En Suite

The ideas for our en suite bathroom started with some wallpaper. The iconic palm tree wallpaper in The Beverly Hills Hotel to be exact.

But putting wallpaper up in a windowless en suite isn't the smartest idea. Plus our home is new and using brass fittings and antique mirrors to complement the aforementioned wallpaper wasn't going to work. A compromise had to be found. So we decided to tile everywhere except the wall opposite the shower which we wallpapered with Cole & Son's Palm Jungle print. The idea is that you'd be taking a shower, looking through the steam and thinking you were somewhere tropical. I don't know if we've achieved that but it makes us happy!

The En Suite

Wallpaper Cole & Son

We are keen DIY-ers, happy to spend late nights and all weekend trying to transform our little home. Completing the en suite was no exception. Excluding the major plumbing jobs the boyfriend and I did everything ourselves from ripping the old bathroom out to hanging the wallpaper, rebuilding stud walls, tiling, fitting units, putting up mirrors and fitting skirting board. 

With the exception of the wallpaper we wanted the room to be simple, clean and graphic. Everything bar the grey grout and chrome fittings are white and no products are out on display (I'm quite anal about that!)

The room is almost finished, it just needs a few finishing touches, but I believe you acquire these pieces  over time. 

Here are a few things that I'm considering for our en suite.

Laundry basket £75 West Elm

I have a massive aversion to wicker laundry baskets, so this laquered white one from West Elm will soon be coming to live with me!

Bamboo mat £30 John Lewis

A bamboo floor mat will tie in nicely with the palm tree wallpaper.

Loo Brush £22 Habitat

Certainly the least glamorous item in a bathroom, but I like the clean simplicity of this Habitat loo brush.

Towels £7.99 H&M

I've said it before and I'll say it again, H&M have some incredible bargains for the home! These towels with chevron or stripe details are great value and look stylish.

Hand wash £27 Aesop

If I did have to have any products on display I would choose anything from the Aussie brand Aesop.

Images: Pinterest, Aesop, H&M, Habitat, West Elm, John Lewis

Bar Cart

One of the first pieces of furniture we purchased for our new home was a bar cart. I'm not a heavy drinker but I'd seen them on various blogs and liked the idea of them. Finding one required many hours of scouring ebay. It would seem they are a common feature in American homes, but not so much in England. I finally found this grubby one for a bargain £15 that needed hours of polishing to make it presentable.

Then I turned to Pinterest to look for inspiration on how to style the bar cart.

Glasses are a must, along with a bottle opener, decanters, an ice bucket, matches, straws, a candle and even a pretty posy of flowers can be added.

I've collected vintage glassware from charity shops and car boots for years so I chose my favourite pieces for display along with a vintage Soda Stream and a brass crocodile nut cracker.

I also found this wishbone bottle opener from Anthropologie which works perfectly with the other brass items.

Then it was onto the drink. The boyfriend sourced a vintage crystal decanter for his whisky which we placed with our other favourite spirits.

And the finished bar cart!

Here are a selection of items that are bar cart must haves.

Glass £6 John Lewis

Straws £2.95 Rockett St George

Tool Bar Set £39 West Elm

Images: Pinterest, West Elm, Rockett St George, John Lewis

Weekend Scenes

Last week was incredibly busy, filled with meetings, prepping for shoots, working with new clients and even doing a photo shoot on a private jet, so I was more than ready for the weekend.

We only have one more room to decorate, the kitchen, which has required many hours of perusing Pinterest and on Saturday we extended our research to the shops to physically touch granite, play with ovens and open and close cupboards.

Sticking to a kitchen palette of white and grey

Marble worktops...

Or concrete ones?

Massive chopping board of dreams from West Elm

A sink that's being considered from Habitat

As we were in London it was rude not to visit the sales where the boyfriend scored some bargains from Liberty and I got lucky in J. Crew where the sale is fantastic (more to come on what I purchased later this week.)

You MUST visit the J. Crew sale!

The London Triathlon I am taking part in with Simply Swim isn't far away now so it was up early on Sunday for some swimming at London Fields Lido.

Blue skies and blue water at London Fields Lido

Obviously after such a strenuous work out I felt I'd earned these home baked sweet potato brownies!

Delicious and semi healthy brownies

And I introduced the boyfriend to Star Wars. Even if he doesn't fall in love with it he'll understand why I want an ewok and the noise I make when trying to imitate Chewbacca.

I love Star Wars

Have a lovely week everyone!

Images: Pinterest