Father’s Day with Samsung Home Appliances

Cherry
THIS POST HAS KINDLY BEEN SPONSORED BY SAMSUNG HOME APPLIANCES.

As part of Father’s Day, Samsung Home Appliances asked me to share what our family did to mark the occasion as a family of four.  The boys love to cook and so insisted they wanted to cook with their Dad on Father’s Day.

 

The boys are always to use fresh ingredients as we produce a lot of our own fruit and vegetables at our allotment which we store in our Samsung Fridge Freezer.  Within the fridge, we have a deep vegetable drawer and roomy shelves, so there’s ample storage to keep a wealth of ingredients to cook with.  The boy’s decided that they wanted to make a pizza for their Dad and asked if he would join in with them.

 

Making is a great bonding activity as I always thinking preparing the dough create so much chatter and laughter.  The boys and their Dad used a simple recipe from BBC Good Food and they personalised their toppings to suit them.  We always encourage them to try new toppings too, even if they just put one new ingredient on.  We source our ingredients from local shops plus we enjoy growing our own vegetables at our allotment.

The boy’s loved cooking with their Dad and especially enjoyed tasting their freshly cooked pizza on Father’s Day.  I love how cooking really brings a family together and children learn what works goes in to making the food we eat.  When people prepare food around the table lots of conversations are always sparked.

 

I always think that when you prepare food from scratch it always looks and tastes so much better, plus it gives a great amount of satisfaction .  If you’re looking for a new Fridge Freezer for storing lots of fresh ingredients, super stylish and lots of fantastic features, go and check out the huge range from Samsung Home Appliances.

 

Bathroom on a budget

Cherry

This post does mention previous collaborations items with Wickes, Hampton and Astley and Junique.

Our bathroom was dull and lacked personality when we moved in, not offensive but also not inspiring. It was a classic beige and white bathroom which just wasn’t me. We’d have loved to have installed a new bathroom but when we looked at the finances of it all we decided  and decided to update on a budget.

 

Bathroom before

Painting

Obviously, painting the walls is an easy thing to do to give your room a fresh new look. Also consider painting the cupboards, bath panels and vanity unit in a colour too.  You can use internal wood paint for this or paint such as Frenchic Alfresco paint.  I used Farrow and Ball Oval Room Blue in our bathroom as I wanted a soft rich blue to inject some personality into our bathroom. Before installing our metro tiles, we also painted the old wall tiles with Ronseal tile paint which refreshed the room for about £20.

Ronseal tile paint on wall tiles

 

Wickes Metro Tiles

 

Mirrors and prints

People often forget to dress their bathroom, this can be a relatively cheap way to update your bathroom.  I bought a new mirror with a shelf to give a modern, industrial look and then covered the bathroom in Junique prints (gifted to me) which instantly dressed the room.

 

 

Accessories and vintage pieces

My wall cupboard cost me £20 from a charity shop and then I painted it with Annie Sloan Chalk paint and replaced the handle to a brass one.  Handles can easily be replaced to suit your look and to match your scheme.  The wall shelf is great way of storing towels and plants and I leave bags hanging on the door for further storage.    Our towel rail and toilet roll holder needed to reflect my vintage style and so I found them at a budget price on eBay.  By simply changing your toilet seat to black you give your bathroom a stylish twist and always invest in some good quality towels like this set from Hampton and Astley.

 

 

Tiling and flooring

If you can’t afford to retile or haven’t got the skill set, do consider vinyl sheet flooring or self adhesive tiles.  Our vinyl tile was from Feature Floors, as we wanted a modern patterned look and warm flooring under our feet.  Our Victorian home can be cold in Winter! We did eventually change the wall tile to a metro brick which we installed ourselves which was part of a collaboration with Wickes.

Taps

Replacing taps can help to make your room look more cohesive as they come in a range of styles and finishes.  We opted for a traditional style from The Cast Iron Bath Company to give a more vintage look.

 

I hope  you have found this blog post helpful and has given you some ideas to create an updated bathroom for less.

