Making my little piece of the Caribbean in Dorset....... and DIY!!!

So it's a New Year and one of my main resolutions for 2017 is to sort the house out. We moved in in February last year.....so nearly a year, Yay! So with everything going on in our lives we haven't really had the chance, energy or money really to actually start decorating. I've got plenty of ideas, it's just getting it all done but we said it is a work in progress, Rome wasn't built in a day. So today was the first time we have set aside a weekend to get all the stuff we needed and the specialist paint to sort the issue out.

Yesterday we took all the Christmas decorations down and got some plastic boxes to store them properly...(we are taking this getting organised thing seriously too.) So they are now safely tucked up in their boxes for the next Christmas. We also put our lights away properly so when we get them out next time I won't have to spend an hour de-tangling them, I honestly wanted to cry when we got them out for this Christmas!! Right it was time to get on with the work on the house.

Day 1

So the decorations were away and the tree has gone(-rip) and everything was vacuumed and cleaned ready to go. We were ready to blitz the problem, armed with a strong spray to get rid of the marks we went to town. We scrubbed and scrubbed till our arms were sore. We gave the gym a miss as we were both cracked.

Day 2

We decided to do the painting today so we got a roller, a paint bucket and a paint brush to paint over the marks. We mainly focused on the bedroom ceiling because it was driving us nuts. We rollered the majority of the ceiling then just painting the edges and in the corners to seal it completely. It has taken most of the morning and a bit of the afternoon. We also did a few little problem areas around our flat that we had some issues with too.

Now then next bit is the fun bit because it's the bit I'm really good at, interior design. Then option is what colours to pick!! For Christmas I got a lovely book from my mum about coastal decor and ideas which is perfect because I am going for a coastal theme.

Right, well I think for the bedroom it's going to be yellow and turquoise like the Village houses in Barbados which was where we had our Honeymoon. I loved the colour palette of the houses and thought how lovely with would be to recreate it back here once we had bought our own place. Also who would suspect a little flat in Dorset would be a little slice of the Caribbean!!! You step into the hall and you are in your own little Caribbean haven.

OK, so coastal theme is a great place to start but that's very generic, I have broken it down into different types of coastal like my new book, so what am I going for?

Here are the options:

British Coastal- Beach hut colour palette, White washed colour palette , Fishing Village Colour palette, Vintage seaside town colour palette, Country Coastal colour palette. Coastal walk colour palette.

Mediterranean Coastal-Traditional Villa, Greece colour palette-just bright blue and white,

Caribbean Coastal-Bright coloured huts, St Nicholas Abbey colour palette (copper,large rum bottles, Barbados Village House colour palette (mostly yellow and turquoise.)

Tropical Coastal/Botanical-Bright flowers colour palette. Palm colour palette, Turquoise sea colour palette, Kew Palm House-inspired.

Hamptons Coastal-Relaxed/light colour palette, Boating colour palette.

Rustic Coastal-White wash worn look colour palette, Traditional Ceramic colour palette.

If you hadn't guessed by Blogmas or any of my other blogs I love bright colours and making a statement so why would our house be any different? For me, I think out of all the places I have been Barbados has a special place in my heart so if I can capture some of that in our home it will always feel like we're not that far away from being there. I like the Beach hut palette because there are pastel shades and vibrant colours that reflect my fondness for bright colours.

So for the hall I think Tropical Coastal/Botanical theme would be great a wow statement as you enter our flat and it was what I was already thinking for this part of the house. I want to set the tone of what to expect as they move through to each part of the house. This snippet of my Botanical board shows ideas for the hall, we have a high ceiling and a long feature wall we would use to create a statement. I also want to look into terrariums for the hall but also around the house. I had an idea inspired by a Childhood present from my uncle and our trip to St Nicholas Abbey in Barbados.

The rum bottles were the exact shape of my terrarium I had when I

was younger and I thought that was a brilliant way to tie both Botanical and St Nicholas Abbey theme I had thought for the Living room. I think the style of St Nicholas is Caribbean Downton Abbey.....!! I knew I could get Downton Abbey in our house some how!!! Haha!! I like the big copper old distilling pots which are now used for mini ponds!! I thought I could tie in the copper into our house in accessories. You might not be able to tell but one of the rooms who could look round has turquoise walls which is perfect for our theme.

Right off to create my little bit of Caribbean haven.

Toodles XX