Apartment Apothecary
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Win a living room makeover

*This giveaway has now closed *

The winner is Lucy who was nominated by her husband, Anthony (all the heart eyes!). My romantic side got the better of me when I picked the winner – congrats, Lucy!

I know I go on a bit about my room makeovers but it’s only because I get so excited about making a space feel like new, either with relatively small touches or much bigger changes. My living room makeover is very nearly done (still waiting for a couple of new pieces of furniture) and it has made my home feel like new. I am beyond excited about the fact that I can now offer YOU a living room makeover with the lovely folks over at DFS. Eeeek!

DFS Zinc sofa | Mid-century style | Win a living room makeover | French Connection sofas | Apartment Apothecary

To celebrate International Women’s Day, we would like you to nominate an inspirational woman in your life (whether it be your best friend, partner, sister, daughter, mother, neighbour) for the chance to win a new look for their living room. I have chosen four collections of furniture from DFS that I love (GIVE ME THAT PINK SOFA NOW!) and it was ridiculously difficult to choose just four – gutted I couldn’t include this sofa too. The lucky winner can select the collection that they like best as well as sending me a few snaps of their living room and I will help them place the new furniture and suggest ways to make the whole room look better. Once the makeover is complete I will then post some photos of the new look room here on my blog.

Are you as excited as I am yet?! Check out the amazing sofas available at DFS – one of these could be yours…

Pink velvet Bailey sofa from DFS | Win a living room makeover | Apartment Apothecary

french-connection-_2447372k

 

Monocrome sophistication

I love the clean lines of this sofa designed by French Connection and the touches of black in the legs and cushions bring an air of sophistication. The bronze table frame adds a bit of glamour – I feel the need to be on that sofa right now drinking a cocktail!

DFS Quartz sofa | Mid-century style | Win a living room makeover | French Connection sofas | Apartment Apothecary

1. Quartz chaise sofa in grey (size and shape of sofa your choice)  2. Swirl rug in charcoal 3. Opaque lamp table

Pink dream

This literally is my pink dream and I hope it is yours too! I’m imagining us all in a cottage somewhere with this beautiful Bailey sofa, footstool and an open fire – I mean, what else would one need in life? Keep this furniture fresh and modern with crisp white walls or soft greys, neutral flooring and dots of bolder colour from vases filled with flowers. Heaven.

Pink velvet Bailey sofa from DFS | Win a living room makeover | Apartment Apothecary

1. Bailey velvet sofa in dusty pink 2. Bailey velvet small footstool  in dusty pink 3. Blackford rug in sterling.

Mid century modern

Retro lovers out there this chaise sofa with mid-century style legs would be the perfect addition to your home. Combine it with pops of bold mustard, orange, green or blue and an original teak sideboard would finish off the look brilliantly.

DFS Zinc sofa | Mid-century style | Win a living room makeover | French Connection sofas | Apartment Apothecary

1. Eiffel armchair in white 2. Zinc chaise sofa in grey with light legs (size and shape of sofa your choice) 3. Trio nest of tables 4. Wall rug in gold.

Coastal whites

For those of us who like to escape into white tranquility I have chosen this beautifully simple Slate sofa and armchair. I’m imagining a coastal feel in this room with lots of white, raw wood, neutral ceramics and wild flowers. You could also add an accent colour to lift the look – perhaps blue to add to the coastal feel.

DFS Slate sofa | White on white | Win a living room makeover | French connection sofas | Apartment Apothecary

1. Slate armchair in white 2. Slate two seater sofa in white 3. Swirl rug in bleach 4. Cabrilo lamp table

To enter

Decide who you would like to nominate (or ask someone to nominate you) and leave a comment on this post telling me why that woman is an inspiration to you and why you would like them to win a room makeover. I will choose the winner on March 22nd and announce it here on my blog. The winner will need to send me a few pics of their living room ‘before’ and ‘after’ because we all know how much I love those!

I can not wait to hear about the special women in your lives and good luck.

Katy x

*Thank you to DFS for collaborating on this fun project.

THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED! WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON WEDNESDAY 23RD MARCH.

 

T&C’s
– Competition closes on March 22nd at midday.
– Open to residents of mainland UK only.
– The winner agrees to sending me pictures of their living room so that I can give them advice on ways to improve the room. They also agree to sending me a few snaps of the living room once the furniture has been delivered and the room makeover is complete.
-This prize is non-transferable and cannot be exchanged for monetary value; No cash alternatives to the stated prize will be offered.
– One nomination per person.

For my mum

This week has been crazy busy but in the middle of the chaos I managed to sneak in a lovely little afternoon at my mum’s house for an early Mother’s day celebration. We were joined by the beautiful Katharine Peachey and her brand new baby Peach and whilst he gurgled and snoozed we ate and laughed and exchanged a gift or two. Katharine took some beautiful photos of me and my mum that day that I would love to share with you.

