PRETTY YOUNG THING

I love the idea of renovating our own home. At the moment we are renting so really limited in the changes we can make but we are planning on buying a home soon and I have already started planning the renovations and how we can create the perfect family home for us. I have a big family and we always go round to my moms for dinner as she has a big kitchen/ dining room and I would really like to have a big family kitchen so we can have everyone over to ours for dinner. 

I thought i'd share some tips and things to think about and consider when you are renovating a house or room. 

First up, what do you want to achieve? Do you want more storage? more space? do you want it to feel cosy? do you want it to feel bigger? This is a good place to start otherwise you might get overwhelmed. I want more storage and I want the kitchen to be spacious with plenty of room for all the family and for the kids to run around. Use your measurements and try to come up with a design of the best ways to use the space you have, there's loads of websites you can use to create a design. 

Budget - This should also be one of the first things you think about with any renovation. You need to look into the cost to remodel a kitchen , this will depend on the amount of work you expect to need. If you are going to extend the room and require plastering, new electrics/ pluming this would cost a lot more than just upgrading your cupboards and worktops.   

The design / finishing touches - It's easy to get caught up with the finishing touches like taps and door handles but it's important to do research into everything. Check measurements, read customer reviews on that particular cupboard feature, is an oak worktop the most practical for your family? Is a matte finish going to stay matte with the kids grubby fingers touching them? There are so many different elements to think about and consider when choosing the right products for your renovation.  

Go to showrooms and check out similar kitchen renovations- I would really recommend going into shops to have a look at kitchens in real life, because they are expensive and it's a lot of money to spend on something you've only seen online. By going into store you can feel the quality and see the colours in real life, even if you end up buying it online you might get some good ideas. Also why not knock on and see how your neighbors or people with a similar style house have done their kitchens, you might get some ideas or they could share stories on issues they had with the design. 

Have you ever done a renovation?  Is there any tips and tricks you can share to help things run as smoothly as possible? 

* this post is sponsored

Here's a few easy and affordable ways that you can revamp your kitchen. 

- Accessories can always brighten up a room or add abit of colour. 

This is a really affordable way to brighten up a room and if your renting and can't really do much to your kitchen this can add a personal touch.

-Buy new doors for your cupboards. If you can't afford to replace your whole kitchen you can buy new doors for the cupboards and this can refresh your whole kitchen.

- You can give your kitchen a fresh and clean look by using plastic acrylic sheets which you can use to give your kitchen a more contemporary look, Simply Plastics  have lots of colours and you can get them cut to whatever size you need. They also have a selection of Acrylic Kitchen Splashbacks again in a range of colours. 

-A lick of paint is a great way to brighten up any room, your kitchen gets grubby from steam and cooking oil etc so just giving it a fresh coat of paint will clean up those walls. We have a feature wall as you can see below, I think this gives a very white contemporary kitchen a bit of character. 

Switch out old for new, replace you old manky chairs for some new ones and give the dinner table a new look. Replace your old tap for a new one or even just replacing your grubby door handles for new ones can make such a difference. 

 Will you be giving your kitchen a revamp, I hope you found my tips helpful! 

Everyone has their own taste when it comes to fashion, style and interior. It's so interesting to see what people do with their homes and how different one house can look compared to another. You can buy home magazines and keep up to date with the latest home trends and fashions or put your own individual stamp on your home. Today i'm going to talk about kitchens and how kitchens tend to stick to a traditional layout and i'm going to mention some of the key kitchen trends that are popular right now. 

We have a little kitchen but I love how cosy it is and it's a great size for just the two of us. Our Kitchen is very white like the rest of the apartment but I love this because it means you can just buy accessories to add that pop of colour and you can change the colours easily by just buying new accessories. Our kitchen is the only room which has a colour on the wall. We had a pink stripe accent wall which I love, it just adds a nice subtle bit of colour to a very white room. We have white cupboards and the other walls are white. Most of the accessories around the Kitchen are monochrome and we have a few Rose Gold bits like our toaster and kettle and our clock which actually works really well with the pink, most of our other bits are stainless steel.

