Home Proud: Spring shopping

With Spring fast approaching (thank goodness!) it might be time to refresh your home with some inexpensive but colourful items. Cushions are a great way to change the style of a room, and scented candles can always make you feel warmer. See below for my small selection of accessories I'd like to buy for my own home...

1. Bring the outdoors in with this great quality Escentual Acqua di Parma Fruit and Flower candle. Real dried rose buds are hand applied and embedded into the candle wax, £72

2. London designer Nichollette Yardley-Moore collects pre-loved vintage fabrics, scarves and original flags which she then transforms into these one-of-a-kind cushions. Buy a cushion like this 1970's one to brighten up a dull sofa, £115

3. Refresh the look of your old wardrobe or drawers by replacing the knobs with this star shaped ceramic design from Zara Home, £4.99 for a set of 2

4. Use this cheeky bone china plate from Not On The High Street to serve biscuits and nibbles to your guests, £32

5. Store random things out of sign in these pretty French Style Nesting Storage Boxes from Not On The High Street, £24 each

6. Use this small Zara Home glass box for your cotton pads in the bathroom or just for some jewelry in the bedroom, £29.99

Home Proud: Serve me right

I've been collecting various sizes of vintage plates...the prettiest ones are hard to find but now modern brands are starting to do a great job on some beautiful and quirky dinnerware. I've been looking for trays and large serving plates for dinner parties, here is a selection of some cool options I found...

1. I discovered a great website called Dovetail-Living with interesting homeware and ideas, and this stag head tray caught my eye. Serve coffee and biscuits on it, or hang it up on the wall as a piece of art! £19

2. Also on Dovetail-Living, this small ceramic rectangular plate is perfect for bread, snacks or chocolates and the design enables it to fit into any home. It is hand made in Anneyron, France. £22

3. Another one on Detail-Living (can you tell I like it!) it's the brightest tray I've seen so far but even with the striking colour the victorian illustration softens it up a little. With the nautical theme, it would fit well into a sea side home or just a modern colourful house. £29

4. Love these upcycled vintage plates from Melody Rose. So cool and unusual, have been wanting to buy one for a while now. Models Design, £50

5. I'm a big fan of Zara and Zara Home, and this is just one of the beautiful things you can find in their Regent Street store that's reasonably priced. £29.99

6. This Delve Country Platter from Furnish is very plain but just as pretty. The dotted details and the victorian edge design makes it really special. £27

Images from respective websites

Note: Plate images might not be to scale

Home Proud: Flowers

Fresh flowers, faux flowers, DIY flowers...whatever you like, you must have some in your home! Flowers make me smile, and I love to get a fresh bouquet every saturday morning for the kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. There are so many creative ways to include flowers in your home, see some inspiration here...

Images from Breakfast at Yurmans, Style Me Pretty, Pretty Stuff, Decorators Notebook, Hananaa, Indulgy, We Heart It, and Walking in Louboutins

Home Proud: Get cozy

Who doesn't dream of having a little piece of India, Zanzibar, Egypt, Turkey or Thailand in their home? When I visited those places (and more than once for a reason!) one of the things I always remember are the cozy shisha cafes, big bean bags on the beaches and comfy restaurants that make you feel like you could stay there all night.

I would love to one day transform a room or a balcony into a sanctuary that reminds me of these places and the fun times, so I have a collection of inspirational images to help me get there one day! We already have a tall shisha pipe and big Egyptian rugs...now where to put them...

Images from Gipsy Village, The A Estate (+Elle Decor), Maluna, Ruffled, ImgFave, and That Bohemian Girl