Sleep Made Simple with Otty

In Partnership with Otty Mattresses

I have been after a new mattress for years. It’s embarrassing how long I waited to upgrade actually but you know how it is. It’s an investment, it’s a big deal and there are so many to choose from.

I put out a call on my Instagram stories asking for recommendations and Otty came up as one of the top ones so I reached out to the Otty gang for a collaboration.

I was drawn to Otty because of their hybrid approach - I’d heard horror stories about some memory foam only mattresses and I need a bit of support. The Original Hybrid is award winning, with a combination of springs and foam to create both support and comfort. The top layer is memory foam which help regulates your temperature and the pocket springs have a medium-firm rating which is perfect for us.

The first night was honestly like sinking into a cloud, it was so comfy but it also felt really supportive. We’ve been sleeping on it for just over two weeks now and there are zero complaints from any of us - including the cat.

The big pluses from me are:

1. The washable cover which can be unzipped anytime and washed at 40 degrees (when you have a cat who loves to throw up on anything nice, this is a big deal!)

2. The pocket springs minimalize motion transfer which is great for when one is tossing and turning.

3. Otty will remove your old mattress saving you the hassle of the tip run.

So if you’re thinking of upgrading, I would highly recommend trying Otty and the great thing is they offer 100 day trial so you don’t have to worry about making such a big decision and being stuck with it if you find this isn’t offering the right needs for you.

Bedroom Reveal

In Partnership with Lick Paint

There are also some other partnerships in this blog post which will be clearly marked.

Bedroom Transformation

BEFORE

This was the room when we viewed the house. It was the room I fell in love with and ultimately nudged us into putting in an offer. The huge bay windows allow so much light in here and the ceilings are super high so the room feels so spacious and luxurious. I always knew this would be the room we would start with when decorating because it didn’t require lots of work and could be something that would be easy to tackle.

The Bedroom When We Bought The House

The Moodboard

I started this moodboard before we’d even moved in. The two things I knew I wanted were a statement ceiling and a four poster bed. Whenever I told anyone about the four poster bed, everyone immediately imagined Bridgeton but I had something way more contemporary in mind.

The moodboard is a collection of items we already had and new items we wanted to purchase. It’s a great way to visualise your ideas and I offer this service in my Virtual Styling which you can find more about here.

As you will see, not all items were used or purchased and we found a different way or upcycled something else so don’t feel pressure on yourself to follow the moodboard to the letter. Things change, you change and things also go out of stock - A LOT.

The Initial Moodboard

As much as I went into this house thinking I’d change up my style completely, at the end of the day my style is my style and I can’t help but be drawn to certain colours. Greys worked in the old house and I knew they would work here. The new colour for me is the deep forest green - this is a lush combination with the greys and woods and as soon as I put it together I knew it was the scheme for me.

Lick's stick on/peel off samples

The Final Colours

I have been wanting to work with Lick Paint for a while now after hearing really good things about the quality and coverage of the paint. The stick on/peel off samples are a game changer, instead of directing painting on the wall which I never recommend doing as you can’t get a true vision of how the paint will look. You have to be able to move the paint around the room, see it in all the different lights so these little squares were perfect.

In the end I went for Grey 08 on the ceiling and woodwork, Grey 03 on the walls and Black 01 on the fireplace. All three feel lovely and warm for greys and don’t let the name Black scare you, it’s a very matt, light black which definitely doesn’t suck all the light out of the room.

The Reveal

Eeek! I am so pleased with how everything turned out, it’s my favourite place to be! The dark ceiling is a real statement and gives a lovely enveloping feel which is perfect for the bedroom. The greens are the perfect offset to the grey and I can forever fill the room with more plants to compliment the furniture. We still have our old wardrobe and bedsides, and I painted the old ikea mirror in the black to give it a facelift.

The Reveal

The bed was the biggest purchase for the room and I had been eyeing up contemporary four poster beds for a while. The price of these beds vary massively from super cheap to ridiculously expensive but we found Get Laid Beds to be the most reasonable price for a handmade bed.

Statement Four Poster Bed

After buying some linen bedding with wedding vouchers in 2019, I have been obsessed with it ever since. It is the most comfy bedding to sleep in, keeps you cool in the summer and warm in the winter. I fell in love in with Loom & Last’s linen throw in Artichoke which I knew would go perfectly in the room and they very kindly sent me a full duvet set. I have the Grey French Linen Bundle here but there are lots of lovely colours to choose from.

