Honey, I’m home!
It’s been nearly a month since my last blogpost and so much has happened since then.
Our trip to Japan was an enormous success. We had an absolute BLAST, and I can’t wait to share the photos with you. (You can catch a sneak peek on our #Japanarang hashtag!!).
It’s the most stunningly beautiful country, and we all fell desperately in love with it. The people are lovely, the scenery is gorgeous, and the food is absolutely out of this world. We spent two weeks walking, eating, talking, snapping, walking some more, eating some more… and I already can’t wait to go back.
The next piece of news is that Gary and I finally completed on the new flat!
He and a couple of our friends moved all our stuff in about 2 weeks ago (I was, very helpfully, in Japan at the time. Sorry ’bout it) and so far: we love it.
There’s a lot of work to be done. The walls are currently fifty shades of hideous magnolia; the floor is a mix of old beige carpet and bad quality laminate; and we’ve realised the kitchen doesn’t actually have as much storage space as we thought it did. The radiators are huge, the water pressure in the electric shower is pitiful, and we have no idea how to turn the grill on because the little icons have all disappeared off the front of the oven.
But it has tall ceilings, huge windows, a big lounge, an attic for storage, a super Sainsbury’s five minutes down the road (the best I’ve ever been to), and the potential to be absolutely fab once we’ve fixed it all up a bit.
It’s going to take a while to get everything done, as we’ll have to do things as and when our budget allows, but we’re going to start by painting the walls white. Then the plan is to get the floors relaid with soft carpet in some sort of rich navy blue. And then we can start ordering furniture and accessories!
Gary’s desk is white, so we’re going to keep all the woodwork in the living room white to match. We’ve picked out our sofa: Ikea’s VIMLE corner sofa in medium grey, and I’m going to jazz it up with jewel-coloured cushions and cosy throws.
We’ve actually already bought this white fluffy faux-fur rug for the floor (because La Redoute have an AWESOME 40% off sale at the moment and I couldn’t resist!), and I’m just waiting for the lined voile curtains to come back into stock in the size we need so I can order those too. (The ones the previous owners left up are both bright red and totally see-through…)
And last but not least: prints! I’m all about the gallery wall life. I picked up a few bits of artwork in Japan, and have spent hours trawling Etsy for posters, pictures and sketches that will show off both of our personalities and interests. (My particular favourite is the Hagrid cartoon!)
Bright, cheerful and cosy. That’s what we’re aiming for!
1. Lined white voile curtains (CurtainsDirect2U, from £10.99)
2. Yellow velvet cushion (George at ASDA, £5)
3. Eat Sleep Playstation Repeat print (Etsy, £5.99)
4. VIMLE corner sofa (IKEA, £990)
5. Bears on a bike print (Desenio, £5.95)
6. Red pattern cushion cover (H&M, £8.99)
7. Blue and gold graphic canvas (La Redoute, £15) – currently 40% off!
8. Bronze rabbit ornament trio (George at ASDA, £8)
9. Copper clock (La Redoute, £52) – currently 40% off!
10. Paper airplane print (Etsy, £2.82)
11. Monochrome check throw (IKEA, £25)
12. Navy, black and gold cushion cover (H&M, £8.99)
13. Isla Nublar map (Etsy, from £15.68)
14. Copper floor lamp (George at ASDA, £40)
15. Camera print (Etsy, £10)
16. White faux-fur rug (La Redoute, £169) – currently 40%
17. Pale pink pattern cushion cover (H&M, £8.99)
18. Hufflepuff postcard (part of a Hogwarts set) (Etsy, £4.50)
19. Green velvet cushion cover (H&M, £6.99)
20. Navy and copper lampshade (Made, £29)
21. Turquoise Rome print (Etsy, £12)
22. Adventure print (Etsy, £2.82)
23. Hagrid cartoon print (Etsy, from £12)
24. Dark red faux-fur cushion (Marks & Spencer, £15)
25. London skyline print (Etsy, £22)
