My favourite corners #6 - our wobbly little mantel

I haven't done one of these 'my favourite corners' posts for a bit now, but while having an arrange of our mantelpiece today I realised it's one of my favourite little parts of the house. It's in our middle room, which I spose is technically the dining room but that feels like too grandiose a term for this room if I'm honest. Our middle room is the heart of the house really, seeing as all the best things happen in here, like (most) meals, nice cups of tea, and it also has the really comfy chair that I did all Arlo's feeding in when he was little, and is still my favourite place for a little sit down whenever I get the chance (seldom). Plus it's where the record player and radio are so that means most of the music and dancing happens in there too. So this is a busy room all in all.

This week I've added two new additions to the mantelpiece - these candlesticks which were a late birthday present from a friend. I wouldn't have bought these neccessarily but I'm so glad she did because now I've unpacked them and tried them in this room, I love them! I think the best presents are like that. They frame the big mirror above the fireplace just right, I love the colours and they also make me feel very grown-up to be the-kind-of-person-that-owns-actual-candlesticks. Plus she gets brownie points for choosing ones that are a) very hard to break, and b) very light if they fell on your head - I think these are as toddler proof as candlesticks get!

So they have a happy home on our wobbly mantelpiece alongside a collection of things that have all earnt their place over the last two years - the letters I bought as a moving in present to ourselves when we bought the house, the scented candle my friend gave out as her wedding favours, and a vintage radio, passed down in Alex's family and very precious, that takes pride of place. Each makes me smile for different reasons. In a house where most things need to be functional to suit the needs of a small and usually irrational person, it's nice to have a very little part that's for nothing else but looking at and smiling.

10 ways to perk up a room for less than £25

I do love a bit of home improvement. Given that there's usually a two-year-old holding on to my leg/ blowing a recorder in my ear/ trying to clamber onto my back for a 'donkey ride' while braying, free time is pretty scarce around here, so anything that requires limited input for maximum visual impact is exactly the kind of DIY I'm after.

Since we moved into our first home two years ago, we've undertaken quite a few of these 'mini makeovers' - quick, easy, cheap changes you can make to really perk up your space. So if you're short on time, cash or just a little lazy when it comes to renovations (like me) then read on. All of these things we've done in our place, they all cost less than a Pony (that's £25. Yes I looked that up) and trust me, if I can do them, they're easy peasy.

one. Paint your tiles. 

This one's top of the list because we're actually right in the middle of doing it at the moment. A super quick and cheap way to make a big impact is to refresh your tiles with a quick coat of paint. Whether you're changing the colour, freshening it up or getting rid of some questionable tile designs that you have inherited (cough cough, that's exactly what happened to us) it couldn't be easier. We picked up a pot of white tile paint this weekend and set to work covering off the absolutely repugnant not to our taste nautical tiles that are scattered throughout our bath room - navy seahorse anyone? Two coats later and it feels so different - I just wish we'd done this two years ago! Ps. I have a whole board devoted to beautiful bathroom tile here, including this lovely example above, and some step-by-step guides for making beautiful patterned tiles using stencils, if you're feeling adventurous.

Actual cost: £20

Emotional wealth: immeasurable joy at being able to wave goodbye to the hideous sea creatures that you used to share your bathroom with.

two. Paint a wall a darker colour

I did this here with our gallery wall in the front room. I couldn't believe how much the subtle colour change made all the frames pop. 

Actual cost: £20 for a pot of paint BUT the very same paint we used above is currently on sale for a tenner, if you're interested.

Emotional wealth: a feature wall to be proud of. Bonus points for picking a wall shade that actually makes your complexion look better in the photos too.

three. Put up a mirror. Or three.

This one's good for dark rooms in particular. Our dining room is a bit of a gloomy space, so I've been keeping my eyes peeled at car boots and charity shops to find lovely old mirrors like the one about our 50s sideboard above. We have one on almost every wall in the room by now - it really helps reflect light, and the more you add the more light gets pinged around between them all.

Actual cost: all our mirrors have cost between £3-£8, from various charity shops and car boot sales - I've probs spent about £15 on them all in total

Emotional wealth: Genuinely the more light, the more perky you're going to feel, especially in the winter when dark days can bring an air of gloominess. Plus you'll able to check your hair do from any angle - always useful.

four. Fairylights anywhere everywhere.

Because what space can't be improved by a string of light fairy lights? None, that's what. Next!

Actual Cost: probs about a tenner, I think these above that I put up at crimble were more like £20 but they're super long

Emotional wealth: being able to deliver the right mood lighting for any occasion 

five. Paper the backs of your shelves 

This is such a good one. I remember discovering this little tip about ten years ago when I first moved into a flat share in London, doing it to a couple of Billy bookcases and flouncing around feeling like I was Linda Barker or something. So easy, so cheap, so transformative. Pick a colour or print you'd never want all over your walls, just to add a pop of colour. (Nb. picture can be found here)

Actual cost: about a fiver for some fancy wrapping paper (depending on the size of your shelves!) 

