black on black

The writing’s on the wall.

I think a space doesn’t feel yours or feel homely until you have stuff on the walls. This could be anything from photos to a painting or a piece of art it can really bring a room together. If you don’t own much furniture hanging a piece on the wall can help fill a space which would other wise be bare and impersonal. Adding something with colour can bring a theme together or lift a space will lots of dark furniture.  In my eyes a space isn’t mine until I’ve hung something on the wall. But if like me your renting and banging nails into a pristine wall isn’t an option don’t you worry I will show you some great ideas.

4185caWkOWL._SX522_ (2)Command Brand Damage-free Hanging are an amazing damage free hanging system perfect for renters or anyone. Its an inexpensive sticky back velcro system. You stick them to the frame of a picture and stick them to the wall. You can then remove the picture easy and as many times as you like and put it back in exactly the same place by lining up the velcro and then to remove the strip completely from the wall you simply pull the sticky tab downwards and it comes straight off. It leaves no mark or residue on the wall and it’s the ideal system for hanging anything.

Another alternative is to rest frames against the wall either on the floor or on furniture or shelves. This creates a really minimal modern finish and it’s non damaging and a great way to display art.

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Framed Quotes At the moment I am really loving framed quotes. I think they look super minimal, super classy and they are a great way to fill you mind with positivity and really make a space yours. I am in love with this piece I saw on Pintrest. It’s such a gorgeous print that would look so lovely in a hallway near the front door. 15250e2d6669d2d115c20f5a58182fcd

A framed quote is also a super easy DIY project you can do yourself. In word simply type out a quote, phase or anything you like. Chose a font and increase the font size until you are happy with the composition. Print and put in a frame. Homebase, B&Q, Matalan, Asda and more all sell cheap minimal frames that look great.

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Minimal Abstract Art When it comes to Art abstract is where I am drawn to. It’s the style I like to paint in myself and the types of pieces I like to have around me. Something that plays with texture and shape in a limited often muted palette. At the moment I absolutely adore dusty muted pinks and neutrals mixed in with blacks and whites.

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For more inspiration check out my Pintrest board.

Our London Bedroom Tour

Hello everyone, I know I haven’t done a post in absolutely forever but today I wanted to talk about our bedroom. We will be moving in July and I wanted to do a post on our room, how we decorated it and made the space work for us before we move.
So we are currently renting a 4 Bedroom Victorian Terraced House in Greenwich I have been living here for 3 years and Zac moving in with me last year.  Our room is on the top floor, we have the whole floor to our selves as it’s an attic conversion. It is large but it is a bit of an irregular shape and it has sloping ceilings which limits the wall space and head room (but we are both short so its fine for us).

When renting, you are limited with what you can do, so work with what’s there. When I moved, this bedroom was part furnished. It had a large bed with a massive headboard which was taller than the wall which meant the bed was away from the wall and kind of abandoned in the middle of the floor, there was a chest of drawers which matched the bed, a wicker arm chair and a side table. We moved the arm chair into the living room down stairs. I put the chest of doors and side table into one of the other bedrooms but the bed was too big to dismantle so I decided to keep it in the room and make it work.

I took the headboard out of the posts to open it up and turned it round to use the foot board as the headboard; this allowed me to push the bed up against the wall maximizing the floor space. When Zac moving in we needed more storage space. So we looked on Gumtree.com. Gumtree is perfect if you want a furnish a room when your renting as you don’t want to be investing loads of money if you are going to be moving in the near future. There is so much Ikea furniture on Grumtree for under £20 most of it barely used and in perfect condition and its already put together so no flat pack disasters.

So here’s our room.

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The room is light and bright as there are two sky lights in the bedroom and one in the en suite. We chose white bedding as it makes the room seem even brighter and therefore bigger. We also hung an over the door mirror over the door to the en suite to maximize the space. We have gone for mostly dark furniture with a few warm beach wood pieces to tie the sky light frames with the bed we added a light wood washing basket and tv stand to bring it together. We also chose to ascent the room with coppers and metallics to add different textures and sophistication to the room.

We wanted the room to be tidy but livable so we kept a lot of things open like the cube storage in dark wood which we keep in the cubby hole (as we call it) we have filled it with photos, books, our initials and special things. We also keep the products that we use every day out on top of the dresser to make things easier in the mornings.

And this is my desk -I am very proud of it, I love how its all black and this desk lamp with wood and copper details (from George at Asda!) goes so well with everything. Before I put the desk in, this space was unused and it just looked messy but this Ikea Micke Desk fits perfectly between the dresser and the wall giving my enough headroom to sit comfortably and work and it has plenty of storage. I keep my hair dryer, straighteners and curlers in the cupboard on the left, paperwork in the to drawer and stationary in the smaller drawer.

Moving on now to our en suite. It’s neutrally decorated with a cream tiled floor cream walls, glass walk in shower and glass sink. To tie it in with our bedroom with have some black and beach wood ascents and grey towels.

Next to the bathroom in a large build in cupboard. It has a sloping ceiling again but we use it as our wardrobe where we store our hung clothes, shoes and our extra bits and pieces. It’s not that exciting but here you go …

Everything in our room is inexpensive and can easily to taken with us when we move. Like I said before Gumtree is amazing for getting cheap furniture. I picked up this 5 drawer Ikea Kullen chest of drawers for £15, Two 3 drawer Ikea Kullen dressers sold as a pair for £25 and this Ikeas Micke Desk for £10.

ikea gumtree furniture

Primark candles smell so good and are so cheap. I have the Cedarwood & Myrrh glass candle on our bedside as well as in the bathroom. I also have their vanilla defuser in the bathroom, a vanilla column candle in the lantern, a vanilla and coconut jar candle on the side and vanilla tea lights in everything else 🙂 I love to lite candles at night and it keeps the room smelling amazing.  All the other ascents in the room are  from the highstreet, the copper bowl and gold tea light holder is from George Asda and the black wire basket is from H&M.

