Catching up

I have been catching up on some weekend blog reading and came across some great giveaways I thought you may like too.

The first one is over at Twig where you can win an apron from Anthropology amongst lots of other goodies.

For more details head over to have a look this one closes June 23rd so you don't have much time left!

Sarah from Flourish Design and Style is having 11 days of giveaways and currently she is giving away a set of boxed gifts cards designed by the talented Mariska Meijers. Mariska also has a lovely blog that you can visit here. The winner will be announced on July 5th so go over and have a look at Sarah's lovely blog.

This gorgeous giveaway of vintage business cards and vintage recipe cards is hosted by the lovely Jojeana from Secret Garden Cottage. Jojeana has a lovely blog and is definately worth stopping by and having a look.

Finally I want to introduce you to a wonderful new blog that I had the pleasure of finding recently. Laurie opened her home decorating service called Bella Inspirations in 2007. Laurie's blog is also called Bella Inspirations and it is definately worth a visit.

It was Laurie who introduced me to the great application from Sherwin Williams that I used to virtually paint the house last week. See here. Laurie makes beautiful table runners.

If you haven't discovered Laurie's blog yet go over and visit her at Bella Inspirations.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great day

xx

Giveaway and giving gifts

I would like to introduce you to my new friend Laura, Laura has a gorgeous blog My Summer House and now she has her own etsy store.

To celebrate the opening of her store Laura is giving away not one but two cushion from her line. You must go and check out her blog and her store. Laura's designs are just beautiful!

I hope you all had a lovely weekend, we had a trip to Newcastle to visit our newest nephew. He is just gorgeous and we really enjoyed our short stay! I don;t have any photos of him to share yet but you might enjoy these!

I love putting together and giving gifts and I thought I would share this one with you.

I needed some bottles and some pebbles and

if they just happen to double as candles even better.

Pretty soap is good

I really love candles, you can never have too many!

Some shells

scrubby stuff

start putting it together strategically

Fill the bottles with luxury bath products

Layer them attractively

All ready to enjoy by the lucky receiver

Do you like buying gifts for people?

Do you find it easy to choose something special?

Have a great Monday.

xx

Painting a house

Yesterday I discovered a great application that I just had to play with. Sherwin Williams has a tool where you can upload a photo of your house and then paint it. If you find this as exciting as I do you can go and check it out here. So last night I painted a house and what better way to demonstrate what paint can do then to use before and after photos. Fortunately I had just the right house to paint! You may remember this house from my post earlier in the week - Would you buy this house? I used the application to transform the rooms that I showed you with some new colours. I only painted what could realistically be painted if you were to paint in real life. The walls, ceilings, architrave, skirting boards, cupboards, doors and wall tiles were painted. Floor tiles were left as they were, carpet remains unchanged but I did install new benchtops! These were changes that I felt if we were to buy the house we could realistically do ourselves for minimal cost and big impact. So working with the exsiting colours in the carpet and floor tiles here are the results (excuse my messy painting job but I think I need more practise): Before - After -

Before -

After -

Before -

After -

Before -

After -

What do you think?

Would you buy this house now?

Having painted our house before we moved in I know that it is not easy and not for everybody. I remember many evenings sanding the walls in our house to remove the navy blue suede effect paint in order to repaint the wall. My son's room was hot pink, not just one wall but the entire room! We had family help us paint and it took us over two weeks to get the whole house done! It was well worth it and doing it ourselves saved us a lot of money that we just couldn't afford to spend.

Hope you enjoyed my before and afters.

Have a great Friday everyone and a great weekend!

xx

Window Shopping at Buyster

I was the lucky winner of lovely Belinda's (Nest Design Studio) giveaway! The prize was a gift voucher from Buyster. Belinda has a gorgeous blog, she is an interior designer specialising in children's room and nurseries. If you haven't discovered this great blog please stop by Nest Design Studio and have a look, lots of gorgeous images and great ideas. I am very excited about my win so I have been browsing the online store to see what goodies I can find. Wow!!! The range is huge and I haven't made a decision but I thought I would share some of the lovelies I spotted.

They have rugs (1000's of rugs)

There is furniture

Mirrors Lots and lots of wall art

Lighting of all sorts - floor, fixed and table

Bags including totes, clutches, suitcases and mummy bags

Manchester, like these gorgeous kids sets

Kids furniture, decor, toys and accessories

After seeing all of these gorgeous items I have no idea what I want and the store has so many items that I haven't even looked at them all. It could take me a while to decide!

Thanks Belinda and thank you to Buyster for the great gift!

Have a great day everyone and thanks for stopping by and leaving your comments, I love reading them all!

xx