This year has been a pretty big year house wise and budget wise. I bought my first house two years ago and since then, I've been saving up to re-do the garden and re-decorate the house.  Initially the plan was to just focus on the garden this year and do the redecorating when I had put aside to cover it all but that didn't go to plan....but I will share those reveal photos over the coming weeks.

The garden was my first priority. As you can see from the photos below it was very bland colour wise, and in need of a lot of tender loving care.  The washing line had been cemented in which made the garden look and feel much smaller than it was and on the bottom left of the photo you will see a brick box with some plants which jutted out which was more of a trip hazard than anything else.


This project was a first for me. I had never done any sort of landscaping design before and I had a fairly small budget which I needed to keep all this work within.  Starting was the hardest part. I knew that I wanted the garden to be low maintenance. I knew that I wanted some colour in there. I knew that I wanted to open it up so that I could make the most of the space during summer time and I knew I needed to keep within budget which meant I needed to do as much of it myself as I could and be a very savvy shopper.



Top Tips For Giving Your Garden A Makeover

• If you are on a budget do as much as you can yourself. |  Painting the fencing is one of the first things that I did and only took a couple of hours to complete.  Instead of paying for someone to come and remove the gravel that was down, I advertised on Gumtree and offered the gravel for free to whoever was willing to shovel and take it away themselves. Another trick is to use what you have where you can. Little things like this can end up saving you a bundle.
• When hiring, see a few different companies. | There was absolutely no way that I could have done all of this on my own so I knew that a portion of my budget would have to go towards getting someone else to carry out the work.  I was very surprised to see how much of difference there was in quotes between the different companies so make sure that you get two to three different companies in.
• When obtaining the quote, also ask them for ideas. | One thing that I did with each of the companies who came to give me a quote was to ask them what they would do if this was there garden. It was a great way for me to get some ideas but more importantly, a great way to see how they think and how they communicate this.
• Write it down! | This was a biggie for me and I wish that I had actually done this.  Once I hired the company to do the work, we talked through what I wanted and then I left him to it, thinking that he would double check if he felt he needed clarity.  This was not the case which led to a few instances of me feeling stressed and wondering if it was going to turn out how I wanted.
• Have the full design figured out before starting. | This helps to avoid duplicate or unnecessary spending.  As I mentioned in the first point, I offered the gravel to anyone who was willing to come and collect...however I later decided that I wanted to put some gravel down the side flower beds and ended up having to go out and buy several bags of the stuff.
• Be open to some changes. |  I knew that this would be a toughie for me. I had the exact picture in my head of how I wanted it to look once finished but due to a couple unforeseen things, I had to make some changes and be OK with those changes.
• Time spent shopping for the best price is not wasted time. | I spent hours on-line and in shops searching for the best prices for my supplies.  It saved me a load of cash and I felt better knowing that I was still able to come in within my budget.  

On Monday afternoon the house was finally finished and I made a start on the kit.  Seeing as I haven't attempted anything like this since being in school, I did what any modern, early thirty year old woman would do and spent some time on YouTube learning the basics of cross stitch. It took me absolutely ages to make that first stitch and an hour later I had managed to complete a whole two rows!
  


Tuesday afternoon I spent a few hours completing it. I wish that I could say that the bottom half went as smoothly as the top however I would be lying....lol. For some reason my counting was off and by the time it came to doing the back legs, I was improvising each stitch.  Up close you can totally see all the mistakes however from far, it looks pretty good.  I'm so please with how it turned out and can definitely say that while it was nice to try something new, taking up a hobby of cross stitching is not in my near future!

I am so pleased with how my garden has turned out so far and I can't wait to see it in full bloom.  As you can see, my back garden still requires a bit of work but I will get there in in the next few weeks. Hope you are enjoying the warmer weather as much as I am.

While that was drying, I found the quote I wanted to use and printed it out in the font and size that fit my canvas.

I then cut out all of the words and placed them on my canvas, adjusting them to get the right fit and the right flow.  Once I was happy with the layout, I took each word and shaded the back of it in pencil.


I then turned the page back over and traced around the outline of the text, leaving me with the below outline.


I really love how this has turned out and it looks great in my bedroom. Plus it cost me absolutely nothing to make as I already had all the items available.  This project is probably not one that you are going to do in one afternoon, but the time and effort it takes to complete is well worth it.

 
Having picked it up from the shop I set about putting it together and after a couple of hours and a pleading phone call to my dad, my cabinet was together and ready to be packed with everything that was sitting out in the open.



And then there is this little corner.  There is still more that I want to add as time goes on but I love it as it is right now.  A glass perfume bottle that I have filled with bubble bath, another glass jar in which I store my cotton balls, a Yankee candle I got as a birthday gift and a little sign to remind myself of what my bathroom time means to me.

I think it is has really come together nicely and while I still want to add a few things to the walls and the shelf, I can now tick one room off my home makeover list.

This is what my life has been revolving around for the past few weeks - packing, packing and more packing.
I love my little flat. I have been living in it for four years now and apart from the neighbors and not having a garden, it made me so happy.  But life moves on and so I am both ecstatically happy and very sad to share that I have purchased my first home and will be leaving behind this little flat. It truly is an end of an era.