Fashion | Before Shopping for AW2016 plan this . . .

Before you hit buy on your next online purchase (or hand over the credit card in store) I want to ask you this question, have you planned for this wardrobe or are you buying on a whim?

If the answer is on a whim keep reading on as to how you can use planning to make an even better wardrobe than you have ever had before . . .

Three things to think through before you buy for a new season –

• What styles and features of your look do you always gravitate towards
• What colours do you love and pick out regularly and from the new season trends what will fit in seamlessly with this that you will love
• Thirdly what shapes and style suit you, your lifestyle and how do you wish to present yourself moving forward.
• Lastly of course we have, what do you already own?

I have shopped in all different ways during the last couple of years and the worst way to shop? When you are feeling low to make yourself better and when you shop without a plan.

1. