 
   *Lick gifted me a Colour Consultation, Decorating Kit and paint in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own. When Lick got in touch asking if I'd like to try their Video Colourist Session to help makeover a room in my home I thought it would be a fab opportunity to change up our bedroom a little. My appointment was booked with Sam and held via WhatsApp. We had a lovely chat about interiors including my likes and dislikes, details of the space I wanted advice on (how we use it, what would be staying the same etc), my interiors style and any other requirements. It was a really relaxed chat and Sam gave me the encouragement I needed to go bold as I told her I loved the arch murals I'd been seeing on Instagram recently. After the session I was sent a bespoke mood board with details of Lick paint colours to complete the makeover. Lick then sent me one of their super handy Decorating Kits and a tin of Yellow 01 which is a soft creamy yellow, perfect for adding a cosy pop of colour to our otherwise white bedroom. I'm just going to take a moment here to say how much I love Lick's branding - from the little messages on the packaging to the logo engraved wooden handles and gorgeous tin - there are so many little touches that make them stand out. The decorating kit I received is the single room painting kit which includes a roller and handle, 2" flat brush, metal roller tray and yellow masking tape. We measured out the space behind the bed, taped up the straight sides and floor, then used a pencil with some string and a pin (as a compass) to draw the arch. David did the rollering while I did the arch edge - I was so surprised at how easy it was as a wee DIY project! The paint went on so nice and smooth, it only needed one coat as the wall underneath was white. It's a really thick, well pigmented paint and a little definitely goes a long way. We finished off our mini bedroom makeover with some wee pops of yellow and other cute accessories. First, a few thrifty ones - the cushions were spare ones my Mum had sitting around, I made some pompoms to add to my fairylights (you can see how I did this using a fork here), I added a couple of yellow/gold items to my accessories box frame, and I put one of my great grandmother's vintage doilies in an embroidery hoop as a wall decoration. The beautiful wall hanging is from Letti and Low on Etsy and I found the rattan mirror on eBay. I also couldn't resist taking a pic of one of Cushy Knit's squishy blankets on the bed as it just looks so snuggly with the new colour scheme. Then, last but not least, we got a big yellow mirror ball! I absolutely love it, it's so twinkly in the sun and just makes it feel like a really cheerful space to wake up in, especially on these gloomier mornings. If you're thinking about having a home makeover, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Lick. The colourist sessions are such a great tool for helping inspire you to try something different in your home with confidence. You can find out more here and also be sure to follow Lick on Instagram as there's so many beautiful real homes featured. I keep spotting more colours I'd like to try elsewhere in the house! 
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   Our garden makeover has been a lot slower than the interiors - turns out plants take quite a bit of time to grow! It's an ongoing project, especially now that I'm studying garden design and have lots more elaborate ideas. We've been working on bits and pieces in stages with a couple more big changes planned, I thought I would share where we're up to now as I've had so many lovely messages when I post snippets on Instagram stories. Last year David started by digging out a border along the wall on the lefthand side with old wooden sleepers as edging. Our garden sloped down to a weird triangle point which was previously just mushy lawn, so the soil which was dug out for the border was used to level this out a bit. My Nanny is a keen gardener and so took cuttings of their lovely plants for us to get started. One year on, and they are looking beautiful! The bees seem to think so too. We left it like this for a while as we were deciding what our best quick fixes would be. Then, one weekend last July, we transformed it all! David began by doubling up the fence slats which gives us much more privacy and stops Daisy peeking through to bark at the neighbours. We painted this in Cuprinol 'Coastal Mist' which made such a difference. Though