Hi one bedroom flat, you’re about as small as my left ear but somehow you still manage to provide enough hiding places for me to jump out and scare Joe on the daily so for that, you deserve some credit.
Living in a one bedroom flat can suck at times because, well, there’s not enough room for an Air Wick plugin, let alone an art deco shell chair quilted in velvet or, I’m about to really branch out now, a dedicated corner for a house plant – a girl can only dream.
But all the while we’re renting, I’d like to try and make our flat as inviting and homely as we can – I mean, it already is, don’t get me wrong. We’ve got wall art fellas, we’ve got cushions, we’ve even got a coffee machine we never use and, it’s like I said, there is only so much you can do with a space the size of Danni DeVito anyway.
I’d be lying if there wasn’t things we neglected though. Take the area behind the sofa for instance. This is where we ‘store’ everything from spare duvet covers to hair tongs, a throw with a mermaid tail attached to tuck your feet in & boxing gloves, because hey mermaids box too ya know.
Don’t ask me why, but there’s even a little mouse thing made of wool with a string on it, some creepy af Christmas tree decoration I think. I hope.
When you’re limited for space and even more limited for storage, every CM counts. I know this all too well after we picked the biggest chode of a Christmas tree last year and it ended up looking like Narnia in our flat. Yo Edmund, where those Turkish Delights at?
We’d literally have to turn sideways to make ourselves more streamlined to get past it into the hallway. I say hallway, it’s not a hall. It’s an area where only one person, often me, can stand to have an awkward encounter with the Deliveroo man.
More than two people in the hallway at any one time and you’re really increasing the chances of at least one of you coming away with ringworm.
I’m very fond of our flat because ‘though she be but little, she is fierce’. Oh Shakespeare KNOWS. And yeah, we do have to be selective about what we buy, ‘cos it could literally be the difference between one of us sleeping on the roof, but it also means small homeware purchases can make all the difference. I keep telling myself this because I need to feel less guilty about spending money on wicker baskets and books – see below.
Lately all these grey skies are making me wanna curl up with a good book (for once I actually mean a good book and not pizza) and get my festive socks out. I know, we’re only just going into August, I hear myself don’t worry.
I want blankets.
And I want tea. And pie with mash & gravy – premature grannies, throw your bed socks in the air with me right now please (you can read about my granny tendencies here).
And I want candles that smell like a gingerbread man just opened his sweet, sweet bowels and poured it into wax. It’s a good smell guys, it’s a GOOD smell.
Don’t ask me why, but there’s even a little mouse thing made of wool with a string on it, some creepy af Christmas tree decoration I think. I hope.
So, if autumn ain’t ready for me yet, then I’m bringing autumn inside instead. Read: I’m going to stand in Homesense for an hour, lining up wicker baskets and draping a blanket into each one of them to see which one I prefer. And then I’m going to sniff every single candle on the shop floor, no wick gets left behind.
If you were working in the Brighton store and had to witness that frustrating 60 mins of CCTV, I am sorry. It’s ok though, I would never steal. I only sniff, stroke and organise things in a linear fashion.
If you don’t know about Homesense, then you need to know about Homesense. It’s part of the TK Maxx family and it is cheap and glorious and it will make your soul cry out for things you never knew you needed. Like artisan sea salt gourmet Virginia peanuts and Jo Malone-inspired candles for £4.99.
BUT MOVING ON. After panting my way round there for 84 years – partly because I was excited, mostly because wow the lighting is HAWT in there – and taking approximately 875 bobbles of fluff off of the blankets and onto my blazer as a nice little souvenir of my trip, I went off to WH Smith on a book hunt.
Yeah, so that’s not strictly homeware then is it… but once you’re done with them they do look nice stacked up on a side somewhere or sprawled over a coffee table, don’t they?!
Originally, it was a vegan recipe book hunt but I was too hot and hungry from all of the lights and wanted to eat the rest of the spag bol in the fridge, so veganism was postponed due to unforeseen circumstances. i.e I love cheese too much.
Now, when it comes to books, I have a habit of going for ones I know I won’t be able to finish (and also ones that will look reasonably impressive to judgy commuters) when really, all I want to do is not have to read the same sentence 15 times before I actually understand it.
Well, I say to hell with a life of books only Carol Vorderman can understand, I want Jacqueline Wilson type plots please. So I went for a book I knew I could digest within 3 days but equally, one that I knew would leave me with character attachment issues. S/o to Theodore Finch in All The Bright Places.
This is actually one of the books in Zoella’s WH Smith book club – there’s a few in there I like the sound of so I think I might pick another one of them when I’m done.
I also spotted Fearne Cotton’s book Happy: Finding Joy In The Every Day and Letting Go Of Perfect. I flicked through it and just felt really intrigued to read more, which can only be a good thing! I’ve got a feeling it’s probably going to inspire a few ‘I’ve been thinking’ type blog posts – I’ll try and keep to my word on that one.
Now, I’ll stop waffling and you can see what I bought instead… with the pay day money I don’t have. Love you bye.
PS: I also bought some pastel highlighters because they speak to me on so many stationary geek levels.
- Wicker basket – Homesense £14.99 – in store
- Blanket – Homesense £19.99 – in store
- Candles – Homesense – Vanilla Bean £2.99, Olivia Blake £4.99 (RRP: £20) – in store
- All The Bright Places – WH Smith £7.99
- Fearne Cotton Happy: Finding Joy In The Every Day and Letting Go Of Perfect – WH Smith £14.99
- Pastel highlighters – WH Smith £5.99
- Pots and bowls – Flying Tiger all £1 each – in store
- Glasses – H&M £8.99 – in store
