Home inspiration ~ grey & white

I love this quote by William Morris & I really wish I could apply it to my home as it's always just so crammed full of, well, just stuff.  I long to have a home where every single thing has a place to live, somewhere to be put away but you know, I have 3 children....and a husband....it just doesn't work!!  But this year I am determined to re-jig my house to make it work much better for everyone - but mainly me, so I don't want to cry in despair every time I look around!

I get severe Instagram & Pinterest envy looking at some of the beautiful homes around & even though for as long as I can remember, I've never liked white in the home as I've found it too cold, at the moment, I'm really loving it, especially when teamed with pale grey.  This sudden love of grey & white has really shocked me as I've always decorated in really warm earthy tones but after seeing some of the photos on t'internet, I've realised that this palette can also look cosy - and that I'm going to be re-decorating a lot this year......

Here's some of my favourite Pinterest looks at the moment.

Offtt, so lovely....

I've definitely decided to do Alfie's bedroom in grey with white & mustard accents but it won't be done until summer as one wall needs replastering.  The girls' bathroom needs updating too so I'm veering towards all white - although they really want godawful sparkly bright fuchsia pink & lime!  Erm, no sorry girls, that's just not going to happen!!

The whole exterior of our house has to be rendered this year in order to have the extension signed off & we've always said it would be white with pale grey cladding & front door so that's a good start!

What do you think of these colours?  Could you live with them or are you more a warm palette person?

New hair part deux!

Thanks for all of your suggestions last week!  I arrived at the salon last Thursday morning ever-so-slightly resembling Monica in Barbados (apologies if you've never seen this episode of Friends!!) due to the fine drizzle outside but having a much clearer idea in my head of what I wanted.

This was only my second visit to The Hair Warehouse in Dundee but in just those two sessions, I feel like my stylist Kirsty actually understands what I'm trying to achieve - even when I'm not entirely sure myself!!

I explained that the current colour of my hair just wasn't doing it for me & showed her my (many) Pinterest photos of what I liked.  She explained what was achievable & she was honest enough to suggest that being that much lighter wouldn't suit my skin tone.

So between us, we decided to take my hair slightly darker again but quite golden with blonde ombré underneath & round my face......and I love it!!  I feel so much more like me again being darker but the ombré really lifts it & stops it from being too much of a block colour.

Here's a couple of very grainy (ie crappy!) phone photos!

After cutting some more layers in & then rough drying, Kirsty curled my hair using Cloud Nine straighteners (which, in her opinion, are better than GHDs btw!)  I love this soft curled effect but annoyingly, I can only do one side of my hair well myself - anyone else have this problem?!  You can see a photo of the back of my hair on their website.

As expected, my hair is feeling a wee bit parched at the moment after all the abuse I've put it through since July but I'm using hair products containing argan oil which is leaving it feeling fantastic!  

So that's me feeling more like me again!  And for those of you who don't get the 'Monica' reference, here you are......!!

New hair & Pinterest addiction!

As some of you may have noticed from my wee profile picture, I had an awful lot of hair lopped off at the beginning of July - about 16" in fact!  My hair is naturally thinning at the moment (see this post) & teamed with a disastrous haircut back in April when my stylist did not stop cutting & thinned it out far, far too much leaving it thin & straggly, I decided to cut it all off & start again.  That's the problem when you wear glasses & have to remove them at the salon, you can no longer see how much is being taken off until it's too late!  I've since found a new stylist....

At this point, I decided to start lightening my hair too as although I adored the colour of my hair, touching up my white roots every 3 weeks was becoming a real chore.  I thought by going lighter it would disguise my roots for a bit longer.  But I'm still not quite happy with my barnet!

This is what I started off with.....

Actually, this is quite an old photo, it was even longer than this!  When I first had it cut off & had the first lot of highlights, this is how it looked....

....and a couple of months down the line with even more highlights in, I'm now at this stage.....

(Apologies for the photo, it was late & I'd had a glass or 3 of vino at this point!!!)

