Candyfloss & Dreams

Tag: collaborative post

  • How Using Blue Revitalises Your Home In 2017

    This is a collaborative post.

    We think of the colour blue for many different reasons: the colour of the sky, the way water shimmers at you, it’s even the metaphorical way to describe to others that we’re feeling sad. However, the use of both bright and warm blue hues in our homes is at the forefront of the design trend this year, so below are a few styles to include in your next home improvement scheme to bring out that true blue feeling.

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    Loving Leather

     

    We all know leather is super stylish, and offers an extra element of chic or refined furnishing depending on the style you go for. Buying something like a comfy blue chesterfield sofa is the chessmaster in this blue revolution. Upgrading to leather furniture is a great move during the summer. A lot of allergy sufferers will be in full sneeze swing at this time of year, so sitting on a material that doesn’t collect dust mites will be a great benefit for them.

     

    Coating your living room in blue items such as cushions is a great way to incorporate bright colours as well as a relaxed feeling into your home. Similarly, decorating with darker lampshades can offer a cool haven away from the burning summer sun whilst your lights are both off and on.

     

    Designer Denim

     

    We tend to think of denim as a 2000s trend that a lot of people don’t wish to remember. It’s been making a comeback recently, and with good reason! Denim washes are a relaxed colour and won’t have a damaging impact to any open space in a room. They can often come in ‘misty’ shades which will add both a light and dark influence, and look good as a feature wall base. It’s a great way to welcome family and friends alike, and can add a personal touch to ceilings or floors with paint and rugs.

     

    Denim is great for upholstering chairs to add a suede look to them. But if all out denim still makes you uncomfortable, the effect can often be faked as well.

     

    The Cobalt Revolution

     

    A lot of people love the colour blue; it goes well with so many other colours, and adds a modernistic turn to a space if paired with white. If you’re a fan of bolder colour statements, then using a shade such as cobalt is a great way to add life to a living room. It can also bring in a touch of the exterior, with many of us seeing oceans and rivers when we look at it.

     

    Cobalt blue also works as a great accent colour, and was employed to full effect as one last season. Professional designers are a big fan of the shade due to its versatility and multiple style combos.

     

    Blue will always be a colour that’s in style, and common and calm enough for all types of people to use it. Consider these helpful tips if you want to overhaul your living room to add in some blue renegades this summer!

  • 4 Ways To Make Your Life More Convenient

    This is a collaborative post.

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    We could all do with more hours in the day and more hands to get everything done. So if you are looking for ways to make your life just that little bit more convenient read on for some of the best and most simple ways to do just that.

     

    Plan Your Week In Advance

     

    One of the things that can really stump us, in how productive our weeks are, is when things constantly crop up and throw us off track and distract us from getting all those things done. Therefore planning your week in advance is a really good way to make sure that you get all your tasks done and that all your meetings, appointments and work get ticked off the list. You are so much more likely to get everything done if you can see, right in front of you, what needs to be ticked off your list as your week goes on. So get a really good calender and the moment something comes up, get it down in the calendar, give it a specific day, and even a specific time if necessary, in order to ensure it doesn’t get forgotten about.

     

    Video Doctor Appointments

     

    Instead of spending hours waiting in a busy doctors waiting room, there is now the possibility to download doctor apps, that will allow you to have a doctors appointment all from within the comfort of your own home. Downloading an app like, GP at Hand, will allow you to simply go onto your app, request an appointment and wait for a doctor to get back to you and let you know when your video appointment will be. Pretty darn convenient for busy mums and busy people in general.

     

    Carpool

     

    Carpooling with other people is a great way to share the burden of busy commutes and to share the responsibility of the daily school run. Pooling together with either colleagues or other mums in your local area is a really good way to share the amount of time we spend either ferrying around the children, or the amount of time we spend driving in our cars getting to and from work. It is a great way for mums to support each other and it is a great way for colleagues and friends to share the burden of heavy and stressful work commutes.

     

    Task Managers

     

    Sometimes we just need to put our hands up and just accept that we can’t do everything and that we can can’t juggle 10 different tasks in our heads at any one time. We are going to forget things and things are going to accidentally fall off our ‘to-do’ list. So for those that struggle with remembering all the many weekly tasks, make your life that little bit easier by downloading a task manager app. Apps like Evernote, allow you enter important tasks, that will send you alerts to remind you and it will also allow you record down all your really important information that you may need at a moment’s notice. So look into task manager apps that will make you feel so much better equipped to be managing the day to day tasks in your life.

     

  • Fantastic House Moving Tips That You Have Probably Never Thought About

    This is a collaborative post.

    We all know moving house can be very stressful, and there is loads of advice online as to how you can make life easier for yourself in the process. We have already given you our stress-busting tips on this site. However, to be original, we have decided to come up with some clever ideas that you have probably never considered. So, without further ado, let’s get packing… erm… We mean cracking!

    Fill your socks

    Not only do you need to pack your socks, but you also need to pack up your fragile glass items. Kill two birds with one stone (not literally, that’s cruel) and use your socks as extra padding for your breakables. You might still want to use bubble wrap or extra tissue paper, but your socks will add extra protection. Hint: think of the germs and use clean socks if you intend to drink out of those glasses when you get to your new property.

    Use beer crates for your books


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    Avid readers will need to put their favorite books somewhere, but cardboard boxes may not be strong enough to hold the weight. Instead, use wooden beer crates which are more durable, and have handles on the side to help you carry them. Make sure you remove (or drink) the beer first, however, as you don’t want to ruin your copy of Fifty Shades of Gray with fifty shades of alcohol!

    Take a photo of your tv wires

    Unplugging the wires from the back of your tv is one thing, but remembering where they go again is quite another! Considering the number of appliances you probably have plugged in, from your DVD player to your games consoles, having a handy photograph of what goes where will help you untangle your memory when you get to the new house.

