My Office Decor & Styling Fairy Lights

When I moved into my house I knew that I wanted to convert the spare room into an office area where I could also do some blogging. The room was painted a mint green colour when we moved in and had a blue carpet. It was used as a reading room I suppose, complete with bookshelf and rocking chair – which was still there when we moved in! When we had the electrics rewired in this room, we added an extra plug as we knew we both wanted to have our computers in here (or laptop in my case). This was really handy as it allowed us to set up our own computer areas at each side of the room. We painted the entire room white which is a great backdrop for my blog photos. There was a cupboard in this room which we wanted to utilise this space for some storage and at first I wasn’t sure what to do with it so it became a bit of a junk storage place.

Before Photo - Courtesy of Rightmove.

James very kindly surprised me on my birthday by sorting this room for me and buying me some great furniture and accessories. Firstly, he took the doors off the cupboard and replaced them with some sheer curtains which he popped onto a copper pipe for me, matching the theme of the room. Inside the cupboard which was bare, he added some shelving which he painted with a copper edge and a book case. Inside I have popped some of my books and some of my blog items. He also added a copper clock to the wall to really tie the colours in together.

My desks are from IKEA. I have one which I put my laptop on for when I am writing blog posts, and the other I use for taking my photos. This has been topped with some Marble fablon which you have probably seen in the background off all of my photos. I have a chair that I got from IKEA as well and on this chair is a gorgeous cushion that James bought me from B&Q.

Under my desks I have some more storage units which I have filled with craft supplies. He also decorated these for me in copper and marble to fit in with the theme of the room. I also have a light curtain which is great for the winter when I want to add some pretty bokeh to the background of any shots I take.

I love having fairy lights in this room as it makes for a really relaxing environment. If you're looking for your own light curtain, then be sure to check out Festive Lights. They have an amazing range of lights in every style imaginable. I am thinking of getting these adorable Unicorn Fairy Lights as I think they will really go with the relaxed decor in this room. They are also perfect for Children's rooms and nurseries so will be a great transitional piece once this room becomes a bedroom one day! 

Imagery provided by Festive Lights

On the floor, we have used the offcuts from the bedroom carpet just so there is something soft to put your feet onto. I also have a sheepskin rug that I pop down now and again, or failing that it hangs off my chair. James also has his side of the room sorted with his desk, massive computer screen, chair, shelving and art supplies.

I have not had the ceiling or coving done in here, but will be something that I do if I ever change this room around as well as replace the floor to a complete one. I love this room now it has been organised properly and it’s a great space for me to work on my blog posts. I would eventually like some curtains or a blind in here but for now, it’s just right. For a room that we haven’t really put a lot of time or money into I think it works well, and can stay this way for the foreseeable future as we have more important rooms to focus on next (the living room!)

Do you have any room before/after’s to share? Can you recommend any other fairy light hacks like these ones that I could add to this room?

Find the post about my bedroom makeover here.

Our Bedroom - Before and After

The bedroom is the room where the magic happens – and by that I mean transforming myself from an egg with eyebrows in the morning to a reasonably presented person. This room was fairly easy to work with. We had a full electric rewire when we moved in which did mess up the walls and floor but it wasn’t wallpapered so the walls just needed patching up where the electrician had been and the carpet once again needed taking up. It was hard to picture where to lay things out in this room because it didn’t have a double bed in it when we viewed the house but we made things fit in the end.

We painted all the ‘white’ areas to freshen them up and decided to go with a relaxing Dulux Sugared Lilac colour for the walls. We hadn’t considered wallpapering this room but on a random visit to B&Q, James spotted this lilac and white striped wallpaper which we thought would go really well and just break the colours up a bit. My dad and step-mum very kindly added this to the back wall for us then we placed our bed in the middle. Ideally we will eventually get a new bed in white to match the rest of the room but there are other priorities for the money at the moment!

To really finish the decorating off we had the ceiling skimmed and coving added, which is something we will slowly do room by room I hope. We had a professional decorator do this for us and it was done within a couple of days which saved us the stress and hassle. We also had the ceiling lights centred to the middle of the room so by having the ceiling skimmed this hid the unsightly hole where the previous light fitting hung.