You can see how much it's grown in just 2 months & I'm now having a cut & colour dilemma.  Do I keep it shorter like in the first photo, which I like the length of but involves much more styling than I'm used to or grow it to about shoulder length, so I have the option of tying up? (I do miss being able to have a messy bun!!!)

I'm also torn with the colour aspect of it.  I can't go back as dark as I was due to the shocking white roots problem but I'm still not entirely sure being blonde is 'me', if that makes sense!  I do like it but at the moment, it's just too in between. It either needs to be significantly blonder like these.....

....or I'm rather liking the balayage effect at the moment too.....

Or I could go to a golden light brown keeping the front blonder (as that's where my hair is now at it's whitest!!)

If it wasn't for the fact I'd get horrendous root glare, I'd be going this colour again for autumn!

So help me out please, do I keep it shorter or grow longer, blonder or more golden?  Seriously, I need help, I'm back in the salon on Thursday for the colour to be done again & I'd appreciate honest opinions!!!

You may have noticed that all but one of the images are taken from my Pinterest board (addicted much?!)  If anyone wants to have a nosy at my other Pinterest boards, you can find me here!

NOTD Bourjois ~ Bleu Fabuleux

I've not bought or used any Bourjois polishes for a couple of years now & I don't understand why I stopped but I'm certainly glad I've rediscovered them!

 

This polish has a great, wide brush that covers the nail perfectly in just 2 sweeps & the cap itself is really comfortable to handle.

 

The application itself was excellent & the colour was opaque enough with one coat but I always do 2 anyway.  It was super glossy just on it's own but I always seal my manis with Seche Vite as I find it helps with the longevity.

 

I'm now day 5 into this colour & have had absolutely no chipping & only minimal wear on the tips, all-in-all excellent I'd say!  The vibrant cobalt blue colour is divine & I've never had so many people comment on my nails before.

 

On the same trip to Superdrug, I also bought another 2 Bourjois polishes so I'm looking forward to trying these out too....watch this space!!

 

 

 

 

I think this colour could become my new favourite & that's some feat seeing as I don't actually like the colour blue!!

 

 

 



Fifty shades of grey (hair!)

So here's the thing, I (sadly but genetically) started getting grey hair at the tender age of 18.  It didn't seem a biggie way back then when it was just a few silver stragglers, nothing a good semi & some highlights couldn't cover, but over the years the greys rapidly multiplied, at a rate far quicker than I was happy about!

 

About 5 or 6 years ago, when I'd let my hair re-growth go a week longer than usual, I noticed to my horror that my roots were nearly all white near my temples.  My sister (a hair stylist) took great delight in pointing this out to me &, well to cut a long story short, now I am apparently 85% grey all over *sob*!! 

 

As anyone with lots of grey hair knows, your hair becomes really coarse, wiry & more & more difficult to colour & I've found over the last couple of years that DIY hair colours that always used to cover my grey, weren't doing so anymore.  As my hair grows at a ridiculous rate, I have to colour my roots every 3 weeks - 4 weeks at a real push.  When I find I'm having a conversation with someone & their eyes keep straying to my hair, I know I've left it too long!  Or when my 6'1" husband stands over me, sucks in air & says, "whoa hun, time to do your colour.......!!"

 

I've tried just about every DIY hair colour available & I'm very happy to say that I've now found one that is fabulous & covers every single grey hair.....in just 10 minutes!!  Step forward Superdrug Salon Radiance & take a bow!

 

 



 

I forgot to take a photo of the packaging before I threw it away so I've taken the image from the Superdrug website.

 

This is a really great hair colourant & all for the bargain price of £5.09.  I also refreshed the rest of my hair with a Superdrug semi too as it was looking a bit faded & dull & I'm really pleased with the results.

 

 

 

So that's me done & feeling not too scummy-mummy-like for another 3 weeks until I do it all again!!  Bravo Superdrug on a fantastic product that even my new hairdresser complimented me on!