Creating your perfect space at home

A lovely follower (@adeersheart) recently reached out to me on Instagram, asking how I get my flat to fit my clean aesthetic and well, while it's obvious that you guys don't see the messy bits.. (bedroom I'm looking at you..) I don't take photos of my flat, without it being neat and tidy.. That said, I've put together a few tips when styling your home, to compliment the clean minimal aesthetic of your dreams! This post is more of how I created my perfect space, it's still a work in progress and I appreciate that this style might not be applicable to everybody, but I hope it inspires you!

Create a mood board

Before you start your dream deco journey, you need to have some sort of aesthetic in mind. What sort's of things do you like, what do you vision for your home to be like - this really helped us when choosing items for our home. Pinterest is your best friend and can give some creative ideas, for storage and little tips around your home.

Look at what you do have

This tip is pretty important, because it's often not going to be achievable if your desired look doesn't fit in with your lifestyle. Look at the items you do have, are they going to look out of place in your vision or could you store these items efficiently? Do you have children, where will their toys go? or you could have lots of sports equipment that might look out of place.. These are all things that need to be thought about before thinking of a minimal aesthetic. This brings me along to the idea of smart storage.

Declutter your life

I found this to be the most beneficial step to even starting a new clean leaf. I completely cleared out my wardrobe, getting rid of anything I don't wear and giving away to charity, friends, or selling on depop. I still do this now, it's good to recycle things you don't use. Clutter means mess and stress, making use of the space for things you will use and want is a good habit to get into, instead of holding on to things using up your valuable space resource!

Smart Storage

The reason we try and keep our home tidy and neat is not just my uncontrollable need to have everything put away, but we invested in some really good storage ideas for our flat. We live in a one bedroom apartment, which isn't the largest place in the world and for two people moving their life possessions in together we needed places to hide that junk we don't want on display. We bought a few things from IKEA, such as the popular square units we use as bookcases - and slot the fabric boxes inside to hide all the junk we don't want people to see. Our sofa has a secret storage compartment underneath and all my excess seasonal wardrobe is also put away in boxes in our only storage cupboard. Being sensible with storage is probably the best tip I have to achieving the clean look you want. If you don't have the space for it, make it creative, use a clothing rail to make your clothes part of your look. Styling your storage that is visible will make a lot of difference to the feel of your home.

(A few smart storage ideas, I love basket's and anything wire)

Take it Slow

It's so tempting to buy loads of things all at once, especially when moving home. There's lots of things we bought at the beginning, that we didn't need, didn't use, or ended up giving away just because we did a huge haul of items before moving in. Start with the essentials, and if you're going for a colour theme, start with neutrals until you decide on a colour palette for your home. I went for a bright yellow accent and ended up changing it because I ended up not liking it. Building furnishings slowly will enable you to perfect your vision.

Ask yourself; does this add value to my home?

One thing I have stopped doing, is buying pointless homeware. Which I used to do, a lot. Which ended up in me having a lot of mismatched items that I actually had nowhere to display, because of the amount of 'decorative' items I had in my space. This ends up in being clutter. I now ask myself 'does this add value to my space?' and 'does it have a place?' I find that these questions stop being from compulsively buying rubbish that I don't need or will look out of place in my home. Most often the answer is no, saving my wallet and my limited storage space. I now focus on items that I feel are missing or items I feel will add value to my home and lifestyle.

(a few accessories I feel fit my style)

These are the tips I try to stick by to keep my home running with the same look and aesthetic. I love plants too, so I'm growing my home jungle slowly.. but surely. Adding plant stand also helps to create some dimension to styling your home. But I hope that was helpful and would be nice to see if you want to see more of these types of posts!

Thanks for reading as always,

I'm over on twitter & Instagram

- if you fancy a natter

My New University Bedroom

So if you can tell by my Instagram, I moved into my new flat a few months ago and I've just been putting this post off to be honest, although I will eventually do a flat tour, once all the stuff is actually put away (whoops been too busy) but my room is so much nicer than my last student place.. it will be my third year in September and I was tired of the mould and all the crap that comes with being a student. So me and my matey decided to get a little 2 bed flat!

I have white walls at last! Which makes all my colourful things stick out hooray!

The Desk

So my desk has pretty much stayed the same, except for my super cool shelves, which I am hoping to fill with books. I've been trying to read alot more recently, and the shelves are the perfect size!(I think they're from Homebase) The super cool arrow light is from Primark, how cool is it! I've been after one for ages and it was only 10 Pounds *woohoo*

Everything else its pretty much from ikea, including the desk & my makeup drawers are from muji, who do the best makeup storage..