I think simple, clean rooms are on trend right now. White washed walls and pretty simple layouts are very popular and then accessorizing with a mixture of new and old furniture and accessories. Plants are also so on trend right now, you can easily add plants to your Kitchen, whether its on the window-sill and you just grow your own herbs or a artificial plant on top of a cupboard. I tend to have fresh flowers in the Kitchen because we don't have any windows in our kitchen. I have a couple of Aloe Vera and cactus plants too which I sometimes move into the Kitchen as well as I think the Green against the white walls works really well.

I love the idea of exposed brick in the kitchen and think this would give a cottage feel to a kitchen, along with some beams or wood would look gorgeous. Our Kitchen is too modern and clean but if we moved house i'd want to add more character to the Kitchen. I'd love an island with clean Marble worktops like this one from Mayfair Granite  Marble and brass/ copper is very on trend right now and I think it would be amazing to have a Marble worktop. 

What is your kitchen like? Do you live in a rented property like us and can't do much with your traditional kitchen? What would your dream kitchen be like? 

If you'd like to read more about how Traditional Kitchens are still the most popular then check out this article on Housewares Live 

Recently we've have quite a few friends that have been moving house and having babies and I feel like i've been buying lots of gifts this month. I wasn't sure what to buy our friends who were moving house, so I thought i'd put together a little gift ideas post to help anyone else in a similar situation. Our friends were not moving into their first home, they have lived together for a while so they had most things like appliances etc and I wasn't sure what they needed etc so I thought i'd pick up a few home bits and they loved it. I got a little basket from Primark and filled it with some cute bits like a candle and a sweet little sign for there new home. I forgot to photograph the actual basket but i've put together a few cute bits and pieces here so i'll go through and share some of my ideas. 

A basket - I love this wicker basket, my mom actually got me this for one of my birthdays and she had filled it with beauty bits. It's been used for so many things and now it lives in my towel cupboard. You can get a cheap little basket from most home stores, I recently got one from my local b&m bargains for about £5. You could even use a plastic or wire alternative. 

In my friends basket I got a little blanket from Primark which cost me £3.50, it was a gorgeous bright blue colour and had a nice geometric print on. I think these blankets are so handy, you can chuck it on when you watching a film and it gets cold or they are perfect for a picnic in the summer etc They have so many colours and prints that there's something for everyone. 

Next up everyone loves a candle, this blue one is from Primark and is one of my favourite colours which is why I picked one up. I have quite the collection of candles around our apartment. They are an easy way to make a home feel cosy and you can get some really amazing scents. I would recommend TK Maxx for Candles as you can get some designer brands at great prices and really impress your friends. 

I popped a cute little handwash into the basket too as sometimes it's the little things that count. Our friends new house has THREE bathrooms so they will need to pick up some extra bathroom essentials so little things like handwash and toothbrush holders start to add up when you have three bathrooms to stock up. I love this new scent from Carex, it smells like Lovehearts and smells so good! 

Cookbooks! Our friends have loads of cookbooks but they are a great housewarming gift especially if your friends are keen cooks or have moved into a house with a much bigger kitchen. I love my Deliciously Ella Cookbook and I have a few baking ones too!! 

A cute little art print or quote can be a very loving and thoughtful gift. You can order printable artwork from Etsy and they are really affordable, you can pop it into an ikea frame for a really lovely gift. Primark had some cute hanging plaques and quotes too which are lovely. I love my 'Don't be a prick' print by Ella Masters, it was one of the first home things I bought for our flat. 

I picked up this cute Aloe Vera plant in Tesco the other day, usually I buy people flowers when they move into a new house but a plant is going to last them longer and something like a Cactus or Succulent is easy to keep and you can put it in any room, I love having green plants in the Kitchen. 

Tea Towels! Another random gift but you can get some lovely tea towels right now, Primark always have some really cute afforable ones! My favourite place again is TK Maxx, My popcorn ones are actually Kate Spade and I picked them up last year in TK Maxx and they didn't cost that much. Cath Kidston is another great place for kitchen essentials like oven mitts and aprons.