|| New Cosy Front Room Decor ||

After now living in our house for a year we had finally settled on what to do with the front room of the house. We originally had it as a dining room, but as it rarely got used (we just ate in the kitchen) it's now become a library come music room come living room without a tv. My dad likes to call it 'the library but generally my sister and I just call it 'the front room' - creative I know. After having the bookshelves and chairs in there for long enough, we thought it was time to finally paint it and finish it properly and after much deliberation on which colour, and which tone of colour and which brand would be best and all that sort of stressful but necessary planning we finally settled on Farrow & Ball's Brassica tone, a dark aged purple that it just wonderful.

My dad had recently painted the chest of drawers from a light blue which I, for the life of me, cannot remember to a lovely soft green colour called Pigeon, however leaving the wooden top of the drawers. We bought some door knobs from French Grey, (a fabulous interiors shop which I just want to buy everything every time I'm in there) purposefully getting mis-matched ones.

Me and my dad spent the day painting one wall of the room, me constantly saying 'oh it will only need one coat, I'm sure' and my dad saying the opposite. Obviously he was right because it did need two coats, as you can probably tell from the images below one coat was ever so slightly patchy. Whether that was to do with my painting or the paint underneath or just because it needed two coats I don't know, but what I do know is that once we did the two coats it looked absolutely fabulous! 

The colour is so rich and strong and makes the room so cosy and comforting, and the green chest of drawers compliments the purple so well it was as if they were meant to be.

The room is now wonderfully cosy and perfect for just sitting and reading with a cup of tea (my favourite thing to do), one of the guitars is also in there as is the piano and is now a wonderful place in which to have a mini-music-sesh. My mum also has her desk in the bay-window of the room, which unfortunately I didn't take a picture of, making the room a perfect study space (also meaning you can people-watch perfectly well.)

|| THE FINAL OUTCOME ||

|| DIY || Fixing that broken zip on your favourite shorts ||

A few months back I bought these pair of shorts from this store called Willow, which in just a few words is absolutely amazing and is by far my favourite shop.

Anyway, along with its ethnic clothing, accessories and 'homey-wear' it also stocks Retro Kitten clothing, and I bought these shorts from that very section in the shop. They were £15 (quite a bit more money than what I normally spend on clothes but I really needed some new shorts, and non-high-waisted-shorts look awful on me.)

I immediately fell in love with them, and they are unbelievably comfortable and go with literally everything I own, so they were an excellent purchase.

As you can see they are black corduroy that is slightly faded and high waisted with a slight turn up on the thigh.

|| Mermaid Nails ||

Badgley Mischka; J. Mendel; Monique Lhuillier; Christian Siriano; Naeem Khan
Source

The mermaid look seems to be floating around everywhere at the moment. I think it's something to do with summer being finally here and a combination of the various hair styles that have been swamping the fashion world; such things as long beachy waves, and pastel coloured hair - a mermaid's dream.

I've seen so many references to the beautiful underwater sea-creatures through clothing, hair, jewellery and makeup, it seems that the fashion world can't get enough of it right now.

Mermaid inspired hair.
Source

Kate Hudson sporting the more
natural mermaid hair.

I personally am a massive fan of this look. I've always loved mermaids ever since I was a little girl, so now that fashion is incorporating the mythical creature into their looks I couldn't be more excited. I've always loved the 'beach-wave' and as I naturally have extremely curly hair I've always loved what it looks like when I come out the sea - all mermaid-esque.
On the left is more the more striking of mermaid hair, but the on the right Kate Hudson shows how you can get mermaid style hair without dying your hair blue. A simple way of getting these beachy waves (without making a trip to the beach) is using salt spray. There are many brands out there essentially selling the same sort of thing. They all give you effortlessly wavy hair that makes you look like you just stepped off the beach.

Another way of incorporating the 'mermaid-look' into you wardrobe without going all out and sprouting a tale and wearing a shell-bra, is with your nails. I'm absolutely loving this look at the moment, it's fresh and summery yet also girly and sophisticated.
Here is my own mermaid-style nails:

|| Charity Shop Find - 60's Dress ||

 So as you all know I do love my charity shops and I recently found this little number - and I absolutely love it. I found it in one of my local charity shops (sadly I can't remember which one) and was originally floor length and extra long.
I cut it to just above the knee, and this gave it a 60's look. The fabric is absolutely beautiful, it's really soft and silky. The main colour seen in purple, but there are also yellows, black, and blues visible. The pattern involves lots of swirls and flowers and reminds me of the Cubism Art Movement.

The gold necklace shown in the picture is from my local vintage shop - SheUnique - and I got it for £1. (It had lost it's clip but I attached an old strap at the back which gives it versatility in length.) It looks like chain mail and each hoop is linked to all the others and forms a quirky triangle shape and the original strap has small gold metal balls hanging on it - beautiful.

|| How to Organise Your Wardobe ||

Photo/Domino Magazine

For someone who lives in England, I experience a place with drastic weather changes (almost bipolar you could say). One minute it will be raining like crazy, and the suddenly it will dry up and then become sunny - not warm mind you. So, like may fellow Brits, my wardrobe is very varied with clothes to fit all types of weather conditions. I have think woolly jumpers and cardigans that can be worn over most items of clothing and are absolutely fab for keeping me warm in the bitter winters. Then, if you wade yourself through the mountains of clothes you will find my summer things; shorts, skirts and summery dresses. However, for someone who is still growing (I think?!) you would think that I have thousands of clothes, but the truth of the matter is, is that half of them don't fit me anymore, or I just don't like them and will never actually wear them. (Mainly gifts from people I don't see much, or something I've had a while and my style has changed) And my problem is, is that I can't throw things away - especially clothes! I find myself thinking, "No, I'll wear it at some point.." or "I just can't through this away, such and such gave it to me.." I also am not very lucky with my wardrobe, continuously ferrying my clothes from home back to boarding school and I end up having such a mess of a wardrobe as I never really put things away and a lot of it just ends up of the floor.

For the person who continually thinks; "a girl can never have too many shoes/clothes etc" here is a bullet proof way of keeping your thousands of clothes and shoes together in one tidy, organised space.

• By Season: whether it's one section for each season (Summer, Winter, Autumn etc) or a more basic one such as just Winter and Summer.
• By Categories: such as 'going out wear' or 'party' or 'formal' etc. This will be easier to find what you are looking for.
• Decide which clothes need to be on shelves and which need to be hung up. (Eg. jeans folded, dresses hung etc.
• Place socks in drawer and make sure you don't have any loose one floating around randomely.
• Use boxes, cubbies, shelves, or a hanging organiser to sort shoes
  
  
  
  

  

  Photo/Walnut and Platinum Alpha Closet