Bed & Chill Zone

Welcome to my bed & chill zone.. So I went a little Thor crazy at the start of moving in and I bought the canvas from the Range. Which fits perfectly above my bed! My curtains are the same, good ol' argos, although I'm contemplating changing them as I'm trying to eliminate most of the pink. My bed is missing my throw, because its summer and its warm! I actually have a decent bed this time around which I am so thankful for, so fed up of crappy student beds (boo) and my view from my window of the gardens is aaaamazing. 

So that's my new room, sorry its not major exciting stuff but I'm still in the process of organising, especially with my craft materials. We moved in pretty quickly so things are dotted around everywhere. My bed cushions, duvet etc are from Primark - I'm loving their new home items, all the colours are super cute. I'm hoping to show more of my work and craft stuff this year which will be awesome *queue planning for that*

Hope you enjoyed this post! :)


Emily.

April Wishlist

Lately I've been craving things. Items I can't afford, mainly because they are just too out of reach of my £50 a week budget.. after buying food for the week and all the items you generally need to live, I'm left with little money to spend on myself, some of these items would just take all my money and I'm just left dreaming and drooling of the items I really want this month! So I've compiled a little wishlist of the things I'm saving up for this month..

1. Floral Pavilion Scrapbook Album 12 x 12 // £15.00

(link)

After I've started scrapbooking I just found it would be 100 times more easier if at the beginning I had just bought a normal 12x12 album. It's getting increasingly more annoying having it as a separate book, I just love the floral print on this and I just think it's lovely for the price.

2. JUJU Jellies in purple // £25.00

(link)

After buying some jelly shoes from primark, and them breaking within a week, I really want to buy a decent pair of jelly shoes. Purple.. obviously, but I think I might hunt around eBay before spending £25.00 on a pair.. but I really like the pastel colours too.. I'm so torn

3. Large Yankee Candle Bahama Breeze // £19.99

(link)

After trying out the wax tart melt in Bahama Breeze, I knew that I just had to have it in a large candle, it's not exactly cheap though so lots of saving has to happen. I just love candle's though and I can't wait to own this, but I think it will be a long time before I do.

4. Fruit-a-licious Wax Tart Melts // £9.99

(link)

I'm obsessed with Yankee Candle and my favourite thing to have in my room is my melt burner with a gorgeous scent. It just fills my room up and it smells beautiful. I love having melt's and I would really love to try the new fruity scents for summer.

5. Mono Check Rose Shirt Tea Dress // £15.00

(link)

I'm actually loving Select at the moment, their new stuff is so summery and cute, but also at a fraction of some other high street stores. Their prices I would say reflect Primark, but the quality just feels so much nicer. I've bought a few new items from Select, and I just loved this dress when I saw it in store!

6. Black Ribbon trim shaker hat // £25.00

(link)

River Island and summer just go together so beautifully, but unfortunately my student budget.. doesn't. I tried on this hat in store when I visited London and it looked so cute but at a £25.00 price tag, I doubt it will ever sit on my head again! Little bit too pricey for a hat for myself, but a girl can dream.

7. Black Chunky Heel Cut-out Ankle Boots // £20.00

(link)

I saw these in store and I've been after a cute pair of boots with a heel just so I can feel abit more dressy, instead of being in my biker boots and converse all the time. These were just £20 from Select and they have a 15% student discount too, so they'll only be £17! 

So, that's my little wishlist for April, I hope I can buy at least one or two of my items from my list, even if it means reducing my food budget! It's been ages since I've done a wishlist post, I hope you liked it :)

If you haven't already enter my Yankee Candle Giveaway! You can win any small candle of your choice so it's worth a few clicks! Enter Here!

Haul | Home Fragrance

Hello all, If you follow me on twitter you would know that I was so excited about these little purchases. I am obsessed  addicted with home fragrance.. I can't keep my purse away from it all. Since being at university I find that candles, oils and burners just make my room that much more cosy. I am constantly collecting candles and oils and this was my recent haul from a shop called 'the candle jar' it is however based in Bournemouth. If you have a candle shop near you go visit! It's such a lovely experience, you even smell coffee beans to cleanse your smell.. palette! 

Tour | My University Bedroom

So I finally got around to taking photos of my room for this exciting post on my uni room! ;)

This is how I decided to decorate my room seeing as I will be living here for the next year, I've just recently put my deposit down on my next house which I'm really excited about! My room is an attic room so it will be all den like, going to go pinterest crazy for that one.

Anyway to my current room, when I moved in, it was quite big and needed to be filled up with furniture, so my parents helped me buy some things. Excuse the lighting, I did try!

I will try and remember where everything is from and link where possible! :)

Desk, Ikea

- This was a table top and I chose the legs for it, I can't remember the price, think it was around £90.. I really love the clean white look though on this desk, its great for taking pictures on and it always has a crisp look about it.

  (link)

Chair, Ikea 

- The chair was also from ikea, Its got quite a modern look about it and it compliments my desk so perfectly, considering its just wood its actually really comfortable :)

  (link)

Candles (right), Asda

- These candles were from asda, I bought them in store on sale for a £1 each. Previously I had ikea ones which I loved, but they burnt out. 

