Lifestyle Edit Archives - Page 3 of 6

LISBON

Posted April 14, 2015 & filed under Lifestyle Edit.

A picture heavy blogpost is totally acceptable for a holiday post….right?

5^th April I set off for what I thought would be a relaxing, sunny vacation, first stop was Lisbon for 4 days and then moving onto Barcelona for another 4 days. Getting a connecting flight from Lisbon to Barcelona was super cheap – around £22pp, if this summer you’re planning a trip into Europe I would definitely recommend splitting it up into two locations.

We arrived mid-day on Easter Sunday and it was scorching hot, 24degrees to be exact. Getting into town from the airport is made really accessible. There is an aerobus which takes you from the airport into the city centre and it only costs around 4euros pp and it runs every 10-20mins depending on the time of day. Or you can get the metro which is around 1.25euros and takes around 35mins. I much prefer taking a bus, this way I get to see the city. If you really wanted to get onto the Metro, they have pretty much an oyster card system, (obv much cheaper) you just reload whenever your money runs out.

We booked VIP Executive Apart Eden Hotel which is literally in the middle of the city centre – on the left of the hotel were all the traditional markets and stalls and to the right of the hotels were all the high-end luxury stores. We stayed more on the left side as there was more culture and really cute boutique style restaurants. There’s definitely a relaxed vibe in Lisbon, completely different from London. The cobbled pavements, worn down walls, graffiti on every surface, all have history hidden within the streets, very endearing.

Easter Sunday most places were closed, some restaurants were open but majority of the shops and markets were closed for business, so we just grabbed some dinner and browsed through the lanes trying to get a feel for the city. The next day, we were told that it’s a bank holiday which means that most museums and shops would not be open. On top of that it was raining, started off as a drizzle but there were moments where it was raining quite heavily. We didn’t want to waste an entire day cooped up in a hotel so we braved it and walked to Saint George castle. The cue to get on the tram (which are so vintage looking) were really long – we started asking for directions and walked towards the castle. It was about 25mins of walking constantly uphill but you get to see the backstreets and the locals. Luckily throughout all of this the rain stayed away but once we got the castle it poured down! We didn’t get to enjoy the view and explore as much as I would’ve have liked. We made our way to a metro and got back to the hotel to dry up and get some lunch. Rain hadn’t stopped so I started googling places to go when it’s raining in Lisbon I actually googled that entire sentence and all reviews were pointing towards the aquarium. Apparently it’s the largest aquarium around in Europe so we jumped onto the metro and off we went. Definitely recommend going here – probably one of the best aquariums I have been to. Even now, writing this almost 10days later, I remember how beautiful and peaceful it was inside.
There’s a massive shopping centre and food court opposite the aquarium so we made our way in to explore – I was just looking for a Sephora.

If you know me, you’ll know that my exercise routine is between me getting out the house, driving to work and then running around a classroom. Beyond that I do very little walking which means I don’t really own any comfortable walking shoes and I had only taken a suitcase full of sandals and flip flops. By now my feet were aching in my super uncomfortable gladiator sandals so I went into Nike and brought a pair of Free Runs 5.0 – best investment ever! My feet thanked me the whole trip!

Tuesday we went to Sintra which is a 40min train journey away, you can use your metro travel card here just make sure you have enough topped up. I love train journeys, you get to see so much more of the city. Sintra in beautiful. Definitely need more than one day here. It’s whole land full of palaces and stunningly sculpted gardens. We only managed to get to two of the palaces and luckily the weather was on our side, it was sunnier and rain free. I think I’m definitely going to go back and possibly stay near Sintra just to explore it a little bit more. There was a lot of walking involved – what would I have done without my trainers?

Wednesday we went to Belem which again, is a train ride away, but much shorter maybe 15mins? I brought the most delicious Custard tarts (and I don’t even like custard) but it was raining so I didn’t get to explore it a whole lot. We came back to the city centre and just spent most of the day walking around local towns.

The local cuisine seems to be either fish or ham/pork, I don’t eat ham/pork and not really a fan of fish so we pretty much ended up eating anything with chicken or vegetables. I really liked Lisbon but obviously would’ve preferred it if the sun was out a bit more. There’s a lot of walking uphill involved so if you’re planning to go take comfortable walking shoes and maybe a rain jacket. Out of everywhere I’ve been in Europe it’s definitely the cheapest in terms of travelling/food and tourist sites. I flew out to Barcelona on Thursday which was a mission of its own – there were strikes with French Airlines which pretty much has a knock on effect through-out the entire airport, more on that in the next post.

