Home sweet home...

I'm not the best when it comes to decorating or interior design as such.  My home at the moment is a work in progress and probably by the time it is done, it will be time to move on to the 10 bedroomed, 27 bathroomed mansion I have my eye on somewhere in the countryside.

Don't get me wrong...I know what I want, I just want to be helped along more with it.  I want style and quality and I want for it not to cost the earth.  I want pretty in some rooms and I want classy in others.

Up until now, that help was beyond my reach.

Up until now...

I have, in my hands, the most awesome sneak preview that has ever landed on my hall floor.  The BRAND NEW Autumn/Winter 2011 Home Collection from Matalan has given me reason to smile like a fool while I poreand drool over the pages and decide over and over again what I want (which is pretty much everything!)




The Ditsy Floral & Vintage Range

Matalan have four key themes in store for us this Autumn/Winter.  Heritage, Ditsy Floral & Vintage, (shown left), Monochrome and Nautical. 

Each has it's own strength of character with Heritage and Monochrome giving us bold, luxurious colours whilst the Ditsy Floral & Vintage and Nautical gives us the softer, more homey side of things.  Every room in the house can have it's own story and character with these versatile ranges.

My personal favourite is the Ditsy Floral & Vintage and I've already earmarked several pieces for my kitchen, living room and bathroom when the range debuts across the stores!

Matalan have once again shown their strength of style with fantastic affordable prices that allows you to have a whole new house without breaking the bank!

For such a novice as myself, the sneak peek is a God send.  I can picture how I want things to be where we are now, and when we move (yes when and not if...I am being optimistic), these timeless designs are easily transportable.

Heritage - Striking British colours!

I find myself one step closer to having a home that is adorned with lovely bits and pieces.  The beauty of the price is that you can buy a few *extras* as well.  At least that's what I'm going to tell The Husband.

So if you're in the mood for updating your collection or fancy re-doing rooms, here is a sneak peek for you too so that you can start making those plans to have fabulous new stuff for your home this year!  

Nautical

Heritage

Monochrome Living

Vintage Green bedding

Find your nearest Matalan store...

Book of Secrets...

My quest for world domination (or at least my own little world) began sometime ago...here is a blog I wrote earlier this year entitled Book of Secrets...

I love that movie National Treasure 2: The Book of Secrets. It's the usual mix of adventure, comedy and touches on interesting historical bits that I have yet to figure out whether even a smidge is true or not but for the moment am content with Nicholas Cage doing his bit for his country and family name ;o)

The *idea* of a book of secrets is intriguing.  Something that holds untold stories of scandal maybe? Not sure but what I want to know is this....is there a Book of Secrets for parents? I mean come on, there is obviously NO manual on childbirth and rearing and if I had just one question to ask of the book it would be this.

**Where the HELL is the switch that turns my children from angelic to demonic and HOW do they turn it on??!!**

As the title suggests, this is a search for a non existant holy grail.  I had a nice day with my kids yesterday.  Little Miss was at school but when she got home she was well behaved, I made dinner whilst the two of the them played nicely and watched some tv together.  Husband was out at a works thing so after feeding them I took on the task of bathing them.  Mr Man is at an age where if I leave him alone he could cause trouble (climbing, falling etc) so I bathed them both together whilst all the time praying they would be ok and behaving and guess what..they did...it was incredible.  No hitting, splashing, crying or anything!  We finished, dried off, got dressed and dried hair.

I believe they lulled me into a false sense of security.  It was over but how? I didn't even turn my back! The pretty smiles and swishy clean hair became gargoyles of naughtiness and foot stomping tantrums within a nano second.  Time slowed and instead of being in the arms of Nicholas Cage (ahem..), I was now walking alongside Keanu Reeves in Constantine where water slows to a drip..drip..drip...surrounded by fire and brimstone and nasty little hell creatures!

It took a further hour to get them to sleep.  I was nearly in tears with anger and upset.  Thoughts raged through my head of taking toys off them and no treats for a month and I too stomped my foot (metaphorically) until they slept.

Then I looked at them.  Pink cheeked and eyelashes fluttering whilst taking tiny breaths in the land of fairydust, rainbows and nice dragons.  The switch had been flipped again and I kissed them both gently.

Do you think Nicholas Cage would go on an adventure with me?

Awoooooga!

Here I stand poised, sword in one hand, shield in the other. I survey the landscape blinking profusely as I do (I have an issue with my contact lenses) and decide that if I want to change big, then I need to not just 'talk the talk' but I need to 'fight the fight' too.

My blog is all about me becoming domestically super fabulous, gorgeously fashionable and beauty queen supreme (don't laugh) and cook extraordinaire...however as I am only three steps up from the bottom of the ladder, this project will take some time.

I have reserved this little corner on the edge of cyberspace for my musings, and my struggles and opinions are all my own.  I hope you enjoy reading my ramblings.

Off now to perfect my battle cry...do you think AWOOOOOOOOOGA will suffice?....