Bidding & Buying!

Having finished decorating my living room next on the list are my two bedrooms and I finally picked their colours over the weekend so I'm also ready to call the handyman in to complete the task - lesson learnt, where possible throw money at the problem!!

One job I was up for was bidding and winning this gorgeous dressing room my spare room

I'm so pleased, excited and cannot wait for it's arrival! I spent more than I budgeted but it's being delivered and the price was comparable to others listed. It'll be a main feature of my spare room which of course I'll be sharing with you

Another treat this week was this cute pineapple from Rockett St George. I spotted a silver pineapple in a vintage shop during my trip to Brighton but couldn't justify the cost at the time so this is a cheaper alternative for now

 

And finally just because she's so cute here is a picture of my niece with one of my Cabbage Patch Kid dolls... spot the difference!

I hope you're all having a good week - only a couple more days before it's the weekend!

Weekend Wonderful

I had Friday off work so after a trip to the nail salon I was able to join my friend Lisa for a lunch of spicy sausage and goats cheese pizza

After lunch I return home for a potter whilst watching Breakfast for Tiffany's

and then popped up the local pub for a drink with family

Saturday morning I tried out my new egg poacher and cooked a lovely breakfast

The rest of the day was spent sorting through my spare room as I have big plans for it's re-decoration!!

Sunday I ventured to Homebase for paint testers and made this shocking discovery in my local Tesco

Surely this is too soon?!

My friend Maria and her son Louis popped round and we enjoyed the afternoon by candlelight

and indulged in some sweet treats with a cup of tea

I'm now enjoying sitting on the sofa watching X Factor and then of course Downton Abbey before a bath and bed in preparation for a full week at work!

(all photos taken for instagram where you can find me here or username @florenceandmary)

Come Dine With Me

When I decided to change the layout of my living room from this I gave myself a dining room area where previously I had a large space, sofas at one end of the room, tv at the other and would be distracted by a dining table off to the side - esp off putting when it was piled with "stuff"!

Top Tip: check out similar properties as your own online for sale or rent to see how they have laid out their rooms. This is how I came up with my current layout and would never have considered it myself

My dining chairs took MONTHS to arrive from Next but once they did I loved how they look against the white table. I was very impressed with the price for these chairs as similar styles were out of my price range!

There was still something missing on the table, it was still very much a large white space and I didn't want to cover with a tablecloth and detract from the chairs so it was off to the local faux flower florist for a new flower arrangement

All that was left was to host my first dinner party and hope that I'd put the chairs together securely!

I have been thinking about new dinner set for a while now wondering if my vintage china was suitable but my mind was certainly changed when I laid my table

I purchased this pink roses Alfred Meakin set years ago from eBay,  4 each of dinner and side plates (although as you can see one has gone missing!!) and a tureen and platter. I think the pink against the black is so striking and I loved the contrast of modern and harsh black against the vintage floral of the china! Complimented by my pink napkins purchased from one of Rachel Ashwell's Shabby Chic stores

I feel that I'm finally finding "my style" and learning how to mix the modern style suitable to my lifestyle with the vintage touches to add some character, all that's left now is to keep an eye on eBay for more items to add to my dinner set!

Friends and Family Fun

I've been enjoying time spent with friends and family the past couple of weeks

There was fun in the sun on a trip to Brighton for a friends hen last weekend

and yesterday there was a visit from my brother to celebrate his birthday - although it was Violet photographed!

Later that evening Ben & I hosted our first dinner party - it was a sophisticated affair!

and then today we went rambling in the forest for Ben's nephew's birthday 

Despite wearing inappropriate footwear I got involved with den building!

and found that I'm quite at one with nature!

It's well known that being outdoors makes you hungry so Ben and I headed home for leftovers!

I hope you've been having as much fun as me over the weekend, now it's time for a quick bath before settling down for the return of Downton Abbey this evening

Whats with the Wonderwall

I do hope I won't bore you with showing corners of my living room but as you know I've put a lot of effort into bringing it together and enjoy sharing with you!

One particular area that receives much attention and compliments is my "wonderwall" - especially due to it being the first thing that catches peoples eye as they enter the room

It's creation came about when I admired my SIL's wonderwall and deciding I wanted to do something similar but was told in no uncertain terms I needed a theme!

I had been admiring many images of couples on tumblr and  reblogging "love" quotes that a Love theme was decided upon. I started saving images to my desktop, preferring the non traditional images from Breakfast at  Tiffany's, Gone with the Wind etc changing them to black and white and then it was off to the local photographers to print them out in various sizes

Next stop was The Range for mounts and frames, with a few from IKEA for good measure and then the fun began starting with the Victoria bus sign from Oliver Bonas in the center

Here you can see Chanel's "in order to be irreplaceable" print from Rockett St George and a Dirty Dancing card  the postage of which was more than the card itself!

Many East of India signs feature on the wall as well as another print from Rockett St George

So that pretty much sums up my wonderwall! I hope you enjoyed a few details on the prints and images and I'll leave you with a close up of my new table arrangement for a splash of colour!