New House Tour!

Hello!

I've been gone for too long lovely people! I've been so busy the past few weeks, as we've been moving house and get ourselves all sorted out in the new place.

We've moved from a small two bed flat to a 3 bed house all within Newcastle, the house is amazing and much more modern than the flat which will hopefully be much warmer and nicer in the winter than our past house!

So I was thinking you might all want a little House tour! It's not completely finished as we have a couple more things to add and do. (And a few things to put away...)

Here goes...

Hallway:
Pretty much the whole house is carpeted in a cream short pile carpet and it's super soft and comfy underfoot. It makes the house look clean and fresh all the time. We're hoping to find some pictures or a mirror to go on the main hallway wall, good for a quick check on the way out the door.



On the far wall of our hall is this Map of Newcastle with G and I's first 3 addresses as a couple, so where we met (Halls of Residence), our first flat (Jesmond) and our current house (Gosforth). I made this for Valentines for G this year and even wrote a blog post about it here.



Living Room:
Our living rooms is really big which I love and these wooden slated blinds are fixed all throughout the house which let in tons of light but also keep the light out really well when needs be.


The sofa's were donated by my Nana and we've just thrown a couple of our, many, blankets on there to make them feel like our own.



We grabbed the Coffee table and tv stand from good old Ikea and they're the Lack series in Black and Black/Brown not that you can really tell the difference.
The bookshelf was donated from my parents and will be soon up cycled and possible painted white and will be filled with dvd's.

Kitchen/Dining Room:
The open feeling of this room is what drew me in when we were first shown the house. It's such a bright and airy space but hold the heat so well and we've yet to be cold in here. The kitchen and all the main appliances were provided with already, the only big things that belong to us are the hoover and iron.




Of course all the kitchen accessories are our which we built up over our last year together, including the kettle (a |Le Creuset bargain from TK Maxx) and all of our kitchenware like cups, plates, etc. We have mason jars with all the things we use daily like flour, pasta, sugar, etc.
It's just a general mishmash of us!



The dining room is open plan with the kitchen which is awesome as it makes it so friendly and open. The dining table and chairs were kindly donated by G's gran and are perfect to sit in the space. They might possibly get painted white in the next few months, if not we'll keep them as is and find a nice table cloth.


We made use of the shelves to put our excess kitchen things on, such as cookbooks, the blender (Breville), my cake stand and other bits and bobs.






Utility Room:
It's almost like a mini greenhouse in this room as it gets so hot and I can see myself living in here in the winter. Anyway it houses our washer, dryer and other housecleaning bits. But mostly it's where our recycling piles high! It's also filled with many tools and extra bits and pieces like G's golf clubs.



Bathroom:
We didn't do much in here obviously as we're renting, but we love the separate shower/bath combination as we're used to having them both together.




We're pretty simple in here and just have our white towels we found on sale in Fenwicks and all our products on the window ledge.

Computer/Sewing Room:
As you can tell this is where a lot of our time is spent. G has his computer desk, Bass guitar and weights in this room. I have my sewing machine and piles of crafting/sewing bits and pieces and every so often my laptop will make an appearance on my desk.





We've mostly been using the sliding wardrobes for storage, so we have a place to store the things we don't need everyday. But we keep the middle ones open and have things on show like our board games and some pictures.




I honestly love having a separate space for all of our crafts and computer things, our previous flat we had our living room, dining room, and computer/craft things all in one room so we were a little squash. Now we have so much space for the both of us.

Bedroom:
I love this room because it's so spacious. The bed is from my parents house and was my bed but they donated it to us. Same with the draw and chest unit which I got when I was younger, we're using it as little storage and as a tv stand for now.
The cards and posters on the wall are things I've collected over a few months and just popped them up using colourful washi tape!

In the opposite corner we just have our washing basket and beside the bed is a thrifted little side table I found in a charity shop for £6.00 and snapped up as I knew it was a super bargain.
I hope in the future to add a bench or chair in the window for winter reading sessions!


I'm a lover of blankets and honestly thing you can never have too many! This green one is from TK Maxx (a super spot for blankets!) and the bedding I found on eBay but have seen similar in Wilkinson's recently. It's chevron on one side and stripe on the other so it's very Newcastle!



These teds are our childhood teddies, and a bear G got for me in London when we visited a year ago!

Walk in closet/spare room:
I had my eye on this room from the second we signed our lease, I knew it would make a perfect walk in wardrobe.




