Homemade home update.

Want a sneak peek of the nearly finished bedrooms??.

Well here is a little look.

 I don't want to reveal too much as I hope to take some PROPER photographs on a PROPER camera. (Gasp! No instagram!) so here are just a few snippets.

 If you would like to see some before and after pictures you can here, here, here and here!!.

And now look at the master bedroom, Poppy's bedroom and the twins bedroom. Already HUGE transformations and we have stuck to a budget!.

This house is like mine and my husbands other baby. We talk about it for the most part of every day. We dream of it and love it more than anything!. And so far it is turning out to be everything I imagined and more.

Lauren x

Some time away.

Hello strangers!.

 I know I've been useless on the blogging front and I am sure you are all dying to know how the house is. Well....Its the same!.

 Nothing has changed since we last spoke. My husband and I decided to take 10 days away from renovating as we felt totally drained and were starting to loose interest. So instead we have been spending time with the children, doing housework and we even had a very rare night out together on Saturday. I even got a bit drunk. Crazy, I know.

 But thanks to a little time away we are feeling millions better and have a new zest for the renovation. Here's a little taster of what I have been inspired by the past few days. Can you guess what will be going on this weekend?. :))))))

Source

Both pictures from same Source

Both pictures from same source

I finally feel excited about this again.

Lauren x

Homemade home update.

Hey everyone!. Hope you are all well and enjoyed your weekend. I was very lucky to get tickets to take the children to see the gruffalo stage show on Sunday. It was fantastic. We thoroughly enjoyed it and have been singing g g g gruffalo since.

 My husband missed out on all the fun and was at the house.  But look how well he, and his dad, have done.

The hallway and stairs are really starting to some together.



The first coat of blue was applied.



And already I am so pleased with how it looks. I can totally imagine how it will look once the floor has been painted and the fabulous light has been hung.

The lights were fitted in the bathroom this weekend. They have really brightened it up. Its amazing what a few spot lights can do for the ambiance of a room.

Now just to find some flooring!. Having a nightmare as I want blue and white checkered floor. Can it be found?. Erm... a... big... fat... NO!. It looks like we may have to go for the black and white. Still very lovely though.

So as you can see, slowly but surely our house is starting to become a home.

Lauren x

A little homemade home update.

I hope everyone has had a lovely weekend. Mine has been ok. Not amazing. But ok. I think I have just had one of those days today.

 I woke at 5.30am to go to the bootsale but it was cancelled due to a tiny splattering of rain. Then to go to the lazy bones and not find anything. Then it rained all day and we were stuck in doors. I did manage to sneak out to my favourite Charity shop though, The Sue Ryder shop. I found this cute 8 set of tams soup bowls.

 We have been at the house over the weekend too and our bedroom is coming along nicely. I am really looking forward to painting the floors. I think it will make the rooms look entirely different.

I have also been sprucing up all our second hand furniture. Ready for the big move.

The pretty sewing box/table that needed wood filling/sanding has now been primed ready for its colour. I can't decide on which?. (Colour for the top and middle as legs are staying original).

 Then the £3.50 ikea children's table and chairs that I'm doing in a lovely blue.

Still rather a lot to do. I have finally designed the stairs and landing. Cant wait to share with you all. But will save that for another post.

Now...Off to watch antiques roadshow!.

Lauren x

(By the way did you notice that I hadn't used capital letters on my last two posts. I had noticed that A LOT of American bloggers do this. And wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Did it save time?. More personal?. Well honestly, it didn't change a thing. Just made me look lazy. So I'm back to normal now!)

In an English country garden.

Hello there strangers!.

 Well, its been 5 days since my last post and I'm very happy to tell you that Poppy is almost better and we have had a wonderful weekend!. She won't be back at school just yet and to be honest I have loved having her at home so much I don't ever want her to go back!.

 It has been freezing here in Essex and we are meant to have some snow this week. The cold weather has meant I haven't been able to do as much gardening as I would have hoped. But it has meant I have been dreaming about our little garden and I went out this weekend and bought seeds so that we can plant flowers.
 The veggies are underway, with the tomatoes and strawberries planted in trays indoors and I have been preparing the soil for the warmer months. (I hope this cold weather doesn't ruin my hard work!).

 Now, back to the flowers.
 I have always wanted a real cottage garden, jam packed with colourful flowers.  Something that when you look at it you just get lost in the beauty of all the pretty shades and smells. I want flowers that attract butterflies and bees and flowers that grow high up the old Victorian wall that surrounds the garden. Where the children can play in the Wendy house amidst the sunflowers and we can drink pimms next to the poppies (OF COURSE!). Ahhhhh it sounds heavenly.

Some inspiration

How pretty are these pictures I found online. There are some serious gardeners out there.

These are such happy pictures. I love them.

 I have got quite a lot of work to do...with the house, business, book, children, husband and everyday life you probably all think I'm mad starting a project like this. But I LOVE a project. I'm renown for it. Especially as something like this will make our home so special. I can imagine breakfast on the patio, looking at all the stunning flowers.