 

 

Room notes:

Wall colour – Purbeck Stone by Farrow and Ball.

Unit and bath panel colour – Oval Room Blue by Farrow and Ball.

Wall tiles – Metro tiles from Wickes.

Flooring – Feature Floors Sorzano Vinyl Self Adhesive Tiles 

Mirror and shelf – Rose and Grey

Straw bag from Joules

Prints by Junique

Taps – The Cast Iron Bath Company

Hanging planters – Nkuku 

Towels – Hampton and Astley

Tile Paint before retiling-  Ronseal tile paint

Accessories – Many items eBay, H&M for bathroom accessories including shower curtain and mat and plants from local garden centre,

 

Spring Gardening Tips

Cherry

During this blog I will explore Spring Gardening tips which will get your garden looking blooming gorgeous with a few simple steps.

Refresh your garden

This is always your first step after the Winter months as Winter will always have taken it’s toll on your outdoor space.  If you have decking, a patio or path always give them a good clean.  This is best using a pressure washer but if your budget doesn’t stretch to this there are plenty of cleaning fluids that help to lift the winter dirt too.

Clean your patio after Winter

 

Trim, maintain and reflect

This is when you look at your current garden and do what is necessary to keep them going.  After the winter months, I remove any dead leaves, cut bushes back for new growth, look at what worked well and then change the garden plants after reflecting if needed. Make sure you continue to dead head flowers through spring and summer to continue gorgeous growth.

Make sure you dead head your flowers so they can bloom.

 

Food and feed

If you already have plants that are well established and are returning this year it is always worth investing in the correct plant food.  Particularly for hydrangeas, roses and plants such as camellias.   If your garden lawn look well make sure you give it plenty of feed in spring to help it maintain it’s luscious looks.

Hydrangea

Zone

Look at your garden and reflect on how it worked last year.  Try and make sure you have a balance – Does it have somewhere that you can enjoy sitting outside? Have your children got a space to play? Where are you going to grow plants – pots, raised beds or borders?  It doesn’t matter what size your garden is you can still make it a space to relax and unwind.

Make sure you make a space in your garden to relax.

Plan and seed

You want to aim to have a mixture of plants growing through the seasons – whether you achieve this through changing your pots every season or putting a mixture of plants in your borders.  One of my favourite plants in our garden is our hydrangeas, they give such huge flower heads which remain through Summer into Autumn and then once you dry them you can enjoy them inside through the Winter months.  My top garden flowers are Clematis, Camellia, Hydrangea, Peony, Lupin,  Roses, Gladioli, Allium, Magnolia and Wisteria.

Clematis

Seating

So important, as this goes back to zoning.  Putting the right seating in an area can really transform a garden space. Let me share a picture of before (picture from before we moved in) and after in our garden.  This corner of our garden was the sunniest spot,  yet it  looked so unloved.  By putting, an arbour seat into the space we made a feature of this corner.  There are so many to choose from a bench, loungers, corner sofa, arbours and dining sets – make sure they are practical in the space and fulfil your brief as best as it can.

Our garden before we moved in.

 

Creating a statement with an Arbour seat transforms a space.

Colour

Using colour in your garden will really help make a statement and help to reflect your style.  My home is full of pastel shades, therefore this is reflected in my outdoor furniture.  I find Cuprinol and Frenchic Alfresco Paint great for transforming your outdoor space.

Our Arbour seat before it was painted.

Using paint on wooden fence panels and furniture to reflect your taste.

Vegetables

I can’t stress enough the satisfaction of growing your own food.  Whether you just try growing some herbs in pots for the first time or you want to try growing your own veg patch. There really is nothing better than eating something that you have grown from scratch.  My top tip for growing fruit and veg for the first time would be at least start with a seedling or plant as grown fruit and vegeatbles from seeds can be quite time consuming with low yields from failed attempts.  But maybe that’s  just me?

Lights

Lighting is really important and these days it is very easy achieve with the beauty of solar lights.  Do purchase a range of lights to create atmosphere and mood.  We have a range of lights in our garden from festoon, fairy and lanterns some with different effects.  The lights also help to zone the different parts of your garden.

Add a range of lights to decorate your garden.

Styling

This is the most important part of all, look at your garden and think if it reflects your style.  By a few extra touches, you can see add in your personality. These items are extra styling pieces such as cushions, outdoor rugs, ornaments, water features, mirrors and decorative stones.

Extend your decor style to your garden.

I hope you have found these Spring Garden Styling Tips useful.  Keep your eyes peeled on my instagram over the summer months for regularly updates on my garden space.

Creating an Easter Tea Party with Samsung

Cherry
This post has kindly been sponsored by Samsung Home Appliances.

In the build up to Easter, we like to get in the mood by dressing our home and doing some Easter baking.  Now more than ever, our children need to keep these traditions this year so I’m going to share how you can create an Easter Tea Party using ingredients found in my Samsung Home Appliances Fridge Freezer.

We baked our Easter biscuits using the following ingredients:

  • butter
  • caster sugar
  • 2 large free-range
  • plain flour
  • mixed spice
  • cinnamon
  • milk
  • icing sugar

You can find the biscuit recipe I followed on the BBC food website by Mary Berry.

The enjoyment the children have from baking is immense and there are practical Maths opportunities to teach your children to.  Try encouraging them to count the amounts of spoonfuls of ingredients, weigh the ingredients and once you have finished you can ask your children to write instructions for baking Easter biscuits.

After we had finished baking our Easter biscuits for our tea  party we were able to serve chilled, filtered water to the boys thanks to our Samsung Home Appliances American Fridge Freezer.   The great thing about the water dispenser on our Fridge Freezer is that the children are able to easily access water themselves which helps them stay hydrated, as it encourages independence.  Also, top tip – water always tastes amazing in a Bunny Cup!

When having an Easter tea party, ensure you decorate your home in style.  This doesn’t need to be an expensive task, whether it is some simple daffodils or tulips from the garden, hand made bunting by the children or some shop bought items.

Baking Easter biscuits using our Samsung Home Appliances Fridge Freezer has been the perfect activity whilst we are social distancing and home educating here in the UK.  The boys have had great fun baking and icing their own biscuits and they loved drinking chilled water from the dispenser.  Putting Easter decorations up whether they are homemade by your family or shop bought will help lift your mood and mark the occasion.    Wishing you all a very Happy Easter!

 

How Samsung Home Appliances American Fridge Freezer has helped our family life

Cherry
This post has kindly been sponsored by Samsung Home Appliances.

When we became a family of four, we went in search of a new fridge freezer that would meet our families needs.  We make most of our meals from scratch using fresh ingredients, so we required a fridge that had lots of storage space. Once we began our search, we quickly discovered that Samsung Home Appliances American Fridge Freezer RS52N3313313SA met all our requirements and in this blog post I will explain why we selected it and love it so much.

Our Fridge Freezer from Samsung provides a huge amount of storage space – with roomy shelves, deep drawers, storage space in the doors from the bottom to the top and a built in wine rack. Both the fridge and the freezer sections marry each other in terms of space.   This is perfect for us to keep our food stocked up all week in the fridge and months in the freezer.  As we have an allotment patch, it means we can freeze all our homegrown produce so our boys can enjoy them during the winter months.

 

Also, an additional feature that the whole family love about our Samsung Home Appliances Fridge Freezer is the water dispenser which chills water and has a filter system within it.  It helps to keep us all hydrated and offers our boys some independence with helping themselves to a drink.

 

I do love a good afternoon tea (therefore so do our boys) and so as a family we enjoy baking together.  Baking requires lots of ingredients which thankfully due to our Samsung Home Appliances Fridge Freezer, we have plenty of space for keeping our baking ingredients fresh.

The saying “those who cook together, stay together” is so true.  Whilst growing up in the countryside, we would often sit down for a cup of tea and a bite to eat which always tasted better knowing that you helped to bake it or cook it.

Our Samsung Home Appliances Fridge Freezer has also been so helpful in party situations as it’s storage capacity means you can be well stocked with party food, particularly if there is a demand for jelly and ice cream!

