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