It's All About The Ochre!

As I have decided to embrace the Autumn season well and truly, I also realise I want to help those hygge vibes along and create a warm, cosy and inviting space for me and the family to relax in. I am a big believer that the space around us really can influence our mood, and with one or two areas of 'Home Sweet Home' still not quite finished off, my mood can be a bit fickle at times ;) I wanted to begin to bring a little Autumn love into at least one room and so the lounge was decided upon. I still love the florals, and they will always play a part in my home decor for sure, but ones tastes do change over time and so I've decided to cut back from the flowers (a little) and am aiming for a more simple, streamlined look, with plain walls and pops of colour! 

After a little mooch, that turned out to be a bit of a shopping spree at Dunelm (it will always be Dunelm Mill to me!) I found some lovely bits to help me create that cosy feeling that I was yearning. 

I also think I found my 'pop' in the form of 'Ochre' a particularly lovely autumnal shade of mustard yellow. Oh my goodness I can't get enough of it and have been surprised with how it can compliment many a backdrop. You can see the popping of colour in the haul I got! 

I just had to have the cute slippers with their ochre pom pom!

Once I had a chance to have a good look through my haul, a couple of the cushion covers didn't quite do it for me, so I decided to exchange them for some other ones. Ah yes, now that's much better! With the dog in mind of course, seeing as he sits on the sofa as much as anyone else ;) 

And whilst he's up on the sofa, it seems I'm not the only one who also loves cosying up with the fury throws. 

Against the crisp white walls the ochre lampshade looks so cheery! 

And with the colourful party lights this is a lovely corner of the room. My daisy wooden wall art had never quite found its perfect place in 'Home Sweet Home' over the years, but now with the ochre love in here and its tiny yellow disc centre think it's found its new place! When the party lights are on, this corner is one of my favourite spaces to sit.

I'm just loving Dunelm's cosy teddy bear range, so as well as picking up a couple of their throws, I couldn't resist a super soft hoodie for Miss. Poppins and I to snuggle up in. Being a teen, I have to take every cuddle opportunity I can get and these will definitely help to get some mum/daughter time I'm sure!

As we have been looking for a rug to suit the lounge and realised the previous one, although super lovely, was a little too small, saw a great one at Dunelm, and even better was half price so a great buy. I must be growing up a bit as my teen said "You're turning into Nainy (welsh for grandma) as it's the sort of thing she'd buy". Well, my mum often gets lovely compliments on her home decor so it can't be half bad. The rug looks great, adds warmth, not too in your face and seems to compliment all the mustard love! 

We have had our Ikea sofas for longer than I care to remember, and the time has come after many years to bring some new sofa love in. Our lounge isn't that big a space so we have to be really careful with not having something too big, but we seem to be quite taken on a corner sofa and a two seater/sofa bed. However we have looked, and looked, and looked and looked (you get the picture) and just can't decide. Apart from the colour (a light/medium grey) we are no further, and perhaps the trusty Ikeas will be sat on forever! 

Talking of Ikea, I have had this Ikea chair on my wish list for ages....so maybe the ochre love has always been there. 

I'm also getting quite fond of the faux plant vibe and having only a few real plants dotted around my home of the green variety, I think the faux look can really help to fill the space. I picked up these ficus spray's whilst at Dunelm and they look surprisingly good and only cost 99p a stem. 

And this Ivy looks lovely across the mantle above the led candles so no fire hazard issue there! 

I also find smells and fragrances help to create a lovely mood and I knew as soon as the Gingerbread candles and diffusers came back into Home Bargains, I was going to get my hands on one. Obviously what fragrance one person likes candle wise can be very individual, I tend to be a vanilla, coffee, chocolate type of girl so Gingerbread is perfect for me, and these smell delicious! I've yet to try the Gingerbread diffuser out so shall leave that in it's packaging until we are well and truly in the depths of Autumn. 

Of course I couldn't resist a little light of the teeny version, these are such a bargain at only 59p I can see me going back for many (many) more! 

I'm trying to watch less telly (which is a bit ironic as Autumn is usually a great season for some fab tv dramas) and get reading more, of course my new book had to match the decor ;) 

So, its a start, and with bare white walls in the lounge, I may be inspired to add a little colour, but for now I'm slowly starting to feel the Autumn vibes and am enjoying my cosy time! 

Hope you are feeling the cosy love too, I'd love to know what helps you to create the Autumn love decor wise at this time of year!

X 

New Seasons

Normally at this time of year as one season blends into another, the days get shorter, and the nights draw in earlier, I have a little wobble. I'm definitely a spring/summer girl and as these colder, darker months creep upon me, I tend to want to hide, to hibernate and pop out again come spring! Ok, ok I physically don't hibernate to the outside world but the want is certainly there. I do however feel Autumn is a beautiful month with the change-over, and to be embraced, so I have decided to soak it all up and help make the change over that little bit easier.  

First some inspiration from one of my vintage Ladybird books!

And here is what it says...

"There are many, many things to look for in autumn, just as there are at any other time of year. You will, of course, soon find such things as blackberries and hazel nuts, but if you know where to look you might also find the nests of the wood wasp hanging from twigs, or a bumbles bee's nest in the bank - in which you might even discover a field-mouse curled up. You can look for the large flocks of various kinds of birds, some in their young plumage, others fully adult, and some still half-and-half; and sometimes you will find all the males together in one flock, and all the females in another. This book will tell you about many other interesting things that you can see, and will greatly increase the pleasure of your country walks." 

Gosh what's not to love! I shall enjoy dipping in and out of my little book. To get me on my way, I took a little visit to the library to seek out any other inspiring books. I found a great Selina Lake one called "Winter Living".

It has some great ideas for transforming your home into a welcoming haven inspired by the romantic charm of winter. I'm really into the Hygge movement and so anything that helps to create a pretty, calm and inspiring space I'm all up for! There is a great little piece on winter florals and creating a pretty backdrop for the home.

 I really liked the idea of drying out some pretty hydrangeas and having friendly neighbours with an abundance of the pretty flowers, kindly let me have some. There were so many pretty colours and I looked quite the country girl collecting them in my lovely Freecycle wicker basket. 

A couple may have been just past their best for picking but lovely all the same and I couldn't wait to get displaying them. 

I'm yet to remove all the leaves and so am enjoying the very best ones before they start to dry out, which they are starting to do.

I'd like to find other ways to display them once they have dried out so if you have any ideas please let me know. For now I'll enjoy looking at my little arrangement which sits on a recently painted little table I found on Freecycle. I just love Freecycle and I don't think there is any room in my home that doesn't have a least a couple of Freecycle, or Freegle as its now called pieces in it. Very often a piece that I have up-cycled. 

The little rose gold  'Dream' sign was a 99p bargain from Aldi from their clearance sale. We're also in the middle of a re-decoration in the lounge and whilst browsing in Laura Ashley found this lovely wool blend rug in their sale. A real bargain at £38 from £125!

It's possibly a bit too small for the room, but I couldn't resist the cheery check and it'll be a great addition to any of my other rooms. I had seen another stripey bargain (ex-display) rug at the same time, it was bigger, but I couldn't make my mind up which one to get. The next day I realised the stripey one was probably a better fit for the lounge being bigger, so I dashed back to get it. As I went through the the shop door I saw someone at the till buying it. Ha! I wanted it even more then ;) So the hunt is still on for a larger rug that isn't going to break the bank. 

For now I shall enjoy dipping into my inspiring library books to help me get into the changing season mood! 

X