Art for the walls...

I love to collect art but most of it is stored away as we hadn't got the wall space to display it. Our living room and dining room were both covered in mirrors or windows (you can see the ugly mirrors here) but a couple of weeks ago we took the mirrors down (finally!). Surprisingly it actually makes the rooms look larger without them. The area of white wall behind each mirror was dirty so rather than paint both rooms all over again i just painted the rectangular space where the mirrors used to be.

Here are my two favorite paintings. I picked them up in a charity shop for just £2.90 each and would have happily paid so much more. I love this kind of art, the colours are perfect and the style is so jaunty. They say Doris Booth on the back, with the year 1965. I have tried to track the artist down but to no avail. They really add a bit of interest to our simple space and i cant stop looking at them. Does any body know what this style of art is called?

Art for the walls...

I love to collect art but most of it is stored away as we hadn't got the wall space to display it. Our living room and dining room were both covered in mirrors or windows (you can see the ugly mirrors here) but a couple of weeks ago we took the mirrors down (finally!). Surprisingly it actually makes the rooms look larger without them. The area of white wall behind each mirror was dirty so rather than paint both rooms all over again i just painted the rectangular space where the mirrors used to be.

Here are my two favorite paintings. I picked them up in a charity shop for just £2.90 each and would have happily paid so much more. I love this kind of art, the colours are perfect and the style is so jaunty. They say Doris Booth on the back, with the year 1965. I have tried to track the artist down but to no avail. They really add a bit of interest to our simple space and i cant stop looking at them. Does any body know what this style of art is called?

Buckwheat pillows...

We all know how important sleep is for us but i think many of us are irresponsible sleepers. We don't sleep enough, we don't prepare ourselves for bedtime properly (eating the wrong foods in the evening/ not giving ourselves time to wind down) and we don't sleep with the healthiest equipment - a comfortable mattress, natural bedding or the correct quilt or pillows.

We were very fortunate to be given a memory foam orthopaedic mattress when we got married and we've never slept on anything so comfortable since we started using it. Honestly, if you are in need of a new mattress then i would recommend them. There are downsides to the memory foam ones - namely that the foam is synthetic. This does allow it to react to body heat and mould to the body to offer good support, but its production is more harmful to the environment and the workers who make them, and emissions from the foam can cause more respiratory irritation than natural mattresses (though they are less likely to harbour dust mites and mildew so are better for asthma sufferers). For comfort though, i give ours top marks.

Quilts and pillows should be made from natural materials if possible. Cotton and linen are good choices, and those containing feathers, wool, cotton or buckwheat are best. The chemicals in most quilts and pillows can cause respiratory diseases, autism, ME, problems with sensitive skin, and other diseases associated with a chemical imbalance. They also dont allow the skin to breathe and can cause over heating.

Buckwheat pillows are particularly good. We've been using ours for four or five years and i don't think i would ever want to use any other kind of pillow. They are made from a cotton case and contain the hulls or husks of buckwheat. They are based on pillows which people in the east have been using for hundreds of years. The health benefits are that the husks regulate your temperature - keeping you cool when hot and warm when cold. The pillows feel like beanbags, they mould to the shape of your head and support the head and neck at the same angle as when standing / walking, thus allowing easier breathing so therefore a better nights sleep. Buckwheat pillows have been recognised for their benefits to people suffering from sleeplessness, headaches, neck pain, low back pain, muscle tension, stress, snoring, and other ailments. The husks are generally dust free so help asthma sufferers and those with other respiratory problems. They are really comfortable, and we only use one each where as we used to use two regular pillows each before hand. They are still in great condition, and they unzip to allow the husks to be removed so that you can wash the cover in the machine. The husks can be replaced every few years but this isn't necessary as they do not sag or flatten over time.

Little D is ready for a bed now (he's two now you know!) so i shall be exploring the natural bedding options very soon and will let you know what we decide to buy for him and then review it a few weeks or months down the line. A buckwheat pillow is a definite insha'Allah. Are their any natural products or items that you use and would recommend?

Buckwheat pillows...

We all know how important sleep is for us but i think many of us are irresponsible sleepers. We don't sleep enough, we don't prepare ourselves for bedtime properly (eating the wrong foods in the evening/ not giving ourselves time to wind down) and we don't sleep with the healthiest equipment - a comfortable mattress, natural bedding or the correct quilt or pillows.

We were very fortunate to be given a memory foam orthopaedic mattress when we got married and we've never slept on anything so comfortable since we started using it. Honestly, if you are in need of a new mattress then i would recommend them. There are downsides to the memory foam ones - namely that the foam is synthetic. This does allow it to react to body heat and mould to the body to offer good support, but its production is more harmful to the environment and the workers who make them, and emissions from the foam can cause more respiratory irritation than natural mattresses (though they are less likely to harbour dust mites and mildew so are better for asthma sufferers). For comfort though, i give ours top marks.

Quilts and pillows should be made from natural materials if possible. Cotton and linen are good choices, and those containing feathers, wool, cotton or buckwheat are best. The chemicals in most quilts and pillows can cause respiratory diseases, autism, ME, problems with sensitive skin, and other diseases associated with a chemical imbalance. They also dont allow the skin to breathe and can cause over heating.