 This is what I'm starting with;

This is just one side of the garden. To the right (as you look at the photo) we have another wall and strip of soil. and the patio goes right up to the house.

So as you can see I lots to do before I have my English cottage garden. I'm not expecting Chelsea flower show!. But hopefully I will be able to grow some pretty flowers.

 Lauren x

 

Homemade home update

Update;

 Work is underway on the bathroom!. It currently looks like this;

Empty, smelly and pretty darn horrible!. We are just going to put in an ordinary steel bath that we got super cheap (£80) sink and heated towel rail. I wanted to half tile the walls and then wallpaper but with a husband for a plumber who has a million and one reasons why wallpaper is not suitable for a bathroom I have had to re-think. But I am so looking forward to it being a clean, family friendly room soon.

 I have also been thinking about all this lovely wood floor we have.

As you all know I am in love with white wood floor but whilst I was researching I came across these pictures. I especially like the blue floorboards and stairs!. 

Sourced online

Country Living

Door sixteen

This old house

I would LOVE to paint the bathroom floor chequered like this but I know this is not pratical. But its sooooooo pretty!. I definitely might do the stairs though, what do you think?!.

 Lauren x

Keep calm and carry on and support your local business's.

La senza. Another HUGE high street company has gone into administration. This is not a surprise to many people as everyday in the news we see more and more big business's closing, the country's debt rising and more unemployed people. We are living in a frightingly scary economy, I waked down my local high street the other day and every other shop seems to have been closed. This is a thriving town centre I'm talking about!.

 It makes you wonder if the big companies cant cope how will the small ones?. But the thing is now is the time for a small business to thrive. Customers are trading their big stores for smaller business's. Which can now offer more and more with online shopping, cheaper items and personalised customer service. As a country we need to support our small, local business's as these are what will save this country from financial collapse!.

 I do my job because I LOVE IT!. Therefore I put everything into my work, juggle motherhood and running a family home, and I never tire from it. Which is why I am still open for business and will hopefully go from strength to strength this year.

 I want to help other small business so I am offering 1 month free advertising on my blog. There is no catch. Send me an email at lauren_sutherland@hotmail.co.uk with your business and advert and you can be featured on a new side bar. Hopefully this little step will help other companies drum up business and have a successful 2012.

 Lets all pull together, put our best foot forward, shop local, spend wisely and make Britain Great Britain!.

 

 Lauren x

Homemade home;The first coat of paint.

A little update;

Henry and Ted's bedroom has been plastered, the floor sanded and the walls, ceiling, coving and skirting painted. It looks a whole lot better and brighter and its so lovely to see a difference after a slow few weeks. One wall is being wallpapered and the floor needs painting white but I'm sure you will agree, what a difference!.

The wall with the sample paper on has not been painted magnolia, like the rest of the room. The magnolia paint on the walls was just a tub we found in the garage (No farrow and Ball for me I'm sad to say). But I'm very pleased with the results. I didn't want to put white everywhere,

1;Reason being this will be toddler twins bedroom, I'm already being brave using such light colour's. (Eeekk muddy, sticky fingers all over the walls! But I love the colours!).

2; With the white floor the room may have felt a little cold and clinical. I think the magnolia warms it up and keeps the room bright.

 The next room we are going to make a start on is the bathroom. The worst bathroom in the history of bathrooms. It has a HUGE water tank slap bang in the middle of it, we cant afford to switch to a combi boiler so its staying. Right where it is. taking up all the room!. 

The only plus side (I think) is that we can use it as an airing cupboard. So cosy towels is a good thing right?!.

 The roll top bath?. We cant even fit in a decent sized radiator so looks like an ordinary bath, space saving and cheaper.



I had kind of hoped for a bathroom like this Roll top romance.

 But it looks like we will be having something very different. But on the bright side I'm looking forward to hunting for the perfect accessories. Especially a bevelled mirror. And a shelf stacked with books, I love reading in the bath!.

 I look forward to sharing it all with you!,

 Lauren x

 

Homemade home bargain hunt!

Today, my husband and I, went hunting for a cheap lounge floor and tiles for the bathroom and kitchen. We have a fairly large lounge area and I thought it would cost a fortune to cover in our preferred floor. I desperately wanted real wood  but it is so expensive so decided to go with a wood effect laminate. Looks pretty good and great for a family like us (drink spills, crashing toys and lots of traffic).

 So, I wanted floor like this;

And my husband wanted a floor like this;

In the end we bought this!;

To be honest I do quite like it. And it was so cheap, including underlay and beading it cost us just over £250 for the whole room, which is 28 square feet!.  We bought it all from Homebase. I can't complain and I gave in in the end as when we have a farmhouse in the country I will make the decision then, ha ha!.

We also bought the tiles today as they were also on offer, we managed to get enough tiles for the bathroom, kitchen and separate toilet for £77.00!!!.

biselado tiles Homebase

Let me know what you think of the floor,

 Lauren x