We hadn’t planned on updating the carpets straight away and were going to make do with the rather funky green carpet in the living room. However once we got the keys to the empty property we realised just how manky the bedroom carpets really were and decided to replace some of most of carpets straight away. We went to the local Franks Carpets round the corner from us and picked up a few samples. There wasn’t too much choice in line with our 0 budget and we ended up choosing 2 different styles, one for the living room and a different one for the bedrooms.
To save money we got rid of the old carpet ourselves, but due to time restraints we left the installation of the new carpets to the professionals.
Having removed the carpets and falling in love with the look of the wooden floor boards, we were a little sad that we did not have the time or finances at that point in time to restore the floor / put new wooden floors down. I suppose that’s a dream that can still be fulfilled in the future and for now the new carpets were a much needed and welcome improvement.
We had a good week overlap between getting our keys to the new house and having to hand back the keys to our old rental. Although it was nice to not have to move in 1 day and feel like we had a bit more time, it still ended up being an extremely stressful week especially when we decided we needed the carpets replacing and ideally before we moved all the furniture in.
But we ended up being really lucky, as Franks Carpets managed to squeeze us into their schedule on the Thursday, the day before we’d hired a van to move all the large furniture across. This was great as it meant the house was still pretty much empty allowing for a quick and easy carpet installation.
Here’s the after shots – such an improvement.
Living / Dining RoomMaster BedroomOffice / Art Studio
Well it really has been a while since I last took to WordPress and my blog. I’ve missed it and I’ve finally taken the plunge to get it up and running again. I’ve updated my site and plan to ease my way back in slowly. I’m hoping that starting my hobby again will encourage me to get out more, explore, make memories and give me a way to let my creative juices flow.
So brew yourself a coffee and let’s catch up!
A lot has happened since I first began this blog in 2017; here’s a whistle-stop tour. At the time I was crashing at a friends and working part time in a cafe in Durham as well as part time for my dad’s coffee house. I then moved into a house share round the corner and was lucky enough to find a great friend in Jess, the other girl who moved in.
After a couple of years I was able to join my dad full time at his cafe and we also began planning a new business venture together – roasting our very own coffee. Time ticked on, and as much as I loved Jess, I started feeling like I was ready for my own place and thus, after some searching, moved to a wonderful townhouse on the other side of Durham. The move also meant I was closer to work and my parents as although I had finally started driving lessons, I still hadn’t got my license yet and was relaying on dad to scoop me up to and from work.
Not long after I moved however, and just as dad and I were ready to launch our new coffee roasting venture, the dreaded C word took over the world. I went through a somewhat tumultuous time. In some ways I had a great furlough time setting into my new house and enjoying many a sunny afternoon in my lush big new garden, but at the same time I also fell into some extremely unhealthy habits and routines being suddenly all alone. It was a yo-yo of emotions of highs and lows.
Eventually though, things slowly began to open up again and the road to normality seemed unveiled. We opened the cafe on weekends for take-out coffees and cakes, whilst running our coffee roasting business Durham Coffee during the week, primarily launching as an online platform. As things continued to return to normal, we soon realised however that it was going to be too much to run the cafe and roastery at the same time and we came to the decision to sell the cafe and concentrate on roasting.
During this time I had also put myself back out there hoping to make new connections. And one day, when restaurants were open again and meeting up was allowed again a Hinge date with a wonderful guy named Luis forked a new path in my journey. What was supposed to just be lunch ran into a lovely evening out and was soon followed by date no.2 in my garden drinking wine, playing Banagrams and cooking dinner together. Although in many ways we were very different, we also just worked. He made me feel at ease, loved and accepted and was especially patient and understanding with my anxiety; it was no surprise that a few dates led to us already moving in together about nine months into our relationship.
Not long after our first anniversary we got the cutest addition to our wee family, a gorgeous little show cocker spaniel pup who we named Maya (you can check our her adventures on Instagram at @mayatheshowcocker). A year later we also unexpectedly (as it hadn’t been in our immediate plans) ended up buying our first house together which we are now in the process of slowly renovating as it was/is stuck in the 70’s.
And there you have it; a whistle-stop tour of my main life events between 2017 and 2024. Coming back to blogging now I don’t want to tie myself into a specific blogging category, but rather narrate, as my name Simply Carina xo aims to suggest, the simple everyday of my life. From renovation blogs to favourite recipes and travels with my family. Thank you for reading, it’s nice to have you along for the ride!