it did take three coats! This was used for the trellis too. Next up was painting the concrete block wall - if we weren't trying to do this quickly and on a tiny budget David would have rendered the wall first. After that we just added a selection of solar string lights (eBay), hooks and hanging baskets. It's quite strange accessorising a garden really. The metal wall decorations belonged to my late uncle, as well as the ceramic plant pots, mini bird table and wooden chairs. David cut a palette in half which we painted with leftover fence paint, it's really handy as a wee drinks table for if you're lying on the picnic blanket or in the hammock. Our hammock (also eBay) was a gift to ourselves at the start of lockdown and honestly it's one of the best things we've ever bought. So comfy and relaxing, it fits both of us in and the stand can be taken apart to fit in the shed. Since then we got a second hand gazebo which has made a lovely sheltered seating area for the evenings, decorated with my vintage fabric scrap bunting. Of course we then made a cocktail bar which was a lot of fun! Now we just need some more sunshine to enjoy it all. Next on our list is French doors. David is keen to get them fitted before winter as the back door has seen better days. After that he wants to patio the area which is currently gravel but that will probably be next year. Oh, and I've still got to paint the wall behind the bar which is the back of the garage and goes around to the side.   before as our wee guest bedroom which often became a dumping ground     This post contains affiliate links to products. I may receive a commission for purchases made through these links. I hadn't planned on creating a new workspace, it kind of just happened. One day, during lockdown, I mentioned how I'd like to work in our small guest bedroom as it's at the front so gets more sun, and wondered if we could swap them round. David wasn't overly keen and it did seem like a hassle/some top procrastination, but a week or so later we were looking for things to do and it suddenly seemed like a great idea! This definitely marked the end of an era. Moving to a much smaller room meant packing up the side of my business I'd been falling out of love with to make sure there was room for all of the important stuff for moving forward. It was absolute chaos. I had instant regrets when both rooms were filled with piles of disorganised EVERYTHING. Why did I have so much stuff?? A day of work later and we had the layout of my new workspace! At this stage I decided I wanted to paint everything a muted green so I ordered a tin of Rust-Oleum Bramwell which we used on the desk, shelf and wicker chair. The chair was actually in the garage from when my parents were clearing out - it used to be in my nursery/bedroom growing up and has constantly changed colour. I covered the cushion with a fat quarter of gorgeous liberty fabric from eBay. I also found half a can of matte gold spray paint from a previous project in the garage, which David used to spray my old bright pink IKEA file shelves with. I love how they turned out! My favourite mini DIY that happened was the clock. This vintage frame was used for displaying brooches and the hands were taken off an old clock which didn't suit the new space. Those, combined with some floral fabric, make a fun but practical addition to my wee gallery wall. The botanical prints are all from CowParsleyCo on Etsy. Keeping to the botanical theme, I treated myself to some custom coasters from Flower Resin - they are made with daisies, ferns, pink petals and gold leaf. So perfect! My desk candle is from The Candle Bothy, I love the cucumber, ginger and mint scent, plus it's a bonus that the label matches perfectly! Last but not least, is my lovely new pink velvet desk chair. I wanted to have a comfier space to sit as I'm so bad for going downstairs to work from the sofa in the living room. I can safely say it has increased productivity by 100%. It's my focus zone, but I can sit with my legs crossed and draw or cosy up with Daisy. I'd seen these in TK Maxx years ago and always wanted an excuse to buy one, but because it was during lockdown I managed to find a similar one on eBay. Everything else we already had, it just needed a bit of reorganisation. I really love it and it's become a place I'm excited to spend time in. So cosy and inviting! As for the old studio, it's now a guest bedroom/gym/games room which makes for a much better use of space.  
