A Coffee and Cream Mood Board - Argos Colour Campaign

One of my guilty pleasures is a visit to a coffee shop, relaxing in a big, comfy, high backed leather chair and sipping on a delicious, iced, coffee frappuccino.  It's such a treat to take a few minutes out of my schedule to enjoy some me-time.  Needless to say, I am a big coffee fan.  I love its evocative aroma, the deep, dark colour and its rich flavour.

When challenged by Argos to create a mood board for redecorating a room in my home, I instantly thought of a coffee and cream themed living room.  I love the autumnal shades of brown, in all its shades, from the glossy depth of a dark, chestnut brown to the creamy, luxurious tone of cafe au lait. These colours provide a comforting warmth and richness to a room space, while the spectrum of shades brings contrast.

A coffee and cream palette offers a warm, sophisticated look, which works with natural woods, rattan and sepia artworks.  It is calming and comforting and evokes thoughts of my favourite coffee indulgence. With a rich brown feature wall and contrasting creams and beiges to lighten the aspect, I'd create a real 'grown-up' living space, taking inspiration from the coffee shops I so enjoy.  Comfy seating and soft furnishings, along with a few ornamental embellishments would complete the look.

I love the pieces that I found to include in my mood board.  Some pieces are from Argos such as the contrast clock, copper tone cafetiere and the embroidered lampshade.  I also love the vintage storage trunks, which would look brilliant in the corner of the room, concealing away some of our clutter. The sepia New York wall art is a really arty piece and a homage to its coffee shop scene ... I think Central Perk had a lot of influence in the UK's coffee shop popularity surge!

Colour has such an effect on our mood and well being, and making your home a reflection of the colours that you love can give you such a good feeling.  I like my kitchen and bathrooms to be bright, light, airy, clean and uplifting.  My bedroom is a tranquil space with muted tones and metallic accents.  The kids have bright, happy, fun, sunny colours in their rooms to match their personalities. But for my living space, the coffee and cream theme would be the perfect deliciously, indulgent spot of luxury, reflecting the guilty pleasure that is my love of coffee shops!


This is my entry into the Argos Colour Campaign competition.

Freddy's Avenger's Bedroom Makeover using Dulux Bedroom In A Box #asifbymagic

Dulux have a fantastic new concept in home decorating, the Bedroom-in-a-Box.  We were sent one to use in Freddy's bedroom, as part of a fantastic Avengers themed makeover.  The Bedroom-in-a-Box contains the matte emulsion paint for the walls, the quick dry satinwood paint for the woodwork, wallpaper adhesive and a wallpaper mural.  You just need the brushes and you are good to go!

The mural consists of 12 panels of top quality, thick, glossy paper, that is hung to create an amazing Avengers themed feature wall, transforming a bedroom into something really special.

Freddy is a huge superhero fan.  He loves dressing up as a superhero, playing with superhero toys, playing Marvel games on the XBox and watching his favourite superhero  movies.  So I was in no doubt at all that this bedroom makeover would make him happy!

We set aside a weekend to do the work and Ian and I double-teamed it to get the job done.  The painting was easy as the walls were a very similar shade of light blue, but a quick coat freshened them up.  We were impressed that the satinwood paint was water soluble so was easy to wash from the brush.  Gloss paint that has to be cleaned using turps was always such a pain to use. Satinwood is a much nicer way to paint the skirting boards and windowsills.  

 The mural hanging was something very new to us, as we have never used wallpaper in our decorating. But working together we were able to piece the panels together and trim the excess from the bottom edge quite successfully.   The Maximum Strength Wallpaper Adhesive was easy to make up and held the paper to the walls really well.  It was sticky enough to stop it from slipping, but had enough give in it to slide the pieces to match the pattern. Using a step ladder to hang the top half of the mural and using a soft cloth to gently work out any air bubbles and creases, we managed to achieve a smooth, crinkle-free end result, with the pattern pretty well aligned. We were impressed with the markings on each of the panels that made lining the pieces up much easier.  As total wallpaper beginners, I think we did a great job and we had a lot of fun working together! 

As with most houses, our walls and ceilings are not 100% straight and perpendicular to each other, which meant we had to trim some edges to make the mural fit at the corner of the room and this resulted in a very slight discrepancy when it came to aligning the last two panels, meaning Captain America's leg is not 100% lined up.  But it is very slight and doesn't show unless you look for it. It is only the perfectionist in me that notices it.  However, the overall quality and the finish of the mural looks amazing and it was very straightforward to do as a two man job.

The finished mural is vibrantly coloured and features Thor, Iron man, the Hulk, Captain America, Hawk Eye and the Falcon.  Unfortunately as Freddy's walls were a bit too small, we lost the Black Widow and Samuel L. Jackson's character who appear on the final piece of the mural, but that didn't distract from the finished wall at all. 

