Make a house a home

I had my offer accepted on March 23rd. I completed on July 4th. I moved in on September 22nd. And now, on November 14th, I'm finally doing my house transformation blog post! So after spending almost all year on my house, it's finally time to reveal the results...

Let's start at the beginning shall we? One of the things I immediately fell in love with about my house was its bright green door. But it was wooden and old and mum and dad insisted it be replaced (having their little girl move out all on her own with anything but the most secure kit was apparently not an option). So the wood went; replaced by a composite door with chrome fittings and glass panels which lets loads of extra light into the hallway! Naturally, I had to keep the bright green colour that I'd originally fell in love with - and paid an additional £200 for the privilege! I also got my back door changed for a composite one, and both were done by KLG.

  

One thing I really hate on houses and something that was a complete veto when I was buying mine was a house where the front door opens straight into the front room. I can't imagine anything less homely! Unfortunately, all of the houses in my area are Victorian and seemingly built in exactly the same way so it seemed like that kind of format would be inevitable. Yet low and behold, I managed to find a house where the current owners seemed to feel the same way as me and had put a wall in to create a hallway! And although I love the improvement it has on the flow of the house, it does mean sacrificing space in the front room. Of all the rooms in my house, the dining room was by far the ugliest when I bought it. Between the 70s wallpaper, pine fittings and dining room table stupidly pushed up against the wall, it took a lot of vision for this room. But I think you'd agree that I managed it? My vision for my house was always an opulent one and I wanted certain colours running through the entire house, namely blues and greens. These teal dining chairs were love at first sight for me (from Danetti, £129 each) and their brass base matches the brass legs of the dining room table perfectly (from Cult Furniture, £220). To save space in this room, my first instinct was to take the door off (opening in to the room meant wasted space). My initial plan was to replace this with some kind of sliding door but so far it remains door-less and actually, I quite like it like that. Another space saver was to have an ottoman bench along the back of the dining table so that it still seated 6 but without the need to pull chairs out on every side. I managed to find one the exact same shade of teal as my chairs (Made.com, £279) with gold tipped legs to boot. Because the furniture adds a nice splash of colour, I whitewashed the rest (including horrible old wooden door frames). I added white and gold cushions to the ottoman (redbubble, £20), white and gold mats to the table (wayfair, £23.99 for a set of 6) and white, gold and teal pineapple framed prints to the walls (Desenio, price varies). Something else I envisioned right from the beginning was fitting a wardrobe along the left-hand side of the room. Everyone said I was crazy when I told them of this idea and looked at me gone out, but every single person who has viewed my house has agreed that it definitely works! And it's not actually that crazy. I use these wardrobes to keep all my coats in, which means it's the last thing I put on before I leave the house and it's the room closest to the door. Logic. Plus, the mirrored wardrobes (ebay, £400ish brand new) make the room look bigger! They did fit millimetre perfect though which, when you've got a chimney breast that juts out, means it doesn't actually fit! After hours spent wrestling with it, mum was the one to finally fit it in by sawing bits off one corner until she managed to wedge it in.

On the other side of the chimney breast, I made the most of the indented section by fitting a load of floating shelves to create a custom-sized book shelf (Homebase or B&Q I can't remember which, £13 each). I then bought a load of gold wire bookends and plenty of gold ornaments from eBay to make it pretty - the gold balloon dog is my favourite. I also put the small TV from my old bedroom back at home on the shelves, because there was already a TV point in the room and it seemed silly to waste it. Plus, if I'm ever eating alone or using my laptop in the dining room and want some background noise, it's perfect for that.

Pinterest is great for many things, if not least for getting your hopes up and setting unrealistic standards. The amount of baking ideas I've tried to copy from pinterest that have looked nothing like my inspiration pic is ridiculous. But one thing I saw on pinterest, set my heart on, and never wavered from, was having a beautiful bar trolley. And even I was impressed by how amazing it turned out in real life! The cart itself was from the Michelle Keegan collection at very.co.uk (about £150 - it was a present so I don't know exactly) and it was exactly what I wanted. Gold and luxurious looking, without anything too retro (some of them have wheels) and with the added bonus of glass racks underneath. The glasses are mostly TK Maxx, and the mini shelves I got for the bottom work perfectly for shot glasses and bellini flavourings!

