Childhood bedrooms...

I remember having my bedroom decorated by my mum when i was about 12 or 13 and i went for purple walls with a green painted border made from a roller that my mum cut chunks out of. I then stuck 'say no to drugs' postcards all over the walls, they were given out at the local youth group (full of drugged up kids) and had funny (and very inappropriate) images on them. Then there were Tupac posters (embarrassing), magazine centrefolds of half naked male models (typical teenager moment right there!) and a few cardboard boxes from Gateway (remember Gateway?! It became Somerfield which recently was bought up by the co-op) covered in kids wrapping paper with jungle animals on it and then nailed into the walls!

I found an old plank of wood and hammered nails in the sides, wrapped some cord from gift bag handles around the nails and hung it up as a shelf under my mirror.

I had some big cable reels which i painted pink and used to display my cuddly childhood toys,   it was the 90's so there were blow up cushions in there too. I had loads of toiletries all from Boots Natural Collection (those body sprays take me straight back to my early teenage years, vanilla, dewberry and strawberry all spring to mind as being mine and my friends favourites.)

We lived in a housing association house in a newly built cul-de-sac especially for single mums, alcoholic or drug addicted parents, and families on the child protection register. (We just had a single mum). There were some rough characters on that street, we even had a warden on the street at all times (she lived in the biggest house) who kept an eye on things. Some drunk guy tried to barge into our house and apologised a few days later with a Winnie the Pooh picture for me (with a price tag of £70) which he'd nicked from somewhere, so that went on my wall too.

We moved house when i was about 15 and i can remember actually choosing, buying and doing all of the painting in my bedroom. I went for two white walls, a cerise pink wall and a lilac wall.

I ripped out the carpet and painted the floorboards turquoise blue. I framed some magazine pages (of colourful nail varnishes and eye shadows) and stuck up photos with postage stamp borders.

I had shelves on the wall which i covered with cow print faux fur and made a cerise pink kidney shaped desk from mdf. I can remember buying lots of my bedroom stuff from 'Au naturel' which was an interiors store, i don't know if it still exists.

I made a cover for an old blow up pouffe from the 60s, i wish i still had it, and i painted miniature chests of draws or boxes to match my bedroom.

I had this old chest of draws (made by my great grandfather) which my mum reluctantly let me paint and cover with wrapping paper. I threw the actual draws in the bin (i know?!) and then put fairy lights inside covered with voile which looked lovely in the evenings.

Can you see the glass brick with a light bulb in it? I paid a small fortune for that, i definitely wish i still had it! i think i sold it on eBay. And look at those high heeled black shoes with the clear sole and heel, i loved those but would never wear them now!!

When i was 18 i moved away to uni and took almost every one of my possessions with me in a big van. I could never understand how my friends left everything at home and came to uni with just clothes and carrier bag of stuff randomly picked up from their bedroom. For me my student home was my proper home. I didn't do much decorating at that house as my room was small and i had so much stuff that there wasn't much wall left. We put up shelves and i put my collectible teddies on them, and i framed wrapping paper from Paperchase (i loved wrapping paper as you can tell!) for the walls and covered the bottom half of my windows with it too. My best friend did the Tupac poster thing in her uni room, by then i was way past that stage!

My next student room was much bigger but i was there for just a year so stuck with the same theme.

Mine and my husbands first home came next. I went for burgundy, golds and dark wood in the living room (very much inspired by my mums living room) and pastel colours everywhere else. I didn't do much of the handmade stuff there as i was too preoccupied being a wifey.

(These photos are from a photography project i was involved in - i don't normally have someone taking photos of me like this!)

And so we move onto this house. I'm definitely into pastels now, no more bright colours apart from a tiny bit here and there. I have so many plans now that we are decorating - patchworked walls, greens and yellows, cushions and more patchwork curtain's, maps and 50s wallpaper, Cath Kidston and a whole wall of shelves, new rugs and new stairs carpet, a clean white bathroom, and new pictures on the walls. I'm so excited about it all, we've been here for 2 years now but i just know I'm finally gonna fall in love with this home of ours insha'Allah.

Right now...

It has been rain, rain, rain over here the past two (or three?) weeks but we managed an hour outside yesterday but unfortunately for me it involved lots of playing and not a lot of gardening. I think our veg patch may be left bare this year, time is running out for sure.

Its sooo good (I cant tell you how good actually) to see the apple trees with leaves and blossom. I did rather tire of the view down the garden to the brown branchy trees at the end next to the old fence, I was itching to see colour and fresh life. Its here and its beautiful. The swollen pink buds open up to reveal sumptuous flouncy flowers in a light pink which gradually fade to pure white.

The cherry trees are very humble in their blossom output but with a close look they are still pretty. So perfectly pure.

There isn’t much in the way of colour going on else where in the garden, most of the spring bulbs have lost their flower heads now and I think we will be waiting until high summer for more colour – I must sort out my planting scheme to avoid this lull next year insha’Allah. There are lots of seedlings dotted about the garden though, i cant wait for the wild flower patch to grow, grow, grow insha'Allah!

