Blue Velvet

{via ApartmentTherapy}

I am in love with this eclectic living room: it's interesting without verging on unnecessarily quirky {something I could not put up with!}.  I particularly love the big blue velvet sofa. I can just imagine curling up with a book, or with a glass of wine and a film. Our current {furnished} space has the teeniest sofa you can imagine, not good if you don't fancy cuddling up to the person sat next to you {not ideal if you do either, it's a bit cramped!} so I can't wait til we finally have a bit sofa to sprawl over! And this one just looks so inviting!  The woods really add warmth to the otherwise neutral backdrop too and I am mad over the print and pops of colour from the chaise longue. Personally, I'm mad keen on spaces that keep the base colour palette quite calm and bring all the noise with the furniture and little details.

It's definitely the velvet sofa in this picture that draws me in though. I love the texture, character and depth it brings to the room.  Just like these two examples:

{via Lonny}

{via PureStyleHome}

Obviously, in all of the above, the velvet sofa is just one beautiful detail amongst many but I still can't help but be drawn to it.

Love B x


By the way, Fourteen Days of Food is going to take a brief hiatus until I return from London on Sunday.  All those good intentions to pre-emptively bake/cook? Yeah, they didn't happen. Sozzles!


x

Fourteen Days of Food: Day 6

Bread. What can I say? We have a love-hate relationship: I love it in all it's various shapes and sizes, it hates my waistline.  Moving past that I decided that I still had to attempt to make bread this fortnight.  As one of my favourite food stuffs {so yummy and versatile!} it would've been plain rude to leave it out.  Again though, I do try and mitigate what makes its way into my diet so I opted for granary bread {although toasted white bread with lashings of salted lurpak and raspberry jam is my idea of heaven. Spec if I have a smidge of a hangover...}.

I have to admit, I cheated on this one and used Hovis granary bread mix.  I do normally like doing things all myself but today was a pretty heavily scheduled day {and yet I chose to make bread?!} soo mix it was! Plus it was uber cheap - £1 for a fresh from the oven batch of bread, yes thank you, don't mind if I do.  Anyhoo, it means there ain't much of a recipe.  I've tried to make up for it with lots of gratuitous bread photos though! No?

Waiting 2hours for it to rise and the 30mins is totally worth the effort {which was minimal because I didn't even hand knead this sucker, I used the dough hook on my mixer.  Rubbish food blog post I knoooooow}.  I had planned on just having one slice, that hasn't happened at all.  So I can confirm for you that it is TOTALLY delicious.  Hands down tastes better than buying a loaf from a shop. Which is odd cause surely the Hovis mix and the Hovis loaf are the same dealio?! Something to ponder on...

I reckon having taken serious baby steps this time, next time I'll have a full on go at making the dough myself.  I'm sure I must've done it in home ec at some point and I'm positive it can't be that tough {famous last words}. I tell you what though, there is nowt that makes you feel more like a domestic goddess than having a freshly baked loaf of bread sat on your kitchen table.

Love B x

Retreat

{Jamie Herzlinger via PeppermintBliss}

How calm and serene is this bedroom? Don't you just want to dive right under the covers? I can see myself lounging about on a Sunday morning surrounded by the Sunday papers, delicious breakfast in bed and a huge cup of tea.  Bliss.

Even though our current bedroom looks nothing like this {does yours?!} there are still so many details that could be easily incorporated into our room: the vases of fresh flowers, the cozy throws, well chosen lighting and the crisp white {impossibly fluffy looking and inviting} bedding are all fairly straightforward additions.  The neutral colour pallette of so many rented flats {including ours - though our turquoise hallway is another matter} sets the perfect starting point for creating a calm and inviting bedroom space

Love B x

Fourteen Days of Food: Day 5

So I ummed and ahhed about what to do about today's post.  Because I am going to be honest with you: I tried to make hummus.  Not only that, I tried to make uber healthy, oil-free hummus, which I have learned, to my dismay, doesn't really taste as good as normal hummus.  Infact, it has none of the creamy, oily, rich sesamey taste of hummus.  Consequently, in my opinion, it just ain't that nice. This was meant to be 14 days of experimenting however, so in the interests of being totally honest with you I'm going to tell you about it anyway.

I found the original suggested recipe on a forum that gave meal suggestions for dieters following Slimming World {a healthy eating plan that I have seen, and had first hand results from, and that often has delicious meal suggestions}.  This recipe suggested blitzing together a tin of drained chickpeas and some fat free yoghurt along with some lemon, salt and pepper.  I did so diligently.  Tasted it {I was quite excited at the prospect of hummus 'lite'}.  All I can say is that personally, is doesn't exactly rock my world. Infact, I reckon it tasted like paste.  Not ideal.  Of course at this stage I was thoroughly disappointed.  Those of you who have made hummus before {the real, good kind} will know that I omitted tahini paste and oil from this recipe, obviously the source of the dip's power.  To try and compensate, I added approximately a tsp of toasted sesame oil.  This gave it a sesamey kick but still, doesn't taste much like the hummus I know and love.  The photos I've added to this blogpost show it with basil pesto and paprika added and the pesto is definitely heading towards a winner {the paprika makes it too dry, so you would definitely need more yoghurt.  Looks pretty though eh?}.

I have to say, if you were desperate for a 'lite' version of hummus, you could keep blitzing and add a lot more yoghurt {maybe 0% greek} to get the right consistency? The basil pesto definitely helps with the flavour too.  

It's not often I like to hold my hands up and admit things didn't go to plan {especially with food} but hey, look at me growing! I figure in the interests of this experiment, it's ok to share the odd mishap with whoever it is that is reading this {whoever you are, hello!!! I love watching the little numbers climb up in my stats - so very glad you could pop in!}.  Give it a go if you fancy but I'm telling you now, it's no mackerel pate.

Love B x

Owls

{via}

Ahhhhh, I am in LOVE with this little guy! Isn't he sweet? Just the right amount of whimsy mixed with classic white ceramic.  He'd be right at home on my dressing table. Love love love it.

Love B x

Fourteen Days of Food: Day 4

Thought I was maybe going to leave you food post-less today? WRONG. Far too stubborn to give up on a challenge, so much so that I've realised I'm going to be away for 3 days in the middle of this so I will need to be pre-emptively baking {don't hold me to this - I'm away for an interview so may have to do some prep.  Sadly I don't think cakes will cut it}.  Anyway, up next is lemon drizzle cake.

Now this is one of the boy's favourite cakes and was pretty high on the request list when I suggested this little challenge.  And I've never made one before so I figured why not.

I looked up the basic recipe from google and came across this one but played around with the quantities, as is my want and ended up just using the basic Victoria sponge recipe my Mum ingrained in me as a little girl with some lemon in it!.

I started off preheating my oven to gas mark 4 {160 degrees C I think?} and uses a basic Victoria sponge recipe like I said - 8oz  S.R flour, 8oz caster sugar, 8oz butter and 4 eggs. I personally used an all in one approach, adding in a tsp of baking powder and the finally grated zest of 2 small lemons before whacking it all in the mixer on a medium speed for a while.  If you aren't taking the easy option, cream together your butter and sugar and in a separate bowl beat your eggs together.  Mix in the eggs, little by little, to the butter/sugar combo, alternating each time with a bit of sifted flour.  Right at the very end, when you're down to just a bit of flour, fold this in rather than beat to get lots of air into this mixture.  Add your lemon zest at the same time {I nearly forgot the lemon zest...doh}.

Grease and line a loaf tin with baking paper before adding in the mix and baking for approximately 45minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.  If, like me, your oven isn't fan powered, keep your eyes peeled in case one side starts to burn/cook a smidge too fast.  Just turn it round quickly {I'm sure Delia wouldn't agree with opening the oven but whatevs}.

When you finally take the cake out the oven, poke a whole load of holes in the top using a skewer, sharp knife or fork.  Mix up approx 100g of caster sugar with the juice of the 2 lemons you zested before {is that even a word?!} and use this as your drizzle.  Pour over the top of your cake whilst it is still warm and leave to cool thoroughly in the tin {you have more willpower than me if you manage this}.  I thoroughly recommend eating it whilst drinking a large cup of tea, as I am right now. Genuinely? I reckon I could eat the whole thing.

Love B x

Getting Crafty

As part of a nice afternoon away from exam stress, me and my like minded friend Lyndsay {one of the few people who will do that kind of thing with me!} spent an afternoon crafting away.  I mentioned before that I was going to attempt this and whilst I'm not one for vanity, I don't think I'm going to post a photo of our first attempt. The hexagonal nuts we used were too wide to get the fish bone effect we were after but I still quite like the result. I reckon I just need to hunt out different hardware next time.  Anyway, whilst she was busy decoupaging a hand mirror she found in a charity shop {some people get all the good finds!} I was playing around with the pack of blank cards I bought a while ago.  I got a bit sick of spending what seemed like a relatively large sum of money for some birthday cards in the shops.  I came across a pack of blank cards and envelopes for about what I'd pay for one card so I figured I may as well have a go at making my own.

These were just roughly based on a image that cropped on in a google search, sketched onto paper and then the cards themselves.  I filled in the silhouette with black marker pen before covering with a fine layer of PVA glue coming close to the edges but not quite right to the outside.  I sprinkled over a healthy dose of glitter from a giant tub I bought back at Christmas for a couple of pounds and set aside to dry for a while before shaking off any excess.  Really simple and quick to make and I think they look pretty awesome!

I do lurve a good craft.

Love B x