My Budget (Bonkers) Bathroom – Part 2
The long-awaited sequel is here ladies and gentlemen, try not to get too excited. And for any of you just joining us and reading my title for the first time, please don’t think I’m one of those women who goes around calling herself ‘MAD’ and ‘CRAZY’ and says things like ‘I’m such a laugh, I’m looooooney me!’, as you’d be wrong, I’m normal and sane and ordinary. I have simply referred to my bathroom as being bonkers due to the fact that my husband would regularly exit the room shaking his head in disbelief and muttering to himself that he thought it was bonkers, which I could never fully understand!?
My Budget (Bonkers) Bathroom – Part 1
This post would’ve been titled ‘My Budget Bathroom’ if it wasn’t for my husband. He introduced the ‘bonkers’ bit by coming out of our bathroom on a regular basis shaking his head, laughing slightly hysterically and muttering to himself, “It’s bonkers, absolutely bonkers”. Of course, I didn’t have a clue what he was talking about. Was he looking at the same bathroom as I was? Did he need a new pair of glasses? To be honest, I was a little bit worried for him, because to me it looked perfectly normal and lovely. Wouldn’t everyone love a bathroom like this?
My Canine Shop Assistants
Mabel and Tilly modelling the ‘Rough Diamonds’
I’m extremely disappointed in myself. I’ve written four whole blogs now, and I’ve only managed to sneak in two measly photographs of my dogs. It’s just not good enough. What sort of mother am I not to share my babies with you at such an early stage in our relationship?! I know it doesn’t really have anything to do with decorating, but I did mention in my introductions that this might happen, so you can’t say you weren’t warned. And anyway, who on earth doesn’t like seeing cute photographs of doggies, especially doggies who go to work for a living. (Apologies for calling them ‘doggies’, I know it’s extremely childish but I just can’t help myself. ‘Dogs’ just sounds a bit harsh to me. As does the word ‘hedgehog’; which gets shortened to ‘hedgie’. And ‘blackbird’ to ‘blackie’…..The list goes on. I share this little quirk with my Mum, and we are constantly being ridiculed by my husband. But we don’t care!).
A Shopping Gem Discovered
As a newbie to this blogging lark, it can be very difficult to know what to write about. My husband rattles off all these subjects and topics to me that he thinks I know about, and he might be right, but I wonder to myself who on earth would be interested in reading my opinion on it! Hopefully that will change a little as I gain confidence and write a few more posts. Apparently, according to the t’internet, I’m to write on a regular basis. Whether it’s every day (some bloggers do this; I have no idea how!) or once a fortnight, the advise is to commit to it and be consistent, or your readership levels might drop off. Well, considering I don’t have a readership yet, you’d think I wouldn’t be too bothered about this little nugget of information!! But no, I like to stick to my guns and I’d already made a decision weeks ago to post at least once a week if I could manage.
Spring Forward
Moving house in the dead of winter isn’t really to be recommended. Dark days and freezing cold weather are already depressing enough, without the stressful move from everything that is familiar and cosy, to a brand new house. Even if you’re moving to the house of your dreams, it can take time to settle in and feel like it’s home. And we were moving to a gorgeous little place. A small four bed rental nestled in the countryside, with fields to the front and back, plenty of room to store my collection of furniture (they’re ‘family’, they need to be catered for!), a lovely large garden for the pets to ruin, a wood-burning stove (always had a strange hankering for one of these), and most importantly a fabulous pub 15 minutes’ walk away (essential when moving to the sticks). What could be more perfect?
The Enchanted Garden
There has been a lot of change in my life recently. The last five years of my life have been spent running an interior design shop in the heart of a lovely little Cheshire town called Knutsford, and me and the family (husband, two dogs, and mad cat) living in the apartment above the shop. But in January, some serious multi-tasking went on as I closed the shop, moved house, set up my new interior design brand Carnival Interiors, and started working on the launch of this blog. It was all a bit stressful, but the overriding feeling was one of excitement. Yes, it was sad that after all my hard work I had to close the shop, but it meant that we were living in a beautiful little house in the countryside, and I could finally concentrate on my interior design business and blog. Change can be scary, but really positive too.
