It’s been way too long! But my silence here has mainly been due to a complete lack of new projects being finished. My house (and my insta along with it) took a bit of a hiatus due to some unfortunate personal circumstances, but I’m back with a bang. This time, with a big refurbishment to my master bedroom, which I’m now pleased to say is very much lighter and more welcoming.
Here’s how it looks now:
I’ll always remember 2018 for being a year of great change. Some good changes and some bad ones too. But in August this year I was hit with a wave of inspiration, something of an epiphany, that made me want to initiate a major change in my lifestyle that I knew was right for me.
In August, at the age of 28, I decided I was going to go vegan.
This is the one room in the house from which, being a coach house with everything upstairs, all the other rooms are accessed. It’s the first area people see when they come in and, as such, I wanted to capture my taste here and really show my style. As with other areas, monochrome is very much the name of the game. I got a lot of inspiration from Instagram and Pinterest with this area and it is one of the best complimented areas of my home.
After the initial renovation in 2014, this area was still a blank canvas. It was all magnolia walls, white doors and door frames and the grey carpet replacing the original beige one that had seen better days. The pelmet and light shade were a matching brown stripy pattern. Here’s how it looked…
I’ve always been into my tech and as soon as I saw home accounts on Instagram featuring Philips Hue lights, I knew I had to investigate it for myself. I’ve seen some truly stunning arrangements and I put loads of thought into how I could use this to achieve a really modern feature in my home. This particular project took 15 months to complete, but now all my living space is lit 100% by Hue. The only spaces that are not are the “non living” spaces – the downstairs entryway, garage cupboard and eventually the garage itself, which are all on a separate system called Hive that also controls my heating. The loft was also supposed to be getting Hive lighting, but this idea was scrapped due to concerns over the loft getting too hot for the bulbs to safely operate. Never underestimate just how hot a loft can get in the summer!
Note that this blog post is not intended to be a technical review of Philips Hue (though I do cover good and bad points from my perspective), nor am I comparing it to any other kind of system out there (there are others such as LIFX, for example). I am simply writing about how I used Hue in my home and also how I achieved splitting a light strip into four sections for my kitchen cupboards and using cables to bridge the gaps. This is quite a common desire for Hue users, yet there doesn’t seem to be much info on the web about people achieving it. I hope that I can help address that issue by sharing my experiences here.
Now, onto the lights…
On the 17th of April, 2014, my life changed forever. That day was the end of a long and hard battle to buy my first home. I had plenty of challenges along the way and for many, buying your first home is a true cause of celebration. However, for me there was a very deep and personal dimension to gaining a roof of my own to live under and this is something I tend not to talk about on my Instagram, until now.
Note to readers: I am no longer actively serving as a brand rep for Chun-Kees, but I still didn’t want to delete this post. I am keeping it up, though removing references to my discount code.
Disclaimer: At the time of writing, I am a brand representative for Chun-Kees, which basically means I volunteer my time to help promote the business on Instagram and the occasional real-world event. However, Chun-Kees did not ask me to write this blog post and I am not benefitting from them in any way by writing it. I am merely voluntarily writing this blog post as I currently have two products from Chun-Kees, the smaller of which was gifted by them, and they form one of my favourite parts of decor in my house, so wanted to include them in my posts here.
Back in September 2017, I saw a couple of my favourite home interiors accounts on Instagram featuring chunky-knit blankets in their living rooms and bedrooms. They came from a company called Chun-Kees, which sells chunky-knit blankets, cushions and bed runners. At this time, Chun-Kees were having a flash sale event on white blankets and I decided to grab myself one at a great price. Even better that there were some brand reps around at the time with their own discount codes so I could grab myself even more of a bargain. Though it took a few weeks to arrive, the wait was not unexpected as the products are all made to order. But the wait was definitely worth it and it’s lovely to know that the product is made especially for you. When it came, I was not disappointed!
The main bedroom was really fun to give a makeover and it feels awesome to wake up every day to the sight of furniture that me and my Dad built together from scratch. This room has come such a long way and I have received lovely compliments on it. I am really pleased that others love it as much as I do.
Here’s how the room looked when I first bought the house:
