I have bought a few bargain things over the last few weeks that all became mini projects. Here are the before and after shots!

Glassware shelves from Vintage Von. Hand painted by moi in Farrow & Ball French Gray.

Continuing the painted theme ... remember my bargain table, £2.75! Sammy lovingly painted it (bit scrappy in places but that makes it even better) on a sunny day. We used the left over paint from the shelves which matches the sage green accessories in the kitchen. The table is perfect as it is really heavy and they can't push and pull it between themselves over tea!

Plus the little cheap ones you can get in Ikea (which we have bought in the past) aren't quite big enough for more than two and we often have little guests for tea!

The next DIY job is to make some place mats. Laminator at the ready!

The last project is to recycle the bag of vintage fishing nets. Perfect for a boy with a nautical room! I have tried to piece both their rooms together slowly over time. collecting bits and pieces as I go rather than buying the matching set from page 72 from a catalogue. Whilst you get an instant finished look, the trouble with buying everything in one go is that it's much harder to justify any extras, a few months down the line!

I want to use the nets for storage for all his soft toys which he loves to look at but has grown out of playing with on a daily basis. They need a good airing but will look fab. As soon as they don't smell like the sea they will be up. The scent is a little too authentic!

Hosting #MagpieMonday today for Lizzie who is cruising around on a canal boat! Link up your secondhand finds and share some bargains!

My husband's family are visiting from Penzance and Surrey and the weather was perfect on Saturday. We walked on the promenade, at the children's water play park on the seafront, on the wooden board walk and on water, on a platform across the marine lake at Knightstone Island at Weston super Mare. A perfect millpond.

A perfect weekend.

This is what my husband's new Fuji X100 camera can do. All by itself with no filters. Roll on next week in New York City, there may be a photo opportunity or two!

Over the next couple of weeks I hope you will notice some changes you like. Subtlety has never been one of my strong points so I will be moving this blog to a whole new platform!

This blog has become a real extension of me. So it seems only natural that it reflects me, not an off the shelf theme me.

Templates are brilliant for layouts and basic styling. Then the rest is up to you. There are so many ways with some basic understanding, you can change a template and customise it to your taste.

When I chose my theme I loved the colour palette and the soft and pretty appeal of the chocolate and pink. But the trouble with using a theme is that thousands of others could have a site that looks just like yours. I stumbled across a US blog recently that was an exact replica of mine only in a yellow colour way!

I love pink and I love girly and you would have thought that with every shade of blue in our house I would relish the opportunity to make this personal space a feminine paradise! I surprised myself when I decorated my office, not in pink but in turquoise. More blue aaah!

Here is my inspiration:

I am going to be brave! I adore the site Colour Lovers which allows you to browse through thousands of palettes and patterns showing which colours compliment each other and work well for the web.

I also have some inspiration from home:

and have been pinning away online.

Watch this space. Literally. It's definitely a learning curve but I am so pleased to learn more about web design no matter how frustrating it can be at times!

Did you see my new blog cards, hiding amongst the photos? Looking forward to sharing my diy idea soon.

Happy Saturday all!