I also attempted to vlog – which I am going to start editing now, hopefully should be up this Sunday so make you’re subscribed here.

S C H I Z O P H R E N I A

Posted March 4, 2015 & filed under Lifestyle Edit.

I’m pretty sure there’s a statistic somewhere which states the ratio of people who suffer/face a mental illness of some sort. Today I want to discuss one of the most personal aspect of my life. If I ever build the courage to post this then go me…

This isn’t my story, it’s my dads. He has suffered from a mental illness called Schizophrenia for the past 29 years. Now the common misconception of this is illness is that the person in question has traits of Jekeyl and Hyde, it’s sort of like that but there’s so much more to it. When growing up me and my sisters would see my dad behave in a completely different manner to all the other dads. We never really spoke about it to each other. But my mum sort of just drummed it in that our dad is ill and things are just different for us and we mustn’t compare our lives. What the illness was I never really knew or understood until I was in my teens and was able to research it. Schizophrenia is an illness like all other mental illness in terms of effect. It can vary anywhere from severe to mild spectrum and can have different symptoms for each person. I can only really speak about what my dad goes through on a day to day basis and how we as a family help and deal with it.

Throw back to when I was 9 years old
I am an extremely light sleeper, the sounds of the lightest footsteps would wake me up. When I was 9/10 I have early memories of my dad waking up at 3am going downstairs to open the door because he thought the doorbell rang. After opening the door and realising that there’s no-one actually there, he would go back upstairs and into his room. This process would repeat 6/7 times throughout the night and each time he would get more and more frustrated swearing louder and louder each time he went up the stairs. I used to pretend I couldn’t hear and try my hardest to fall asleep, I assume my sisters would do the same, we were all scared because we never really got what was happening.

When I was around 11, my first day of secondary school, dad was walking me to school and I could hear him muttering to himself, I couldn’t quite make out what he was saying, but at the age of 11 I felt so ashamed and embarrassed. Funny that now I feel ashamed and embarrassed of feeling embarrassed. I used to tell my dad to walk 10 steps behind me so that he wasn’t walking with me and nobody knew he was my dad. At the time it didn’t occur to me that regardless of him walking 10 steps behind me, people would be able to recognise that he is my dad because we obvs have the same features. duh. In year 9 I remember a boy from my form class in school asking me if ‘that was your dad walking behind you’ I tried to pretend that I couldn’t hear him and he continued with ‘he was talking to himself.’ I just put my head down into my book and ignored him. For a few years I carried on with life with resentment as if it was his fault.

My dad suffers from a range of symptoms, the main ones are, hearing voices/noises, seeing things, getting angry/agettated quickly, he feels claustrophobic.

Imagine when you’re trying to fall asleep and all you can hear is doorbells ringing / people talking. He’d often come into our room and shout at us for talking – when nobody was saying anything.

Through-out all of this my mum looked and still looks after my dad. Reassures him, keeps him occupied – and with any person who suffers a mental illness there are good days, bad days and some really bad days. It all just depends.

Where has this come from? The doctors still haven’t been able to pin-point it. The closest they’ve got is to assume it’s a side effect to some medication to when he lost his memory 31 years ago (that’s a whole other story)

Is there a cure? Not really, therapy helps but its all about learning how to manage it as opposed to getting rid of it.

Having a mental illness is shit. It makes you feel trapped and I’ve seen it first hand. The best medicine for it, is having a strong support system, for my dad it was his family. We are his support system. To reassure him everything is and will be okay.

Yes I was ignorant and selfish when I was little. The older I’ve got the more I appreciate my dad and his illness. Because of him I’ve become patient, understanding and empathetic to a whole new level.

If you suffer from a mental-illness my biggest advice would be to surround yourself with positive people, people who will listen and understand you no matter how crazy you may think you sound. Someone non-judgemental and just re-assure yourself that no matter how crap you’re feeling now, it will get better. Contrary if you are around someone who suffers from a mental-illness, all they need from you is confirmation. Confirmation that you will be there for them no matter what. Confirmation that you are trying to understand what they are going through.

I’ve let you into probably what is the most personal part of my life. Lets make it count…share this story. You never know who it may help.

M O T H E R N A T U R E

Posted March 1, 2015 & filed under Lifestyle Edit.

Okay, so just before mother nature hits, I (well, I say I, its really my husband who has) noticed a pattern in my general behaviour. Looking back on it after last nights fiasco I feel somewhat slightly embarrassed and confused. In writing this I hope that to find other ladies who either go through the same shiz as me and can totally empathise or can tell me to stop behaving like a brat. The last few days heading towards mother natures call I become extremely spendy, more than usual…now that is dangerous. I don’t know what provokes it, I spend all my wages on things that I just don’t need. Even now, writing a couple of sentences has taken a few hours because I am constantly being distracted by the likes of ASOS and lastminute.com (looking for holidays to Lake Garda, any recommendations?)

As if money spending was the only problem. I also become very angry and stubborn. Imagine a 5 year old who didn’t get those shiney shoes she wanted and is now throwing a strop – that was me. Last night. Over what I hear you ask – a mojito, the mocktail kind. I wanted some juice, there was none left and that was it. It legitimately upset me so much so that I was actually sulking last night. Like a primary school child! Let me tell you, looking back I now see how embarrassing it was and my husband laughed at me for a bit and as I continued to lay there – on the floor with my duvet, refusing to go to sleep on an actual bed. He decided he’d sit there and sulk with me. My heart/mind (not sure which one) was telling me to STOP IT and grow up but I couldn’t. I finally gave up at 4am and went to bed. This morning I’ve woken up with a very bad headache and a bad mood due to the lack of sleep. I need to devise a plan which will help me see some sense in the worst of times and stop behaving like the worlds worse wife.

This is what I intend to do:

S T E P O N E

Take a breather – if I feel angry/annoyed I need to go for a walk, get some fresh air. Hopefully the cold weather can slap some sense into me.

S T E P T W O

Focus mind on something else. When I get in a mood I need to focus on my blog. It always seems to cheers me up. Watching YouTube tends to also keep. Keeping my laptop close to me at all times.

S T E P T H R E E

Sleep. This has always helped. When I’m feeling agitated I force myself to sleep and I wake up with immense sense of refreshed mind and body. Naps galore

I have no idea if any of these steps will work or help but at least I’m trying right? A part of me does think that it’s natures doing so perhaps I should just let it take its course and let my mood swings continue, but it seems to be getting out of hand lately. So ladies, over to you…do you ever go through these phases in life or am I just being a tad spoilt?

Life lessons

Posted January 29, 2015 & filed under Lifestyle Edit.

I don’t have an older sister, an aunt, or any older cousins who I could speak to on a regular basis when growing up. A part of me wishes that I could’ve more prepared or was given advice on the little things in life. However time has elapsed, I’m older, hopefully a little wiser and I thought I would share some of my life lessons with you.

Sometimes letting go is really the best thing
When you’re in school you may feel like leaving your friends is the most awful thing that could ever happen to you, you begin to hate the school system, the government and ultimately your class teacher (as if it’s their fault?!) I’ve been on both ends, as a student I felt like that when I was choosing my options at school – if you’re not familiar with the UK schooling system age 14-16 you get to pick 3 subjects which are from the creative/humanities category like Art or History. Any who I remember when I was 14 the worst thing was being separated from the only two friends I had. We all chose the same GCSE options but were separated into different classes. No actually, they were put together and I was on my own. As a teacher I now understand that the class teacher has nothing to do with this, it’s just how things fall in place. But if it wasn’t for me being alone in my lessons, I wouldn’t have learnt to let go and meet new people in school. Then when I went college, I knew nobody. My friends had gone off in different pathways – again quite a hard time for me but I learnt to let go and meet new people! And then you’ve got your relationship. You’re first serious relationship, if it’s not going right, there’s arguments and you spend most nights crying yourself to sleep then you need to let go. And saying goodbye to you’re first love is so hard. But the saying ‘if it’s meant to be, it will be’ there is some truth in that. Okay, so things don’t magically fix themselves, but you trying to work on something that doesn’t ultimately make you happy is only going to make you feel down and depressed. Let it go. *cue in Frozen song*

Be independent
This sort of links with my last point – being alone can be the scariest thing when you’re young (or even as an adult) the last thing most people want is to end up alone. However sometimes staying with your thoughts can be helpful. Especially when you’re having a chaotic time, the best remedy is you, yourself and some fresh air. For me, a quick jog, a walk in the park just helps me to clear my mind up. Give yourself some TLC.