With the addition of a new Avengers duvet cover and with the placement of some of Freddy's superhero toys and books, we themed the room to match the mural and it looked brilliant.  The life size characters bursting into Freddy's room look so impressive.  Everyone who has seen it has thought it is brilliant!  It's a big improvement on his old room, which was looking a bit tired and a bit babyish for Freddy.

As for Freddy he was over the moon and used words such as 'awesome' and 'I love it'. The design features in imaginative games and he loves making up stories with his favourite characters in.  He knows who they all are and Captain America is his favourite. It is lovely for him to have a proper 'big boy's bedroom' in time for his 5th birthday.

Here is our video review of the Dulux Avengers Bedroom-in-a-Box featuring before and after scenes, tips on hanging the mural and Freddy's reaction to seeing his new room.  He was a little bit subdued, as he is ofetn is when confronted with something new, but ironically once the camera was switched off, he started jumping on the bed, cheering and shouting about how awesome his new room was.  (As you can see in the comic strip picture above!)

          

"We were provided with a Bedroom in a Box for the purposes of this review by Dulux and Tots100. You can find out more about the Bedroom in a Box range on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Pinterest." 

Don't Move ... Improve! A Kitchen Renovation for £50!

In these times of austerity, money is very tight.  UK homeowners have been gradually reducing their DIY spend since 2008.  Working longer hours has reduced the free time available to do DIY projects.  However, making the effort to do DIY can improve the look, feel and functionality of rooms in your home. 

We were challenged by moneysupermarket.com to carry out a cut price room renovation in hope of becoming a home improvement hero with a budget of just £50.

For me, a brand new kitchen would be top on my list of dream home improvements, but without a budget of thousands of pounds, I need to get creative and revamp my space as cheaply but effectively as possible.

Revamping the Units

You can change the whole look of your kitchen cabinets by changing the door handles on your units and drawers.  I found some brushed steel bow dimpled handles on Amazon for just £25.25 for 20, complete with fixtures.  They brighten up the units and modernise the kitchen, giving the illusion of it being new.  They are easy to fit, screwing in to the original holes.

They make such a difference to the overall look of the kitchen.  I love the curved design, they are much nicer and more ergonomic than our original handles.  Buying in bulk on Amazon saved us some money too.

A lick of paint is something that can totally change the ambiance of a room.  Our off-yellow paintwork was looking tired and dull.  New paint can totally freshen up the room and give it a new feel.  We have gone for a Mediterranean theme and used Olive paint on the walls and brilliant white on the ceiling.  The colour scheme was inspired by a utensil pot that I really liked in Homebase that cost £1.93 on their sale rack.  It sometimes helps to find an object to use for inspiration if you don't have a clear colour theme in mind.

We already had the decorating equipment and white paint so we just needed to get the Crown Olive Green Kitchen Paint which cost £22 in Homebase.

Top Tips for Painting

Choose a colour that reflects the mood you want.  You could go for something warm and homely, chilled and relaxed or vibrant and energetic.

Use Tester pots to make sure you like the colour before you commit to the change.

Use a proper kitchen paint which resists grease and mould to give a finish that will stay looking good.

Stir your paint well before you start to paint to ensure it is well mixed.

Use cheap masking tape on the edges of the walls to get a clean line.  It is much easier and much faster than trying to do it freehand, and gives a straight, neat finish to your paintwork.

Don't wash all your brushes and rolls.  Wrap them in clingfilm overnight and they will be ready to go next morning.  This saves time, effort and means you only need to clean your tools once.

Do a good old 'snagging' after you have finished.  Get someone with a fresh pair of eyes to spot any bits of paint you've missed or smudges you've made.  You can go paint-blind after staring at the wall for hours so it's good to get someone to help with the quality control!

Decluttering and Storage

Decluttering doesn't cost a penny!  It is the biggest home improvement you can carry out and it's absolutely free to do.  Getting rid of old, unwanted stuff and finding sensible storage solutions for the things you are keeping is a great way to update your space.  Charity shops are always pleased with donations so you will be helping others too!

I used old plastic boxes in my cupboards to separate the food items such as herbs & spices, cake decorating bits and nuts & seeds.  Keeping all the similar items together makes it so much easier to locate the things you need and keeps everything tidy.

In organising my kitchen work surfaces I doubled the work area available.  My microwave had been taking up much needed space as I had put it near an  electric socket which was away from my other electric appliances.  By adding a socket extension block to the other plug socket I now have all my electrical equipment together and have loads more free space. It really gives the illusion of having a much bigger kitchen...improving for free!

I have had a brand new toaster and kettle in the garage since Christmas.  It was the perfect opportunity to bring them out and complete our new kitchen.  

So here is a quick before and after shot which show how we improved our kitchen for £50 and a bit of hard work and reorganisation!

Before

After

Shopping List

Cupboard Handles £25.25

Olive Paint £22.00

Olive coloured Utensil Holder £1.99

TOTAL

£49.24