Guest post: Home Lighting

If you are a lover of home lighting and just know that every colour has it’s own temperature and each room conveys its own feeling and emotions, then you need to be thinking about bulbs.

The relatively unsexy and lets be honest ‘dull’ light bulb is often an overlooked part of home and interior lighting design.

Technology has moved on and LED lighting has changed a lot of lighting designs.

More and more LED lit light fittings are appearing in product ranges all the time.Major UK designer Franklite confirmed their plans to me this week on Twitter: “Ultimately LED is the way to go.”

These once costly-to-make lights do make energy saving differences and their incandescence when lit is unique.

All White for 2013?

A lot of  designers are  talking about white in 2013 and how it will be incorporated into backgrounds. The Pantone charts for next year do have lots of white and crème variants. So expect to see it feature heavily in designs next year.

The excellent  Laura Bielecki is well worth looking up she did a sneak peak into design trends back in September.

White is great with LED lighting, the main difference with LED and conventional bulbs is that they emit light in one direction and not in the all round way of a standard bulb. This makes them perfect for feature focus and for softening blocks of colour in a room.

This year we saw a lot of manufactures and designers creating ranges of paired wall lighting some simple and some striking in their design. Paired lights make a great alternative to overhead lighting and lamps, and of course are ideal for the classic dimmer switch.

The materials used to make lamp shades was a big focus for designers in 2012 some exquisite frosted glass, paper and metal designs appeared. Check Out the Foscarini range to get an idea.

We can expect to see this influence filter into high streets and stores next year. In particular companies like Franklite have come up with a range of overhead lighting with large metallic shades.

Fun, whimsy and romance seem to be all part of the design vogue for next year. Somewhere along the line design and home crafts are set to meet in your home.

So have fun experimenting with lighting, one of the tricks of the trade is to draw a room map to experiment where furniture and lighting can be placed to best effect. From there you can work out how a room will actually be used and how you would like to light it.

Images credited to www.franklite.net

Author Bio
My name is Simon and I run Easylighting.co.uk from my base in Norfolk a little place called Long Stratton you have probably never heard of. We are a home lighting specialist and do all our business on line.

Our tenth anniversary is at the end of November we wanted to do something special for our customers.  From Monday the 26th November through to Saturday 24th we will be giving away lighting on our Facebook page.  

Foodie Penpals: Liquorice love

I was thrilled with my foodie penpal box this month!

It was sent over by Lucy from Leeds. When she first emailed me about it she asked how I felt about liquorice. My experience of it was of crappy sweets from our village sweet shop that I never really liked. However, I'd never really tried proper liquorice.

Well, what came through in the post blew my mind. The box contained all sorts of goodies including an ice cube tray in tea shapes (iced tea!), which may have been the reason for our weather getting so good. The box also included hibiscus flowers and an accompanying recipe, Mexican fajita mix, organic bay leaves, olives and some amazing tea.

Firstly, let me talk about the liquorice. These Pontefract cakes were amazing. I didn't know that liquorice was so soft! I've found a new sweetie love. It took a lot of willpower not to devour these in one go.

Lucy also included some liquorice root. I had no idea it was grown. In her accompanying letter she said there used to be a huge field of it between Leeds and Pontefract and the roots are six feet long. I'm now a liquorice expert and lover. I'm hoping that because it's from a root it's healthy... maybe not.

I've been raving about this tea since it arrived. It's After Dinner Tea with fennel and peppermint to help support a healthy digestive system. Lucy also sent empty tea bags (!) because its loose leaf. However, I recently purchased a new teapot so it's been seeing a lot of action.

I was worried the tea might be a little too pepperminty for me but it is glorious. The routine in my house is cook dinner, eat, drink After Dinner Tea. It's only right.

If you weren't sold on Lucy's genius by now then please take a look at her fennel, chilli and black mustard oatcakes. For which she rendered her own lard! I was infinately impressed before I'd even tried them. They had a really moist and subtly meaty flavour but then the other flavours kick in. They're so wonderful they're had to describe.

It's safe to say these were gone almost instantly. They boyfriend got to try a corner of one before I scoffed them all.

Thank you, Lucy! 

You should all check out her blog Offally Good.

Guest Post: Foodie Swap

As part of the Foodie Penpal swap I got to send Dan a box of goodies from Norfolk. Here's his post about the experience.