 

In conclusion, if you’re looking for a reliable appliance which has great style, huge storage capacity and is family friendly I highly recommend Samsung Home Appliances for an American Fridge Freezer.

 

 

‘The Crown’ inspired look for your home using Frith Rugs

Cherry

This post has kindly been sponsored by Frith Rugs to create ‘The Crown’ inspired look for your home.

When considering what is needed to create ‘The Crown’ look in your home, I concluded that it is really important to create subtle floral layers within your room.  Frith Rugs kindly gifted me this beautiful Aubusson rug which has a stunning vintage look with intricate and delicately woven flowers.  The quality gives a luxurious opulent feel and screams fit for a queen or king!

 

To help create ‘The Crown’ look continue the floral look with floral cushions and lots of fresh flowers in the room.  In our living room, I have included a floral garland which I made in a base of oasis.  It helps to create a grand royal look!

Using vintage prints and pictures in your home will give a gorgeous vintage look and look great against your vintage inspired rug.  You can also add an other vintage items to your room that will give your room a timeless feel – furniture, glassware and general decorative items like the calendar shown in this picture.

When creating a regal look in your home be sure to host an afternoon tea party with a Victoria Sponge of course and lots of tea!  Always serve your tea party on pretty floral, bone china and drink out of a cup and saucer.  You will instantly feel more majestic!

 

Consider using fabrics to layer your room, against your base floral Frith rug as this will enhance your ‘The Crown’ look.  I do this by draping blankets over the furniture and also you could consider patterns or velvets for your sofa and curtains.

The wall colour of your room is also really important when creating a royal look, consider soft blues, pinks and whites which will compliment this timeless look.

As you can see from the picture below by putting my Frith Aubusson rug against these layers of rich floral items it creates a room fit for a queen or a king!

 

 

How to use Floral Prints in your home from Posterlounge

Cherry

In this blog post I will explore easy ways to use Floral Prints in your home touching upon a range of Prints that have kindly been gifted to me from Posterlounge.

When selecting prints it is important to think about choosing ones which reflect your interior style. With that in mind, I will share my reasons for selecting mine.

One of my favourite interior designers is William Morris and so this was the first print I selected for our home.  Posterlounge have a fantastic selection of his prints so I was able to select Honeysuckle which worked well with our bedroom colour scheme with gorgeous blues and pinks.

 

The next floral print I selected was this stunning White Tulips picture from Posterlounge.  My reasons for this is firstly because I love Tulips but also I think it works well to use a range of image styles with your home which compliment each other.

 

Finally the last two floral prints I selected were of black and white clear pictures of flowers.  This print of a Lotus flower I fell in love with as it was so clear and striking.

The other black and white floral print was Translucent Peony VIII which has a softer look which compliments the other striking back and white image.  Black and white images are always so versatile as they will compliment any room so are always an easy option to use within your home if you struggle with selecting colour.

The beauty of selecting prints from Posterlounge are that there is a huge selection, they are great quality and you can choose a huge range of finishes, such as poster, wood, canvas, allumium, foam, acrylics and wall sticker.  Also there is a framing option for your prints which saves you time.  I selected black as I felt it made the pictures stand out in our dark blue bedroom.

I hope you have enjoyed my guide and thought process into selecting images and I hope it encourages you to get creative with floral prints from Posterlounge within your home.

 

 

winter garland

How to create a Christmas Winter Garland for your Home

Cherry

A  Christmas Winter Garland is a great Christmas decoration for your home which is a very simple floral arrangement to do.  It creates a lovely focus point within a room and looks great above a wood burning stove.

All of the items I have used in my  winter garland have either been from the garden, my parents’ farm or my local floral wholesalers but I will link to suppliers online so you can create this in your home too.

You will need:

 

 

Steps for making your Christmas Winter Garland

First soak the blocks of oasis in a washing up bowl until the oasis has absorbed water throughout it. Now you can place the oasis in their trays ready to create your Christmas Winter Garland.