Candles (left) -  Gift

- These were given to me as a gift before I left home, they smell amazing, I'm not sure where they are from though.

Lamp, Ikea

- it literally took me forever to decide on a lamp for uni, I wanted it to fit in with my desk theme yada yada, but we came across this one and I'm so glad I bought it, its easy to adjust, great lighting for when you're doing work and it just looks really futuristic with the chrome and it fits in well with my quite minimalistic look on my desk.

(link)

Egyptian stone cat, Egypt

- I bought this from my travels, when I went to holiday in egypt, I thought this was beautiful, I can't remember the stone its carved out of, but it was done by hand. It glistens in the light too.

I'm not sure if you could get a dupe on eBay etc, but this one is the real thing and is rather special.

Orchids, Various

- I bought my orchids from various places, one was from sainsburys and the other my boyfriend bought me as a gift at home. I just brought these with me when I moved to Bournemouth.

Air freshener, asda

-My mom bought me this when I moved in, you know what mom's are like! she thought it smelt so she bought me this. We just got it in store, they're pretty easy to find.

Mirrored Compartment? - Gift

- I recieved this as a gift for my 18th birthday, I'm pretty sure it's from sainsburys, but obviously I can't confirm that. I think it's super cute and I've been using it more to store odd items e.g jewellery or makeup that wont fit anywhere else.

Acrylic Drawers - Ebay

These are such a godsend, I was sick of rummaging through nasty makeup bags to apply my makeup in the morning, but now I know where everything is and I can see it clearly through the clear plastic. I bought this one from ebay, I don't actually have the link anymore but if you search it, it should come up.

Acrylic Drawers - Ebay

- I found that when I bought the last acrylic drawers, it wasn't enough to fit in all my stuff, so I bought another. This was from Japan, so it was cheaper, but it does take longer to get to you due to the shipping. I really love this one because it has little handles, but also for the lipstick holder on the top. Keeps everything organised and I can always find the shade of lipstick I'm looking for!

Excuse the mess sign, Debanhams?

- This was given to me as a leaving gift, it fits so cutely above my desk. I am pretty sure that it was from Debenhams Home section, it's worth having a search, or look at my previous post on cute house deco.

This is just a cute shelf by my bed, which is where I keep the majority of my things :)

I still like it to be quite minimal as my room gets messy quite quickly. At the bottom shelf is where I keep my uni work, folders and notes, things I need for uni.

Sewing machine, Singer

I really love having my sewing machine a feature on the shelves, it gives a vintage kind of feel, but also because it's so heavy I don't have to lug it around everywhere if I ever want to use it! This was given to me by my aunt and I love it so much.

Magazines, drawing materials, Things for uni.

This shelf is where I keep all my utensils, pens etc! I also have my fashion magazines here.

Big Jar, Ikea,

This I use to store all my pencils etc that doesn't fit into my pencil case. I bought this jar from ikea, for just £2, it's so cheap in there. I think it makes a nice piece out of something that could look quite busy.

(link)

Pencil Case, Paperchase

This I bought, obviously to hold all my pencils, etc, stuff I will actually need at uni.

(link)

USB, Jar

I'm not entirely sure where these jars came from, I think they had sweets or something in them, so I always keep my usb stick in one, just so I never lose it! Because the jar is so small as well, it fits in my bag for uni, and I can always find it, instead of rummaging around in my bag.

Bedsheets - Primark

I bought these bedsheets from primark they really fit in with my whole colour scheme and give a girly vibe. They are also silky, so it makes getting into bed a little bit more luxurious.

Fluffy Pink Pillow, Ikea

I couldn't actually find the link to post, as I couldn't find it online but I bought the big pink fluffy cushion cover from ikea, the pillow is separate. So it's abit more pricey but totally worth it!

Home sweet home cushion, Gift

The home sweet home cushion was actually given to me before I left. I love this cushion the patchwork is so cute and it really does make everything that much cosier and homely.

Mirror - Argos

Cheap and cute, I really love this mirror, it really fits in with my whole theme, its white, its girly, I just love it.

It makes it easier having a full length mirror, I'd be lost without one.

(link)

Drawers, Ikea

These are so simple and they come in a few various different colours, you can also buy dividers that go inside them, to keep them all organised! Again I chose white to fit my pink & white theme, but also if I decided to change the pink, it would still go with everything.

(link)

Curtains, Argos

These were cheap curtains from argos, they do the job, but they also brighten the room up and just make everything seem mine and more at home. 

(link)

I hope you enjoyed this post, I know it was quite long! if there's anything you see that I've missed out or want help in finding just leave a comment below!

Thanks for reading!

CHECK OUT MY NEW UNI ROOM HERE