katy – Page 49 – Apartment Apothecary

katy 9th December 2015

Living room makeover plans and a coffee table giveaway

As if embarking on a kitchen makeover in the new year wasn’t enough, I was standing in my living room the other day and made up my mind that I definitely want to completely change my living room at the same time. How on earth can I have a lovely ‘new’ kitchen and not apply the same love and attention to the space we spend most of our time in? Well, that was the argument I used when persuading Jules – he thinks it is a complete waste of money, obvs! The fact is that I have never bought anything for our living room, except for the sideboard and rug, as it all came from my previous flat and the sofa and huge armchair have always been too big for this space. There is just too much going on and it has begun to feel cramped and completely mis-matched to the rest of our flat since re-doing our home office, hallway and bedroom. The rest of flat is all white and pastels and I have gone off all of the colours in this room and the mix of patterns. It all has to go!

The only things that I plan to keep in this room are the dining table and Ercol chairs. Everything else has to go as it feels too cramped, heavy and mis-matched in this room. The kitchen is just round the corner to the left so I would like the two spaces to both be light, bright and a bit more sophisticated. Photo by Katharine Peachey

I would love a new coffee table instead of my mum’s old school trunk as this feels too heavy and large for this space. Photo by Katharine Peachey

A new sofa and chairs are on order (I’m so flipping excited I might internally combust!), a new rug has already arrived (I do LOVE my kilim rug but Otto has begun to destroy it so it needs to be saved before it is completely ruined), my sideboard has been sold and I am lusting after a new coffee table. I want to go for more of a Scandi vibe with a bit of mid-century flavour in my living room so it feels less cluttered, calmer and more in keeping with the rest of the flat. I have got a firm eye on one of these tables and guess what?! The lovely folks over at Houseology would like to celebrate Christmas by giving away a coffee table to one of my readers. It can be any coffee table of your choice up to the value of £500. Wowzers!

Top: Muuto Around Ash coffee table Middle: Normann Copenhagen Tablo Tables Bottom: Ercol Originals coffee table

These are my favourite picks (can you guess which one I want for my new living room?) but you get to choose whichever one you like up to a value of £500. Have a look at the full collection here – decisions, decisions! And as if that wasn’t enough my lovely blogger friends Lori, Amanda and Rachel all have £500 Houseology vouchers to give away at the same time but on different types of homewares so make sure you visit their blogs – you could end up with a whole living room of new stuff, too!

– Pop over to Ana Mum Diary to win £500 to spend on side tables.
– The Ordinary Lovely has £500 to give you to buy yourself a new table lamp.
– Over on Wild & Grizzly grab £500 to spend on pendant lights.

All you have to do to enter my giveaway is complete the Rafflecopter below before midnight on December 22nd and the winner will be randomly generated and announced here on December 23rd. Good luck x

a Rafflecopter giveaway

T&C’s: Giveaway ends at midnight on Monday December 22nd; You must be a UK resident to be eligible for this competition; This voucher code is valid on items within the Houseology Coffee Tables category only; Free UK delivery will apply for your purchase; Voucher code is valid for one single transaction only, even where the full available balance is not met. Any value not used within one transaction will be forfeit; This prize is non-transferable and cannot be exchanged for monetary value; No cash alternatives to the stated prize will be offered; Valid until 31st December 2016.

katy 7th December 2015

Wreath making for cheats

I have to admit that my visions of floral makes are almost never realised; I don’t have the patience, have never practised enough and it just doesn’t come naturally. Anyhoo, I was very inspired by this wreath and basically wanted to copy it for my own front door but I knew I would need to take a few short cuts to make it anywhere near as nice.

So, I have come up with a cheater’s wreath-making how to. Basically, my mum and I went to Ikea the other day (you know, when you wake up in the morning and decide if only you had a white sink all your problems would be solved so you find yourself in Ikea that same evening – no? Just me then!) and I picked up an artificial spruce wreath. I was actually quite shocked that it cost £7.50 but then thought about it (over meatballs, naturally) and decided that to make my own would firstly cost me a fair bit as all the florists near me are very, very expensive, secondly I wouldn’t be able to make mine look as good, thirdly, I will be able to use it again and again in different guises over the years and fourthly, it looks amazingly real! One artificial wreath purchased, along with a whole basketful of other stuff I clearly didn’t need and one expensive white quartz sink – I am out of control and the fact I gave more thought to spending £7 on a wreath than I did on spending £190 on a sink I don’t need is worrying.

