A Creative Lifestyle Blog By Zoe-Lee Skelton

Life Lately: How I Wish You Were Here

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Well, hello July. I’m more than happy to see you as I’m off on my annual hols next week and can’t bloody wait!

So with June whizzing by, it’s been a bit of a slow start to the month but that’s been a conscious decision. Here’s a little update from me where I’ll tell you all about why I’m pacing myself.

Creativity

I’m currently painting and drawing a lot. I can’t share what I’ve been working on yet as it’s not finished or in a state that I’m happy to publish online. But it’s something a little different to my usual style and is giving me a sense of purpose once more which is what I’ve been in desperate need of.

I’ve also got big plans to draw and take so many pictures next week when I’m away in Norfolk so I’ll be sharing these with you when I’m back.

Reading

I’ve mostly been reading a lot of interior design blogs and “slow living” magazines like Breathe, Flow and In The Moment. I feel like a bit of a dick for buying them as I look like a walking stereotype but I find them easy reading and inspiring.

Also, it sounds really cliche but another reason as to why I’ve been reading these types of magazines is because I’ve been trying to reconnect with myself by calming everything down and looking introspectively at what makes me tick. I’ve been trying to take more notice of what do I naturally do with my spare time? What am I really interested in learning about and what goals do I want to achieve over the next few months as opposed to the next five years. Five year plans make me feel REALLY anxious and like I’m not making those gains quick enough which ultimately leads me to feel like a failure. It’s completely self-inflicted so I won’t be making myself feel like that anymore. Patience and planning is key right now. Namaste and all that crap.

Learning

I’m currently getting to grips with growing things and keeping organic stuff alive haha! The garden is flourishing and packed with colour so we must be doing something right. Granted Ian has been tending to the yard long before I came along but I managed to rescue a lemon balm plant given to me by a friend; it’s gone from crispy to blooming and smells yum so I’m pretty pleased with my green-fingered self.

Listening to

I’ve been listening to a lot of different artists recently but for transparency, I’m going to pick the last three artists I listened to on Spotify, no cheating – honest:

Rage Against the Machine, Pink Floyd and Kyuss. I never thought I’d find myself listening to Pink Floyd but I was at a funeral and “Wish You Were Here” was played during proceedings. I passively listened to the song as opposed to being subjected to it. And when someone has gone, who you really cared about, you kind of feel like out of respect, you’re going to keep doing a little of what they would have been doing. So I’ve been listening to Pink Floyd in a friend’s memory.

Looking forward to

I’m off to Well-next-the-Sea this coming Sunday and I can’t flippin’ wait. We’ve both been counting down the days and hours as this break cannot come quick enough. I’ve been really tense and short with everyone recently so I know it’s time to disappear from my reality. Naturally I’ll be sharing pictures of the Norfolk coast and goings on over on my Insta so feel free to follow me for updates.

 

Did they get you to trade
Your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
And did you exchange
A walk on part in the war
For a lead role in a cage?

 

How to Make Minimalist Design Work for Your Home

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Minimalism is something you either love or hate. Some people see it as cold, boring and far too simple for their tastes. However, others embrace simplicity and enjoy the clean and sleek look for a minimalist furniture arrangement. It’s a design concept that eventually becomes an acquired taste the longer you’re exposed to it and, as many designers in the industry know, it’s more than just reducing clutter.

Minimalism embraces simple yet functional designs. It’s all about keeping your life streamlined and easy while also retaining some semblance of style. It’s about making the most of the space while simultaneously highlighting emptier parts of your room in order to show off a clean and sleek design. Minimalist design is something that can be incorporated into just about anything, and your home is a great place to start if you want to learn more. So to give you a little help, here are some ways to make a minimalist design work for your home.

Declutter first, design later

Decluttering your home is the first step you need to take if you want to embrace minimalist design. This is harder said than done, so consider using your garage as a temporary storage area or renting out a storage area to keep all of your unwanted items. Anything that you don’t immediately need should be thrown away, sold or kept safe in a storage area. You also want to try and cut down on random items that you have laying around. For instance, if you have a lot of little trinkets and collectables, consider putting them into a display cabinet to look neater instead of dotting them around your rooms.

Don’t neglect the outside

Be it your siding, the windows or even the roof, make sure you’re keeping a minimalist design on the outside as well. Use neutral colours and try to avoid loud patterns. The roof is a particular area of interest due to how visible it is from far away. Although you might not be able to reshape the roof for a clean design, you can look at brick slips at Roofing Superstore that can also be applied to the sides of your home to create a neat and minimalist look all the way around your home.

Function first, form later

A room is usually defined by the activities that take place inside of it. For instance, if you’re trying to design a living room then you may want to add things such as a sofa, a television and perhaps a coffee table and a side table. These are the key ingredients to creating a living room and should be present no matter what type of living room design you are going for. Removing these do not enhance the function of a room, but they do increase your frustration and annoyance. In some cases, the function of a room isn’t clearly set, such as your loft, so it’s worth having flexible furniture that can serve multiple purposes such as a daybed or a multi-tiered coffee table.

 

*this is a collaborative post

3 Needs Before You Renovate Your Home

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Are you thinking of giving your home a new start? That can be a fantastic thing to do at pretty much any time – so long as you are in a good position to do so. How can you be sure that you are in a good position to renovate? That is a tricky question to answer. But as it happens, there are a few key aspects you need to consider if you want to renovate your home without a hitch. Let’s have a look at what they might be, so that you can know when to renovate and when to wait a little while longer.

