A birthday

Honey, my beautiful assistant, offered to pose with a simple gold bow (which complemented her colouring perfectly) for a photo for my husband's birthday card. She gave him the card this morning and he loved it!

Day dream

Ikea Karlstad 3 Seat Sofabed
Ikea Karlstad Footstall
John Lewis Cushions
Muji Coffee Table
Habitat Rocking Chair
Unto This Last Shelving Unit
Anglepoise
Ikea Solvar Chairs
Muji Dining Table

I've got bit too much time on my hands at the moment, and I've been daydreaming about all the things I'd love to buy for my home. We definitely need some new dining chairs, but all the other things are purely for dreaming. We have two perfectly good sofas (although I don't like the beige colour..) so I don't think I'll be able to convince my husband to buy the one above. Although it does convert into a sofabed! But we already have a sofabed in the spare room... oops. I've loved that rocking chair ever since Habitat introduced it several years ago. And the coffee and dining tables from Muji are just perfectly simple. Must stop this day dreaming.. my home is already fully furnished!

Basically, if I moved in here I would be very happy!

Colour fun

I've had this jacket for a few years but have never worn it as pale cream just doesn't suit my complexion. It's a fine cotton/silk fabric with a layer of wadding sandwiched in the middle. It only cost £5 from TK Maxx but the brand is Dagmar which I understand is a Swedish brand and I always felt it was too good to give away. The label states dry clean only, but I decided to be brave and hand dye it.



I'm so pleased with the results! The colour I used was Rosewood Red by Dylon and I stirred it in the dye bath for about 20 minutes, then rinsed it thoroughly and allowed it to drip dry.



I wore it on Monday, but the temperatures have since dropped so I won't be able to get away with such a lightweight jacket until the spring! It will work under a winter coat though, as it's feather-light.



Since the original colour was cream, the resulting colour is quite pinky and warm toned. (I once made the mistake of dying a cream top grey, and it ended up greenish!)



When I took the jacket out of the dye bath, I threw in this jumper from Uniqlo. It was originally light grey with bright blue stripes, but the colour just didn't do anything for me. But I love it now and I've worn it twice! It's a mysterious pink-but-almost-brown. I'm so happy I have two new items to wear but I didn't pay a penny :)

Daily wear

My favourite kind of skirt is one that twirls as they always make me feel happy. I made this one from a much longer and larger linen skirt I found. I kept the pretty hemline intact and cut off the top half, gathered the top edge and attached an elastic waistband. It's really comfy and I'll wear it lots.

I picked up the cardigan from a charity shop this week. It was originally from LK Bennett (bargain!) and is more of a jacket as it's made from quite a heavy, tightly woven knit. I was worried the colour didn't suit my skin tone (as I've often been told that I shouldn't wear yellow) but I feel the colour is fine. In fact, I really like it!

Cardigan: Charity Shop

Skirt: Self made

T shirt: Marks & Spencer

Tights: Sainsburys

Making space

For the first time in my life, I have a super-duper organised wardrobe. There are drawers too!! Two Ikea Malm bedsite tables from the spare bedroom slot in perfectly. It's incredible being able to find absolutely anything I want and not having to sift through piles on the floor.

I've discovered that it's impossible to keep things tidy when there's just too much in there... so I'm getting rid of about a quarter of my clothes and have started listing things on ebay. I'll post anywhere in the world :)  Here are some of my faves that I wish I could keep:

Inspiration

I've added lots of images to my tumblr over the past few days. I'd quite happily move into any of these places.

Since finishing uni I've been productive and sorted through every cupboard and drawer. I have two boxes of clothes to list on eBay, and several bags of odds and ends to take to the charity shop. For once, I feel organised; it's such a relief to know everything is in order. The next thing I need to do is touch up some paint work, paint a couple of doors, and possibly paint the insides of the wardrobes. I've written a list of things we still need to buy for the flat (new dining table and chairs from Ikea, a couple of lamps, chest of drawers), and things we can make ourselves (bookcase, shelves). It's terrible having time at home as it makes me want to change everything around!