VQ Emma Bridgewater radio | Photographed by katharinepeachey.co.uk | Mother's Day celebration | Apartment Apothecary

I was born in London and we moved to the house in south west London where my mum still lives when I was about 12. I’m lucky that both my parents and one of my sisters all live so close to me and I can call on them whenever I need to. I’m also lucky because my mum is amazing; it is her 70th birthday next month but you would never believe it if you met her. As far back as I can remember she has always been the life and soul of the party and her cackling laughter is legendary. She is also a complete beauty.

VQ Emma Bridgewater radio | Photographed by katharinepeachey.co.uk | Mother's Day celebration | Apartment Apothecary

My mum is not interested in routine or getting caught up in the boring details of life: she loves to travel, she loves spending time with her friends but more than anything she loves me and my two sisters (and Phoebe, her dog, who is our fourth sister!). It’s easy to take for granted how lucky we are to have a mum who would literally do anything for us.

VQ Emma Bridgewater radio | Photographed by katharinepeachey.co.uk | Mother's Day celebration | Apartment Apothecary

We have an exciting long weekend planned for my mum’s 70th in a couple of weeks but I also wanted to give her a special gift this Mother’s Day and this Hepburn Mk II Pink Hearts radio from VQ, that is being sold exclusively in John Lewis, makes the perfect present. I now need to figure out a way of explaining the whole Blue Tooth speaker thing to her 😉

VQ Emma Bridgewater radio | Photographed by katharinepeachey.co.uk | Mother's Day celebration | Apartment Apothecary

If you would like to win a VQ radio to give your mum you can comment on this blog post or on social media using the hashtag #MyHeroMum. Just tell us about your mum and why she deserves her own Pink Hearts radio. You could even share a photo of her, too! The winner will be selected at random on Sunday 6th March and the competition will close at 12pm on the day.

VQ Emma Bridgewater radio | Photographed by katharinepeachey.co.uk | Mother's Day celebration | Apartment Apothecary

VQ Hepburn radio available at John Lewis.

Thank you, mum, for everything that you do and all the love that you give. Happy Mother’s day!

Katy x

 

*Written in collaboration with VQ. All images by Katharine Peachey.

Shutter love

It is with a bit of sadness that I write this post. You see, I had plans of installing plantation-style shutters into my home during this bout of re-decoration but it turns out that my stupid windows are not suitable – gutted, totally gutted. However, it didn’t seem fair to keep all this shutter love to myself so I wanted to share some of it with you today.

I always think that window treatments are one of the things that people get stuck on most when it comes to decorating. It can feel like a bit of a minefield – do you go with curtains (black out, full length, triple pleat…) or blinds (roller, venetian, roman…) or shutters (full height, solid panel, cafe-style…)? Not only is the choice a bit overwhelming but because everyone’s windows are different it can be difficult to know how to measure them and then how to install them. That’s why I think it is important to turn over the job to the experts and in fact that was the first thing I did before I moved into my current flat; I got custom made curtains for my bedroom.

I really wanted shutters from Luxaflex for my office and kitchen as I love the character and style that they can bring to a room. They are also very practical as you can easily control the amount of light coming into the room. Just look at how dreamy they are…

Wooden plantation style shutters in kitchen by Luxaflex | Apartment Apothecary

I love the idea of throwing open the shutters in the kitchen in the morning to let the light pour in. I love how fresh and modern they look, whilst still reminding me of old characterful French houses.

Closed faux shutter living room 2014 copy

Shutters in a sitting room would work really well as there are often times that I want to block some light out, whether I am reading the papers at the weekend or guiltily watching a matinee movie, and they are great for privacy too, especially if your sitting room looks on to the street (or over at other apartment blocks like mine does).

This cafe-style shutter on a bathroom window is the perfect solution to achieving privacy yet not blocking out too much light.

Cafe-style shutters from Luxaflex | Apartment Apothecary

Luxaflex will provide a made to measure service from start to finish to help you figure out what will work best for your windows. If you do get shutters, please don’t rub it in my face!

By the way, Luxaflex are running a brilliant competition at the moment to win a trip to Milan (err, yes please!). All you have to do is snap something which says ‘interior style’ to you (it could be anything…a pattern, a small detail or a big interior design statement) and upload the picture to Instagram remembering to tag @luxaflexuk and use the #MyStyleEye hash tag. Alternatively, if you don’t use Instagram you can upload your pic here.

Katy x

 

*Written in collaboration with Luxaflex and all images from their website.

Spring/Summer styling with B&Q

Massive DIY shed and stylish homewares shouldn’t really be found together in the same sentence, should they? However, one of the things I love most about styling for different brands is being able to pluck products from store shelves you might have walked by otherwise and making them shine.

B&Q have just launched their new SS/16 décor collection as part of their ‘Let’s Decorate’ campaign. I go to B&Q ALL the time as it is just a few minutes from our house and as you know I am a DIY enthusiast. I have to admit, however, that I am usually more focused on buying screws, wood and plants (it is great for plants) than making a foray into the homewares section. So, when they got in touch to ask me to style some products from their new homewares collection I was intrigued. When I had a look online I was pleasantly surprised and when I saw them in real life I was delighted! Inexpensive, on-trend and extremely high quality.

Therefore, I am very pleased to be able to show you three different looks from three of the new collections…

Summer Daze

The Summer Daze collection is inspired by Scandinavian style with soft greys, pastels and geometric designs. I immediately honed in on the ceramics collection and I nearly fell off my chair when I realised how little they cost (these bottles!) – and they are so lovely. I teamed these with a taller ceramic bottle and candle filled pot. I then chose some Scandi-style wallpaper from the collection to offset the whites and styled them up on my String shelves. I love this soft, calm look.

SS/16 styling with B&Q | Summer Daze collection | Ceramics and wallpaper | String shelving | Scandi style | Apartment Apothecary

Meadow

The Meadow collection captures the essence of Spring by bringing the outdoors in. Inspired by the name of the collection I wanted to gather lots of bottles filled with pretty flowers that can make a beautiful table decoration. I also chose a mauve cushion, which is a colour that always makes me think of Spring flowers.

SS/16 styling with B&Q | Meadow | Flowers in vintage bottles | Apartment Apothecary

Meadow collection

Kasbah

The third look is called Kasbah, which is a nomadic-inspired collection, featuring lots of textured cushions and patterned throws perfect for layering and adding an eclectic feel to your home. I am currently waiting for my new sofa and it is running very late (grrr!) so we have been sitting on the floor a lot recently! Therefore, floor seating seemed like the obvious way to style these gorgeous textiles (I’ve also got my eye on this amazing pouf). The rug is wonderful quality and could fit with any type of interior style and I love the way it picks out the black from the patterned cushions. The coral highlights of the throw and cushion (online they are described as red but with the white flecks they are definitely more coral) set off the look perfectly. I just added mint tea…

Which is your favourite of the three looks?

I hope this has given you a bit of inspiration for any changes you might want to make to your home as we head towards the brighter, warmer days of Spring and Summer. You can find more from all four collections over on my ‘SS/16 Styling with B&Q’ Pinterest board here.

Katy x

 

*This post was written in collaboration with B&Q

Spring clean in style

As we creep into Spring and say goodbye to Winter, although I’m not sure that we’ve had much of a winter in London as I have only felt the cold about three times, my mind turns to refreshing the house and new beginnings. At exactly this time last year I decided to completely empty my bedroom, rip up the carpet, paint the floor, paint the wardrobes and make everything feel lighter and brighter. This year I’ve taken it one step further and done the same to the kitchen and sitting room. I suppose it must be an instinctive thing to want to sort, clean and breathe life back into your surroundings after the dark and cold days of Autumn and Winter. Also, I find it’s a good way of re-centring myself if worried or upset about something.

Spring cleaning essentials | Household cleaning materials | Apartment Apothecary

Kitchen is nearly complete – just a bit of grouting to do hence the blue decorators tape. Our metro tiles are from Tile Giant, dish brush from Darley Avenue, stoneware drainer, enamel soap dish and pan brush from Labour and Wait, washing up liquid dispenser from my shop.

Obviously there won’t be a room makeover to do every Spring so instead I will get my “I need everything sorted and feeling like new” vibe from a good spring clean. I LOVE the feeling after I’ve cleaned a room from top to toe, I mean I REALLY love the feeling. However, I’m not massively keen on the process but I have found taking a bit of pride in the cleaning materials themselves helps with that.

Spring cleaning essentials | Household cleaning materials | Apartment Apothecary

Chores that I like to do to prepare for the lighter, warmer days are: clean out kitchen cupboards, defrost freezer, dust bookshelves – like actually take everything off and dust every last book, clean ceiling lights and the tops of doors, sort out stuff under the bed and clean under there (that’s a good one), clean the top of the kitchen wall cupboards (truly gross!). What do you do?

Spring cleaning essentials | Household cleaning materials | Apartment Apothecary

From left: Vintage basket from La Petite Brocante, brushes from Darley Avenue, string bag, floor cloth and dust pan from Labour and Wait, garden scissors from Tea and Kate, candles from The London Honey Company.

If you want to invest in some cleaning materials because you’re as weird as I am and like everything to be aesthetically pleasing, you can also find a good selection to buy directly through my blog…

Happy Spring cleaning!

Katy x