Last week I was contacted my MoneySupermarket who wanted to give me £50 to revamp a room in my home.. ah-mazing! I have had Ella’s bedroom on my to do list for the longest time, she’s had new furniture and bedding etc but in the 4 years we’ve lived her we’ve never properly redecorated and it was looking pretty grim so the task pushed me to finally do it. I had already painted the panel behind her bed pink in a bid to freshen things up a couple of years ago so that gives it a pop of colour but I decided to keep the rest of the walls white (partly because of the limited budget – white is cheaper). With that in mind I wanted everything to look cleaner, she had posters and school work up on the walls and even when her room was tidy it looked a mess so my theme was minimalistic.. for a 7 year old.

How I spent the £50..

• Bedding £11 – Asda – (we did most of our shopping there) – buy here
• Clock – £6 – Asda (in the sale – she can’t tell time yet) – oddly it’s full price here
• Small white wicker drawers – £5 – Asda – these were on sale but here are some similar
• Lampshade £5 – Asda – not exact but similar here
• Flower string lights (over bed) – £10 – Asda – buy here
• 2 ‘pen holders’ (actually for the bathroom) – £1 each – Asda – can’t find online but you can see the range here
• Curtain Hooks – 2x 10 at £2.48 each = £4.96 – B&Q – buy here
• Paint – £5.98 – B&Q – I got a huge 5L tub for that price and also did the drawer fronts with it – buy here

So if my maths is correct I came in at 6p under budget!

Other big changes..

I moved a lot of furniture around, it was so cluttered and she just didn’t need it. I had intended to get her a new TV for her birthday and move things as I have but that’s a couple of months away so I did just take out the long, dark unit and put the tall drawers and mirror next to the two white tables but when I mentioned it to my Mum she happened to have a spare. I know that’s kind of cheating so you can just pretend the big TV is still there if it bothers you but I’m so pleased with the layout as it is and now Ella’s asked for ‘Netflix’ for her birthday (Apple TV it is then). Taking down all of the posters and freshening up the walls was a huge improvement, there was pen and dirty hand prints all over the place – there’s been a threat of big trouble if she ever draws on these beautiful new white walls. The bedding Ella chose was again a little less fussy and I happened to have pillows (random fact: they were a gift from a friend on my 14th birthday) that went perfectly with the colours. Finally I think that painting the drawer fronts made the world of difference to bring the room together, I hate to mix furniture usually so I feel better now the colours are grouped.. the pine drawers and mirror are together, the paler Ikea drawers are with the similarly coloured desk which also has a white panel in the back so it ties in with the white in the drawers which in turn connects with the wardrobes.. is it just me? I’m peculiar, I know. The string of lights above the bed was a cute finishing touch that I think bridges that gap between little girl and tween and given that she’s about to turn 8 I didn’t want to decorate her room in a super young style as before I know it she will be asking for something more grown up so I think I’ve found a happy medium. You may have also noticed a little extra decor on the drawers.. glitter nail polish at Ella’s request as she thought they looked too plain. On last mention you would never notice was that the curtain hooks were so old and needed replacing as they kept pinging off when she closed them so that was an invisible addition to the room.

So, what do you think? Ella has seen the majority of the changes but I spent the best half of today clearing out and reorganising her wardrobes which will be a huge surprise for her when she gets back from her Dad’s house on Wednesday and she hasn’t seen it all put together yet so I’m excited to unveil the final makeover. When I was a kid I remember my Mum redoing my room for me while I was away (changing rooms was very popular back then – I think she got the bug) and I loved it but it must have killed her to see it in such a state all the time. I’ve never been a tidy person but it’s only when you have your own kids and these moments arise that you realise how annoying you must have been (/still be) to live with. Hopefully Lee can impart some of his neat freak tendancies and she will pick up less of mine.

Miss BB

I had a major iPhone malfunction last night and seriously almost lost my **** when I thought it had erased an entire days vlog footage. The mini meltdown prompted me to finally order a compact camera to live in my handbag for vlogging, of course I ordered in a moment of rage and did zero research ahead of the purchase so today with clearer mind.. I ordered another. The two cameras arriving tomorrow (excited? me?) are those below..

Panasonic Lumix FS45 – £69.99 here or Fuji JZ200 – £71.68 here

I ordered the Fujifilm first, in truth it was the hot pink that drew me to it and at almost midnight after a couple of drinks with dinner it seemed like a good idea at the time but having read some reviews today I am nervous that the video quality may not be as great as I’d need given that the it’s sole use will be filming. I read that it excels outdoors in natural light but I film a lot inside and I’ve had enough issues with poor quality low light cameras to last me a lifetime. That being said all reviews were positive.. it’s tough to find something that’s aimed towards a vlogger as most review these compacts for photography on the go with video as an afterthought. When I compare side by side the two are very similar, if anything the Fuji seems to have more options for still photos I’m just torn because I’ve read a little snippet of something negative about the Fuji and nothing about the Lumix so I thought I would put this out there in the hope that one of you may have one of these and can let me know what you think of it. I would usually post this on my ‘life’ blog (link) so apologies from the very non-beauty related post but there aren’t so many of you reading over there so I thought my best chance of feedback was here, hope you don’t mind.

Unfortunately I can’t get them out of the boxes and play with each of them to make my mind up (I can’t open the one I intend to send back) but I”m very excited to have a new toy arrive tomorrow in one of these beautiful candy colours – On that note I just thought of another benefit to using one of these over my iPhone, I will definitely be able to find it at the bottom of my bag!

Miss BB

 I love DITL style posts from other bloggers but I vlog and you can see what I do day to day whenever you like so I decided to do more of a ‘This is How I Blog’ post instead. Most bloggers at some time or another have made blogging look very glamourous, whether it be the free samples or the seemingly unending string of events they attend it’s all a matter of perception and I for one can tell you that my life is certainly not glamourous! I think most of us like to give the illusion that our lives are like the above picture while for many it’s much more like the below..

I am a wife (not really a job as my husband is a *HUGE* help around the house and with the kids), mother of two, employee 4 days per week and I post a minimum of 3 videos and 14 blog posts per week. I do think their are different categories of blogger and although I don’t class myself as a ‘Mummy Blogger’ I definitely have a lot more going on than my blog. I am supremely jealous of all the young London blogettes drinking cocktails with their blogging buddies but much as you have a preconceived idea of my life that may not be entirely accurate I’m sure theirs is not all as it appears to be either. I get one full day per week to dedicate to filming, editing, photographing and blogging but that’s also my only day home with my son. My priority is always my family but I am very lucky to be coming to a stage with my blog where I could earn more at home than going out to work so while I  want to spend as much time with them as possible I also know the more time I spend here now the more time I will hopefully have with them down the road.  It’s a tricky balance when you have kids, a job and I guess.. another job but it’s so worth it and if one day it enables me to work from home doing something I love I will be forever thankful to all of you who read what I write every day. That being said it’s a lot of work and what may appear to be a quick post about hair care isn’t just a 5 minute job, it was probably a week of testing, photographing and researching prior to sharing my review. I have to multitask (again, see above) I’m testing out a new candle while wearing a face mask, while swatching an eyeshadow palette, writing up a perfume review and balancing the baby on my knee, trying to deter him from happy slapping my keyboard and distracting him with Curious George. It’s not all frappuccinos and macbook pro’s with perfectly manicured nails and cool typo prints in the background.. but that would be nice, wouldn’t it?

Miss BB