ALL ABOUT THE DETAILS

So I was more than just a little excited to move into my lovely new flat with my boyfriend... mostly because he left me in charge of decorating and there's nothing I love more than making things look pretty!

I thought I'd share with you my top tips about making a low budget and basic living more luxurious and homely than it sounds, and it's easier than you think!

I decided to go for quite a neutral palette (mainly because my boyfriend wasn't too keen on the idea of a purple bedroom!), so I opted for creams, blues and greys which will feel fresh and homely all year round!

As I said, I opted for a low budget approach to decorating the flat, and decided to be sensible (kind of) with what we needed so as not to splurge the cash... We are students after all.

So to start, I focused on the living room, as thats where we will spend most of our time, and as the sofa was covered in stains I decided to bargain a lovely large (and washable... bonus!) piece of navy material from the market, to cover the stains and to tie in the whole blue and cream theme I had going on.

I then threw over two blankets, one cream from my old bedroom, and one in a lovely aqua blue colour from asda, and combine these with some cheap but beautiful pillow cases from Dunelm Mill to finish off the whole look, but so as not make it look as cheap as it really was!

At the time of decorating I was also completely obsessed with the whole candle-in-jar idea to give a shabby chic yet totally cheap twist to decorating, so placed a fair few of these around the place! Combining these with some scrabble place mats my sister gave me, an insence burner from eBay (because every girl loves insence) and an antique bowl I picked up whilst on holiday, it gave the flat a lovely homely feel without breaking the bank!

I also picked up some lovely tea coffee and sugar pots from a charity shop, some 99p candles to add a sense of warmth and because candles are the easiest way to jazz up a place (and I'm completely candle obsesses) and a number of cushions and blankets from Asda and Tesco to make the place just that little bit cosier... (because heating = bills = no).

Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed the read and maybe picked up some useful decorating tips for yourself! (Basically, recycle jars, shop at cheap places, and dont forget about charity shops!!)