I have plenty of clothes which is obvious in these picture and I just knew a wardrobe in the bedroom wouldn't suffice. And what else do you do with an extra room when you have all those clothes?
We got two simple rails form Ikea and so far I filled them with most of my clothes and a few of G's until we ran out of hangers.. Oops!
I also need to sand down the draws in this unit so that I can fill it with all our winter clothes and spares.


But there's also extra storage in this room as it has a built in cupboard which we'll probably use again as storage for winter clothes.

Garden:
It's not huge and there's no grass but that's kind of perfect for us as we're not hugely garden people, I love the option of having the decking and seating in case we want to have the odd BBQ.


I am in love with this house, it feels like a home rather than just somewhere we're living for now.
I'll keep you all updated on the changes we make, and keep an eye out for some upcycling projects very soon.

What's your favourite part of your home?

Katy!
x

Summer Colour Crushes

As I've been in town lately I've noticed a few colours around me that I'm loving!

Firstly I've coveting anything in mint green! It's just such a perfect pastel colour, springy and fresh.
I spotted these on Etsy and I'm in love!
Wouldn't these just look gorgeous hanging from the handles of draws or maybe a wardrobe! And plus they're a bargain at just £1.99 each find them here at Whisper of the Pipit on Etsy.

Image from Whisper of the Pipit

Gold!
I spotted this nail varnish in Boots, it's Max Factor mini in Ivory, not sure ivory is a good description is more of a gold colour. I love how easy it is to apply and how fast it dries, and if you're looking for a matte gold this is the perfect choice. Find it here on the Boots website for £3.99 and they only have this in the mini version.


Peachy pink: 
As you can probably guess from my blog Peach/Coral is one of my favourite colours. And after a little look in Primark the other days I came out with a couple of cute little peachy items. 
First peachy find was these little floral frilly socks! They're the kind that Topshop made popular but for a fraction of the price as these were only £1.50! 


Navy: 
This isn't just a summer fav, this is an all year round-everyday of my life kinda favourite. I wear navy probably everyday and I'm currently lusting after this gorgeous Tullip shaped navy cardigan from Topshop for £30. I think it'd be perfect for days when there's a chill in the air and our much awaited trip down to Cornwall at the end of this summer. 

Image from Topshop.com
There's my colour crushes for this season, I'll undoubtedly have at least one of these colours in my outfit everyday, even if it's just that cute little gold nail polish. 

Katy!

Shortcrust Pastry

I've had a pack of shortcrust pastry stuffed in the freezer for months. But we're moving soon and I knew I needed to do something with it soon or I'd have to throw it out and I definitely didn't want to do that. So one Sunday afternoon I decided to bake up a storm.


First make:
Quiche, specially mushroom and cheese. I used this simple recipe and just switched out the ham and onion for my own choice of ingredients.



Next up....
Jam tarts! I always remember making these with my Mama when we had left over pastry so I thought I'd throw some together. Pop some pastry circles in a muffin tray with some jam on top, bake for 10 minutes and ta-da! Easy-peasy jam tarts!


My favourite use of the day was definitely apple pie. So simple and super yummy! Chopped and pealed apples with some sugar and cinnamon popped into your pastry case, put your lid on the top and crimp the edges. Cut two little holes in the top to let the steam out and stop a soggy bottom. Bake for 35-40 minutes. 

Enjoy with ice cream or cream or just nice and warm on one of the many rainy days we have here in England. 




Enjoy!

Katy

The Hoppings 2014

I hadn't heard of the Hoppings until a few days ago when I saw it mentioned on my Instagram despite living in Newcastle for nearly two years.

Once I realised it was a giant funfair, the world's biggest touring actually, I knew we needed to go!
Mostly because G and I both love funfair food! 

It's held at Town Moor and this year marked the 132nd Year of The Hoppings, so it's definitely a Newcastle tradition. There's rides and so much food it will make your tummy ache just looking around. 


Well when they say world's biggest, I never imagined how big it actually would be! I'm used to a tiny funfair in my hometown so this kind of blew my mind. 


There is every kind of ride imaginable, add to that tons of food stalls and numerous hook-a-duck style prize stands, it could be quite daunting. 



I think Town Moor is perfect though as it's sheer size accommodates everything they have there without feeling like you're packed like sardines with strangers. 



We stuffed ourselves, and as I'd been thinking about having a slushy since I'd heard about Hoppings I was so pleased to find some additive filled strawberry-raspberry goodness. G enjoyed amazing looking noodles and curry sauce. 

