitfalls?

*collaborative post

Luxury clothing and homeware brand The White Company opened its first store in Wales at St David’s, the Cardiff shopping centre a couple of weeks ago. The retailer is another high end addition to the Cardiff after both Vivienne Westwood and Armani have joined us here.

I attended the launch night with my mate Sam, lots of lovely local bloggers, press and even some Olympic athletes.

I've got a lovely giveaway here on Fat Frocks for you from The Cotswold Company but if you haven't heard of them before here is a little background information on the company:

The Cotswold Company team have spent the past 16 years supplying country inspired furniture made from the finest materials. They have all sorts ranging from storage solutions and accessories to suit both traditional and contemporary tastes. The aim to be honest, fair and trustworthy and deliver quality and style to their customers.

Here are a few items from The Cotswold Company that I would love in my own home:

For your change to win this ace prize just fill in the form below, good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

We have been renovating my house for over two years now which has been a slow and painful process. My mum and her partner have done all the work themselves whilst holding down full time jobs which is why it has taken so long. After my parents split we moved to a horrid house that was owned by an old lady, had a weird smell and ugly carpets after living in a nice new house that didn't smell and had neutral carpets. It was quite the culture shock. The downstairs is now about 90% finished and we just need finishing touches like coving and a handrail up the stairs.

The following photos are of my family room/living space which comprises of a kitchen and living room. We have a more formal sitting room at the front of the house and a utility room at the back of the kitchen for all of our appliances. You can see some other posts about some other rooms and progress here

There really want a kitchen before we moved into the house, the old lady had a couple of units, a sink and a cooker in the small utility room out the back but there were no fitted units at all!



The living room and kitchen were separated by a long, dark corridor which we knocked down and we are now left with one big open plan space. It was hard to try and capture this in a photo.







 

The place mats were sale bargain in Wilkinsons, the tumblers are from Next and the lovely purple vase in the middle was a charity shop find.