a brief history of a house weirdo

In the beginning there was a kid who more often than not would be found drawing room plans and re-arranging furniture when left to her own devices. Not just in her bedroom but the whole house was fair game when her parents had left the vicinity… perhaps enjoying the dramatic big “SURPRISE!” reveals the most (possibly further inspired by the 90’s Changing Rooms tv antics) 

In retrospect it mainly just leaves me wondering how on earth the skinny weed I was* had the muscle power to be moving leather sofas about unaided and why my parents were so fine with this fate and even indulged the whims further taking me on my fortnightly pilgrimage to Hatfield Habitat to lust after my dream kitchen combo… again. Ever the budding visionary I remember persuading my older brother to banish the bland pale blue in his teenage bedroom and paint each of his walls a different colour- thus magenta (I feel like this may have actually been THE Dulux shade! Memory win!!) a bright yellow, teal green and a moody dark blue was the palette decided (read dictated) upon… turned out just umm obviously STUNNING! Llewellyn-Bowen would’ve rejoiced! I do know the hamster (name escapes me) did essentially try to commit suicide when placed back upon the shelf amongst this new dazzling scheme… but you know I’m sure he warmed up to it once the psychedelic effect settled!

My first memory of interior design utter sheer joy and excitement was my mum picking out our new bedroom scheme for my sister and I aged 6… it was the 80’s and ALL about the Next Home range and she’d picked out a blue and pink theme with a flecked carpet (yes blue AND pink carpet! Dream) and can still recall her sponge stippling the fireplace in similar tones. Excellent attention to detail!  The reversible duvet covers were genius as we could match them up or be verrrrry individual each expressing our preference that day (broadly speaking I went more for the abstract pastel pink version and my younger sister was the blue impressionist side). Anyway this bedroom was certainly the coolest around, yet being ever the re-arranging budding creative I was, it just needed a lil summat spesh to set it all off… 

I had the genius idea to put to good use a new found curiosity I’d stumbled upon in wonderment in the bathroom… little cute cotton dangly things on handy blue string loops that GREW when immersed in water and looked simply STUN when coloured in in my finest felt tips!! Boxes filled with them! I’d leave them to dry between each stage upon the radiator and then when totally dry the strings would get looped over my window handles and hang amongst the diamond leaded display… bright felt-tipped bobbing rainbow window decorations… dazzling! Turns out unfortunately my mum didn’t much appreciate her supply of Lillette tampons being utilised in such a way though! YAWN! Countless times when saying goodnight and going to shut my curtains she would tell me my new decorations were simply not allowed (albeit through a very confusing smirk/stifled laughter)… much to my bewilderment?!!? Eventually she stopped telling me and just took them down… much to my absolute total wrath and despondence of my creative efforts being routinely hampered. Eventually I gave up… or maybe she simply hid the box and thus outsmarted the 6 year old. 

So yep I’ve been a DIY decorator/stylist from the onset… and always enjoyed that extra personal (hygiene) touch! Nowadays I would say my inner magpie is always on the lookout for that unusual picture, piece of furniture, light I’ve fallen in love with or decorative touch I can create to make my home a lovely place to be. More often than not my stuff comes from ebay/charity shops/random finds, I totally believe you don’t have to spend a fortune to achieve a home that feels special (tampons can be bought for around a quid) 😉 But simply I just try to do what I really like and bring together things that I love the most. Here I’m going to document some of those, write about projects on the go and discoveries upon the way.

Right now I want to share what has basically been nagging at my brain since umm January. Officially now ages ago and what has been my sunny solution in the bf’s gaf…   

*still very much weed-like I must confess.