Save ze dolla’
Okay, so this was something my mother told me time and time again. But I didn’t listen, typical teenager. I was lucky enough to have a job I bloody loved at 18 and was really good at! I worked as a skincare consultant for a mahusive company, the ladies were amazing (and money was good) but I didn’t save a penny! I don’t even know why, I never had a crazy party life, never really went to bars or clubs. I travelled a little bit (not half as much as I would have liked) but most of my money went on clothes. Clothes that I haven’t even worn yet, 8 years later they’re in my cupboard with the price-tags still on and I just can’t seem to get myself to throw them away. Biggest regret ever! If you’re earning, save a little, save a lot. Just save.

Travel
Oh man do I regret not travelling, being in uni, meant that I had long summer holidays and I was earning which meant that I had the availability and money to book tickets for a quick break across europe and take advantage of cheap flight. Why didn’t I do this? Now I’m teaching (which I’m lucky enough to love) and ticket prices are triple what they would be during term time. Travel as much as you can. Doesn’t even have to be far – it can be down to the next city, just get out!

Love thy parents
So this is the biggie. You see, as you get older, you begin to appreciate the smaller things that your parents do for you. The food, the smiles, the hugs, the reassurance. All the tiny things that nobody in this planet would do for you, your parents fulfil and they become so much more valued. For personal reasons I held grudges against my parents for a long time – far too long. And one horrible, life threatening incident where I almost lost my mum made me realise that I would never be able to take back the hurtful things I said, the silence that I gave. When my mum laid in ICU on life support I prayed so hard, I prayed for my mum to open her eyes and tell me it’s okay. I wanted to say sorry. Sorry for being a selfish bitch. Sorry for acting like a spoilt brat. Weeks went by and my mum got better, we’re in a much better place and I appreciate the fact that I’m very lucky to be given a second chance, not everyone is lucky enough to get one. If you have read this and if there’s one thing you can take away from this, and tell someone who is dear to you that you love them. Especially you’re parents. *off I go for a cry…*

H & M Home

Posted January 17, 2015 & filed under Lifestyle Edit.

Who knew H & M home was so nice?! Not only is it modern and chic, it’s also very affordable. However not all stores have a homeware section so you may be left searching online – which is what I have spent most of my morning doing. I’ve become a bit of H & M home cray and brought quite a bit, evidence is in my home haul video here. Hopefully I’ll be moving (again) and have a bigger place which inevitably means more space (for junk!) I created, shall we call it a mood board, with all the bits and pieces that are on my ‘to get’ list. Somehow really excited about the stapled goods pillow case and the mini plates. I’m hoping to keep lots of glass jars/vases together on a coffee table – maybe even store it on this gold tray? I usually stray away from gold, however the tray and gold basket really caught my eye and can see some good uses with it (use it to display makeup mainly!)

On another note, this cabinet from the Bourbon Vintage collection on made.com that I blogged about is now on sale and I may have made a sneaky little purchase. I really don’t have any space to store it, may have to keep it at my mums till I move out – but I am extremely looking forward to getting it. Well and truly homeware obsessed – where do you love to shop for home bits?

Quick Bagel

Posted January 14, 2015 & filed under Lifestyle Edit.

In no shape or form is this blog trying to be a foodie blog, anyone who knows me or who has ever met me will know that I can barely make a good cup of tea. However I can do a mean bit of bbq. During Christmas holidays I found myself brunching on a quick snack but it was relatively filling and quite good - if I do say so myself.

I have extremely weird taste buds, what tastes good to me will most likely not taste nice to the person next to me. However the husband really approved this little snack and said he’d even have it again!

SO here it is, the spicy hummus & turkey bagel. I couldn’t think of a more creative name.

I have tried a lot of bagels and this is by far my favourite, the red onion and chives one, you get a really nice bit of flavour. So how do I cook my infamous snack you ask?

Toast the bagel, I don’t put butter in mine.

Layer on some spicy hummus, (the best kind) and then I slice 2 turkey pieces and place them on each bagel.

That’s it. Literally. You could alternate the turkey for some sliced salami, add some gherkins or cucumbers. It’s a really quick easy meal and if I can do it, anyone can.

Do you have any other quick food tips?