Grey French Linen

Artichoke Throw

The Fireplace

Originally I was thinking of replacing the tiles in the fireplace with some deep mottled green tiles but price, supply and finding a tiler was proving to be too many obstacles and I am too impatient to wait. Despite the tiles being almost a leopard print effect which I would normally be all over, they didn’t fit with the scheme and had to go.

I was so nervous about painting over the tiles but honestly it was the easiest job in the world. I bought some Dulux Difficult Surface Primer, gave that a coat to dry overnight and then applied two coats of Lick Black 01 with a mixture of a roller and a paintbrush, and voila! All done and the finish looks really good even when you get REALLY close up.

Tiles Before

Primer On

First Coat of Black 01

Finished!

The Details

Accessorising is my favourite thing to do when transforming a room. Again we used a mixture of new and old items. Shopping your own house is a fab way to freshen things up and this was no exception. A few items were birthday gifts and a few items were just must have purchases.

Get The Look

1. Paint (in partnership with Lick paints) : Grey 03, Grey 08, Black 01 from Lick

2. Bed : Four Poster Classic from Get Laid Beds in black.

3. Chest of Drawers : Show Wood Four Chest in Jade Green from John Lewis.

4. Bedside Tables and Wardrobe : Our old furniture from Next (no longer available).

5. Floor Lamp (in partnership with Iconic Lights) : The Morpho

6. Table Lamps : Penn Green Marble by Lights and Lamps.

7. Chair: Frame Accent Chair fromMade.com (Affiliate Link)

8. Bedding: Loom & Last (partnership)

9. Metal Trunks : Made.com (affiliate)

10. Cat sold separately

So what do you think? Let me know in the comments!

Garden Glow Up

In Partnership with Lights4Fun

With restrictions in the UK easing this week, and socialising in gardens and outdoor spaces back on the menu, I wanted to show how a few little touches can get your garden ready for hosting.

For those that don’t know, we recently moved house and although we upsized in house, we downsized in garden. For the location and the style of house we wanted, there was always going to be a compromise and we have inherited a lovely little courtyard garden. Instead of fighting it, I’ve decided to embrace it and channel the cute little European courtyards I love. Manchester weather permitting of course.

We have a lovely big Sycamore tree which I wanted to make the most of as a feature and the previous owners had some landscaping done so we already had a few outdoor lights, a water feature and some fairly established plants (very, very good for us as we are no green fingered geniuses).

Having been a huge advocate of fairy lights, festoon lights, lantern lights throughout my old house - I wanted to apply that treatment to the garden so I teamed up with Lights 4 Fun to showcase some of their fab outdoor products.

First up were the Pro Connect Festoon Lights to wrap around the Sycamore. We needed 15m to wrap enough times around the tree and then to carry across like a canopy to reach the mains plug. You can buy different lengths of these which are fab if you have a teeny tiny balcony or a huge sprawling lawn. Then we hung the White Miami Solar Lanterns off the easy to reach branches to channel that holiday vibe. These come in packs of threes so I got two packs to fill up the space.

Last but not least are the lovely Porto Solar Garden Lanterns which replicate that candle flickering without having to light them every night. These look so nice when the sun goes down and I’d fill the whole space with them if I could.

The Other Details…

We already had the Willow Summer Chair from the old house (previous collaboration in 2019). It used to be in the bedroom but there was no way we were ever going to get it up the old Victorian hallways so we decided to treat it with a clear weatherproof paint and use it outside.

Honora Willow Summer Chair

Next is the most random but probably best purchase I’ve made in a while. I went into B&M for cleaning products and came out with this hanging chair. It was an absolute bargain at £30 and a couple of lasso’s later we got it hanging from the tree. My inner child loves it!

Vancouver Hanging Chair from B&M

The other bargain buy for this garden makeover were the Elysia champagne glasses from Dunelm. At £5 for 2, I took the online purchase risk and was very pleasantly surprised. They’ve upped my fizz game massively, but note they are not good for dancing and drinking. The spillage is real.

Because space is a premium in my garden, I didn’t want to fill every inch with furniture. There is quite a reasonable amount of decking which has two steps and it’s perfect for a couple of seat pads for people to sit on. I got these from H&M (affiliate link) and love that they are so semi permanent. I just bring them out for guests.

H&M Striped Seat Cushions

We christened our garden over the Easter weekend when restrictions were eased and I hope you get to do the same. Don’t forget the blankets, the cushions and the little touches from inside when entertaining and of course the old BBQ no matter what the weather!

Good Friday Good Times Garden Party

GARDEN GLOW UP by Joanne Thelwell