a little house on bluebell.

Mine and Gareth's first home is a little three bed terraced in Lower Stondon ♥

It's nothing fancy, a fairly new property at eight years old... But with a fair bit of work to do!
Unfortunately the previous owner treated it like a hovel and being a single Dad with two kids... Well, you can imagine the mess we moved into.

After a weeks scrubbing and cleaning, we started to paint and decorate, we wanted to start with a blank canvas and then slowly put our stamp on it.
We started by ripping out all of the old curtains, carpet and vinyl flooring.
Cue many trips to the local tip later... We've now painted all of the walls white or pale grey, re-glossed the old yellowing gloss, changed the banisters and handrail on the stairs from a dark pine to a shiny white, carpeted the whole of the upstairs (at an eye-watering price) and laid new vinyl flooring in all of the bathrooms.
These things have made the BIGGEST difference, the house looks so much cleaner and fresher than when we first got the keys... It almost looks like a different house :)

We have a couple of larger hardware type things left to do... New taps in the bathrooms, new blinds, new doors, new light fittings... But for now it's time to start adding the little touches that give it a personality and make it our home, something which I've been looking forward to since we first looked round and nervously put the offer in over seven months ago.

Some of the colour schemes have already been decided on due to existing pieces, such as soft furnishings or artwork. But there are other rooms yet to be chosen... The exciting bit!
I have dreams of giving each room some individuality, whilst making sure the whole house flows and fits together at the same time.
So cue reading my new editions of Living Magazine, which Mum bought me a subscription to for Christmas. The articles have such dreamy houses and I'm taking snippets of inspiration from the ones I love.

I'll do a more detailed room-by-room style blog post later and shoot some photos for you to look at when we're more finished, but for now here's a little on our bluebell project.

juicey musings.

Last week I did a 5 day juice detox... The World's Biggest Juice Detox nonetheless!

I've been interested in juicing for a little while, one of my friends introduced me to it last year... And I did a 3 day detox in December to shift a couple of stubborn lbs that I'd been wanted rid of for a while.

I'd signed up to some email newsletters back then from Jason Vale (the 'Juice Master'?!) and one popped into my inbox telling me about this World's Biggest Juice Detox.

I did a bit of research and it's a week in January where you follow Jason's 5lbs in 5 days plan, having 4 live juices and 1 shot per day.
After eating copious amounts of Christmas chocolate and French pastries over the winter period, I thought I'd give it a go as it sounded like just what I needed.

Pictured here is the 'Nature's Super Blend' juice from Day 4 #lookslikeslimeyettastesdivine

I downloaded the 5lbs in 5 days app, bought the book and the wall planner, got my juicer and my blender and organised several bottles and flasks before finally setting off to the supermarket on the Sunday to buy a great amount of fresh fruit and veg. My trolley looked fantastic with the rainbow of colours.

Monday morning was difficult as I had to get up stupidly early to make my breakfast, lunch and mid afternoon juices ready for the day... But as the week went by I got into a routine of prepping the fruit and veg the night before, getting up early to make my juice and cleaning the kitchen before heading out to work.

By Friday I was even out of bed at 6.30am without having to force myself to get up, I felt fantastic!







For some odd reason, my boss decided to join in... He's the least healthiest caffeine addict I know, but there's nothing like a bit of support from a colleague to get you through a challenge and I'm so proud of him for sticking to it.

Between the two of us we lost 12lbs and ended up liking herbal tea :) Something I never in a million years thought I would say.
I felt a lot less bloated and definitely saw the benefits on #flatstomachfriday after completing the 5 day plan.

All in all, my juicey experience was a very positive one and I hope to continue juicing for life. I'd highly recommend you give it a try.

hello blogging.

So 2014 sees my foray into the world of blogging... Exciting times!
I have the intention to share with you anything I think remotely interesting in relation to fashion, interior design, food, health or just general musings about my life.
I'm open to developing my writing style and just seeing where things go...

I'm posting this from Morzine in France where I saw in the New Year with my family and boyfriend.
It's been a very relaxing week. Whilst I haven't been skiing (trust me it's not my thing), I have enjoyed much alpine air, hot tubbing and tasty food... The best bit has been having a break from the stresses of work and house buying, and spending time with the ones I love.

We're out here until tomorrow night, then we fly back from Geneva.
We bought our first house in December 2013 and are in the middle of decorating... So the weekend will be spent receiving new carpet for the upstairs and putting the rooms together when it's all in.
I'll keep you updated anyway... Bye for now :)