Back to my ‘how to’.

You will need:

– ready made wreath base (I have seen loads of real pine wreath bases available in florists, markets, even the supermarket if you don’t want a fake one).

– hardy herbs like thyme, rosemary, bay leaves (I grow all of these on my balcony)

– hardy foliage like eucalyptus or anything that will dry well (I used Myrtle, which is the small leaves with blue berries).

– small, flat succulents

– floristry wire

– scissors

– ribbon for decoration or to hang it from

Tutorial:

Step 1 – make small bundles of your herbs and foliage and use the wire to tightly bind them at the bottom.

Step 2 – place your bundles on the ready made wreath base and simply secure with the wire by wrapping around the bottom of the bundles again and then take the wire behind the wreath and twist it together as tightly as possible. Do a little shake test to check it’s as secure as possible.

Overlap the bundles to hide the wire, working your way around the wreath.

Step 3 – to attach the succulents remove their roots and stick two pieces of wire through the bottom of the succulent head.

Place the succulent on the wreath and then use the wire to wrap it around the wreath base to hold it in place.

Step 4 – add some ribbon to the wreath ring and you’re done! Could not be easier.

I love how fresh and luscious the herbs make it look and it smells flipping amazing!

Honestly, this took me about fifteen minutes, if that, and next year I can reinvent it all over again as I can keep the base. Would you be able to tell it’s fake?!

Katy x

katy 5th December 2015

Twelve styled days of christmas: day 5

I’ve gone a bit gaga for Christmas this year and it all started with a project that Teri from The Lovely Drawer conjured up back in September. Along with eleven other bloggers we have all come together to style twelve different Christmas tables with lots of lovely West Elm goodies. You can follow all twelve days on Teri’s blog and and West Elm’s Front + Main blog.

As a child the thing I looked forward to most about the festive season were the mornings; I would jump out of bed every morning, so excited to see what picture was behind the door of my advent calendar and don’t even get me started on the excitement levels of finding and opening our stockings on Christmas morning itself.

Therefore, I had to choose an advent breakfast table with hot cinnamon rolls and a special homemade advent calendar present. Being a cold, dark December morning there are plenty of homemade candles and twinkly lights and a cosy blanket so everyone can stay in their PJ’s all morning.

Twelve days of Christmas with West Elm | How to style your Christmas table with dusty pink | Apartment Apothecary

Cosy texture throw from West Elm

I have never been a big fan of the traditional red, green and gold so I always opt for soft pinks, white and lots of natural green. To make it feel more festive you just need a good dose of Christmas lights and candles, which also really help to make the dark mornings at this time of year feel more cosy.

My homemade advent calendar is simply two pieces of wallpaper (or you could use brown wrapping paper stamped with Christmas images) sewn together with a chocolate coin or two popped inside. You could even put a little note inside with a different Christmas related activity to be revealed each day. Such a lovely thing to find every morning.

Organic shaped dinnerware from West Elm

I made delicious Christmas scented cinnamon candles in small vintage cake tins (or patty pans), which work perfectly with the fresh cinnamon rolls. You can find the recipe for the rolls in this post and the tutorial to make the candles here.

I really can not explain to you how excited I used to get about my advent calendar, although we had a very strict ‘no chocolate’ rule in our family; it was all about finding the most beautiful calendar with the most beautiful illustrations. I think if there had been an advent present for me every morning on our breakfast table I would have internally combusted with excitement!

This Christmas we are spending the day in London with my family. We take the dogs for a walk in the morning and then have drinks with friends. We then walk through the quiet streets of London to a special restaurant for lunch – no cooking or washing up for us! Then home for lots of Christmas telly and more drinking and eating. I can not wait.

Pop over to Teri’s blog to see day 1, Heather’s blog to see day 2, Ruth’s blog to see day 3 and Fran’s blog to see day 4 – all completely different Christmas tables and different traditions, which makes it such a lovely project. Thank you so much to Teri for bringing us all together and the folks at West Elm for the perfect Christmas tableware (although I snuck a blanket in there as we all know you can never have enough blankets, especially when they are so soft and pink). Don’t forget to follow the remaining seven days on the Front + Main blog – there are some amazing tables coming up so you’d be a fool to miss it!