Emotional wealth: a sense of achievement and pride that can only come from having perfectly arranged shelving 

six. Give a door a lick of paint. 

I wanged on quite a lot about this at the time, but when we painted our once-yellow/brown wooden doors in the spare room, and made them white instead, the difference was amazing - so much lighter and airier.

Actual cost: circa £20 for some white gloss

Emotional cost: the intense relief felt at getting rid of yellow pine 

seven. Buy a new shower curtain. 

Add a flash of colour. We recently picked up this one super cheap and it's honestly changed the whole bathroom. Ikea actually has loads of nice ones at the moment, like the above, a snip at a fiver, which also caught my eye. 

Actual cost: £6

Emotional wealth: having a bathroom that your 3-year-old nephew describes as "magical" when he goes in for a wee (true story)

eight. Change up the lighting.

Our middle room is one we've actually done very little to, but one of the things that's made the most impact is changing the light fitting. Before it was a weird metal fitting with three lightbulbs on little entwined branches, that sat very high up and close to the ceiling. It wasn't exactly our first choice. We picked up this fitting from Ikea (where else? I love that place) and although when it first went up I thought we'd made a huge mistake because it was just so big, I now love it. It's like it's balanced out all the white in the top half of the room, does that sound weird? It also gives so much light to what it usually quite a gloomy room, plus draws focus in to the table as the heart of the space. Nb. the pic above was actually snapped to show Arlo's new dinosaur balloon he got at Cowes Week, but it showed the light fitting pretty well so I thought it worked. Just felt I needed to acknowledge the dino in the room. 

Actual cost: £22

Emotional wealth: being able to see things properly - like when your house gets invaded by a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

nine. Buy a side table.

May sound weird, but this little table we bought from a second hand shop (with an amazing back story) is actually a super useful - it gives us extra storage and we've created a feature out of it in the dining room. We've tried it in a few places around the house, and it works in lots of spots - for the space it takes up, it adds a whole lot to the room.

Actual cost: £25

Emotional wealth: more storage = more things to love 

ten. Flowers FTW.

The easiest way to perk up a room (and myself!) for me has always been to splash out on some fresh flowers. 

Actual cost: well, about a fiver, although I just picked up a beaut bunch of twelve pink roses from M&S for two quid which him itself is giving me more joy than the flowers probably ever could. 

Emotional wealth: The addition of colour, a lovely smell, a bit of greenery and a whole lot of smiles to any room. 

So there you have it - none of them are exactly rocket surgery (or brain science!) but each has made a real impact on our home since we moved in, and ticks the holy trinity of home improvements for me; quick, simple, cheap. What could be better? I would LOVE to hear yours and add them to the list! 

My favourite corners #5: Arlo's chest of drawers

Tucked away in a corner of Arlo's little bedroom, just behind the door, is this ramshackle chest of drawers. It's special. It was in my mum's room when she was a little girl, then I used it as my bedside table for many years when I lived at home, and it now sits in Arlo's bedroom, housing all his clothes and lots of little keepsakes. The shelves were built by my grandad - my mum's dad - who sadly I never got a chance to meet, but it feels so so nice to have something he made in the house, being put to very good use for his great grandson.

As it's been handed down from generation to generation, it's had a few knocks and scrapes along the way, and is a bit on the rickety side, but that's all part of the charm for me. Alex and I made a start of freshening it up for Arlo's room a while back, mixing up the perfect shade of turquoise and painting the shelves white. To be honest, we fully intended to paint the rest of the bottom white as well (I suppose it's the 'chest' part of a chest of drawers?) but we've never got round to it and now I kind of like it this way. Let's just say we've got used to it because who knows when we may actually get round to painting the rest of it? (Clue: quite likely never).

The shelves contain all kinds of bits and pieces that I want to keep. Most of these I know I'll want to keep forever actually - like the sample that Alex's mum stitched for Arlo when he was born, knitted gifts made by loved ones just for him, Mrs Ted, my favourite teddy when I was little, handprints that already look smaller than I can ever imagine Arlo being, favourite birthday cards he loves to look at over and over, the little box that has Arlo's dried out little belly button stump in it (interesting/ gross-out fact: My friend gave it a sniff and said it smells like Ribena)... all kinds of special things. A rotating list of interesting things that I expect will change from year to year as this little boy grows up and a different toy or book becomes flavour of the month. But while the contents of these shelves may well change, I have a feeling the shelves themselves will remain a constant. I plan on having these for a very long time and hope hope hope that someone else will carry on looking after them beyond that too.



Ps. You can see some of the other favourite corners from the series here and here, if you fancy a little look-see x

My favourite corners #4 - gallery wall before and after

This post started out as a bit of a 'before and after' but then I realised that our gallery wall is definitely one of my favourite parts of the house, so I've continued my series of My Favourite Corners with this lovely lovely wall.

This weekend I had a revelation. I always thought that when it came to walls, bright white is best. It's light, it's airy, it's clean and it goes with everything, hence most walls in our home are white. This wall in our front room is one of the biggest, most 'free' walls in the house, because it doesn't have any furniture on it, and I decided pretty early on that this would make a brilliant gallery wall, seeing as it would be bloody boring round here if we left it all blank for too long. As you can see, it's not particularly neat or precise, but it's a growing collection of different frames, each housing a little memory of ours, and I like the 'higgledy piggledy' feel. Precise this home is not.

