Home Sweet Home...

One year ago, moving into our first home. 

Whenever I've asked you lovely lot what you'd like to see a blog about, interiors always gets mentioned, which I love that you love. I know I post a lot of little peaks of how I've decorated on Instagram (@prettylittlepoppet) and today we are celebrating one year of living in our little home so when could be better to take you 'through the keyhole' for a little mooch!

So I'll start by saying I accidentally say 'I' a lot when talking about our home (managed to not say 'my home' there phew) but I was lucky enough that my boyfriend didn't/doesn't really care when it comes to decorating and interior design (yay!) He said as long as he could choose the TV he was happy. So obviously I was very happy too. A TV is just a TV right?

Here's some of my favourite inspiration I looked at when decorating... (images via Pinterest)

I love the different prints in this room, the cushions, rug, throw  are all perfect in my opinion. I also really like the bedside tables and matching lamps. Oh and the headboard too- to me a headboard is a must.

I love how light and airy this room looks, the windows obviously help with this but the light colours and glass table really add to this. I love the miss matching cushions  and the idea of books out on display. It looks gorgeous but lived in!

I LOVE this as an office! It looks tidy but like you actually use it too. the curtains and rug are both fabulous! And I really like the bright coloured walls with the white furniture. 

 Even before we started looking for a place to buy I had boards after boards on Pinterest of anything and everything home related! I had every room planned out, which not surprisingly changed when we actually began looking and everywhere was half the size of my dream Pinterest house, but the style stayed the same. I especially love both Moroccan and Indian pieces- if you can point me in the direction of a Moroccan wedding blanket that doesn't cost the earth then I'll love you forever! 

 I guess the way I'd describe my style is 'Boho Glam' or that's the nice way I'd like everyone to describe it anyway. Our home is laid back and quite a beachy feel but still quite thought through and put together with sparkly bits to finish. Bright colours, mismatching prints and lots of interesting bits and pieces (or knick knacks as your Nan would call them). If I like it I'll find a place for it, I'm not precious about it not sticking to a theme, the theme is just us. We/I want our home to just represent our interests and tastes, unfortunately that's also why we have a bloomin' great big superhero canvas in the hallway (I had to let him have something).

Paints by Crown (clockwise) Cool Aqua, Sunnydaze and Dusted Fondant.

Space wise we had to go for chests of draws instead of bedside tables, we brought these from idea to match the wardrobes but added new draw knobs (from Tkmaxx) I couldnt get enough of any one type so each draw is different but the two chests match each other. They look so much better than the plain black ones that came with them!

Bedding and cushions from H&M, Sequin heart cushion from Next Home.

Pineapple lamp from House of Fraser, Jewellery box from Debenhams, Love candle from H&M,
candle holders from The Range, Bracelet by Samantha Wills.  

So I could talk and talk about our home and interior design in general all day long but I'm sure no one wants to read a ten page blog post so I'll try and stick to the basics, the things I get asked about and just a bunch of pictures. One of the questions I get asked the most is actually what colour we used on our bedroom walls, its 'Cool Aqua' by crown, having googled a little beforehand I read that blue was the most relaxing colour for a bedroom and well I'm a sucker for anything like that (I'd feng shui everywhere if I could), this is actually also why I went for Yellow in our second bedroom which is my work studio, this was the second most relaxing colour on the list, that and the fact that I LOVE yellow! I blame Carol Smiley and 90's TV show 'changing rooms' for my bright orange and yellow bedroom growing up. 

These picture frames and shelf brackets were all spray painted, they were originally black ones from Ikea.
The cake quote is a greeting card I loved and framed- it can be a lot cheaper buying cards than printed quotes.

Frames and Eiffel tower lamp all from Tkmaxx (I wasn't joking when I said everything was from there).

Rug from Next Home, Moroccan Pouffe from Joss & Main, The draws were second hand, All baskets/boxes are from Tkmaxx.

Colour's are such a big thing for me, I went for what I'd call bright pastels as I wanted them to be fresh in the Summer but warm in the Winter. Although our home is nowhere near 'perfect' I wanted it to look like the ones I loved so much on the internet, to me there is no point wishing you had something without trying to make it happen, if it's awful you can always get the white paint out afterwards. 

Rug from Debenhams.

Cushions from H&M and Joss & Main, Magazine rack upcycled from Ebay.

Centre Cushions by Matthew Williamson, Back cushion from H&M.

 The second question I get asked a LOT on Instagram is where our gorgeous living room rug was from, it was from Debenhams (you can buy it here.) and is the most beautiful rug I've ever seen! It was one of the more expensive things we brought but it was worth it as we didn't have to replace any carpets when we moved in but it really finished off the room. At the time I brought quite a few cushions from the Matthew Williamson range (also at Debenhams) that matched it perfectly but through the year I like to switch them over just to give the room a fresh look without redecorating (seasonal cushions, sad I know). By picking a neutral colour for the walls and a grey settee we can get away with matching pretty much any colour's with it. (My personal favourites at the moment are creams and limes for Spring/Summer and Plums and gold's for Autumn/Winter.)  