It's so fluffy I'm gonna die!!
Unfortunately this unicorn cutie was just too hard to get and we weren't willing to spend all our pennies to get him (you know how funfairs are) not that it wasn't fun to try. 

If you fancy going The Hopping's is on until Saturday 28th and is free to enter! Check the website here for opening times and information on parking and finding Town Moor. 

Katy

Silver Wedding Anniversary


These two people are the most wonderful parents and this past week they celebrated 25 Years of being married. So this weekend we headed home to celebrate with my lovely family.


On Saturday we headed out for Italian which was delicious and such a nice evening catching up with my godparents and Gran. 



Who doesn't love dessert served in a cute teacup! 


Sunday was afternoon tea at my parents house, my Mama went all out, there was meringues, mousse cake, brownies, biscuits and so much more. I created the signs and the display especially for them and we covered the room and yard in bunting handmade by my Mama.






Got to spend the afternoon chasing after these little cuties! My lovely wee cousins, who aren't so wee anymore and love to stuff their faces with cakes. 

Dad, Mama, Ben, Me, G.

Back Row: Ben, Me, G, Rick, Mary, Dad, Mama, Gran, Eileen & John
Front Row: Macie, Simon, Elsa & Jackie. 
It was such a lovely weekend spending time with my family and celebrating my parents and their amazing 25 years. Here's to them and another 25 more years.

Katy



Chocolate Chip Courgette Bread:

Last week I spotted that the lovely Beautiful Mess girls had made courgette bread, or zucchini as they call it, and remembered I had two courgettes just sitting in the fridge. I'm not a huge fan of things like carrot cake and thought that this was going to be similar but I actually found I loved this and couldn't taste the courgette, just plenty of chocolate! 



This recipe makes 2 loafs from a tin that is 8x4 inches. 

Ingredients: 
100g Unsalted Butter, 
200g Sugar,
2 Eggs, 
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract, 
250g Flour,
40g Cocoa Powder, 
Pinch of Salt, 
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder, 
2 Courgettes grated 
and
100g Chocolate Chips.

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees. 



Firstly grate your courgettes and place in a sieve to drain the excess liquid.
Squashing down the courgette with the back of a spoon to help get rid of any extra water also helps so that the batter isn't too wet.


Mix together the butter, melted, and the sugar until combined and cool. (So as not to cook the eggs in the next step.)


Next add in the eggs and vanilla extract and mix. 


Pop the flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder in a bowl combine together. Then add liquid ingredients and stir until smooth. 




Next add the chocolate chips and courgette into the chocolate batter and mix. If you think the mixture is looking a little too wet from the courgette add a tablespoon more flour to even it out. 


Pour half the mix into your loaf tin and save the other half for after this one has baked, or if you have two loaf tins then pop them both in together. 


Pop your loaf into the oven for 50-60 minutes. Check it towards the 45 minute mark by popping a cocktail stick in the middle, if it comes out clean then your loaf is ready, if not then give it another 5 minutes and check again. 


This is delicious sliced with a little butter and a cup of tea. And a little better for you than normal cake what with all that courgette in there.
Enjoy!

Katy

Vegetable Stew


I love to make a veggie stew, come rain or shine. I think you can always find seasonal vegetables that taste delicious in a stew, I've previously made this in the winter but thought I'd make a more spring like version. 

So into my stew went:

Cherry tomatoes, 
Cauliflower, 
Celery, 
Sweet potatoes, 
Parsnip, 
Courgette, 
Kidney beans, 
Chopped tomatoes, 
Carrots, 
1 Pint water, 
1 stock cube, 



First I peeled and chopped up sweet potato into small chunks. 
Into a large pan pop the chopped tomatoes and sweet potatoes on a mid heat and let simmer. 


Next up chop up one parsnip and add to the sweet potatoes, follow this with a courgette. All chopped into bite size chunks.



Add one stick of chopped celery and two chopped up carrots then leave to simmer on a mid-high heat for 10 minutes.
You'll also need to top up the liquid with a pint of hot water with a stock cube at this point in the recipe.


Add a handful of halved cherry tomatoes, and some cauliflower.


I also chopped up some mushrooms ready to add afterward as G doesn't like mushrooms. And seeing as how I grabbed this whole bag from my local market for 50p I was excited to use them up!


Add all of these veggies to the pot, and follow with your beans and mushrooms now if you want them. Leave this to simmer for a final 5 minutes and serve.



Best enjoyed on that day you just need a little warming pick me up. Something hearty and good for you but delicious. 

Katy