I've been looking at our gallery wall almost every evening for the last year and a half (it's right opposite the sofa after all) and something about it hasn't been feeling quite right. The wall's getting a bit smudgy and dirty, the pictures were looking a bit flat and 'meh' - I was getting bored. So I decided a change was in order. I took all the frames down, one by one, and painted the wall underneath grey. And what a bloody difference some grey makes! The frames all look SO much better against a darker shade, the colours really pop and the pictures stand out more. Even our toy trolley looks better against the grey wall (pictorial evidence above). I'm so mad about it, I've been spending quite some time this weekend just gazing out at it and swooning. Lesson learned: sometimes a darker background shade just makes everything else in the room look brighter by association. 

If you're a fan of corners (and who isn't?) you can see some other Favourite Corners from the series here and here, although I can't guarantee they won't all have been painted grey by the time you read this. 

My favourite corners #3 - Arlo's play kitchen

Alex and I spent a long time, late on Christmas eve, putting this together (because it was very complicated - not in any way because of all the late-night Amarettos we'd enjoyed).  Watching Arlo's little face as he walked into the room to discover this the following morning was just the best. Since then we've spent many a happy while at his little kitchen, putting the kettle on and making soup at the hob. I've also spent a large part of every single day since Christmas picking up all the little plastic versions of vegetables and roast chickens and putting them away. Over and over again. But I guess that's what this parenting stuff is all about, right? All worth it to hear him come over and tug at my hand and say my two favourite words: "Mama? Tea?"

So until Arlo is old enough to make me an actual, real-life cup of tea (the main reason anyone ever has kids, surely) this little spot will remain one of my favourite corners of the house.

Missed my other favourite corners? Here's #1 and #2.

My favourite corners #2

Ever since I wrote this post, giving a little glimpse to one of my favourite corners in the house, I've been enjoying thinking about the other little places around the house that are my favourites for different reasons. I'd love to think that one day I might take some proper pics of the house, but for now it's much easier to clear one corner for a quick few snaps rather than trying to tidy up all the duplo/ crayons/ farmyard animals/ squashed raisins from every surface (I sense that task would be akin to painting the Forth Bridge).

So here's another of my favourite spots in the house - Arlo's reading corner. We've only lived here for a little while so our house is still very much a work in progress, and I have grand dreams of proper, chunky, fitted shelving in the alcoves either side of the fireplace, but for now these shelves fit in pretty snuggly. Arlo is slowly but surely taking over the space on this bookshelf - you can see in these pics that the shelves used to store useful adult things like books and dvds, but because Arlo can now reach them (and therefore trash them) we keep his stuff on there instead. He's got a shelf for his own burgeoning book collection (a few faves of which you can find here) and another for a selection of toys - I find it helps to keep different toys in different places around the house so you can focus on each on their own for a bit and have a good play, so we rotate the toys on this shelf from time to time so there's always something new to discover.

So this has become one of my favourite places in the house to hang out in with Arlo - he reaches up to choose what he wants to read, and we curl up with a book or ten. Many times I've left him in the front room and found him sat at his end of the sofa, covered in a mound of books, quietly just making his way though the whole shelf's worth. We'll need to clear the top shelf for him too soon, either when his book collection starts overflowing, or his legs grow long enough to so he can reach the top. At this rate, I don't think either are far away.

My favourite corners

I am so nosey when it comes to other people's homes. I am a sucker for a look at a lovely interior and spend probably a bit too much time pouring over pictures on pinterest and blogs, getting all inspired. I see shots people take of their beautiful homes on my favourite blogs and I dream of doing the same but the reality is that with Arlo running around our house is never tidy for long enough! So instead of taking photos of whole rooms, I snap pics of little corners from time to time - and I thought I'd share them from time to time too.

One of my favourite corners of the house is our little 50s sideboard, rescued from a dark corner of a charity shop before we even had a home to put it in, and kept in my mum's shed without its legs until we moved in. It just fits the wall between our dining room and kitchen perfectly, like it was meant to be. It's been given a little clean up and filled with colourful (and breakable) things, like of crockery and glasses collected over the years. It even has a little hidden drinks cabinet on the left, which doesn't get dipped into as often as I'd like.

On top of the sideboard is one of those portable record players that Arlo (ahem) got Alex for Father's Day. He's good like that. It's next to an ancient CD player which means we can play albums in almost any outdated format we like of an evening (I think I even have my beloved minidisc player from 2004 somewhere if we want to complete the set). Arlo is fascinated by the record player and watches intently when we put something on, trying to figure out how it all works. We have a bit of a family ritual of putting on a record while dinner's cooking and dancing round the kitchen together like hungry loons, especially on days when Alex or I have been at work, kind of like a small celebration of our family reunion. Which makes this a happy corner of the house. And one of my favourite places to be.