First of all let me thank Jess for hijacking her blog, being blogless and this being my first foodie penpal contact I’m hesitant to start up a blog as I don’t feel I can commit my time to maintaining something on a weekly basis (unless the blog was exclusively about LoLcats, bikes and on account of having a four year old daughter, iCarly).

Jess’s package came through this morning and I was very pleasantly surprised with what I received, all exclusively products made in Norfolk.

First off I received an epic bar of Rocky Road Gnaw (made in Gnorfolk according to the packet). I’m saving this bad boy for a rainy day, it looks too good just to fritter away on anything but a Ghost/Beaches/Dirty Dancing marathon.

Next up was the delicious Norfolk Garden Rose Hip Extra Jelly Preserve. This was an amazing surprise, not normally a massive fan of Jam or Preserves the taste and consistency is amazing, sweet but with a freshness at the back, in some ways reminding me of when you bite into a toffee apple. I paired this up with a very crumbly Wensleydale on a Carr’s water biscuit and the combination was fantastic.

Finally in an already fantastic package was a bottle of pure evil called Inferno, a Smokey Naga Chilli Sauce. Needless to say this sauce is HOT, that said once the heat dissipates it gives way to a brilliant flavor profile of tomato, smokey chipotle and BBQ sauce.

Taking the Inferno for a spin I opted for my favorite brunch of Scrambled Eggs on Toast with smoked salmon, but instead of the compulsory Tabasco I opted to caramelize my smoked salmon in a small amount of the sauce, needless to say this is how I’ll be making scrambled eggs from now on.

Somewhat spicier than the standard I normally make the Inferno complemented the Eggs and toast really well, with an initial heat quickly toned down by the creaminess of the eggs as well as the other piquant flavors from the sauce elevating the butter (tip: always put too much butter in your scrambled eggs – your palate will thankyou for it!).

All that’s left for me to say sincere thanks to Jess for the package and I hope one day I can return the favor!

Swivel chair

This is utterly perfect. I need it in my life. £549 from Made.com

Want: Jersey Sofa

This sofa is £299 and I can just envision it in our conservatory next to the book case. It would give it a well needed pop of colour and it looks comfortable too. We have that money in our savings. Can I buy it. Please?

I know we should pay off all the things we've already bought but I want this. It's from the glorious, wonderful, brilliant Made.com

I was allowed giraffe-print...

We painted our bedroom black and blue/grey, our orange headboard no longer matched. Not that I'm sure it every match anything.

I've been toying with the idea of covering it for a while but really had no idea where to start. My mum offered to help so we set out to go shopping. In the fabric shop I was joking about how I wanted black and silver leopard print but Ben would kill me if I got such a thing.

Now, Ben was supposed to join us in fabric shopping but stayed in bed with a hangover. I briefly ran the giraffe print by him via text message. He reluctantly agreed but still seemed unsure. My animal-print-love was taking over...

While Ben and I cooked curry the following evening for my mum and step-dad, they covered the headboard. So I didn't actually get to do the bit I was looking forward to. However, this means I didn't have the chance to muck it up as no doubt I would've done.

So, tah-dah! The newly-covered headboard actually matches now and I feel a little bit happier with the co-ordination of the bedroom. Ben loves it too, you'll be pleased to know.

The computer room part II

You may remember we recently painted the computer room.

The idea was that it was a blank canvas. Simple and grey (try to edit out the blue carpet, I still hate it.) We were going to cover the walls in awards, posters, geekery and rockness.

We've got our computers in and we've finally got around to getting some gorgeousness on the walls.

We have all these grand plans for displaying my records and we want to fill the walls. We also have our eye on some Star Trek prints from Etsy. (These could potentially be our Valentine's/anniversary present to each other). The question is, do we get Picard, Riker and Data or Kirk and Spock. Decisions!

And here it is now! It looks so much better (and the computers have been set up) but there's still loads to do. My guitar needs somewhere to live, I have loads of records I want on display, I'd like a huge corner desk and perhaps some more seating.

This is a ghost of my rock past. Set lists, signatures, promo CD and vinyl sleeves and so on. To the left of the rock pinboard is the left overs from my Darkling days. I am, and always will be, a Darkness fan. But when I was 15 I was going to every gig of theirs I could get to, getting photos, collecting tickets and meeting amazing people. As a result, I've collected loads of stuff and taken loads of pics. These collages are constant reminders of what an amazing time I had, the people I met and how amazing that music makes me feel.

