Nursery to Nightmare

Just when you thought everything had been said about babies this week following the Royal birth, I'm going to 'throw my hat into the ring'. Although in fairness this is not so much for Kate, it's more for every other unsuspecting mother or expectant mother.

One of the joys of pregnancy (swollen ankles, morning sickness and hemorrhoids aside) is thinking about decorating the Nursery. These days there is such a wealth of really good products out there, you can buy off the shelf without worrying about having the same scheme as nearly everyone else on the maternity ward.  www.susiewatsondesigns.co.uk has just launched a new collection 'Bedtime with Owlbert', perfect for every little VIP and honing in on that owl and bird trend that is big at the moment. My advice to mothers-to-be is enjoy the process, revel in the fact that you can 'go to town' safe in the knowledge that the nursery, at least in the early months, will stay pristine and styled to within an inch of its life.

Take a look at www.babyface.uk.com for that American Rhode Island vibe or look at www.teamson.co.uk for painted nursery toys and furniture  which may well become family treasures.

But time cannot stand still and your little bundles of joy are soon toddling around, developing close attachments to the most hideous of toys in the most headache inducing hues, many without a single natural fibre to call their own. Beautiful displays of keepsakes and old fashioned jointed teddy bears are trashed in favour of whatever the modern equivalent is to a 'Tweeney'! At this stage the only advice I can offer is storage, storage and more storage.

But then before you are really aware of it you are suddenly ensconced in 'the teenage years'. Every surface artfully displays washing, both clean and dirty. Glasses and mugs  en mass form an art installation on window ledges, whilst waste paper baskets overflow with wrappers and the distinct smell of aged apple cores.

I decorated my sons room in a relaxing grey/blue shade  and created a wall intended to provoke wonderment and wanderlust by installing a giant world map from www.coxandcox.co.uk. Everything else has been kept to a minimum for very good reason.

The teenage years can be a time when your children want to develop their own tastes and sense of style and this can be an opportunity for them to explore their creative side. Trust me, under no circumstances should this be encouraged.

My advice:-

Paint floors, walls and ceilings with a rubberised coating and pressure wash everything down once a week!

Is change really as good as a rest?

There must be millions of old sayings knocking around and in our family we've probably got more than our fair share, but is it true that change can be restful and invigorating?

Some people find change quite stressful and this fact bears testament to the thousands of pounds HR departments spend each year on coaching courses on Managing Change and Influencing Change etc etc.

You've only got to look at people who go back to the same holiday destination & hotel year after year to realise that some people don't like change, they like their lives to be ordered and uninterrupted by excitement or wonder. But how do these people know they wouldn't rather be somewhere else; that they're not missing out on paradise just around the next corner!

I like change, in fact it's no secret that I'm very easily bored. I'm a 'what if?' kind of person.

This of course manifests itself in the decoration of my home, and although I love all the decor in the house, I'm keen to change it, to ring the changes.

It's not that I've grown tired of the slat grey, Night Jewels 2 from www.dulux.co.uk Or the rich brown of the hall panelling, London Clay www.farrowandball.co.uk , it's more that I have a yearning desire to see what something else looks like, to create something different.  I think a little reinvention is good for the soul.

Now, I'm not advocating that we all continually have the 'wet paint' signs up at home, it's been more than 5 years since we fully decorated. There has however been plenty of tweaks in between. I very often move pictures and objects around, it's a form of relaxation. We stop seeing things when we're too familiar with them, we stop looking at that photo on the landing or that beautiful vase on the hall table & that is the optimum time to shake things up a little.

Make a promise to yourself that you are going to change something in your home this week. Put some beautiful flowers in a vase that normally lies empty, www.grahamandgreen.co.uk have a lovely owl vase which looks great against a dark wall. Group some coherent pieces together for greater visual impact or display family treasures you have acquired from a beech or a woodland walk under a glass dome to create your very own curated masterpiece.

Go on make a change - you know you want to!

Outdoor Entertaining - Smoke & Mirrors

Outdoor Entertaining - Smoke & Mirrors

Now if you are hell bent on entertaining friends or family over the weekend firstly I should try to talk you out of it. Why not luxuriate on a lounger, read a magazine under a sun shade and generally laze about and relax. 

Relaxing not for you? Then here are a few tips to make things easier for you:-

It's all really a case of smoke and mirrors, making the visitor think you've been in the kitchen all day and that every morsel they consume is part of a delectable feast. In order to do this, as with magic, you need to trick the eye.

For example, a gorgeously set table with flowers and candles or a themed event with lit torches, will evoke a feeling of a special occasion and create that all important  sense of theatre. I have a large silver ice bucket that I snapped up from www.tkmax.co.uk which always lends a sense of luxury to proceedings as well as a large candelabra that lends an air of opulence with hardly any effort whatsoever.

I recently adopted a French country theme for a casual family lunch, with the aid of a red and white table cloth and some wicker baskets and serving plates. 

This theme also lends itself to simple dishes including rustic bread and dipping oils, pate, roughly chopped salad vegetables and a cold meat selection. What could be easier? All washed down with a glass or two of wine. Perfect.

Should your guests  require non alcoholic beverages (there's always one!) there are  some really good cordials and flavoured waters about.  One I  tried recently was a White Grape and Raspberry fizzy water from the Best range at www.morrisons.co.uk which was really refreshing and very moreish even without any alcohol content!

Again, particularly in hot weather guests like to lightly graze rather than have a set meal. Make sure that snacks are at hand such as Cashews and of course crisps. Just Crisps www.justoil.co.uk are a product made just up the road from me in Staffordshire at a farm that grows both the potato's and the rapeseed for the oil making these crisps a better alternative to some snacks in terms of both flavour and saturated fat content. 

For a lighter alternative to ice cream why not serve a sorbet for dessert. The Truly Irresistible Mango Sorbet from www.co-operativefood.co.uk is full of refreshing flavour and light on calories. Eat on it's own, or forget calories and serve in a brandy basket with chocolate sauce.

So think outside the box, keep it simple and last of all send me an invitation!

Enjoy!

H at Home

Style - Does it know its place

Now everyone thinks they have a good sense of style and I'm no exception. But I've lost count of the times I have decided to wear a killer pair of heels to set off an outfit, only to find myself ploughing up someones garden as I teeter around at a BBQ, or garden party. 

I've worn the most gorgeous pair of boots only to be asked by the hostess if 'I mind awfully removing my shoes' so as not to damage the parquet (how rude) and realised that lurking under the most supple of leather and most elegant of heels lurks a miss matched pair of socks that the dog has chewed the heel out of. Indeed, I still have a scar on my knee from when I fell over, in the most delectable of platforms, on my new neighbours drive way when the mix of gravel, platform and pot hole was quite literally an accident waiting to happen.

Now I can dress up with style, what I find more difficult is dressing down with style! 

Oh to be that woman who looks as if she's just thrown on an outfit without a moments thought and looks effortlessly stylish whatever the occasion. Do these people really exist, or does their easy elegance mask a bedroom of hastily cast off clothes  in the frantic furore that such a sense of ease must require.

Of course some pieces make our work simple. A vintage Chanel jacket for example would look as at home partnering a pair of jeans as it would a simple shift, which is a shame given that my wardrobe is unfortunately devoid of Chanel. Pearls, fake or genuine, are as comfortable popping into Sainsbury's as they are coming out at a ball.

Others of course are prone to create confusion. Wellies for example, how can you go wrong with wellies, you wear them when it's raining. Simple? But no, even brands cannot save us here. Hunters they may be,  but would festival Hunters be quite the thing at a Country show. Would Fuchsia footwear be forbidden at a Farm Show, Purple, pariah'd at a Point to Point! www.hunter-boot.com/sale

No if you're anything like me you just think you've got every wardrobe eventuality covered when life throws you a style curve ball. My advice? Head up, look confident and try not to step in anything!