Moving on and as we walk down the hallway, it's the living room we get to next. I actually kept the rooms the same way round that the previous owners had them; I liked that the living room was at the back of the house because it feels cosier and more private. When I bought it, the living room was a little drab but not offensive by any means (not like the dining room). Again though, I had visions of opulence. Inspired by a Kleenex tissue box with light pink and teal triangles on it (I'm not joking), the colour palette for my living room was set (inspiration really is everywhere). So I went with teal and pink everything. 2 walls in each colour (the walls facing each other being the ones to match), one teal sofa (Cult Furniture, £599), a matching pink armchair and loveseat (eBay, brand new, £350 for the set), teal cushions for the pink furniture, pink cushions for the teal furniture, pink and gold curtains (Dunelm, £80),and a teal rug (Rugsdirect, £70) to brighten up the neutral carpet that I didn't bother replacing. I even managed to get a little beanbag foot stool in the exact same shade of teal as my sofa, despite not being from the same shop! The rest of the stuff in my living room is glass-and-gold everything; gold coffee tables (groupon, £99 for both), glass and gold shelving unit (wayfair, £249), glass and gold TV unit (wayfair, £199) and gold statement light fitting (Beautiful halo, £80ish) which the room was crying out for because it doesn't get much natural light. Hence why I finished it off with a gold floor lamp (value lights, £25).

Moving through the door from the living room which takes you to the back of the house and we're now in the kitchen. When looking to buy a house, I was adamant I wanted one "off the shelf". I didn't want a project that needed bathrooms or kitchens ripping out or walls knocking down. I wanted one that needed a lick of paint and would be good to go. But never could I have hoped to find a house with a kitchen so close to the one I wanted. Again, I had found a picture on Pinterest of my dream kitchen. White cupboards, wooden counter, forest green tiles, rose gold everything else. Before you notice that I have ended up with a kitchen that is exactly that, you might want to take a look at the original photo and see that all that's changed is whitewashing that right-hand wall and changing the tiles! All the kitchen units were exactly what I wanted and I love that the kitchen isn't too annoyingly narrow like some Victorian houses are. As you can see, I also now own every rose gold item ever manufactured; it's pretty much all eBay and was all dirt cheap. When I previously said that nearly everything in my house is eBay, I wasn't joking. Nearly everything, except my big stuff; the oven, fridge/freezer and washer/dryer were from Curry's and Argos and I basically just asked my mum and dad which to get (they were about £200 for each item).

Going out the kitchen door now and we're into the garden. This is one thing for me that took me by surprise in terms of how much I love the transformation. It's not an area that I've been able to use yet (what with all these flood warnings etc) but it's definitely one I'm excited for for next summer! As far as I'm concerned, the garden when I bought it was a complete waste of space. I never dreamed of a big lawn or anything like that (gardening is not exactly a hobby of mine) but I definitely wanted a garden so I could sit out in the summer and have drinks as the sun went down. But as it was, the entire garden was taken up by a raised flower bed and your only option was basically to sit with your back against the house and stare at it. 81 bags of soil sent to the tip later, and my mum and dad had entirely transformed my garden into an area that actually looks sociable! The whole thing was weeded, flattened out and filled with white pebbles (B&M, 3 bags for £10) before my furniture was added. I wanted a splash of Morocco in my garden so this bistro table and chair set was just perfect (Wilko, a birthday gift) and I was very lucky to be given this rattan furniture set by my aunt and uncle (who were getting rid of it), which couldn't fit more perfectly if it tried! There are cushions that fit all the furniture and in summer, I'll put out those along with solar powered fairy lights and some potted plants.

Back into the house, through the kitchen, through the living room, up the stairs and into the front room on your left. I'll show this first (as I do with physical visitors) because it's the least interesting so we'll get it out the way now. When I viewed the house, this room was being used as a bedroom and right now it's being used as what I can only describe as a dumping ground. It has been freshly painted though and is ready to be kitted out as a spare room; my plan is to do it in the same colour scheme as the kitchen so forest green, rose gold and white. But that's something for the new year now!