IKEA lusting

Posted January 12, 2015 & filed under Lifestyle Edit.

If you have seen my last home haul it’s becoming clear that I’m slowly starting to steer away from beauty (what?!) and getting more excited about rugs and cushions – crazy times, I know. Ikea is usually a disappointment, their storage is quite good but I can’t help and feel that everyone under the sun would have the same home furnishing. Nevertheless I’ve managed to find 5 things that I really want. The most exciting being the rug – what is happening to me? The second fav’ being the mirror, I can imagine this sitting in my hallway quite nicely. I also think that all items are all reasonably priced, and I just realised that they’re all monochrome. Have you seen anything in Ikea that’s a must?

Healthy mindset

Posted January 4, 2015 & filed under Lifestyle Edit.

Christmas holidays are coming to an end. I’ve had two weeks of pure indulgence – eating chocolates and cakes whilst making very little movement. Even as I type I’m sat on my living room floor, eating a large packet of Galaxy counters, my mind says put them away yet my fingers can’t stop putting them in my mouth.

Over indulgence in food and feeling crap has led me to writing this – it’s not meant to offend anyone, just my thoughts.

Every night for the past few days, I’ve laid in bed staying awake till 2am staring into space, listening to the odd car drive by and feeling really shit about myself. Well not me as a person but my physical appearance. During my early teen’s right up to mid-20’s I was a cross between size 6 and size 8 and I thought I was ‘fat’. I was so unhappy with my weight that spent my spare time doing random exercise, crunches, squats, Pilates. I did everything that I thought would potentially help me lose weight. I didn’t appreciate what I had – and no matter how slim I became it never seemed enough. Whenever someone commented ‘you’ve lost weight’ on their part it was probably a concerning comment as opposed to a congratulate one but I would gleam with pride and say ‘thank-you.’ Feeling quite proud of myself. I brought really nice dresses, (each one costing up to £150) but I didn’t have the confidence to wear it at the time – I wanted to be slimmer. I would even eat in small portions, deprive myself of all the things I wanted to eat and experiment with fad diets.

Around 25y/o, full-time job kicked in, family life become busier and exercise went out the window and it was okay for a while. Because I was content. Happier in my own skin. I was happier being a size 10 then I ever felt being a size 8 or size 6. However, now I’m 27 – oh my god. I despise so much of my body. My ever-growing love handles, my legs, my arms. This has led me to eating in a very unhealthy manner. I’ve stopped drinking water – coke (and the occasional non-concentrated, no bits, orange juice) has become the only drink I consume. 5 boxes of Ferroro Rochers, cupcakes, ice-cream, waffle. All eaten at an unhealthy amount in the last two weeks and as much as I would like to blame Christmas and family gatherings, my immediate family – more so my mother – is extremely healthy and believes in fresh foods and minimal sugar. So Christmas is definitely not an excuse for me. I know that I only have me to blame and to be honest it’s easier feeling sorry for yourself then to change a lifestyle.

When I would have days feeling crap about myself, I’d go to the local supermarket and spend £50 on junk-food. For the past few months I’ve had to ban myself and rely on my husband to buy food shopping – just to ensure to that I wouldn’t be tempted to buy unnecessary unhealthy food. But it’s safe to say this method hasn’t worked the last two weeks and it’s been an epic fail which has led me to this depressive state.

My family genetics work a bit like this, we’re born as big babies, and I mean big. I was 10lb 5oz, god bless my mum. Then most of our teen/adulthood years were slim, and at 30 boom – we put on a lot of weight, very quickly. Our metabolism goes from being super active to slug speed in an instant. With this knowledge I should stop eating the sugar and processed food. So I’ve decided today I’m making changes. From today I’m going to make more of a conscious effort to drink water, eat in healthy amounts and try to get back into my Pilates. I’m not really worried about losing weight – I just want to feel healthy.

Comfort eating may feel okay for a short amount of time but is it really worth it?

200 Posts | 1 Year

Posted December 26, 2014 & filed under Lifestyle Edit.

200 blog-posts and very tiresome Boxing Day later I started to put life and humans in general into perspective. During the whirlwind of life I’ve completely bypassed the fact that I’ve been blogging for a year…a whole bloody year. For someone who struggles to fully commit to anything and lacks concentration – it’s pretty good going. Whilst trailing twitter on Christmas day, all I saw were heaps and heaps of sale tweets. I’m pretty sure I did a sale post last year and I was definitely at Bluewater shopping centre at 7am last year. Yes, I was one of those people. But when it occurred to me this year that I still have clothes from the past 2 Boxing Day sales ago I decided I would give it a miss.