I hope you enjoyed having a look round our bedroom. If you have an questions or comments leave them bellow. Have a lovely day.

The Perfect Wearable Wardrobe.

The key to the perfect wardrobe is creating a succinct collection of versatile pieces you can mix and match to build any look for any occasion.

It all comes down to making considered purchases instead of buying everything you see or like -too much clutter only makes it harder to find something to wear.

It’s important to really know and understand your style and the look you are going for, so you can really know what to look out for when your shopping. This should help keep a theme running through your wardrobe allowing you to mix and match in so many more combination.

Next, have a sort out. The season has just changed so now is a perfect time to go through your clothes. If you haven’t worn it in ages, or you don’t think you’l wear it again then loose it -why do you need to keep something you never wear.

On the bottom: I think you need a classic pair of blue skinnys for the casual days a pair of black jeans to dress it up slightly and a pair of smart trousers. Also consider a couple of skirts, a simple mini skirt, a midi pencil and a button through A line skirt.

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On your feet I would say a pair of Nike Roshe runs, then a pair of Loafers, heeled boots and then the strappy heels/ stilettos will work with any outfit and take you from popping to the shops, to a lunch date, to night on the town.

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On top the choices are more open but my advise is go for a selection of versatile pieces. Get a couple of camis, a sweater, a couple of long sleeve tops in different styles and a selection of vests and jumpers. Try to get a mix of different, lengths, sleeves, fabrics and colours. Try to avoid getting similar tops in the same colour.

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Dresses wise go for a fitted midi little black dress, this will work perfectly for any evening look then go for a couple of shift/ t shirt dresses that you can dress up or down with heels and a clutch or flats and a tote/shopper.

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Accessories: Find a warm scarf that goes colour wise with everything a neutral colours works well such as grey, black or khaki works well for me, then find a large clutch for the nights and a tote/ shopper for the day. Then finally coats and jackets are really important, I would say invest is a smart coat shorter coat and a long warm wrap up coat,

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Ta dah! that’s it.

Phew I know that seems like a lot and a bit complicated but I hope it helps. As you can see from my wardrobe I like simple shapes and minimal pieces. Tan, Khaki, denim and black are my autumn go to colours. I tend to stay away from patterns for some reason but create interest by mixing fabrics and textures so leather, croc, suede and patent which feature heavily throughout. All the pieces are very interchangeable and work from everyday casual to a night out.

Clothes featured can be found at Asos, Newlook, Pretty Little Thing, Missguided, H&M, Riverisland and Forever21.

For more details please leave me a question in the comments below.

What’s in my handbag.

I try not to carry too much around with me, but like every girl after a busy week I always seam to end up collecting a bundler of useless clutter: screwed up memos, pens, lipsticks and old tickets. Its always good to keep on top of it and have a good clear out when ever you can.
I think the best thing to remember is to pack light -Keep your hand bag organised and tidy. Its always better to have room for the odd extra thing than carry around a full heavy bag every day. In my bag I have my purse, phone, headphones and sunglasses and then purfume, lipstick and nail polish to keep my touched up and fresh. I hardly ever carry around makeup with me- its heavy for one and I don’t feel the urge to keep touching it up, I think I look worse by the end of the day when I’ve piled layer on to layer so I just leave my makeup when I’m out and about.

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Handbag Asos.  £30
Purse new look.   £12.99
Lipstick Revlon in nude.  £7.99
Perfume Miss Dior.   £40
Sunglasses h&m.   £4.99
Nail polish Barry m in matte mocha.   £3.99
Headphones Betron noise cancelling in gold.  £19.99
Phone case Amazon matte burgundy case.   £2.99

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If I had to pick only one item to be in my bag forever it would have to be my headphones, life is always better with some tunes to keep you going.
I hoped this has been helpful and I’d love to hear what your couldn’t live without, handbag essential is? Feel free to leave it in the comments below 🙂
Lots of love x

Kim Kardashian Goes Blonde.

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So, what do we think?

It’s a bit Barbie and she couldn’t really get much more fake but you’ve got to give it to her, she still looks good.
She arrived at Paris Fashion Week in a beanie and has now revealed her new look. A long feathered bob in a striking platinum blonde, she appeared in a black velvet origami mini dress and her hair swept back off her face looking very “modern power women”.

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It’s striking for Fashion Week but I can’t see it lasting, the maintenance is going to be extreme and how damaged must her hair be. I’m sure she will be back to her dark brunette soon.

Kim and K

Kim and Kanye are both dressed to impress in front row seats at the Balmain. They do like to coordinate their outfits and today they both opted for black velvet. Black on black is so dramatic that and Kim’s new hair makes for a striking entrance.
Check out my posts on Black Bags and Clutches- links below and feel free to leave a comment below, what’s your opinion on Kim’s new do?

https://katielouisaclarke.wordpress.com/2015/03/05/in-your-clutches/

https://katielouisaclarke.wordpress.com/2015/03/05/the-big-black-bag/