    Hire a cleaning crew

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    You have so much to do on moving day that cleaning the home may become an afterthought. However, if you are renting your property, you won’t get your deposit back if the house is a mess. Therefore, hire an end of lease cleaning service to reduce your burden, or get your friends and neighbors in to give you a hand.

    Cut down on boxes

    You probably have loads of storage containers you haven’t actually thought about. Picnic hampers, laundry baskets, suitcases, and litter bins are just some of the items that could be filled with your essential items. Please note: ensure the cat hasn’t made a home in one of them, as you don’t want a flat packed kitty on your hands when you start to unpack later in the day.

    Use toothpaste on nail holes

    Your paintings look great in the house until you remove them and you are left with unsightly holes in the wall. Provided the toothpaste matches the color on the wall, squirt a little in, wipe away the excess, and you will never see the holes again! Admittedly, you won’t see them anyway as you will have long gone, but if your new property smells minty fresh you will know why!

    Let me know if you have any original and creative tips for moving day.

  • #TheModernMarriage – What does Marriage Really Mean Today?

    #TheModernMarriage – What does Marriage Really Mean Today?

    This is a collaborative post.

    When I was around 7, my parents divorced. It was pretty uncommon when I was still that young but it happened. Most of my friends parents were still together, most of my family were still together. I was shocked and it kind of stopped my belief that marriage is forever. In fact now, I’m here at 28 years old with a child, never married and not with her father but in a happy, committed and loving long term relationship. I have a lot of friends who have been single parents, second time marriages or are going through divorces. #TheModernMarriage really does look into all the different styles of families we have in today’s society.

    I’ve never really seen marriage as a romantic notion. Perhaps that’s because of my parents divorce. I do like the idea of marriage and I want to be a married women…one day…but not because I hold traditional values but honestly because I feel I just want that partnership. I also see marriage as a way of gaining tax relief and an easier way of getting a mortgage. I see marriage as a contract between two people to agree that they will create a life together, live in compromise and reduce a bit of the general stress on life with each other.

    I know Adam and I will be a great partnership, because we already are. Traditions these days are so different to how they used to be. We’ve been living together for four years, raising a family together and sharing in the household finances. Isn’t that really what a marriage is all about? When we do decide to get married it won’t be a big affair, I’ll be looking to do something quick, easy and simple. I’ll be looking to create a lovely day full of happy memories for us but I won’t be going all out. We are both opposed to religious ceremonies and spending a lot of money because to us, it just isn’t practical. I also think that as we’ve lived and been together for quite a while, there won’t be any suprises after we’re married. We’ve already got to know each other’s bad habits, we’ve had the arguments and we’ve made hard decisions together. We are already a partnership and marriage won’t change that but I do think it will make us feel like a stronger family unit.

    The Modern Marriage Infographic

     

    Here comes the stats…

    Slater & Gordon recently carried out a survey to find out what the modern face of marriage really is and the results are in…

    • 69% of people believe the biggest benefit to marriage is the commitment to a relationship…

    • …whilst 42% see increased financial security as the main benefit.

    • 53% of those surveyed believe they would (or did) choose a civil ceremony as opposed to a religious one.

    • Out of all those surveyed, 54% of people have experienced a close family member getting divorced.

    • 23% of people have been divorced themselves.

    • 69% of people believe there is less pressure to get married compared to 10 years ago.

     

  • Fitting Your Child’s Needs Around Your Hectic Lifestyle

    Fitting Your Child’s Needs Around Your Hectic Lifestyle

    This is a collaborative post.

    Life is pretty intense when you’re a parent. You’re juggling a job, a household, a relationship, and trying to be a parent all at the same time. It’s not easy by anyone’s standards. While parents can keep everything more or less together, there’s always the chance that they’re overlooking a key part of their child’s development, purely through a lack of time and too much stuff going on. But there are ways to streamline the essential aspects of being a parent, building them around your hectic lifestyle.

    Source: Pexels.com

    Managing Playtime

    All children love to play, but when a parent gets home from work, they’re usually too tired to play with them. The key here is to essentially make your child do all the work. If you don’t have the energy to match theirs, simply lie on the floor next to them; they’ll provide all the energy necessary. They might just be climbing over you, but it’ll be fun to them. This of course only really works with small children – you don’t want a grown child jumping on top of you!

    Keeping Their Health in Check

    We think of children as naturally healthy because they’re always playing, but they still need to be educated about diet and lifestyle, and they also pick up a fair few bugs and illnesses just through the course of school life. If you’re always busy, you won’t have always have the time to take them to the doctor to get these illnesses taken care of. Instead, streamline the process by having an online GP at hand; they’ll get the medical advice they need, and you’ll have peace of mind without losing some of your precious time. You can also ensure they eat correctly by learning to cook a few simple, healthy meals. It doesn’t take as much time as you might think to prepare healthy meals for the family!

    Keeping Things Simple

    Your child has plenty of needs that come naturally; they don’t always need new ones invented more for them. While it’s a good idea for them to have extracurricular activities, if they’re learning to play the violin, learning Spanish, and joining a sports team then they’re probably doing too much. These things are usually enforced by the parent; instead, ask them to select one or two activities that they really enjoy. They’ll develop a stronger connection to that activity, and you won’t have to run them around to a host of different lessons multiple nights a week.

    Being a Relaxed Parent

    Your life is hectic; you do not need to be. Children learn a lot from the way their parents act, and if you’re constantly on edge, acting frantically, then your child might too. This will only make the problem worse if you’re trying to keep everything under control, but both you and your child are not relaxed. Instead, try to maintain a calm demeanor in life. You can’t always control one happens to you, but you can control how you react – and it’ll make life much more enjoyable.