In general sales have been pretty crappy this year, clothes that probably cost £5 to produce but labelled at £50 for branding, and then reduced to £40 (which isn’t really a sale, is it?) in my opinion is not worth waking up for. It took me a good few years to understand this.

It’s a shame that the human race feels the need to buy crap they don’t need, with money they don’t have – all for what? The ‘likes’ on their insta-photos? On Instagram I saw an insane amount of photos with the #blessed…feeling blessed? For a crummy perfume, trainers, a bloody lipstick? I love me a good lipstick but I sure as hell wouldn’t feel ‘blessed’ for having one. I do however, feel blessed to be able to go to work in a school and not worry about getting shot. I do feel blessed that I don’t have militaries tearing down homes and families. I do feel blessed that we don’t live in viciously disease effected environment. These are the things we should truly feel blessed about. *sigh* ok so this seems like a rant – it really is. How and when did society become so inhumane? Or was it always like this and I’ve just stepped outside the box to see what’s really happening?

Whilst I’m on a moan, I may as well talk about blogging for a year and the thing’s I’ve learnt. This post could go on for a very long time but I will sum up the main points.

Content vs followers.
When I first decided blogging, the first 3months, all I cared about was stats, how to increase them, socialising on all social media platforms possible. I was on google analytics every evening reviewing each post. It was exhausting and demotivating! I started to care less about my content – which led to me being unhappy in my little space. So the latter 6 months I decided to not care so much about follower numbers and or how many people read my posts and focus on content. If it’s just one, just one of you that genuinely enjoy my posts and share my thoughts well that’s perfectly okay. I am very happy with my small amount of followers (which seem quite a lot to me if I’m honest) who genuinely like my posts/vlogs. *virtual hugs to you reading right now*

Schedule tweets not posts
If blogging is a full-time job and you need to organise your posts just like I have to organise my lesson plans for my full time job, then that’s understandable. But I wanted my blog to be more organic. I tried the whole scheduling posts malarkey and I would schedule a post a week in advance and then completely forget about it – without feeling too much passion for it. Instead I blog as and when I like, and once the post is live I schedule tweets for that post. Obviously this method works for me, and I’m definitely not saying this is the only way to do it. It’s just my way.

Latest beauty trend
Renting in London made me realise that, I can’t afford every Charlotte Tilbury product under the sun and I have to prioritise to what I REALLY want as opposed to buying everything. It makes no sense for me to buy a shit load of lipsticks which I wouldn’t use (okay so sometimes this theory totally doesn’t work) but lately I have found myself buying home things – mirrors, home décor, rugs, shelves – as opposed to endless foundations which I hardly use.

Investment
Another thing I’ve learnt part of growing up is to invest! Invest in things which will last a long time, for me this year its been my 35mm 1.4 lense and my makeup brushes. Because these two things will last me a long time (I hope!) and they’re items I’ll get the most use out of.

Like I tell my students, if you work smart you can achieve so much. Just sort out your priorities.
On a happier note, this has been a fantastic year, blogging gives me freedom to be creative and keeps me sane from the chaos that I call life. I really hope you enjoyed my thoughts!

John Lewis| Fusion Vibes

Posted December 18, 2014 & filed under Lifestyle Edit.

It’s official, my favourite past-time is – looking at things I wish a. I could afford, and b. have enough space to store. John Lewis is probably one of the first places I go to get inspiration. Sure, Ikea is affordable and amazing, but I feel like most of it is pretty generic. If you want your house to have a real sense of you, then exploring is a must. All items featured are from John Lewis home range and to me each item has a fusion of Asian culture due to the richness of materials and the colours and quality of materials. I’ve mention before in my previous post that white furniture emphasises space and helps create an illusion of larger spaces, however adding dark brown and reds can really give your home more warmer and welcoming feel. And you could still keep walls, bedding, and most furniture white if you wanted to, but these home furnishings would be the ‘cherry on the cake’ (I’m sure I’ve got that saying completely wrong) To be fair I feel like most of these items, (apart from the bench) are quite affordable.

So tell me which one of these is your favourite?