The House That Made Us

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Hello & happy Friday! What a beautiful week it’s been & we’ve been lapping up that sunshine. It’s time for this weeks tour but if you missed last weeks kitchen post, or the week before’s hallway post then nows the time to catch up. Caravans essentially need to have everything in them that a normal home would have which I found hard as it’s obviously very much condensed. I love cooking, but with the tiniest space to work in you really have to think outside of the box! Thinking of the basics, I knew we’d need a kettle& toaster then found some little Kilner jars to hold tea/coffee/sugar & some beautiful acacia chopping boards.

We had lots of prosecco & some delicious canapés but the best part was definitely the most incredible cake made by Cakes By Sadie Smith& topped off with my logo & signature bee by Alices Accessories. When we bought Baylyn House, this space was actually a conservatory, but after a year or so of leaking & being too hot in the summer/too cold in the Winter (so practically wasted space & unusable – I always advise not to bother with conservatories!) we made the decision to turn it in to a more practical extension. This took 6 weeks & we ended up building up the sides then putting a flat rubberised roof on with two roof lanterns. To save money we kept the original size/footings & reused the glass at the front with the windows & french doors. You can read all about it in the posts here. As tears ran down my face, she stood up (ruining the plait in the process..) & hugged me with a concerned look on her face asking ‘Mummy, why are you crying?’. I explained to her that I was happy. She asked me again, why was I crying so I told her that people don’t just cry when they’re sad, they cry when they are really really happy too.Losing weight hasn’t been a purely physical thing for me, it’s been so good for the mental side too. I have so much more confidence to embracing life & take opportunities without hiding myself. My energy levels are so much better & I’m smiling for what feels like the first time in so long. With the bones of the caravan looking a hell of a lot better, it was then time to focus on the fun part, accessorising to give it a bit of character & turn it in to a real home away from home. Portable – I love how easy it is to move about, we’ve been taking it downstairs in the day so Rory has that consistency of knowing when he goes in it he should be sleeping and familiarity if we are on the go. Are you going to take on the challenge with me? Let me know how you’re doing & if you succeed by hash tagging #THTMMnospendchallenge The left side of the living room was given a new lease of life last year when we installed a false chimney breast & log burner effect stove. This added so much character to the new space & although obviously it’s pretty redundant at the moment in the Summer months, it really comes in to it’s own & is so cosy in the Autumn/Winter. You can read about the whole process here.

It’s been a whopping 9 months since I last wrote a post on here & so much has changed since then…mainly the fact that we have MOVED!! & not just down the road either, we made the spontaneous decision to relocate & swap the beautiful beaches of Bournemouth for the rolling fields of Somerset & countryside life. All of the shutters in the house are from California Shutters which are DIY (measure & fit yourself) & I cannot recommend more – not only are they about half the price of many shutter companies but they just look beautiful & give off the most calming light. Lighting wise, this house doesn’t actually have ceiling lights & at first I was going to get an electrician in to put them in, but then I thought about it & actually we never used our main lighting, instead preferring soft mood lighting from lamps in the evening. I replaced the wall lighting with these antique brass Millhouse from John Lewis& love the soft glow. I’m undecided about putting some art work below them but at the moment want to keep this space feeling fairly fresh & bright. I also got this antique brass lever arm floor lamp, currently in the sale from Dunelm.

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Here’s a little peek at the evening & I can’t wait to show you some of my projects from Interiors By Charlotte Valentine very soon! Filmmakers and entertainers discuss the movies that inspired them. Hosted by Oscar nominated screenwriter and TFH Guru Josh Olson and TFH Fearless Leader Joe Dante. Matt used timber & some trim to craft the kind of look I wanted to go for including some DIY corbels by cutting 8x bits of wood using a template & glueing together then filling/sanding. Surely we should be able to say ‘I am thankful for this, I am grateful for that, I’m proud of myself because of this & LIFE IS GREAT’. That’s not to say it’ll always be great obviously, but at that precise moment, everything is going just fine.

You then lead down the hallway to the 3 bedrooms; two doubles (one with ensuite) & a twin bedroom, just perfect for a family.In all honesty, about 18 months ago I would never have thought I’d be possible of feeling so content in my life for more than a week at a time. I was lost & undergoing CBT therapy as well as taking medication for anxiety. I struggled through the joys of parenting two very young children which wasn’t ‘me’. I wasn’t convinced my marriage wasn’t right for me & I was constantly on edge, worrying about worrying. It was all consuming. I thought I was naturally one of those people who would always be seeking MORE. Moving down to the other ‘end’ of the room is my console table (in colour ‘Truffle’) with statement feather prints which you can find on Etsy here. They are in Ikea ‘Ribba’ white 40x50cm frames. The table has two lamps which were from The Range originally, these gorgeous little artificial hedge urns from Hudson Home. Below is the large Somerton basket from Neptune with my favourite pom pom chunky knit throw from M&S in it then two silver easel frames here. Because I’d made sure the focal point of this space was the fireplace, I was umming & arring about whether or not to have a TV in this space at all as we’ll eventually have a cinema/snug room & this room is more of a peaceful relaxing adult lounge vibe. Eventually I came to my senses & realised that I’d need somewhere to watch Love Island so went on the hunt to find something to fill the right hand wall whilst also disguising the TV. This also means more space to style all my beautiful bits which are far too pretty to keep in boxes.