INJECTING COLOUR INTO YOUR HOME

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It’s coming to that time of year – when wind and rain is replaced by crisp, sunny weather, when many of us begin to think about brightening up our homes. Especially as the nights are starting to get a little lighter and getting up in the mornings no longer seems such a chore.

Bringing the outdoors inside

Of course, the sun streaming through our windows can be deceiving as it’s not quite warm enough to spend longer than an hour or two outside (if we’re lucky!). This is when bringing a little of the outdoors indoors comes in handy. From pot plants to vases brimming with flowers, such as those available from serenataflowers.com, there are a number of simple ways to inject colour from the outside into our homes.

De-clutter

Months seem to merge into one these days, especially when you’re busy. Before we know it, summer will be upon us! If you’re planning on sprucing up the house in time for the warmer months, it’s a good idea to make a start now. Clearing up any unwanted clutter is a good place to begin.

If your table surfaces and kitchen counters are awash with paperwork, children’s toys, bags and books, why not take a day out of your busy schedule to rid them of clutter – swapping the mess for a beautiful vase of flowers instead. From orange tulips to pink tinged lilies, there are assortments of floral arrangements to choose from.

Adding a simple bouquet of flowers to a kitchen counter top or windowsill will instantly freshen up the entire room.

Colour coordinates

When redecorating, picking a theme is a must. Orange, yellow, pink and blue colours are all popular shades when it comes to adding a little life to an otherwise drab interior. Pops of colour here and there will suffice and the likes of floral centrepieces, candy coloured cushions, rugs and artwork are all effective yet pocket-friendly ways to spruce up our homes on a budget.

Adding colour and style to your home doesn’t have to be a chore, nor does it have to cost the earth. These simple tips will have your interiors looking fresh and new in no time.

**Desk photo via DSTP

GET OUR CRAFT ON // PINECONE HOOPLA GAME

As nature is supplying such a bounty of conkers, sticks, pinecones and acorns this autumn, I thought it only right to share a quick DIY game you can play with your little ones. F is always asking to make toys, whether it's bows and arrows, stick men, Go fish game, swords, catapults, sensory boxes, the list goes on. So after a lot of talk about the Moscow State Circus before his birthday, I decided to reinvent the old fairground classic, Coconut Shy game, with things that can be found outside.

To make your Pincone Hoopla game you'll need:

1. A few pinecones
2. Glitter glue / OR loose glitter and PVA glue.
3. A hoop of some sort.
4. Paper.
5. Washi tape.

To make your game is super simple, place some paper down to protect your surface from any mess and let your kiddo get creative with the glitter glue. Try and encourage them to use different colours and place blobs on different parts of the pinecones to make them sparkly. 

Once the glitter has dried, decorate your hoop with washi tape. I used an embroidery hoop but any circular ring will work well, or you can even make your own hoop with bendy twigs tied together. Once everything is ready, find an open area and place the pinecones spaced out on the floor.The aim is to throw the hoop over the pinecones, the person who captures the most pinecones wins! Simple. F really loved playing this game and got quite competitive with me, and was thrilled when he managed to catch one. This is a great game for concentration, spatial awareness and gross motor skills, as well as the creativity involved making it. After you've finished playing the pinecones can also make a pretty nature display in the home.

OH CHRISTMAS TREE // Nature in the Home

There's nothing quite like the twinkly lights of the Christmas tree to keep you company on a cold blustery evening, giving way to nostalgic memories of childhood. Every year I get over excited by the appearance of a tree in our home. Always real, with pine needles eventually carpeting the floor and branches bowed under the weight of the shiny baubles. The smell is heart warming, as is the carefully collected memories which hangs and adorns its branches. Our trees are always big, some have been huge in fact. This year we have adopted an almost 9ft tree for the holiday season. There's no tinsel here but rather a collection of red and golds, with lots of wooden toys, delicate porcelain, glittering baubles, knitted or hand crafted gifts, birds and bells.

My tree is full of stories depending on which ornament you choose to admire, each with its own tale. The word love hangs from its branches, a gentle reminder that kindness is a free gift to give and goes a long way. You can also find a small bell delicately hanging in the hopes that it will ring out in the dark, after decades of watching A Beautiful Life.

This year I have had to reassure F that even though the tree has blocked the fire place, Father Christmas will still find a way down our chimney to deliver presents on Christmas Eve. This year F decorated his own little wooden tree which we've displayed on the mantle piece, keeping our monster tree company.

DIY DRIFTWOOD TREE DECORATION

It's officially December and it's hard to stop my thoughts wandering to Christmas festivities and the excitement of decorating the tree. Every year without fail I buy or receive a new ornament, adding to my collection of memories for the year. I have beautiful hand crafted clay hearts from Budapest given to me by a work friend in 2006, a Liberty's minimalist glass bauble passed down to me from a dear friend before she headed off to South America, a small knitted dog from F's godmother/a most lovely lady. The list goes on, each hanging ornament with it's own story to tell – I feel another blogpost coming on.

So to get me in the mood for Christmas and joining in with the lovely Lou's Nature in the Home, I decided to make our own decoration from the driftwood we'd collected earlier in the year. It involved glitter much to F's delight and my OCD horror, but F had fun and I'm loving his first homemade decoration.

To make your own Driftwood Tree Decoration you'll need:

• Found pieces of wood in various sizes and thickness – we used driftwood but any twigs and branches will work.
• Glitter, in whatever colour works for you. We went with gold.
• Very small screw hooks –  these should work fine.
• Copper or silver coloured wire.
• PVA glue.

1. First arrange your sticks in size order to create a christmas tree shape on the table, snapping off bits if needed. 

2. Spread a thin layer of glue along the branches in a random pattern, I would do one stick at a time. 

3. Sprinkle your glitter over the glue areas making sure it's evenly covered. Shake off any excess and leave to dry.

4. Screw in the hooks so that the sticks balance when held in the middle, for sticks that are too narrow you can coil the wire around it. 

5. Take your wire and feed through one eyelet to another, connecting the sticks. Use a wire cutter to remove any excess wire.
6. Bend the wire to make a star shape and add twist onto the wire to join. 

7. Once all connected hang and admire your sparkly handy work. 

You could decorate your tree with small hanging beads but I quite like the minimalist look. 

NATURE IN THE HOME - COLLECTED TREASURES

Crisp and crunchy underfoot, we walk on a carpet of leaves, your hand clutching mine. Occasionally you'll pull away to plough through a pile of gold, scattering the leaves with a roar. The dappled light pushes through the trees and catches you as we weave along the path. You bend down to collect your treasures, pockets brimming while I collect these memories of autumn walks shared. These are my treasures to hold dear.

Joining in with the lovely Lou's Nature in the Home series, here is a pocket full of autumn.