Rug from Ikea, All other items from Tkmaxx.

'Please Remove Your Jimmy Choos' sign from Ebay UK.

Shopping wise Tkmaxx has to be my favourite for home pieces, whenever I post photos of the things we've brought everyone's always shocked that they are from there so I don't know if my local ones are particularly good for home ware but half our house is from there (including our bar cart, Eiffel tower table lamp, you are my sunshine frame, all of which you may have already seen on Instagram). All of the bedding we've brought so far has been from H&M online as well as a lot of our cushions and a few bits such as candles etc. Other shops that favourite pieces have come from are Joss & Main, Next, The Range and George Home (just click on them for their websites.)

Any particular items I've missed feel free to ask about I could just go on for hours...

Upcyled chair from second hand shop, You can just about see our curtain ties here- they were brought from a local market (not advertised as curtain ties but easy enough to tie into them) and cost about £3 each!

Ikea chair painted in 'Honey Daze' by Crown. 

Fur rug from Ikea,  'Believe' cushion from Dunelm Mill.Map cushion handmade by Pretty Little Poppet, available to order £15.

My favourite item has to be the wicker peacock chair, I have wanted one for so long! I actually had one of my lovely customers tip me off about this particular one as she had seen it for sale at a local recycling shop- these are amazing places to find items to upcycle yourself, this one I spray painted white as a base coat and painted it 'Honey Fever' by Crown. I did the same to a pair of wicker chairs we brought from ikea to use in my studio room to link the two rooms too. I've done a few upcycling projects so might do a blog on those or some easy 'how to' blog's in the future, I've been meaning to paint the gorgeous cream chest of draws we got second hand so I might use those as a project to blog on? 

Retro phone from Next Home, Sunshine frame and bowl both from Tkmaxx.

Coffee table books are the perfect way to add character to your home and show who you are at a glance,
pick ones that are personal to you- they make great conversation starters! 

Lastly 'where do I get my inspiration?' This is probably the trickiest question I've been asked as I honestly just throw things together, hope for the best and change it if it's terrible! But the 3 hours a day I spend on Pinterest probably helps get it all floating around in my head, I think this week I might start a PLP Pinterest account so I can share more interior ideas with you all? I also love reading interior magazines, I've totally swapped fashion mags for these this past year. My favourites are these two monthly mags, being the cheaper ones out there to buy it also means that everything featured is usually from high street shops and totally affordable. 

My really simple quick tips for if your decorating or

restyling a room would be... 

1. Start by choosing three colour's, picking just three base colour's for a room helps to blend a room and keep things together if your not confident enough to clash. So for example you could have blue, cream and gold but your blues don't have to match! Having different shades of a colour gives you way more freedom when buying items.

2. Choose large mirrors or artwork, Fill empty wall spaces (especially above settees or in hallways) with large pieces rather than small frames that will look lost on the wall. Mirrors obviously make spaces look larger while a painting or canvas can tie together your colour scheme or link together the different rooms in your house- Don't be afraid to get the paint out and try and make your own artwork! Just keep it simple, something abstract and colourful rather than an exact replica of a Van Gogh. If painting really isn't your thing you could just cover a canvas in some wallpaper which you can pick up a small sample piece of for free from most shops.

3. Clear the clutter, Get rid of those piles of DVD's and last weeks TV mag, you'll instantly be able to see what spaces you have to work with in the room. If you need these things to hand invest in some nice boxes or an ottoman so they are at least hidden away and take five minutes in the morning to pop them in their place as well as fluff the cushions and make the bed, you'll feel better all day for it. 

Hope you've enjoyed seeing around our home, I'll leave you with a few more photos, feel free to ask about any individual items I may have missed, I can always tweet the links to you if they are still online, Thanks for reading! Sophie x

Custom wardrobes from Ikea, I'd 100% recommend these!- they hold so much!
I've just little stick on clear hooks (from Wilkinsons) to hold all my jewellery and keep it tucked away and tidy. 

6ft 'Shabby Chic' Mirror from Amazon UK. Shell fairy lights from Next Home. 

Back cushions from H&M, centre cushion handmade by Pretty Little Poppet, £15.

Turquoise Buddha statue from Tkmaxx.

Moroccan Lamp from The Range, Bronze Tortoise from George Home, tealight holder from Next Home.
The large glass candle is a old Yankee Candle- cleaned out and I now pop in the smaller taster one.   

Place mat from H&M, Polka dot kettle- Next Home, plate and tea bag holder- George Home.