From a Squabble to a Redecorating Overhaul

I am particular about how our house looks, I like to keep things minimalist and decluttered and it’s not a good idea to cross me on that. 

About a month ago my boyfriend Jamie went out on plant shopping spree. I love the botanical look, so I was delighted until I realised that all of the plants were so huge and unwieldy that they made the house look messy.

I’d had a glass wine and I just couldn’t hold back on my irritation: ‘Jamie, the house doesn’t look streamlined anymore and I don’t like it – we need to do something about those plants’.

Jamie, not best pleased that his generous plant contribution was being attacked retorted with: ‘I find it ironic that someone as messy as you is so bothered about the house being streamlined’. This admittedly was a valid point.

However the tension of  ‘plant-gate’ did lead to better things.  It got us thinking about how we could declutter the house so the plants wouldn’t look so overwhelming.

It started with a fancy ‘string’ shelving system and a dumping of an unnecessary chest of drawers in our bedroom, which immediately lifted the room.

We loved the changes so much that we started to get high on our new interior success.  What could we do next? The minimalist (and rather expensive) shelves did highlight how cheap everything else in the room looked, so an Ikea, John Lewis and garden centre trip later we had some new chic shelving blocks, a dusty pink throw and even more plants than before.

The new improved bedroom

And the decorating frenzy didn’t stop there, we took our fervour into the guest bedroom – giving it the botanical feature wall treatment we’d planned since we bought the wallpaper nine months ago.  And then of course, we need a new bright blue lampshade to ‘pull the room together’.

Botanical feature wall

And it’s definitely not over yet – I’ve been eyeing up macrame plant hangers in the Northern Quarter’s Form Lifestyle Store, and all of our sudden our front door looks very tatty, not to mention the mouldy wall in our living room.  I’ll keep you posted!

My Office of Dreams

Jamie started hassling me before Christmas about creating an office.  I couldn’t really be arsed but he was very insistent that if I was starting a business in January I needed my own space. And he was getting fed up of my work papers, notebooks and pens being strewn all over the house.

So we started clearing out the small box room at the back of the house, former dumping ground for Jamie’s work equipment, random bike accessories and a tumble dryer.

Next up was choosing a colour scheme. I’d been very inspired by some geometric walls I’d seen on Pinterest so I thought we could give that a whirl.

Pinterest inspiration

We looked up how to do it on YouTube (it’s all about the masking tape) and went to B&Q to stock up on paint – we chose four tester pot colours for the feature wall, and then later on decided to use the mint green colour to paint the rest of the office.

Tester paint pots

I was pleased with the results but the room looked a little empty and lifeless.  We had no furniture or pictures.

Fast forward to Christmas and Jamie gave me a surprise fancy computer for my new office. No wonder he was so keen to get the office completed before the end of the year.  We also used the Christmas holidays to dash out to Ikea and get a lovely super comfy, super supportive Markus swivel chair and order a scandi style desk from John Lewis.

Markus swivel chair from Ikea

John Lewis skandi style desk

So the office was nearly there, but the walls looked a bit bare, so I found a couple of huge old notice boards that I’d been storing and pinned on some memorabilia and inspiring pictures, nailed them up and finally the office felt complete.

In my sanctuary

I cannot tell you how much this new office has impacted my life.  It feels like a wonderfully creative and peaceful place where I can be really focussed.  And when I’m holding a social media coaching session it’s the perfect space for teaching.  And everyone always like to take a picture of themselves against the wall.

Myself and a client working very hard