The room you come to first on the right-hand side of the stairs is my biggest triumph (as far as I'm concerned). When I looked around, it was being used as some kind of study or music room or something and it could easily be a box bedroom if you wanted it to be. But for me, this was always going to be my walk-in wardrobe. It was tricky to work out how exactly to do this, given the long and narrow shape of the room and the awkward position of the window but I think I nailed it. I went with a sliding mirrored wardrobe on the longest free wall (eBay, £400ish brand new) and then a corner wardrobe and a double wardrobe (bought as a set, eBay £400ish again) on the wall behind the door. I kept the shelves that were already in the alcove near the window and added my shoe rack underneath (shoe rack is an old one from home). The chimney breast is the wall that caused me issues. I initially toyed with an Ikea unit there but it was way too deep and ate right into the room. It wasn't until I'd moved in that I realised the perfect thing; a handbag wall. I bought a load of picture shelves (Homebase, £10ish each) and got my dad to fit them equally spaced apart, creating something that was functional (as you can see, I have a lot of bags) and decorative too (the room was quite plain and white so it adds a statement element). Not one to waste any space when it comes to my clothes, I also bought CD tower units for the tiny gaps next to the wardrobes, which I've used for my scarves, headbands and belts. I finished the room with statement zebra curtains (Terry's fabrics, £40) and a blush pink chair (Dunelm, £69), which has obviously already become that chair (the one you use to dump all your stuff on). Although it's one of my favourite rooms in the house, it's not the most practical because the door now doesn't open all the way. As you can see, I meant what I said about not wasting space because I fitted a shoe rack to the back of the door!

Moving one room to the right and we're now in the bathroom. As I said, I didn't want a house with a bathroom that needed ripping out so you'll notice that not much has changed. All I've done in here is add navy soft accessories (roller blind, bath mat, towels), a jazzy printed shower curtain (again, adding a splash of Moroccan vibes to the place) and all my toiletries. Romeo done.

Up another flight of stairs now and we're into my bedroom, which I am completely in love with. Decorating wise, not much has changed (it was white before, it's white again) but the use of the space is ten times better (in my humble opinion). I didn't exactly have this worked out from the beginning; in fact I changed my mind about a hundred times about what would go where. But after me and Laura had danced the bed around in every which direction, I finally settled on it here and everything else fell into place. The bed itself caused me nothing but problems (those who follow me on instagram may remember the saga of the headboard not fitting up the stairs) but not it's in situ, I'm very happy with it. It's an ottoman bed, so the whole thing lifts up to reveal more storage space, and I love the shell shape of the headboard. The bed was from Made.com and was on sale for £579 (it should have been about £700). Next to it was just enough space for a bedside table (eBay, £99) with an art deco lamp, which I love (value lights, £45) and on the other side of the bed is my "getting ready" area. I like that it's like a little alcove that feels a little separate from the rest of the room and it was where I always knew I wanted my dressing table (eBay, £65). So that provided a home for all my makeup, perfume, palettes and brushes, and next up was to find a home for my underwear, pyjamas, blankets, jewellery and hair appliances. Luckily, I already had an Ikea unit that had been horrendously too big for my dressing room! I jazzed it up with alternate pink fabric boxes (matalan, £10) and wire gold ones (H&M, £13) and then left a few empty cubes for my jewellery stands and boxes. And as you can see, I would quite clearly have had space for a dressing table to do my makeup at, but because I'm blind and have to get right up to the mirror to be able to see what I'm doing, my first choice is to sit on the floor in front of one. In a bid to avoid premature back pain, I thought a stool was better than the floor though and so I got this one from Dunelm for £99 (it's also an ottoman, so I put my daily makeup bag inside it, which is another of my favourite house things). The mirror was £99 from Melody Maison and I'll tell you, I had fun and games getting a floor length mirror into a Peugeot 107 when I picked up the parcel from the depot! I managed it in the end though and I think the mirror works perfectly on the slanted wall, which forms the edge of yet another walk-in wardrobe! Well, more of a duck-in wardrobe; the doorway is mega tiny but you can stand up straight once you're in. Obviously you can't see much on the photo but it's an ideal bit of space, especially for stuff I don't use very often; posh dresses, bikinis, Christmas jumpers. Another ideal bit of space is the remaining corner, which I fitted with a dressing-table-come-desk that I tricked Laura into building with me by inviting her round under the pretence of dinner. When I tried looking for a corner desk, they were all absolutely massive and given the radiator and TV on my wall (Curry's, £250), I needed something more compact. So I got a dressing table in the end (eBay, £129) which I'm using as more of a desk-with-mirrors; it has built-in drawers which are really handy for notebooks, electronics and stationery. My bedroom colour scheme is pink, gold and navy blue so I finished the room with this gorgeous navy blue and gold chair, which I think is very art deco (eBay, £129).

And that's pretty much it! The only bits I didn't show you were my laundry cupboard (kitted out with a very handy darks-colours-whites basket), my kitchen pantry (behind the blackboard door) and my cellar, which is a future project that I eventually plan to turn into the perfect predrinks spot. Other bits on my to-do list include artwork for pretty much every room, a DIY flip-down bar in my garden and a flower ceiling in my dining room. I may have taken my sweet time with my house (and with the blog post that shows it off), but as you can see, I certainly feel like it was worth the wait.