The wall behind where I'm standing to take this pic is bare and the room looks huge now we've moved some boxes out of it. I sort of want to leave it that way. At least it doesn't echo in there any more!

I can't help but feel that now there's stuff in here the blue carpet works better. It's also the warmest room in the house for some reason!

Buying furniture

Having bigger rooms and, indeed, new rooms. It's about time we bought some more furniture. I have plans for a reading corner in the conservatory. So Ben and I popped to Homebase to procure a bookcase. We found a lovely flatpack one for £50.

We went into the store to have a look around. After much deliberation and purchasing something else on a whim (more about that below) we came away with a bookcase. We put it together last night and it looks great in the conservatory. We just need to unpack our remaining books into it.

The impulse buy

Whilst looking around the furniture section we saw a lovely extending dining table that came with six chairs. It was reduced from £750 to £429 and if we bought it on a Homebase card then we'd get an extra 20% off. Seemed perfect.

Upon saying we wanted to buy it we found out it was no longer available for delivery but they'd check in the warehouse. Table came up as did four chairs. That was all the chairs they had but we were told we might be able to take two display chairs.

Another problem soon arose. There were no legs for the table. They should've been in another box but our Homebase and the one down the road didn't have them. We were a bit baffled by this but we were told it was probably because a table was repaired with those legs sometime in the past.

We were then offered the whole display set with six chairs but the table was quite badly damaged. We told the store manager no and that we'd just take the bookcase.

He then said that if we looked through the catalog he might be able to do us a deal on another table we liked.

Of course, I stopped on the massive, solid oak £750 table with six amazingly shaped chairs. Worth a try.

We eventually got the table, six charcoal fabric chairs and the bookcase for £540 including delivery. Solid oak rather than oak veneer, stunning chairs and a cheaper bookcase. Homebase were very helpful and the manager did us an amazing deal. Can't wait for the table to arrive!

Before and after: Painting - The computer room

All we've managed to paint so far is the computer room and our bedroom. Everything else will have to wait until we've unpacked. I honestly do not believe how much crap I own.

The computer room


This is the second bedroom, used by the previous owners to house their two boys. The paint was scuffed, the electricity sockets broken, chunks taken out of the plaster and drawings on the walls. It needed painting it looked so grubby.

We decided to go for a relatively neutral colour so we could hang all sorts of geeky dren on the walls. The room started off like this. Cream and grubby.

We chose some Dulux One Coat paint as we are lazy. Egyptian Cotton is the colour. Here's our brilliant cutting in....

And the transformation!

I'm so much happier with how it looks now! It's cleaner, we've filled in any holes in the plaster, we've glossed the skirting boards and fixed the broken socket. Computers are in now on a horrible hand-me-down desk. We are hoping to get Unique Woodwork to build us a pretty corner desk with tons of storage and loads of space for all our techy bits.

The next stage is putting all the geeky stuff on the walls. We have our eyes on Kirk and Spock prints on Etsy.

The first electric Rayburn

I thought that once I'd bought my own snazzy cooker I wouldn't be that bothered by all the others out there. Wrong. I'm obsessing again. At least this model is £1000s out of my price range.

The Rayburn Electric

Features

• Touch-sensitive controls and a single ceramic glass cooking surface
• Choice of induction or ceramic hobs with square or dome hinged lids
• With two 2.3kW burners, the induction hobs have excellent response times
• Ceramic hobs use the latest infra-red technology to give rapid heating and cooling
• Two thermostatically controlled ovens give a wide choice of cooking modes
• 43-litre capacity top oven
• Patented ‘Warmfront’ technology
• 3-year parts and 1-year labour warranty
• Standard 910mm x 980mm dimensions
• Available in a variety of colours – Cream, Black, Dark Blue, British racing Green, Pewter and Aqua

What I've learned since buying a house

Since buying a house and having to decorate it I've learned a lot about how it feels to be a home ower as well as about DIY. Here are a few things I've learnt in the last two weeks.

• When painting a room work from the top down. Do the ceiling and coving followed by walls then skirting boards.
• You have to gloss a skirting board (no emulsion allowed) and there's lots of sanding involved
• Buy good value gloss that dries quickly
• We need a drill
• I like cleaning a house I own
• Owning a house is exhausting
• Wired networks are exciting
• I like black feature walls and lots of grey
• I LOVE cooking
• I'm better at glossing skirting boards than Ben is
• Painting is much easier when the parents visit and all I have to do is make tea and lunch