For Christmas a friend of mine gifted me with one of her beautiful handmade face & body creams. As I still had plenty of face creams open at the time I didn’t use it immediately. I was excited though because it smelt divine!
Now I know this review won’t be of much use to you as it is not a cream you can buy, however I’m so in love with it that I had to share!
It’s a thick cream but softens quickly through the warmth of my skin making the application nice and easy. At first I thought it would take forever to sink into my skin as it seemed somewhat oily once applied, however to my delight I was mistaken. It soaks up quickly and leaves my skin glow and smooth. What I also love is that it still feels like my skin can breath unlike some thick creams which feel like they leave a layer on my face. Best of all because it’s homemade there’s no nasties or preservatives in it, just natural goodness!
So as you can see my beautiful readers I’m in love with this cream and hope my friend will keep making it for me once this little tub of gold has run out!
Halloween is one of my favourite times of year in part because I love dressing up and having some fun with face paint! So with only 5 days till the 31st here’s an easy skull inspired makeup look – hope you enjoy!
You will need:
White face paint – black face paint – a little dish of water – black liquid eye liner – black pencil eye liner – dark grey/black eye shadow – white eyeliner – black mascara – makeup brush – beauty blender/sponge
Fresh faced – make sure you have washed you face and moisturised it before you begin.
Start by wetting your makeup brush to dilute the white face paint and apply all over your face and down your neck. Use the beauty blender/sponge to pat out any brush strokes and blend the paint into you neck.
Next use the black face paint and apply similarly to your normal contour lines (as well as encircling your eyes in black) before blending in with your sponge. Tip – do one contour line at a time and blend in with sponge; if you paint on all the lines first they will dry very quickly and prove difficult to blend!
Once the basic contouring is done, keep layering on the colour till you have the depth you want before setting in with dark grey/black eye-shadow. Next grab your black liquid liner and paint on the nose bone or rather lack of and go on to blend your eyes into their dark surrounding with your pencil liner. Use it to fill in your eyelids and darken your waterline. Now it’s time to use your black mascara to define and darken your eyelashes.
And last but not least take your liquid liner again and draw on the stitched up mouth – start with the horizontal line before adding the smaller vertical lines. Remember to take the horizontal line all the way from right to left and over your lips not just from the corner of your lips outwards.
And there you have the final look! Nice and easy and quick!
I am currently away in Coldigham, Scotland, for my best friend Emily’s Hen Do! I shall tell you all about it once back, but for now I wanted to share with you the Hen Do goodie bags I made for the weekend. Emily wanted a bit of a spa vibe for the weekend as we have a hot tub at the house we’re staying in, so I have created the goodie bags with the wellness and pampering in mind.
Bath Salts: I spotted some test tubes filled with bath salts on Etsy and thought they’d be cheaper to make myself rather than buy. So I bought a massive pack of test tubes from Ebay as well as two different bath salts, Epsom and Himalayan and then some dried rose petals for the extra prettiness factor. I thought this was the cutest idea and I love love love the results!
Incense: Who doesn’t love incense, it’s the perfect way to add some atmosphere and relax, whether it be in the bath, whilst doing yoga or just chilling with a book or some music!
Throws: May seem like a random choice and it was a spontaneous buy aha, but I just fell in love with these little throws from non other than Poundland! Our cottage is just a short walk from Coldingham Bay beach so these throws can have multiple functions from beach towels, yoga mats or throws to snuggle under when we watch movies sitting in front of the log burner!
Vegan Truffles: Emily is vegan and so we are making the whole weekend vegan. So of course I had to ask Anna the friend I’m living with at the moment, to make me some vegan truffles for the hen do. She is a chocolatier and her chocolates are amazing!! And you can’t have a goodie bag without a little treat now can you?!
Tea Tubes: Again another idea I saw on Esty and loved. I also decided I could make these myself too. I got the loose tea from my dads cafe, a delicious Blue Lady and a Green tea.
Badges: Emily is turning into a bit of an eco warrior and so I thought although I know they won’t look as good as bought ones, I’d recycle some bottle caps and turn them into badges! Not amazing aha but ok I think!
Well guys I hope you enjoyed this post and are having as fabulous a weekend as I am!
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