Buckwheat pillows are particularly good. We've been using ours for four or five years and i don't think i would ever want to use any other kind of pillow. They are made from a cotton case and contain the hulls or husks of buckwheat. They are based on pillows which people in the east have been using for hundreds of years. The health benefits are that the husks regulate your temperature - keeping you cool when hot and warm when cold. The pillows feel like beanbags, they mould to the shape of your head and support the head and neck at the same angle as when standing / walking, thus allowing easier breathing so therefore a better nights sleep. Buckwheat pillows have been recognised for their benefits to people suffering from sleeplessness, headaches, neck pain, low back pain, muscle tension, stress, snoring, and other ailments. The husks are generally dust free so help asthma sufferers and those with other respiratory problems. They are really comfortable, and we only use one each where as we used to use two regular pillows each before hand. They are still in great condition, and they unzip to allow the husks to be removed so that you can wash the cover in the machine. The husks can be replaced every few years but this isn't necessary as they do not sag or flatten over time.

Little D is ready for a bed now (he's two now you know!) so i shall be exploring the natural bedding options very soon and will let you know what we decide to buy for him and then review it a few weeks or months down the line. A buckwheat pillow is a definite insha'Allah. Are their any natural products or items that you use and would recommend?

Bedding...

A good nights sleep is almost guaranteed when fresh clean sheets are covering the bed. That feeling of laying down on a clean mattress sheet and being protected by a cool crisp duvet cover makes me smile and wish i changed the sheets more often.

Most of our bed covers, sheets and pillowcases are from charity shops. When you consider the amount of fabric in a sheet then the second hand ones really are good value for money. And usually much nicer than those which you can buy on the high street.

I've owned our bed since i was 17 and my mum offered to upgrade me from a single to a double. I chose a nice solid pine one which i always loved but i think it is certainly ready for a makeover - over time the wood has become more and more orange. It is somewhere towards the middle of my to-do list. Our mattress was virtually new and was given to us when we got married 6 years ago - its an orthopaedic memory foam mattress and it feels so strange to sleep on anything else now. I would certainly recommend them. Our pillows are rather unusual. They are buckwheat pillows - cotton cases filled with buckwheat hulls rather than feathers or synthetic filling. We've had them for perhaps four or five years now, il let you know all about them in my next post.

Our pillow cases were 50 pence each, the duvet cover was £2.95 and the reversible quilted blanket was £3.50.

Bedding...

A good nights sleep is almost guaranteed when fresh clean sheets are covering the bed. That feeling of laying down on a clean mattress sheet and being protected by a cool crisp duvet cover makes me smile and wish i changed the sheets more often.

Most of our bed covers, sheets and pillowcases are from charity shops. When you consider the amount of fabric in a sheet then the second hand ones really are good value for money. And usually much nicer than those which you can buy on the high street.

I've owned our bed since i was 17 and my mum offered to upgrade me from a single to a double. I chose a nice solid pine one which i always loved but i think it is certainly ready for a makeover - over time the wood has become more and more orange. It is somewhere towards the middle of my to-do list. Our mattress was virtually new and was given to us when we got married 6 years ago - its an orthopaedic memory foam mattress and it feels so strange to sleep on anything else now. I would certainly recommend them. Our pillows are rather unusual. They are buckwheat pillows - cotton cases filled with buckwheat hulls rather than feathers or synthetic filling. We've had them for perhaps four or five years now, il let you know all about them in my next post.

Our pillow cases were 50 pence each, the duvet cover was £2.95 and the reversible quilted blanket was £3.50.

Depressing clock turns into a country home pretty thing...

In one of my recent bundles of odds and ends that i won at our local Auction house was this rather 80's (and quite depressing - think cigarette stained 80's living room) clock. What appealed to me about it was its size (about a foot tall) and shape, and the fact that we have needed a clock for our dining room for a while now but i never happened to find one that i liked.

It wasnt worth anything so i thought id try and revamp it in the hope that we would end up with something worth keeping.

I used some Sanderson wallpaper to cover the clear glass section (stuck on with sellotape from the behind) but although this made it look a little nicer, it still had a horrible 80's vibe lingering over it. So then i used some left over cream spray paint to take the rim from gold to cream. And this totally uplifted it and made it something worth hanging on the wall.

In the end we hung it in our living room and it looks right at home in there. I really enjoyed this little revamp, hopefully il find something else to give a make over too next time im out treasure hunting!

Depressing clock turns into a country home pretty thing...

In one of my recent bundles of odds and ends that i won at our local Auction house was this rather 80's (and quite depressing - think cigarette stained 80's living room) clock. What appealed to me about it was its size (about a foot tall) and shape, and the fact that we have needed a clock for our dining room for a while now but i never happened to find one that i liked.

It wasnt worth anything so i thought id try and revamp it in the hope that we would end up with something worth keeping.

I used some Sanderson wallpaper to cover the clear glass section (stuck on with sellotape from the behind) but although this made it look a little nicer, it still had a horrible 80's vibe lingering over it. So then i used some left over cream spray paint to take the rim from gold to cream. And this totally uplifted it and made it something worth hanging on the wall.

In the end we hung it in our living room and it looks right at home in there. I really enjoyed this little revamp, hopefully il find something else to give a make over too next time im out treasure hunting!