Bored of the Ironing Board...

Good Evening.

Straight to the point.  My ironing board has seen better days.  We bought it when we moved into our first place a couple of years ago, and it was the cheapest in the Argos catalogue.  Oh how times change :-D

The shameful shot:

So, rather that splurge on a whole new board I've been on the hunt for the perfect cover.  Never going to happen.  I certainly didn't find a Brabantia jobbie that would do the trick, and some of the nicer ones would be too big due to the board being so cheap.  The next logical step was to have a peek at Etsy but by the time you add shipping to the UK things get a bit steep.  My budget was ideally around £15, so I decided I''d have a crack at making my own.
I headed to John Lewis, and picked 2 meters of beautiful Tanya Whelan fabric, which was half price and some 4oz flame retardant wadding.  Armed with tutorials I found on Pinterest (Oh dear, I think I'm addicted), I set to work...

Materials ready to go (That tubby chap is my pincushion ^_^)

The Board with the old cover removed and set fire to...

I sort of skipped a step here.  There are two layers of wadding in there, cut the exact size of the board top.  The fabric is good side down, then cut the same shape as the board but with a 4-5in border.

Then I pinned a wide hem around the outside with string in the channel, so I can use this as a drawstring to tighten the cover on the board later.

At the end I left a little gap for the string to hang out so that it can be tied up.  I had planned to tie ribbon to the string a little further down, but the knot that was created was HUGE and made a huge lump in the channel.  I seriously thought that the knot would stop the string from moving in the channel, and thus stop the drawstring action from working.  I had at it with my sewing machine, and removed the pins...

Oooooh...

 Voila!  One shiny new ironing board cover!

Even though I didn't use ribbon in the drawstring, I wanted a cute little tie off, anyway.  Right then, glam, creative bits over-I now have to do the actual ironing.  Sad face.

Owls in the Kitchen

Good Afternoon!

Every now and then, Laura Ashley come up with something wonderously cute.  For the past few months, I've been fixating over a cute, owl shaped utensil holder, but was nervous as to whether it would survive shipping.  Last weekend I was in Southampton, and I came across on of their stores!  Not only did I find the owl (with no postage of worries therein) but they had a 30% off sale, so it only cost me £11.  Cue happy dance (no really, I danced all day).

And above is my happy kitchen menagerie.  I think I will declare Peonies my Favorite Summer Flower.  Now I just need to decide if tulips or daffodils are my favorite Spring flower, then get to work on the other seasons...

Pretty Flowers and Country Shows...

Whilst I get some more pics together of what's going on in the house I thought I'd share a few snaps I've taken recently.  Last weekend we headed up to Highclere Castle for a country show.  We got soaked.

 I've been wearing a lot more dresses recently-even if it IS with a mac and wellies!  We didn't really see that much at the show, but it was a nice day out all the same.  Over the last few weeks we've just been chilling out and meandering.  Last weekend I managed to find a super cute utensil holder for the kitchen, in the shape of an owl-more on that in a later post I think!  For now, here are some beautiful peonies I picked up this afternoon to perk myself up.

Calm new living room!

Good Afternoon.

As promised, here are the 'After' pictures of the newly painted living room (and kitchen, I suppose).

It feels so much softer and calmer in here now.  I made a trip to the big Swedish box today to get the second lampshade so that they both matched.  This made me happy.

A Few Changes...

There have been a few changes to the blog, and there are probably some more to come.  I've had a few changes myself-so if you'll forgive the self-indulgent nature of this post, I'll fill you in.  I've decided to finally lose my extra weight.  I was about two and a half stone overweight, and I've just about lost the first stone.  Yay me.  I've finally started to feel 'pretty' again, and I've wanted to reflect this in my house, my clothes...everything.  Hence the changes.  I've started to re-decorate some of the house, and I'm super excited to share that with you!
I'm going to find the pictures from the original Estate Agency listing for our house, because even though it's a rental and we've not been able to change anything structurally, it was still a bland white box when we moved in.  I've also been baking more and making cute bento-style lunches for myself and the Mr, so perhaps a few of those will pop up.  Who knows?
Also, I've just ordered a new camera, so no more iPhone pictures!

I've just finished the bathroom.  I painted it whisper pink, and bought a cute print from keep calm gallery that reminds me to look lovely.

I love fresh starts, and I'm starting to feel like a bit of a different person.  I've even turned into a MORNING person, which I have never been in all of my 25 years.  I like this period of change, it's exciting and I wonder where I'll end up?  Hopefully it will be somewhere spectacular and you'll all be there to share it with me!