Good Financial Standing

It’s no big secret that renovating your home is likely to cost you quite a bit of money. For many people, it might take far too much money for them to bother with. If you feel that you are nowhere near having the kind of money you might need for a renovation, then it might be worth looking into what you can do to improve your financial standing. If you find yourself in a great deal of debt, that can be particularly worrying. But as long as you know how to deal with it, you should find that it is not too stressful. These days you can even get personal loans for debt consolidation, so you can get the money you need for your renovation while also dealing with your debt. This could put you in a good starting position in order to renovate your home, so it might be worth thinking about. Beyond that, make sure that you are able to put enough aside for the renovation itself, plus a little extra.

Space In The Home

Whatever room, or rooms, you might be thinking of renovating, you will need to make sure that you have enough space in order to do so. You need to think carefully about what kind of space you actually need – when you do this, it might surprise you how much is actually necessary to have. You are going to need to have space to move around as you renovate, and depending on the room you might have to set up something temporary as well. This is often the case with rooms like the bathroom or kitchen, for example. Make sure you can genuinely afford to renovate, given how much space it is likely to use up in the process.

Time & Patience

Renovating anything takes a lot of time, and if you don’t feel you have that you probably can’t get very far at all with your project. It helps to plan out the project you have in mind in as much detail as you possibly can. That way, you can be sure that you really do have all the time you need to get it done, and to get it done well. It will also benefit you greatly if you are able to practice a little patience in the meantime.

*this is a collaborative post

 

Garden Update: Things Have Grown And Got Pretty

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So you may remember back in March, I published a post about what we are growing in our garden this year. Well, things have really moved on since then.

Here is how the patch looked when we first planted the seeds:

…barren, right?

But now, the garden has flourished and everything has pretty much come at once. Here’s what the patch looks like now:

The beetroot, salad onions and chard are fit to burst and we’re slowly making our way through them. The radish has been and gone because they cropped so early. Now all we’re waiting for are the potatoes and carrots.

We’ve also been making the garden prettier seeing as we’re spending a lot more time in it. We recently bought some outdoor lights to stake in the plant pots which change colour and a beautiful rainbow windmill (my choice, not Ian’s haha), to brighten up the veg patch.

But I’m after some more lighting for the patio area where we tend to sit with friends in the evening. As it can get quite dark and we don’t want the high wattage floodlight on for hours. Ideally, I’m looking for some more eco-friendly options. Looking at trends in garden lighting, I’ve seen a couple of things I like from Festive Lights like these vintage cage style fairy lights which could be hung along the fence:

I also want to make the patio a cosy area with outdoor candles and floor lighting next to our outdoor furniture, like these lantern style lights:

Although this might be overkill, we also have a wisteria growing against the neighbour’s garage which would look beautiful lit up with draping lights like these:

If you see any others I might like please feel free to link me in the comments.

I hope you’re all enjoying the warmer weather.

Your Home Might Be Small, But It Can Feel Like A Mansion!

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When you’re living in a small home clutter can be a real problem. If you have too many items, your home can look packed full of belongings and completely overcrowded. The issue here is that the home then isn’t a very pleasant place to live and it certainly won’t look stylish. If you want your home to look stylish, you need to focus on making sure that you have lots of space and basically aim for a minimalistic design. So, let’s look at some of the best ways to declutter a smaller home.

Think about reducing what you own

Perhaps the problem is that you just have far too much furniture. If that’s the case, you should think about selling it or donating it to a charitable cause. That way, you can make sure that your home isn’t overcrowded with belongings. The best way to handle this is to make sure that you have the right number of pieces of furniture in each room. For instance, in the living room, you only need around four places to sit. If you have more than that, you should consider getting rid of some of the extra chairs.

Of course, you don’t have to sell the extra items, you can just put them away out of sight. To do this, you can put them in the loft or attic. If you don’t have any space there, you can consider keeping them in storage. This might be useful if you have larger items that you use on occasion. For instance, you might have a large dining table that’s perfect when you have guests over but a nuisance the rest of the year.

Invest in Unobtrusive Furniture

You may want to think about getting furniture that doesn’t take a lot of space up in the home. An example of this type of furniture would be items that fold in on each other. For instance, you can get chairs that fit snugly into a dining unity along with a table that connects together in two pieces. That’s perfect because it will give you a completely open space in an area of your home like the dining room. Other furniture might fold up against the wall when not in use. Or perhaps slide out of sight.

Try some clever Storage Options

You should think about adding some clever storage options to your home that keep the majority of the space clear. In smaller homes, it is worth thinking about using as much as the space above the floor as possible. That way, you’ll be able to keep your home clean, clear and minimalistic. For instance, rather than having the TV on a floor stand, you can secure it to the wall. Modern wall supports actually pull out so that you can still watch the TV from the best possible angle.

Don’t forget there are also some great accessories and appliances, built and designed for space saving at home. You can get an oven where the door slides underneath when it’s in operation. That’s certainly going to make cooking the kitchen a lot easier.

Use this advice and even a smaller home can feel like a mansion.

 

*this is a collaborative post