  This post contains affiliate links to products. I may receive a commission for purchases made through these links. I'd had some bar ideas on my Garden Inspiration Pinterest board for ages now, but it just seemed like one of those never-going-to-happen projects. We've had this empty, unused corner of the garden which I decided would be the perfect spot for one so it was time to convince David. I showed him lots of examples and he said if I did a sketch of how I wanted it to look, mainly using the scrap materials we already had, we could do it. Yesss!! I can't believe how it's turned out! It's just so real. I initially thought I'd just be getting a fold down pallet shelf or something tiny. In the end we used a bunch of stuff from our garage junk collection - 3 pallets from materials deliveries, trellis for the roof (from a bin store David made), osb countertop (leftover from a garage repair), and the roof posts and monoblocks were salvaged from a skip trip. Of course, with David being a landscape gardener he was able to magic up a lovely patio base, then he constructed the bar using my drawing as a guide. I was in charge of the stools and all of the painting (so much painting). The stools were £12 because of a lucky voucher situation, and I already had foam to use for the tops leftover from another project. I covered the tops with this tropical leaf tablecloth (£6.99) which inspired the colour scheme. The paint cost £24 with lots leftover. The colours are Paradise Petals by Johnstone's and Seagrass by Cuprinol. We did most of the work in a weekend, then I was just waiting for my solar lights to arrive to have fun with the styling. They look so pretty but sadly aren't working, so I've got to return them or I'd have taken a twinkly night-time photo. The other accessories were mostly just things we already had - the chalkboard frames are repurposed from my old tradeshow display. I did buy the floral garland on eBay though. Amazingly, in total we spent around £60! I hope you like our DIY bar! We can't wait to have some friends and family round for cocktail nights! I'll share the rest of our garden makeover soon.  Before - Photograph by Douglas Gibb Photography       This post contains affiliate links to products. I may receive a commission for purchases made through these links. Happy new year! It's been a while but since we've just finished our mini kitchen makeover I thought it would be a nice post to start the year. It's now been over 15 months since we moved into our house, the kitchen wasn't top of the DIY list as it wasn't too bad, just a bit plain. We wanted to give it a cheap and cheerful revamp and since David had time off after new year, what better time to go for it than the holidays?? The original kitchen was in good shape (apart from a couple of wee joinery bits that David fixed) so after a deep clean and light sand we were ready to paint. The paint we used is Autentico Versante Matt in Antique Rose which was £26.95 for 1L - we had leftover after 2/3 coats. Autentico says it's ideal for kitchen cupboards and that its 'built-in moisture membrane and UV filter makes it water resistant and prevent colours from fading'. It's only been on a few days but I love the finish so hopefully it stays that way! To finish them off I chose some ceramic cream and gold drawer knobs which were from TK Maxx, I think they were £5.99 for 6. Of course, we have 13 kitchen cupboard handles but luckily I had a spare from another piece of furniture we upcycled last year! I spent a while looking at various options for the tiles and couldn't decide, so opted for tile stickers which are a much more affordable and less permanent solution if I change my mind anytime soon. These were from Wall Genie on Etsy and were just under £40 for three packs of 30 so I could have the mix of colours I wanted and some spares. I ordered a sample at the start of October and stuck it on to see how durable it was, and found no issues at all. They were a little fiddly to apply perfectly, especially around the sockets, but real tiles would've been much worse! Finally, we added to our vintage plates wall by hanging some diagonally up from the ones we hung when we moved in. I'm so pleased with the end result and it feels like such a happy space now.  We're back with another festive DIY idea! This time we've got the perfect stocking filler; a hot chocolate gift set. My favourite recipe for homemade hot chocolate has to be from Jamie Oliver's Drinks Tube (watch here). It's so thick and chocolatey and you can even make it with different flavoured chocolate - we've tried chocolate orange, peppermint and even chilli! Yum yum. This makes enough to fill a jar like this one here which makes lots of hot chocolate. You're best to watch the video to see how amazing it looks but here's a summary of the recipe. You will need:
I hope you like this gift idea! Do you make a lot of gifts at Christmas?          Fun Mini Filing Cabinet Makeover Lots of you have been asking about the filing cabinet featured in our last blog post and I promised a DIY tutorial so here it is! This is such an easy way of making a plain filing cabinet look fun which is perfect for studios and craft rooms where you want something less officey but still have documents to keep organised. When I originally thought of giving our mini filing cabinet a makeover I'd thought about using decoupage but while browsing The Works the other day I came across these cute adhesive fabric packs which happened to be the perfect size and cheap too. I bought some hoping they would do the job with less mess and time than decoupage and they did! You Will Need:
Super Easy DIY Instructions:
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