Home is where the heart is.

It has been one week and one day since we moved into our beloved home. 

The home we have agonised over for two and a half years. Two and a half years of collecting furniture, salvaging items and attempting to completely renovate the whole house on a budget of £5000. And we have done it!

 It really has been a labour of love and from the minute we moved our last box of possessions into the house it was home. We are settled, happy. Absolutely loving the fresh air. The rural backdrop. The retro theme. We have been doing lots of walking, playing in the garden, picking blackberries. Eating lots of home cooked food and just enjoying every second of being a family. 

Home is where the heart is. 

I really want to get some professional shots of the house to share with you all but right now things are so hectic here that these phone ones will have to do. I hope you get a feel for the house. 

There is still lots to do. But they are all a work in progress. 

I still want a dog, a few chickens and a veggie patch.  I might have to wait a bit longer for these though ;) 

Thanks for popping by to have a peek at our new home. We hope you like!

Lauren x

Weekend in the sunshine.

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend? We have had the best one of the summer so far. With the Olympic closing ceremony, which may I add was amazing, family fun, yummy BBQ and meteor shower watching (I saw just one but that was enough for me!) it has been pretty good. 

 We made the most of spending time outside in the sunshine, making sure the children got plenty of vitamin d. I feel incredibly relaxed for all the lazing around, it feels good to store some of that lazy afternoon basking before the school term starts again in a few weeks. 

We also spotted our first Conker! Poppy will be keeping a close eye on that one. Can you see it in the picture?

And of course we, well my wonderful husband, spent some time at the house. He has been laying the floor in the lounge. It looks so good. I've got a cracker of a husband. He can pretty much put his hand to anything, I am seriously considering hiring him out ;) 

I just had to put some of the kitchen accessories out. The turquoise/orange colour scheme is like a dream come true for me.

Here's to a productive, happy week. 

Lauren x

Front door love.

As the interior work is now coming to an end on our homemade home we have started talking about what do to with the outside of the house.

 There is currently a very tired garage and front door. Both are in desperate need of some colour. I absolutely love eye catching, bright, inviting colours. Especially for the exterior of the house. It gives off a real 'welcome to our family home' vibe.

But did you know red can attract happiness and blue helps inspire creativity?

Well, me either! Who knew??

Now I am now all in a tis. Which colour to choose? 

Source

They say a red door attracts happiness and means welcome. In Scotland a door would be painted red if you had paid your mortgage off and in Ireland its says a red front door ward's off evil spirits. It is also very symbolic for the Catholic church, the colour of Christ's blood.

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Blue is an inspirational colour. It revives the imagination, inspires your dreams and helps with creativity. It is also a cleansing colour. Perfect for someone who has a creative job.

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A yellow front door is said to be uplifting and to have a positive charge on your life.

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Green is the sign for growth and rejuvenation. It is also said to have grounding properties and promotes healing amongst the home.

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Violet/purple is a sign of deep love and will help enhance the flow of love around your home. 

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A white front door is perfect if you are preparing for a new start in your life. It is a cleansing colour and a sign of new things to come. 

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A black front door is a sign of wealth. It attracts money, success and abundance into your life. 

I have no idea which is my favourite. I love the yellow but I don't think my husband will let me go that bight.

What colour is your front door? Does it reflect you and your home?

Lauren x

Homemade home; Kitchen love

Here I am in my sick bed recovering from food poising. It has been frightful. Thankfully I am feeling much better and have some exciting news regarding our kitchen.

 It was fitted at the weekend. What do you think?

I am so pleased with it! It looks amazing. I didn't get my way with the worktops but I think the black ones look nice. So all is well.

 As you know we saved this kitchen and all the appliances from a skip. We did a little research on this allmilmo kitchen and were amazed when we found out a bit more about this German company.

They are a pretty pricey for starters.

This has to be the find of our homemade home.

 Never in a million years would i expect to be able to afford a kitchen like this. With prices ranging from 18-27k (cough,splutter,choke!, Our WHOLE renovation has cost us less than 5k!)

 Something like this was wayyyyyyyyyyy out of reach in the real world. But not in the thrifting world.

Not only did we get the designer kitchen but see those appliances?, Smeg, Kupperbush, Miele, to name but a few, all in all cost us £500! 

We priced the microwave oven, that comes in at £1200 alone. 

And this designer kitchen was due to be thrown away. 

Madness right?

The only thing we couldn't get to fit were the slate worktops, original sinks and a few of  the cupboards.  Aside from spending on a new sink and super cheap worktops I would say this is the bargain of the year.

And I am in love with our new(ish) kitchen. 

Brings a whole new light on thrifty finds.

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