Thursday, June 6, 2013

Making a House a Home

We've moved in!

Two weeks ago Karl and I went to sleep for the very last time in our little house on Cambridge Terrace. With the hustle and bustle of preparing to move, it didn't really hit home that it actually was our last night in the house until the following night when I found myself staring up at our brand new ceilings in our brand new bedroom! So long wonderful little Cambridge Terrace, happy times in a happy home... hello shiny new house! 


There's still a lot of work to do and our house is going to be used as a show-home this weekend to try and sell the remaining two plots. This has meant that since we moved in I have been working tirelessly to bring life and character to our new home and to bring it up to the 'show-home standard'. 

On a limited budget and with a tight turn-around I have had to be savvy and resourceful in order to get the furniture we need and not spend thousands of pounds (which I could very easily do!)

I will be taking before and after shots next weekend and we'll see how close I managed to turn the blank canvas into my dream home. In the meantime here is a sneaky preview of the bargains I have sourced over the last couple of weeks (am I officially getting old blogging about furniture?!)  

    Before and after pic of the sofa. 

Karl loves this sofa suite... I do not. As a happy compromise we have kept the sofas but I have covered them with Sofa Huggers- the whole suite for about £100. It will do... for now! Soft, fluffy cushions are always an absolute must so I bought some lush, natural cushions in TKMaxx (my new favourite shop) and then recycled the old cushions by buying new cushion covers. I still haven't decided on my colour scheme but we'll see what emerges, I'm liking the neutrals with a splash of colour!

New sofa bed

I toyed with the idea of getting a second hand one but none of them looked very nice and to be honest- you just don't know what might have happened on a used sofa-bed! I got this brand new sofa bed from The Pavilion in Ashton and it was an absolute steal at £270. I wonder who will be the first to sleep on it?

Oak Desk
Ignore the bit and pieces on top of it, we still need to hang the pictures on the wall. This was another brilliant steal from The Pavillion, a solid oak desk for £130. 

Oak Bed
Karl and I went into Dreams the other week and both really liked this bed, it was a little out of our price range so we looked on Gum Tree to see if we could find something similar. We found the exact same one with a mattress for £170! It's like new and probably the most comfy bed I have ever owned.
Dressing Table


Every girl needs a vanity dresser, this was actually the first piece of furniture I bought and was an absolute bargain- £60 on Gum Tree.
Window Seat
Here's me shamelessly posing on the window seat, releasing my inner bookworm! 


I've been after a metal mannequin for ages and stumbled across one in TKMaxx (on one of my many visits...) It was reduced to £27 which to me was a sign that it had to be mine! I've wrapped a clip light inside it to turn it into a statement lamp. 

So...a few days till the show home, fingers crossed our new home will wow those that come to visit and we will end up with more wonderful neighbours!