Katy x

katy 2nd December 2015

Styling the Seasons – December 2015

I love the lead up to Christmas, probably far more than the day itself. I love cosying up at home, making, cooking and preparing; those quiet, candlelit afternoons making and wrapping presents – just love it all! Therefore, I wanted the first of those afternoons to be all about setting up this month’s Styling the Seasons.

We went for a walk in the park and I brought home a big fallen branch (with Otto going nuts trying to jump up and steal it from me) and let it dry out for a few days. I painted it white and then strung it up over my dining table (using command hooks stuck to the ceiling) with a bit of help from Jules. I wrapped the branch with sparkly lights and hung a few tea light lanterns. I made a few bundles of herbs from my balcony (bay leaves, thyme and rosemary) and some eucalyptus and myrtle that I bought at the market last weekend. I added glitter to a swan feather that Jules had found in the park and added one glass bird tree ornament. Such an easy thing to do and it was a very happy afternoon putting it together.

Styling the Seasons - December 2015 | Christmas branch | Christmas table decorations | Nordic style Christmas | Apartment Apothecary

Sheep skin on chairs from Modern Rugs.

I sprayed the bottom half of the swan feather with glue and added gold glitter.

On the table itself are the remains from preparing my Christmas branch and some hyacinths that I potted up for the festive season in a vintage jelly mould. I have added sheep skins from the Modern Rugs to the dining chairs for the winter and I love the way they look, as well as how soft and cosy they make my Ercol chairs.

Nordic mini lanterns from The White Company. Make sure you string them up with metal wire, not string.

We had a dinner party the evening after we’d put the branch up and it was so lovely sitting under the lights and candles. The herbs also smell amazing.

Bundles of rosemary, eucalyptus and bay leaves, which smell wonderful.

I have never liked the traditional red and glitz of Christmas in my small home; I never feel like I have enough space for it and it just feels like clutter. However, bringing the outdoors in feels so much fresher and simpler.

Charlotte and I would love for you to join us this month and style a surface in your home to show what this month means to you. Blog about it or post a picture on your favourite social media platform and tag us in so we can see. We can not wait to see all your festive decorations!

Katy x

katy 1st December 2015

VQ retro radio giveaway

I have a new friend and it follows me around the house wherever I go. And I love it.

I’ve always had a thing about radio; listening to the dulcet tones of Radio 4 in the morning and whilst I work or playing music whilst I cook in the evenings. I also love listening to podcasts, especially on Sunday afternoons or as I sew. My new VQ digital retro radio is perfect for all these things and more. It can run on batteries so I can carry it around with me from room to room (or you can plug it in) and I can also pull out the iPod dock and hook it up to my phone and play music from Spotify, which works perfectly when we have friends round. You can even connect it to your computer and the sound quality is great. Most importantly (obvs!), I think it looks great and the leatherette finish is really high quality. I really, really love it.

I love the retro styling and it works perfectly on my G-plan sideboard.

The stylish leatherette finish is beautiful (I couldn’t tell it wasn’t real leather).

I hate working in silence so this radio is perfect for my home office.

You can plug the radio in or run it off batteries.

This is where my radio spends most of its time – is there anything better than blasting music and having a dance whilst cooking?!

The lovely folks over at VQ are offering one of my readers a retro radio, worth £79.99, in a colour or pattern of your choice – see them all here. Wouldn’t it make a perfect Christmas present, too?

To enter the giveaway, which ends at midnight on Monday 7th December, all you have to do is complete the Rafflecopter below. We would love you to either leave a comment on this post, follow VQ on Pinterest here or pin your favourite radio from the VQ site here (or do all three to get extra entries).

Good luck and I will be back on the December 8th to announce the winner! Fingers crossed x

And the winner is…

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congratulations, Jules (I promise it’s not my partner!!). Pop me an email at katy@18.200.196.112 to claim your prize in time for Christmas! Thank you to everyone who entered and watch out for another amazing giveaway launching here tomorrow. x

T&Cs

– Giveaway open from Tuesday 1st December to midnight Monday 7th December 2015.

– Giveaway open to mainland UK only.

– Winner will receive one retro radio in a colour or pattern of their choice.

– Winner will be picked at random using Rafflecopter generator.