Alice's guide to... Moving House!

Hello!

So this week I have been mostly becoming domesticated, abandoning my nomad like ways, and getting myself a new place to live. I thought I'd take a bit of a break from my normal posts and have a bit of a life update, share my thrifty house decorating tips, as well as most importantly, introduce mine and Trigs new companion.. 5 week old kitten Jives! :) I named him that because he looks like a Jeeves.. and he has white socks. Work that one out if you can? It made sense to me at the time.



Jives is part of a trio owned by one of my best friends, and currently lives with his twin brother Boris and brother Edgar until we get the final bulky bits of furniture moved in. Ive been trying to convince Trig to take on Boris as well, but he's having none of it. I was initially skeptical, because I still want to travel, but it was love from the minute he looked up at me with his big curious eyes and tried to claw me round the face. Before we go on to the main part of this post, here are a few more pictures of kittens for your enjoyment.

We've been so lucky to have found a decent sized flat in a central location, its owned by my friends dad so we got a good deal! Now it just needs decorating.. pronto. This is partly spurred on by the fact that I want to bring Jives home ASAP, and partly because it means I get to do some serious thrift shopping, bargain hunting and probably furniture painting to make the place seem like home, which sounds quite fun really.

I have found myself getting excited about storage units and throw pillows, being slightly scared by this, then just embracing it. I've become re-aquainted with preloved.com, my already good friend ebay and local secondhand shops, as well as dreaming up a ton of interior design ideas I most likely will never pull off. But a girl can dream, right?

Lighting is obviously important, and I do actually love a good floor lamp (did I say that?) For some reason I am obsessed with decorating the place with chandeliers, but not for a chandelier price tag! I have found some great vintage type chandeliers on facebook for anything between £10- and £300 on ebay (and probably beyond but I stopped there). Not bad really!

Luxury: £150 - ebay

Budget: £39.99 ebay

Budget: 119 - Argos

Can't really believe I'm blogging about fireplaces, but I thought you should know, if you ever need one, you can really get an absolute steal on ebay or preloved. The below budget fireplace was £119 on amazon or in Argos,  but I found the exact same one on ebay (in my local area) in excellent  working condition for £10 which I can go and collect.

Luxury: Ilkka Suppanen £999

 Of course we don't yet have a fridge, or a washing machine, but priorities first.

Lastly I just found some awesome stuff on pintrest that I just really want, to be honest, but can't really have due to the dimensions of our flat, and lack of practicality. Like the below closet love (I suppose I ought to make room for Trigs clothes, too) and the beautiful Elizabeth Orszulak birdcage, which is impractical mostly because I don't own any birds, and am about to adopt a cat.  But it still looks awesome. Pinned by prettyworld!

The worst is done and fingers crossed, we'll be in properly by the weekend!

Do you have any thrifty tips and tricks for decorating and moving into a new home?

Much love

Alice x

£999, Ilkka Suppanen for Ittala at Skandium
Read more at http://www.housetohome.co.uk/product-idea/picture/modern-fireplaces-10-of-the-best#y4auLEXvdG6SQReq.99I

£999, Ilkka Suppanen for Ittala at Skandium
Read more at http://www.housetohome.co.uk/product-idea/picture/modern-fireplaces-10-of-the-best#y4auLEXvdG6SQReq.99

£999, Ilkka Suppanen for Ittala at Skandium
Read more at http://www.housetohome.co.uk/product-idea/picture/modern-fireplaces-10-of-the-best#y4auLEXvdG6SQReq.99

£999, Ilkka Suppanen for Ittala at Skandium
Read more at http://www.housetohome.co.uk/product-idea/picture/modern-fireplaces-10-of-the-best#y4auLEXvdG6SQReq.99

Strong Prints and Vintage Looks

Hey!

I thought I'd share some photos I took recently in London  - I got to play around with some different outfits/styles all afternoon, and mess around with my hair and makeup across the shoot, which was good fun :)



Right: Shirt - River Island

Below: Vintage leather jacket

                                                               Below: Playsuit - Bank

 I painted my nails white - which is my favourite nail colour at the moment, its pretty on trend, and I love that it goes with any outfit as well!

Both River Island and Bank are my two usual initial high street go to spots for clothes - I really like some of the outfits they get in and they're fairly good affordability wise. I love other high street shops too but these are two of my favourites. Of course for you thrifties out there ebay is always a good spot to get past or current season stock even cheaper, which is often one of my tricks!

What are your favourite outfits at the moment? Do you shop in Bank and River Island too?

Alice x

Cambridge Style Week Part 2!

Hello,

Here are my highlights from the second half of Cambridge Style Week! There were four shows over the weekend and luckily for me I got great seats for all of them in the sound production area!

What I loved most about CSW wasn't just the amazing pieces, impressive set creation and extremely professional coordinators and volunteers. I also loved the fact that they showcased local businesses and fashion brands which were also affordable. That's not to say that more high end, extravagant pieces didn't make an appearance (and there's a place for them too) but it was pretty great that I could see an outfit I liked, look it up and purchase it relatively guilt free. On that note, I do still have a bit of a list to go through. CSW either fortunately, or unfortunately, (depending on how you look at it) fell over my payday :).

Saturday early - Celebration of Spring

The Celebration of Spring was a fabulously colourful show with local designers Baska, Modish Shoes, Cuckoo Clothing, Bags Etc. Boudoir Femme were the last collection on stage, who I came across previously whilst in the Decadence Fashion Shows - so it was really nice to see them on the catwalk.

Here were my favourites;

Cuckoo Clothing

Some great and floaty designs from Cuckoo!

Boudoir Femme

Really lovely translucent shimmery colours from Boudoir Femme, a locally based boutique.


Saturday Evening - A Celebration of Performance

Saturday evening was all about the power of performance, with the return of  Clamp Optometrists to the catwalk, along with Hobbs, Brooks Clothing Agency, Debenhams menswear, B Jewellery, and local boutique, Rosie's Vintage.

My favourites were Hobbs, who showcased some fabulous work wear.

I also really loved pretty much everything in Rosies Vintage Collection;

Brooks also had some lovely floaty pieces too..

And not forgetting some really great menswear from Debenham's as well!

Sundays shows 'A Celebration of Family' and a 'Celebration of Cambridge' were two very different affairs. The Celebration of Family was adorable with the children's wear, especially as it fell on Mother's day! But my highlights from the Sunday was definitely the finale show, which finished everything off very nicely.

The Celebration of Cambridge featured Oska, Russell &Bromley, French Connection, LK Bennett, and Podarok.  The accessories really stole the show for me, amongst lots of amazing designs.

First up Russell and Bromley with their bright arm candy!

And last on the stage were Podarok, a lovely local design company, who make quirky accessories. The collection was very floaty and dream like, and closed the show perfectly.

Cambridge Style Week was a fantastic week of designs and I can't wait until next year!

Personally I loved that the week really supported local designers, and its inspired me to put on a small scale show of my own in Peterborough to showcase local brands over here, too. Watch this space :)

Which designers inspire you? Let me know!

Alice x

Cambridge Style Week Highlights, Part One!

Hello,

So last week was crazily hectic for me, as I had the awesome job of DJing for Cambridge Style Week during the evenings, which means I also got to be right in the action, meet some fabulous people and be a part of some amazing catwalk shows! I absolutely love the excitement of a fashion show, and being able to choose the right music and set the mood for each collection/designer was an amazing privilege.

First up was Wednesdays 'Celebration of Colour'. Here were my highlights;

PAYSA Wearable Art

PAYSA Wearable Art had some absolutely beautiful designs which exploded with colour on the catwalk. With some fab photos from Dean Ireland-Photography !


Clamp Optometrists

 The show sponsors, Clamp Optometrists also showcased some amazing eyewear on the catwalk too!


Reyhan Yazici

Above photograph by Fotograph Portretowy.

Thursdays 'Celebration of Design'

Thursday was a pretty unique day as it was also a charity gala for the NSPCC and Born to Be Beautiful. These are really lovely causes and the evening also featured a very entertaining auction where a decent amount of money was raised to support these charities. The show itself also showcased local student designers as well as local boutiques 'My One and Only' and 'Cuckoo Clothing'.

The below pictures are taken from the ARU Fashion Design Students collection. The shapes and cuts of some of the outfits were quirky and eccentric which made for an impressive catwalk show.

Adrian Burac

Layla Cheshem-Panam

I can't find the names of the above and below designers but I loved these pieces too.

Also loved these matching dresses from My One and Only.

Fridays 'Celebration of Form'



Friday was all about swimwear and underwear, which was great, especially as we gradually move into summer :) The below photos were selections taken by Dean Ireland Photography.

There was so much choice from this show, really, so it was hard to be selective and not just relay everything as I liked it all. But I particularly liked the block colour mixed with prints on the bikinis below from Rigby and Peller, so I thought I'd highlight them :)

Photos by Fotograph Portretowy.

  


Plus great selections from Prohibido.

















Above left photo taken by Fotograph Portretowy.  Right photo taken from CSW twitter.

Thanks to Dean Ireland Photography  and Fotograph Portretowy for allowing me to use their great photographs :) sand Cambridge Style Week as well.


I will continue my highlights for the weekend shows in my next post!

What do you think of the catwalk selections above? Let me know :)

Alice x