Free Winter Botanical Phone Wallpapers • Ranunculus and Anemone collection

Let's start the week with something pretty!

I adore putting together these downloadable wallpapers, firstly because I feel it totally justifies my visits to my favourite local florist and secondly because it's one way I can say thank you for finding and following my blog!

I'm going to spend a little time over the next 2 weeks updating a couple of posts that are getting all the love at the moment, with a new set of glitter wallpapers and a long overdue #BacktoBasics photography post. 

I feel like I need a spring clean. Polish up a few posts, get up to date on blog admin and update my sidebar with new exciting things. Ooh if you use Bloglovin' you can follow me over there, finally claimed my own blog! 

These bad boys are right up there on my list of favourite florals, the Anemone's demand to be laid flat once they have opened fully and the blowsy Ranunculus heads make you want to fan them like you are racing through a picture flick book. (I must show Sammy how to make one of those - I remember making them at school, making a person dance across the pages!)

So download one or them all, just click on an image and it will take you to the original for you to save in your camera roll.

Happy downloading, let me know which one is your favourite. Are you for the bold and bright or are you a more muted colour palette lover?

Top of my floral favourites list are Peonies but we are going to have to wait a little for that wallpaper collection. Hurry up summer! 

If you share a photo of your screen I'd love to see!

You can find all my FREE wallpapers here. 

#HouseGoals • Country Garden Inspiration

If you've read the story about finding our forever house you'll know what had me at hello. 

We were actually en route to another house viewing having sort of ruled out this quintessential English country house on account of being listed. 

Having always loved living in new build-ish houses after our uni days the thought of taking on the responsibility of a listed property felt so enormous we had kept scrolling through the house listings even though in every other way it was the perfect house, albeit needing more than a little modernisation. 

We drove through the village tentatively, a surreal feeling of warmth swept over us and by the time we got to the house itself we both had the “this could be the one” feeling.

The garden got me. The huge peony bushes at the rickety garden gate, the creeping roses over the stone window frames and the view.

Some days, when a cupboard almost falls off it's hinges, or another tap starts leaking, it can feel like we haven't made much progress at all, but really we have done so much to make it feel our own and I want to share these changes in a new series of posts called #housegoals charting our inspiration and before and after transformations!

We love the garden it as it is, no wait we adore the garden as it is, but there are corners that have so much more potential. Trees begging for rope swings, a home made tree house for boys to climb in and fruit trees that drop the most amazing amount of apples, plums, pears and damsons, that I have to confess don't get collected and made into jam like they used to by the previous owners. My father in law does a good job pottering off to the bottom of the garden and coming back with the bottom of his jumper filled with apples like a carrier bag!

So now we have bigger still stripy boys running a muck, barefoot in summer and winter, I chase them down the garden path begging them to put on wellies or shoes, who love to hide under the low branches, and pretend to go camping in the long grass. 

There's two areas I would love to makeover for the summer. Last year we were away more weekends than we were at home and I could only count on one hand the number of times we ate at the garden table on the patio. Not for lack of good weather and balmy evenings but because we were racing around so much.

This year we've promised ourselves we are going to have an open house policy for the holidays and invite lots of friends and family to us! I want to make the most of the pergola and plant up some big containers on the patio to act as road cones and slow down the scooting that makes me gasp with fear when I see two boys head towards a flight of stone steps.

I am always searching the internet for inspiring garden ideas. Patio designs, beautifully symmetrical vegetable planters and lusting over those huge hanging egg shaped seats.

We went on a night away to Tetbury last year and spend hours going in and out of all the vintage and antique shops. Every one we went into was bursting with ideas for our country garden. 

I have this dream of collections of galvanised pots and old dolly tubs brimming with flowers, and a long metal table that can stay out all year, with metal folding chairs that I can make comfortable with squishy padded cushions in every colour of the rainbow.

country garden ideas (8).jpg

And lastly on my wish list is a quiet, tucked away greenhouse just like my neighbours.

Quite frankly I want to move into hers. Shelves for rows of old jugs, trays full of succulents, everywhere you look there is something so curious and intriguing. 

Whilst I may not be anywhere near as green fingered I really want to make the garden feel as much like us as the house does. We've planted a few extra bulbs, some more peonies at the back and the first of the new pom pom Dahlia bulbs we inherited from another generous neighbour flowered last summer. 

Oh and these beauties that grow at a local walled garden that I discovered last summer. I need them in my life!

It's a much bigger project, a garden rather than a room, but the results are everlasting. You don't want to change the colour of the turf as trends change!

What would you have on your garden wish list?

A collaboration with Homify

#CapturingColour January • Rose and Grey Winner

Well what a miserable month of weather in January in the UK. Grey skies, drizzle and days that seemed to get dark as soon as they had begun. My frame of mind is dreadfully affected by the weather. Even just a hint of sunshine makes me more cheerful. Which is why I am so thankful for every single almost 30,000 of you who have linked up to the #capturingcolour gallery on Instagram.

It is just amazing!

The gallery is bursting with inspiration from bright and bold candy pop colours to moody hues and everything in between. 

It is almost impossible to choose a grid to feature each month, I love them all, and I scroll through on my laptop and right click those that pop out at me, opening them in new tabs. Some weeks I seem to be mesmerised by florals, other weeks with people and places.

These have all made my January brighter. They've given me a boost of spring cheer in one of the darkest winter months. I look at them and feel happier, thinking about the moment they stopped to snap the photo, the holidays they were on, the errands. Each one tells a story and I make up the next bit in my head.

Go find them and check out their accounts for some colour inspiration.

I was lucky to collaborate in January with a wonderful online home ware company Rose and Grey, to giveaway a £100 voucher to our followers and highlight their range of affordable and stylish home accessories.

If you love the Scandi/Industrial style with a hint of femininity then this is the site for you.

Well done to Jody who is our winner.

Her beautiful still life felt like it was straight out a Rose and Grey shoot. Not a requirement to win obviously but it naturally caught our eye!

We loved the bold captures, the soulful sun streaked images but this one was so striking it just had to be the winner.

Delicate with layers of loveliness.

Find and follow her for gorgeous floral styling and country living. 

Thank you to everyone who joined in.

Now come and join in this colour loving community. I decided to stop the weekly themes last year to make the gallery as inclusive as possible and perhaps save them for special occasions.

So whether you favour bright and beautiful, monochrome or muted colour schemes join in by tagging #capturingcolour.

And here are some other fab hashtags to join in with too.

I love:

  • #colorcolourlovers - there's a new colour each week for the next few weeks - this week is pink!
  • #DScolor
  • #InspirationIsColour
  • #ColourMyJoy
  • #BBColourful
  • #ABMlifeiscolorful
  • #acolorstory - a must have new app from Elsie Larson founder of A Beautiful Mess. It's #acolorweek on Instagram this week so head to the hashtag to find the daily prompts. Make your whites white and your colours pop! I haven't stopped using it since I downloaded it on the day of release!

Any I am missing out on? Let me know.

Happy colour hunting everyone :)