Head back to the office in style after the summer holidays with our selection of Etsy picks (see the full treasury over here on Etsy)

The living room has perhaps been the most involved of our renovations so far. Thankfully we chose this as our first project when we were still very much in the honeymoon period of home-ownership (a brief period in which you have a relentless amount of enthusiasm for decorating and you don’t mind rolling your sleeves up after work and getting stuck in to a bit of stripping, plastering or painting and everything seems to progress so quickly – it’s just like the happy-couple, first-home, trying-to-flog-you-paint adverts. Honest.)

I had definite ideas for this room, and it meant starting from scratch, which in turn meant parting with a lot of cash.  So perhaps the biggest requirement of the revamp, was that whatever we created had to be timeless, it had to be something we’d never get tired of – we only wanted to be spending that sort of money once so it had to be right.

Here’s the results. If it were a painting I’d title it ‘A Victorian, with a Sage-Coloured Bonnet, Lost in Mid-Century Copenhagen.’

And it would sell for millions obviously.

Before:

After:

Under the cut:
In detail how and what we managed to achieve, whilst still in the hazy throes of first home bliss…

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I’m sure it’s colder inside my house than it is outside sometimes. Admittedly we could do with investing in new doors – both external and internal (our house suffers from wonky door syndrome – they’re either too short because we’ve removed the original thick garish carpet or, due to the age of the house, the door frames are angled at such a degree that we can no longer close them properly). But I’m cold now and doors are expensive. So if, like me, you need a quick, cheap but stylish fix then take a look at our draught excluder picks (I mean who can resist Monty the dapper slug?!)

And if you’re still feeling the cold check out Our Favourite: Blankets and Throws

1. Dapper Slug – Monty £28.00, 2. Custom length chevron door stopper £10.17+, 3. Proud Fox Draught Excluder £16.17 – sale price, 4. Buckwheat filled draught excluder £17.45, 5. Clouds Scandi fabric £22.00, 6. Mr Fox retro draught excluder £22, 7. Isabella Draught Excluder £27.99

There were eight of us. We wanted Glastonbury tickets, it didn’t happen. We wanted to get drunk and dance to aging rock stars and maybe talk to a woman who converses with the oak tree in the Green Fields.  We thought about this…even without the tickets we reckoned we could still make that happen. And so mission #fauxglasto began.

We needed a place to stay and all credit goes to Kath here for all her research and organisation, if you haven’t already seen our previous post about our shortlisted options you should take a look – there are some real gems.

The house we selected won us over for one pretty cool reason – the fact it has it’s very own cinema. Perfect. If we couldn’t glimpse Dolly as a sparkly dot on a stage in real life, then live close up mud-free footage with cinema quality sound and seats would do for us. It was geographically pretty close to the real Glastonbury too, located in Axbridge, Somerset you could see the Glastonbury Tor from the top floor of the house.

The building itself is pretty striking, a restored Georgian coaching inn, with a pink limewash finish and accommodation spread over three floors.  There was so much to take in – each room is packed to the rafters with antique furnishings and quirky objects. From the old fashioned library with it’s floor to ceiling books to the Art Nouveau cinema and cocktail bar (theoretically this kind of decade style swapping shouldn’t work but there’s a sense of humour about the place that manages to knit everything together).

It’s a design enthusiasts dream. Whether it’s the original features or the artful additions of the owners, there was plenty to inspire. Below are some of my favourite details from the house, including light switches in the library, art deco inspired lamp in the bar,  50s Sanderson fabric curtains and a demonic grinning cat guarding the alcohol behind the bar.

As for our #fauxglasto weekend, yes ok it wasn’t the same as being there but heck it sure was a pretty good second best. And don’t worry the interior chat was kept to a minimum – there’s only so much talking you can do after Kath hands you yet another bottle of Somerset strength cider….

Visit AirBnB to see more lovely pictures of the place and book your stay.

Who needs a clock nowadays? Now we all have these magical pocket watch devices called mobiles, which also make pretty good alarms, surely there is no longer a place in our homes for an old fashioned time piece?

This doesn’t seem to be the case though. Ok, so they’re no longer a modern day necessity but clocks are beautiful and they can really make a statement – forget about the function and consider them instead as an affordable piece of art. There are so many to choose from, some bordering on the sculptural like this Circling Swallows Clock from Cox&Cox.

I’ve already started my collection with the compact yellow Jones clock from Tesco which lives in my office, i’ve also got my eye on the Newgate starburst clock from Heals for my living room. Here’s a selection of some of our favourites below, we’ve even taken the time (geddit?) to create a dedicated Pinterest board with more tick-tocking treats…

1. Newgate Pluto Starburst Clock Gold £96 was £120 (£4.95 p&p) 2. Discipline Pieces Of Time Clock Natural Ash £88 (£4.95 p&p) 3. Jones & amp; Co Silicone Fab Clock Yellow £15 (free instore) 4. FLAP Large black analogue wall clock £130 (£4.95 p&p) 5. MIU Multi-coloured cuckoo wall clock £25 (£4.95 p&p) 6. SMYCKE Wall clock – IKEA £15 (in store only) 7. Kuckeliku Wall Clock £69 (free) 8. Buy Karlsson Metal Clock Square Grey/Yellow £18 – was £25 (free instore)

So apparently, it’s good idea to have a mirror by your door so you can double check your appearance before you head out.  Heeding this advice, I purchased a vintage black and gold mirror last year from the Sheffield antiques quarter for a bargainous £15.

Unfortunately, placing it at head height when you’re 5ft tall looks really odd by all accounts. So I raised it to ‘normal person’ height and now perform a Tigger routine whenever I want to check that I haven’t got food stuck in my teeth.  It still looks great in my hallway though, and here are some other small mirrors of various shapes and sizes for inspiration:

1. Scandanavian Design Center | Felt Panel mirror £70 (£5 p&p) 2. Etsy | Last Look mirror  £27 approx.(+£7.30 p&p) 3. Rockett St George | Ornate Mirror with Metal Frame – Small £14.95 (+£5.95 p&p) 4. Zara Home | Mirror with a Border Frame £39.99 (delivery free to store or £9.99) 5. Graham & Green | Small Round Convex Mirror £38 (+£5.95 p&p) 6. French Connection | Porthole Mirror £49 – £55 (delivery free to store / £3.95p&p) 7. John Lewis | Round Hanging Mirror £45 (in store/ £3 p&p)  8. Cox and Cox | Kasbah Mirror £55 (£5.95p&p) 9. Rockett St George | Square Antique Zinc Mirror £26.95 (+£5.95p&p)  10. Next | ormann Copenhagen Ready Hook with Mirror | £33 (+£7.95 p&p)

For more mirror ideas check out our Pinterest mirrors board