You can begin to dress the oasis with small branches of pine/conifers – this will act as your base layer for your Christmas Winter Garland. Simply press them into the oasis to fix them in place.

Now you add a layer of eucalyptus which I recommend crossing the eucalyptus over one another to give a rustic look to your Christmas Winter Garland. You can either use fresh eucalyptus, artifical or dried.

 

Once the greenery is in place, you now have reached the fun part…adding the decorative flowers and berries.  Place them randomly across your oasis and use your own personal choice for this.  I picked my berries from our garden and hedgerows at my parents’ farm.  There is a huge range of dried flowers that can be found at Rose and Grey which would work perfectly for a garland.  My personal favourite is adding some gypsophila to add some light into the garland.

When you have finished adding the decorative flowers weave a simple string of gold lights which can be turned on in the evening to create a warm ambience.  Your Christmas Winter Garland will sparkle over your roaring fire as your lights twinkle!

Enjoy your Christmas Winter Garland

Finally, relax, kick back and enjoy your beautiful Christmas Winter Garland in front of a roaring fire!  To prolong the life of your garland water the oasis regularly to prevent drying out.  For more tips on how to create your Christmas Winter Garland visit @dickson_vintage’s story highlights.

 

 

 

Creating a dark bedroom colour scheme

Cherry

As many of my Instagram followers will know creating a dark bedroom was a huge leap of faith when I dared to make this colour choice.  Our bedroom has always been full of light because it is a south facing room.  However, it always felt like a little light box and so never felt like a restful place.

Before

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These pictures show what the colour scheme looked like originally which was lovely and bright but felt rather cold and stark with it.

 

Colour choices

I’d read a lot about how dark colours can actually create warmth and that they give you that ‘just been hugged’ feeling.  Now that I have a dark bedroom, I really understand this.  When I first set out on my colour choice I wanted to make the bedroom feel more luxurious but an easier place to sleep in and unwind.  I really recommend trying a variety of colours as they look so different in different lights (day/night), according to the position of room (north/south etc) and light fixings.   The dark wall colour I selected was Hague Blue, I first of all painted it on a wooden board with a range of colours and then I tested it out on plaster to see if it looked how I imagined.  At this stage, I felt it looked quite cold but as soon as I placed my pink flowers in front of the plaster the room seemed to come alive.

 

 

This contrast of Blue and Pink confirmed to me that I had to have some pink on the walls too! I’ve always loved Antoinette Chalk Paint from Annie Sloan and so I knew her wall paint would look lovely in contrast to Hague Blue by Farrow and Ball.  For the skirting, I used Dix Blue as it is a favourite colour of mine and I took the advice off the Farrow and Ball Website which recommends it as a colour pop against Hague Blue.

Now the final paint choices were tricky, as I was unsure what colour to paint the picture rail but eventually I decided to use pink as I felt it would help enhance the ceiling height of our Victorian home by giving the impression of elongating the height of the ceiling.  Annie Sloan doesn’t make a trim paint so luckily I managed to get a perfect match to the paint by getting Valspar paint mixed at B&Q.

The floor had been carpeted but luckily we had decent original floorboards underneath.  I didn’t want to sand them as our bedroom has many mahogany pieces of furniture and I felt it would be too dark if the floorboards weren’t painted.  I wanted to create a little warmth with the floor so I opted for Farrow and Ball New White which is a slightly warmer white.

 

How to paint

Always start from the top of the room and work down and don’t cut costs with a cheap primer on floorboards, they are watery and have poor coverage.  Use masking tape/frog tape to create clean lines. If you want to transform your furniture in your new colour scheme chalk paint will create your desired look quickly but make sure you seal it with wax. Update your furniture by buying some new handles to give them a fresh look.

 

Dressing the bedroom

I love layering a bedroom with different fabrics and patterns,  using a range of old and new fabrics.  I’ve had many questions about the bedding picture here which was from Marks and Spencer which unfortunately they no longer sell. I also own some gorgeous relaxed linen bedding from Heals which are great with a family as their is no need to iron and they come in a range of colours and help create a beautiful vintage feel.

