lifestyle Archives - Page 24 of 54

bloomzy / May 24, 2015

Berlin Travel Diary | Let Me Take Your Bags

Mani Hotel, Torstraße 136, 10119 Berlin, Germany

Let’s start from the beginning. Having never travelled to Germany I had always wanted to visit Berlin. So when V.A suggested a holiday in the capital – with her as my tour guide – I could hardly say no…could I? They say good friends should never travel together, but we were confident that we wouldn’t be screeching at each other by the end of the holiday. So we packed our bags and hopped on a plane to the home of curry wurst.

The Mani Hotel had kindly offered to put us up for our first night in the city, and after a relatively short train journey from the airport, we dropped off our bags and freshened up. The hotel is located in Rosenthaler Platz, Mitte, which just so happened to be the area we had marked down for its variety of restaurants and shops. We explored the area a little (something I’ll go into more detail on in the next post), and it did not let us down. Later we caught up with a friend (and a heavy rain shower) before rushing back to the hotel for dinner.

I don’t usually “do” food at hotels. I prefer to explore the restaurants nearby, but we could hardly say no when the Mani so graciously offered us a dinner and breakfast package. After a 2am start, we were running on only 3 hours sleep, and the idea of only having to take a lift back to our cozy bed was glorious. Luckily for us the food at the Mani hotel is not an afterthought to a room, instead it elegantly compliments your stay. The sharing plates for dinner were a modern fusion of French and Arabic cuisines. However it was the breakfast buffet (which non hotel guests can have for only €15) that excited me most. It was like letting a child loose in a sweet store. The food here is prepared with fresh, seasonal ingredients, and presented beautifully. If I were to visit Berlin again I would definitely visit the Mani hotel and restaurant. In fact I’m considering catching another flight back asap just for those breakfast meatballs!

You can check out the rest of my Berlin Travel Diary series here.

bloomzy / May 10, 2015

A Minimalist Haven at Home

Moving home means many things, but probably the most exciting is making a fresh start. I’ve always loved bright open rooms, but unfortunately our last apartment was small and dark. So when we were looking for a new apartment we kept this in mind. Luckily for us we found something pretty special. That meant I was finally able to decorate with one particular item that I’d always wanted, but never been able to justify – a ladder shelf. I’ve always loved how chic and minimalist ladder shelves are. They offer a space to display some of your more decorative pieces, without making things look cluttered.

Being able to see something in-store is far better than viewing it online, obviously. So I popped by Dwell’s Westfield store to see the shelf, and a few other items:

Escala Shelf White (£149)
Marble Vase (£29.95)
White Table Lamp (not currently available online)
Espresso Cup Tower (£24.95)

I picked up the lamp, vase and espresso cups in-store, although I was told I would have to wait for the shelf unit, as they are kept at the warehouse. The ordering process with Dwell was pretty easy. I did it right there and then in-store, and arranged to have it delivered to the same location that week (home delivery is also available). When the delivery day came I received a call stating that there were problems with the truck, and that it would be in by the end of the week instead. Sure enough I received a phone call on Friday evening to say it was ready for collection.Even with the small hiccup, everything went smoothly. I’m incredibly happy with our new space, and we’ve had so many compliments on it from friends and family. Slowly and surely our apartment is turning into the minimalist haven I have always dreamt of.

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This post is in collaboration with Dwell but all views, photos and words are my own.

bloomzy / May 9, 2015

A London Life… at The Barbican Conservatory | Part 1

The Conservatory @ Barbican Centre | City of London | Nearest Tube: Barbican

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View more of the ‘A London Life…’ series

bloomzy / May 5, 2015

Time for a Spring Clean

Spring may be my favourite season, but I don’t enjoy the inevitable small talk topic of Spring cleaning. I dislike clutter so I spend most of my year tidying up and keeping things as minimal as possible – I truly believe that it helps keep my head clear also. However after starting my new job last year, I’ve found that I don’t have as much time as I used to. I knew that the move to the new apartment was going to be a great excuse to do a big overhaul of all our stuff. Of course that also means investing in new pieces. Luckily for me, George at ASDA offered me a small budget to deck out our new bedroom with.

