In a world where companies are always working hard to keep on top of demand, consumers have a lot of power. If everyone in the world decided to stop using products which are potentially harmful to the environment, businesses would stop stocking them, instead looking for alternatives which they can still sell. Although this isn’t going to happen overnight, we can still make a difference when updating our homes, and hopefully influence others around us to do the same too.
Mr A bought me a brooch as a wedding gift, a tiny silver butterfly which I pinned to the flower on my wedding dress. I absolutely love it, it’s so small yet perfect reminder of our day. Whenever I wear it it takes me back to our wedding day.
Of all the jewellery I inherited from my Gran, my Grandmother and my Mum I think my favourite pieces are their brooches. They seem to conjure up another era so beautifully and yet they also mix so effortlessly with modern day clothes. My favourites are my Gran’s pewter flowers with turquoise stones for flower heads, Mum’s Romanesque bronze discs with large gemstones in the middle and Grandma’s gold circles laid with a stone.
Do you want to live as light as you can? If so, you’re probably into green living and taking a lot of time for self care, as well as letting go of things that could stress you out. And although, most of this effort comes from inside you, but you can make your lifestyle choices evident in the space around you as well.
Here’s some tips for making sure you’re living as light as possible, breathing easily and happily at home.
Is your home currently feeling too dark and dingy? It’s a common problem and it’s one that can really get you down. No one wants to spend their days in a dark environment that deprives them of the light and positivity we all need. There are so many different things you can do to make your home more light and airy…
The idea of having a beautiful garden to retreat to is wonderful, but finding the time and budget to get it the way you want it can be a challenge. Our new garden is large and rambling, nearly two acres, and so I’ve accepted that mine will be a life’s work, and that it is a little legacy I will pass on to the next owner, just as the previous owners passed on so much to us.
Instead I’ve committed to to focussing on a bit at a time and enjoying what I do have time for. Sometimes you have to live with a space to know how you want it to be longer term. Finding your own path through is important too, so often visitors have amazing ideas, but you just can’t afford the time and money to do everything people suggest.
There’s no doubt about it, Storm Emma gave the UK quite a pummelling. My kids managed to score three snow days. My husband got marooned in Nottingham one night and worked from home the others. We agreed with our builder, who is renovating the vintage caravan for us ready to go on Airbnb like our barn, that horizontal ice and sleet wasn’t suitable working conditions. I spent ages trying to defrost a frozen pipe to the barn. I hunched over my laptops, numb fingers dancing frantically over an icy keyboard as the kids trudged in and out of the house demanding hot chocolates, stodgy food or more dry socks or gloves.
At best, people’s plans were seriously inconvenienced and at worst consequences have been far more serious. Fortunately, in the words of The Beatles… Here comes the sun. I actually felt the sun on my face today.
Most of us take sleep for granted. It forms a standard part of our daily lives, around eight hours of it a night. However, as soon as you start experiencing problems with getting to sleep, you’ll experience frustration like never before.
Sleep plays such an important role in our lives that missing just a few hours on just a short-term basis can cause disruption to our daily lives. Securing a good night’s sleep every night is vital to our happiness.
Here are a few changes to your bedroom and its contents that will help you along the way.
I once stayed in a water tower and it was a bit like a windmill in that each floor was basically a room. There was something quite magical about the giant shower room, you walked behind a huge screen of glass across the room and looked out across fields as you showered though an eye level window. There was no knocking elbows on glass doors or bashing your head when you reach down to pick up the shampoo, just a lovely feeling of space.
Agh so much of our furniture from the old house doesn’t quite fit in the new. It’s sad not to have Mum’s dressing table in my bedroom and gutting to say goodbye to my cast iron bed frame. The kids rooms are overflowing with books and ornaments because the bookshelves we had in our Victorian home are too tall for our country cottage.
I am a rebel, and in my own home, rules are there to be broken and my house is messy, cosy and very eclectic. But having been a chambermaid, and in furnishing our own holiday cottage I quickly learnt that when you want to make a bed or sofa look immediately enticing – and when you try to explain to your husband how the cushions need to be arranged after a guest changeover – then it turns out there are definitely cushion rules you can follow.
Here are some rough guidelines when it comes to numbers and placement of cushions that work well.