Inside the house we are almost finished with the stripping of wall paper, and we have chosen paint colours! I had actually chosen them a month or two ago but now we are getting a cheaper brand of paint so that we have more spending money for a furniture shopping trip next month. The plasterer is coming next week and the week after we are having a massive all hands on deck paint-a-thon to try and get it almost finished.

If we lived in an older house id be quite inclined to keep this wall as it reminds me of marbled end pages in old books. I shall be sharing paint colours, wallpapers, furniture wanties, and a very innovative lunch bag with you next week insha’Allah, cant wait!

Just lately...

Lately I have mostly just been....

:: Packing away all of the little pictures and random brikabrak which makes this house a home. Cant wait to unpack after decorating though!

:: Eating peaches baked with blackcurrant jam and covered with cream and crumbled ginger biscuits.

:: Scraping wood chip from walls over and over again.

:: Deciding on paint colours.

:: Writing an Ikea shopping list.

:: Carrying hundreds of books upstairs to live on top of the wardrobe's for the next few weeks.

:: Crafting with D and his bundles of stickers, glitter pens, glue, and paints.

:: Feeling hopeful for enlarged follicles! (hospital appt this week insha'Allah!)

:: Bidding on books, clothes, and brikabrak at a charity auction (But not managing to sit down for my usual Monday Secondhand brikabrak post)

:: Wondering if il ever have enough time to plant the rest of my veg seeds in time.

:: Waiting for the apple and cherry tree blossom in the garden to bloom.

:: Watching interesting TV (Silent Witness for the first time ever and a couple of films - A mighty heart and Rabbit-proof Fence)

What have you been doing?

A little bit of gardening...

Yesterdays wall paper stripping went ok, its not too difficult in some areas but very slow in others. We are using a steamer but still, this wood chip is not good!

Today is a gardening day and Ive been outside planting out nasturtiums, sunflowers, sweet peas, larkspur, and a rose bush. Ive filled lots of old pots with compost ready for salad seeds next week insha'Allah.

Some of the empty pots have filled with water from all the rain we've had here over the past few days, and resting still in one of the pots was a newt! I have no idea how long he had been there but there was no way for him to get out, so i put the white stone in (which we brought home from Hunstanton beach) so that he can let himself out when he's ready.

Hopefully after D is in bed tonight i can spend an extra hour out there before sunset and dig a little and plant some cosmos seeds.

Its on!

*** We've started!***

 ***Whoop whoop!!!***

Leicester City...

There are so many interesting buildings in our city centre, Leicester. I would love to spend a day exploring them in better detail but with D by my feet I'm not sure how much attention id be able to pay, roll on the start of pre-school! Ive always had a love for older properties - their architecture, history and all the living that has gone on inside of them. I would love to know the ins and outs of some of these old buildings. I read Julie Myersons 'Home' (reviewed it here) and it made me want to learn so much about the history and occupants of my house over the years. Our current house isn't as old, to be honest i don't know if its a 30's or 70's house, or somewhere in between, but our last house was Victorian.

Anyway, i took my camera to town with me a few weeks ago and managed a few quick shots.

This building below used to be my bank, its such a grand and beautiful building inside and out, right now its empty and has been for a couple of years, such a shame. D loves this building too and always asks questions about it whenever we see it.

In 1878 the former Mayor of Leicester gifted "A handsome ornamental fountain to be placed in the centre of the land fronting the town hall buildings". Its made of bronze painted cast iron, and granite. The fountain is surrounded by garden and benches and is a nice spot to sit in the sunshine for lunch. We've seen a pair of ducks swimming around and around in it, popping their heads under the falling water every so often!

Here's the town hall opposite the fountain which was built on a former cattle market between 1874 and 1876. It was bombed by Germans in WW2 but fortunately it wasn't lost. During the summer we normally see a few weddings going on outside of it, and its also the place to go to register the birth of babies. I remember so clearly when we took D there at just a few days old.

Around the corner and down these thinner side streets stand more impressive buildings. I wonder how many are abandoned or crumbling away inside whilst nobody does a thing about it.

Opposite the market place are a few dishevelled or abandoned buildings. I'm sure this must have been rather swanky in its heyday, perhaps a cinema or theatre? Now its boarded up and neglected.

On the other side of the city centre is the new 'Curve' theatre opened a few months before D was born, at a cost of £61million. I'm sure its some peoples cup of tea but definitely not mine. And all that money, insha'Allah it will be worth the expense....

I haven't been yet but me and D are planning our first theatre visit together next month!

It stands beside more historic buildings, i would love to see the reaction of the men who built the original buildings, would they like our modern interpretations of good design? When i took these photos it was the first time id visited this part of town so i was quite excited to see what we may find.

I absolutely love the windows on this bar. I hope to have decorative leaded or stained glass windows on our own home one day insha'Allah (certainly not this house though!)

Opposite is the Church of St George, built from 1823-1827 and rebuilt after a fire in 1911. I cant find anything else out about this Church, i assume its unused.

And that was the end of our day in the city! We walked back towards the car and i managed to snap a couple of ugly buildings for you, its not all interestingly old and historic! The blue building can be seen literally miles away as its so tall. Yuk!