We decided to go for carpet in this room which we chose and had installed by Whittaker Carpets. I was so happy to finally get carpet after constantly having to deal with cold chipboard! We wanted to break the purple up in the room with a dark cream/light brown colour. We chose a blind for this room in the colour ‘Hessian Biscuit’ from Dunelm which was just what we wanted then chose a similar colour carpet to tie it all in.

We bought our bedside tables from the MALM range at IKEA. They were only £29 each and do the job, it’s somewhere to put our phones on charge at the end of the day. My dressing table is also from IKEA and is the Alex/Liatorp one. I also have matching Alex drawers on the other side of the room filled with make-up and beauty items. I also bought the stool from Ikea and the mirror was a car boot find for £4! Finishing touches included these table lamps from Wilko, the duvet set from Primark (VelvetGh0st range) and our prints on the wall to tie all of the bedroom colours in. James bought us the lilac lamps from Wilko and they suit the room really well I think!

Our wardrobes were measured, fitted and installed by Norfolk Value Kitchens who can also provide bedroom furniture. By having them fitted we could get them the right size to fit the space available. The doors also come with a stable door on the bottom half, this means we can open the top half of the wardrobe and it doesn’t get in the way of the bedside tables. There were many doors to choose from and we thought these ones fit in well with the rest of the décor without being too plain.

Overall I am really happy with how this room turned out. From seeing it with the floor ripped out and holes all over the walls transformed into a cosy room has been a long old process but I am really happy with it. One room down, a lot more to go!

It works! - Ultimate Body Wraps*

If you're a big Instagrammer then you will have no doubt seen these wraps from 'It works!'. I'll be honest, when I first heard about these I was a bit skeptical, I thought - How can they possibly work? When my friend Emily offered me the chance to try one out, I couldn't say no. I wanted to see what they were like for myself and provide you with an honest review. 

 

 These wraps are so versatile. Not only can you use them on your stomach, you can cut then several ways to make leg wraps, arm wraps and even chin wraps to tighten a wide range of areas.

First thing's first, take your before photos and measurements. I decided to wrap my stomach, so I took a few measurements of my waist and around the center and the bottom of my stomach. Photo's are also important. Ensure you take them from the same distance and same pose each time. I'll be honest, this was the hardest part! In the end I had to use my phone because my DSLR was washing all the colour out and I wanted to be able to see every detail in my results!

Before popping on the wrap, it is advised you take a hot shower to open up the pores. Do not use any lotions. I then read the simple to understand instructions on the wrap packet and wrapped myself up! It was very easy to do. The wrap actually smelt really nice, like Aloe Vera! I was expecting it to be made of clingfilm in all honesty, but it's actually a polyethylene cloth covered in a lotion which is comfortable and pleasant to wear. I left the wrap for 45 minutes to ensure I got my results.

During the 45 minutes it is vital to stay hydrated and keep drinking water. If you're going to be moving about then it is best if you wrap yourself in clingfilm to stop the wrap from moving. If you start to sweat, remove the clingfilm! The wrap felt nice. It was cooling and made my stomach tingle. I actually liked the sensation, it reminds of that feeling when you put nice cold after-sun onto sunburn.

After you take the wrap off, you smooth the extra lotion on and retake your measurements and take your after photo. 

These wraps continue to work their magic for up to 72 hours so it's important to keep hydrated and drink plenty of water in the upcoming days. I didn't shower until the next day to ensure the lotion really got a chance to soak into my skin.

These are my results! My measurements went down and I felt great! I felt toned despite not doing ANYTHING. I told Emily I would give an honest review, and I'm not just saying this because she's a friend, but I seriously am impressed with the results.

Here is my before and after photo. Bearing in mind this is just after one wrap! Think of what results I could see if I purchased more than this. And after only 45 minutes, I am over the moon, I can definitely see a change. Everything feels tighter and flatter.

There are plenty of rules to ensure that these work and you will need to follow them all. I haven't detailed all of them in this post but you should know when done correctly, these wraps work for 98% of people, so I would urge you to try them out. You have to be realistic, you're not going to drop a stone overnight, these wraps aren't for weight loss. I think they are ideal if you have a special event coming up, a holiday or even a wedding. These wraps tighten and tone in a way that I can't explain!

To find out more about these wraps and try some for yourself, you can contact Emily on Facebook. Why not book yourself a 'wrap party' and have the girls round for en evening? You'll then be able to try one out and make an evening out of it.

*Emily provided me this wrap in exchange for an honest review. I was not influence in any way and all opinions are my own.