Monday 24 May 2021

Our 5 best kitchen renovation choices!

2 years ago, we bought our 'Fixer upper' and had lots of plans for it, some of those plans are for the future but some we have done already and we are so glad we did! Here's 6 of our best renovation choices in the kitchen, with before and afters.


Removing chimney stack

We removed our chimney stack from the roof/attic all the way down to the kitchen. It was SO much work and dust but it was also SO worth it. I had always imagined the range cooker in this space so it was a dream come true to be able to do it!


Doing the kitchen tiling ourselves

We were quoted £1000 to have this tiling done by someone but we decided to give it a go ourselves first and I'm glad we did as we are so happy with the result and it worked out so much cheaper, even if it took (ALOT) longer.


Tuesday 27 April 2021

Chessington World of Adventure

Last August, we headed to Chessington World of Adventure for the first time and recently, the girls have been asking if we can go back soon which reminded me, I never shared my blog post on it. As it was during the pandemic (but not lock down) - we got a really good deal to stay over in a nearby hotel with breakfast included. The girls were so excited to be out of the house and able to order room service haha!


We had our masks in tow of course and we were lucky with the weather - it was absolutely boiling, 35 degrees actually, maybe a bit too hot for walking around a theme park but you can't complain too much. Slushies and iced coffee were needed on repeat ;)  The queue times weren't too bad for most things although the staff were disinfecting rides and handles, in between so it did make the wait slightly longer. To get in the second day, the queue was pretty long but it moved quite fast - about 20 minutes and everyone was socially distanced on the paw prints they had added to help.

Monday 22 March 2021

Current kitchen wish list - H&M

 For Spring, I'm seeing so many items that I'm lusting after at the moment for the house, particularly the kitchen. H&M have got some beautiful pieces that really go with our kitchen, it's more of the farmhouse vibe I am trying to inject into the kitchen, with a slight modern twist. 

I'm looking to add some more wood and rustic stoneware in to our kitchen. H&M have the most dreamy stoneware in at the moment, I love the jug in particular, it would work lovely on our modern, marble quartz to add a great juxtaposition. 




We're also thinking of changing the current breakfast bar lights we have at the moment to single pendant lights. I think I want some light shades now instead of just the exposed bulbs and these brass pendant lights from H&M would be perfect!

I also need tonnes more chopping boards and serving platters as we are lacking a lot. I love the look of wooden chopping boards all stacked up together in a corner of a kitchen.

We know we also want to change our breakfast bar stools as well at some point - they are split from where the kids have knocked them over and I'm not keen on the white gloss. I'd love some either darker wood ones or possibly velvet to add another texture in, but while the kids are young, they are wipeable and do the job!

These terrazzo style knobs from H&M are also beautiful - I'd love to switch up some of our drawer handles or maybe even the pantry handle, it adds another pattern while tying all the colours together at the same time. 



What's on your wish list?

Friday 19 March 2021

February 2021 round up

February always feels like the end of a winter hibernation for me, as the mornings start getting that bit lighter, I start feeling more awake and ready for the days of fun. With home schooling still in full force the beginning of this February, we were definitely ready for a half term off. We filled it with some sensory play and of course - baking!


We also had another few flurries of snow so that was fun too! We played in the garden and made shapes with cookie cutters, as well as played in the mud kitchen with it. Then we all bundled inside for a hot chocolate to warm up. See our vlog of that day here!
 

For Valentines day, we didn't really do much but we did our Valentine's decor and a few activities. We have a chocolate lolly maker* that we use all the time, so we made some heart lollies and I also set Roma up with a pink foam sensory activity. You just whisk a tiny bit of fairy liquid with a bit of water and food colouring and it makes some fun foam to play with. She loves pretending to make cupcakes and it's such a simple, cheap, easy idea to keep her occupied!

Thursday 11 February 2021

Valentines decor 2021

 I love to decorate the house no matter what's going on, any excuse to pull my decor box out. Although I must admit, we don't normally do Valentines day now as it's only 3 days before Aria's birthday, so my brain is normally focused on that. This year however, because we're in lockdown, I got Ari's birthday planned ages ago so I had a little brain space this week, plus we were so bored!