Suppliers

Below are a list of the suppliers I used to help create our bedroom look:

Bedding – Marks and Spencer and Heals.

Rugs – Pink rug from H&M (pictured) and cream rug from Cox and Cox.

Paint – Wall Paint – Hague Blue by Farrow and Ball, Floor Paint –New White by Farrow and Wall, Skirting – Dix Blue by Farrow and Ball, Pink Paint above picture rail – Annie Sloan Antoinette Wall Paint and Picture rail wood paint coloured matched by Valspar (B&Q).

Lights – Main chandelier from Marks and Spencer and other lighting supplies from Lights and Lighting Direct.

Cushions – Pink pom-pom cushion by Country Abodes, Other bed cushions by B&Q.

Handles on furniture –  Handles for doors and More Handles.

Bed – Marks and Spencer.

 

 

 

 

Renovating a kitchen on a budget

Cherry

This was our kitchen when we moved into our house it was very tired looking and was in desperate need of modernising.  We couldn’t afford to replace the kitchen so we started our mission to renovate it on a low budget. This article will share with you our kitchen renovating tips

1.Change the layout of your cupboards to accommodate new appliances and replace your worktops.

Appliances can really date a kitchen. In our kitchen we had an old white built in cooker so we removed this and replaced it with a classic range cooker and hood.  We removed the built in fridge as it doors opened into the kitchen door and by moving it gave us more kitchen space and made it more accessible.  We picked up a new ceramic sink and oak worktops on Ebay which were a fraction of the price of DIY stores saving us over a thousand pounds!  Wooden worktops give a fresh look and are very hygienic, use Danish oil to treat wooden worktops to keep them looking new.

2. Add feature lighting

In a kitchen it is essential to zone your lighting with a variety of different styles, for example pendant lighting over your table.  Jam Jar lights are a nice feature quirky feature in a kitchen which can be purchased from Lights.co.uk.

3. Changing the tiles and grouting

Our kitchen was covered in cream tiles with white grout which gave the room a dated look.  We purchased these white brick tiles (available in many DIY stores) but to give the room a fresher look we used grey grout.  Not only does it give the tiles a modern look but it hides the dirt and ageing process of the grout brilliantly! Grout does come in more shades than white, do consider grey and cream too to suit your colour scheme.

4. Paint the cupboards and replace kitchen cupboard handles

Our kitchen cupboards were tired, chipped and scratched and had very dated handles.  So we removed all the handles and wood filled the original drilled holes.  We wanted to keep the kitchen cream so we used Vintro Paint in Buckingham which is a chalk paint that is thicker than Annie Sloan paint therefore is better designed for painting kitchen cupboards.  The cupboards took 3 layers of paint and 3 layers of Annie Sloan lacquer to seal it.

Once the paint and lacquer had been finished the handles were replaced with some modern finger pull and shaker handles which are very fitting in our victorian home. A huge range of choice of kitchen handles can be found at Handles4doors.co.uk

5. Wallpaper

A feature piece of wallpaper such as this Sheep paper by Belynda Sharples creates a real talking point within a kitchen.  For a vast range of wallpapers visit I Want Wallpaper.co.uk.

6. Feature furniture

Here at Dickson Vintage we pride ourselves on creating unique bespoke furniture such as a stunning stencilled table or a beautiful Cath Kidston Kitchen shelf.  A statement piece of furniture can be a real talking point in your home.

7. Pictures and accessories

At Dotcomgiftshop there are a huge range of wall signs, this is one of our personal favourites which proudly hangs in our kitchen.  For all other kitchen essentials try the AGA Cookshop.

8. Sourcing good quality blinds and curtains

Sourcing handmade blinds on Ebay, Etsy or a local seamstress can save you hundreds rather than ordering from a big fabric selling shop.

Our final renovation results are pictured below which includes new appliances, sink, worktops, tiling, freshly painted cupboards and walls and more floor space due to change in layout all done on a tight budget. We are very pleased with the results!

Workshop

Bromyard
Herefordshire

info@dicksonvintage.co.uk

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