Honestly George isn’t the first brand I think of when I want to buy new homeware. However after browsing the site I realised that they carried a lot of on-trend products (like these copper items), for very reasonable prices. Soon enough I had chosen everything and it was on it’s way. Here’s a quick rundown of what I ordered:

George Home Palm Springs Stripe Duvet Range (£12)
George Home Memory Foam Pillow (£12) | George Home Soft Pillow – 2 Pack (£6)
George Home White Pillowcase Pair (£3) | George Home White Fitted Sheet (£5)
George Home Temperature Control Duvet (£25)
George Home Desk Lamp (£20) | Jones Alcot Alarm Clock – Bronze (£7)
Homemake Silver Silky Shaggy Rug (£120)
Lowell 6 Drawer Chest of Drawers (£79)
George Home Triangular Print Candle (£7) | Yankee Candle Large Jar – Soft Cotton (£13)

The main items were a dresser, lamp and a rug, with some items of bedding, and several decorative bits to scatter around the room. The dresser wasn’t the easiest to put together, but thankfully the rug and lamp did their own thing. The bedding was all very good quality. We went for the full shebang: duvet, memory foam pillows, soft pillows, bed sheets and a duvet cover set (I couldn’t resist that green). As for the decorative items, well they just look great anywhere. The Yankee candle smells lovely, and the one we popped next to the bed is scent-free – so no sniffling during the night!

I have to say that we’ve been sleeping really well, and I am usually a very light sleeper. I’ve also found myself sneaking away to the bedroom to blog, whilst I lounge on the bed. I think it’s fair to say that our bedroom has now become a bright, attractive space for us to relax in. Mission success!

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This post is in collaboration with George at ASDA but all views, photos and words are my own.

bloomzy / April 28, 2015

Tutorial: DIY Marble Table

It’s been a while since I did a tutorial post; but what’s more of a shock is that this time it’s a homeware tutorial. Yes, you may have noticed by my incessant Instagram posts that I too have jumped on the marble bandwagon. However I knew that at some point decorations would no longer do. That eventually I would turn into a decor-obsessed monster. Well that day has come ladies and gentleman, and I knew I had to do something about it. No I will not be aimlessly wandering the streets of East London, rambling about marble and Pinterest tutorials to anyone who will listen. Instead I remembered something from my childhood – the old style marble contact paper/vinyl you could buy in homeware stores (que horrific memories of being dragged around B&Q by my parents). So I got on eBay and decided I would finally spruce up the table I use for my product photos…and here’s my resulting tutorial: How to create a marble table for under £20, in only 5 steps!

What do you need?
Table – I bought mine from Argos (£14.99)
Marble Contact Paper – eBay (£4.99)
Soft clean cloth
Scissors
Ruler

How to make it:
1. Clean the surface of the table.
2. Use the ruler to measure the diameter of the table.
3. Use the grid on the reverse of the contact paper to measure and cut to size.
4. Peel off some of the back paper and put it along one edge of the table.
5. Use the soft cloth to gently apply pressure to the paper. Slowly peel off the rest of the paper little by little, continuing to apply pressure as you go along.

The great thing about contact paper/vinyl is that you can always peel it off if you make a mistake (or if decide that you don’t like it). You could also use the leftover to cover your laptop or phone case…or anything else you can get your hands on.

Good luck!

bloomzy / April 24, 2015

A London Life… in Stoke Newington

Stoke Newington | East London | Nearest Tube: Dalston Kingsland Overground

As I prepare to say goodbye to the part of London that I’ve spent the 3 years in, I decided to take one last long photo walk around Dalston and Stoke Newington. I will still be living in East London, but I’m moving on to greener pastures (or something like that). I’ll miss this part of London, but I’m excited to start a new adventure and see even more of this amazing city.
View more of the ‘A London Life…’ series

bloomzy / April 20, 2015

A London Life… in Dalston

L’atelier Dalston | East London | Nearest Tube: Dalston Kingsland/Dalston Junction

As I prepare to say goodbye to the part of London that I’ve spent the last 3 years in, I decided to take one last long photo walk around Dalston and Stoke Newington (the Stoke Newington post will be up later this week). I will still be living in East London, but I’m moving on to greener pastures (or something like that). I’ll miss this part of London, but I’m excited to start a new adventure and see even more of this amazing city.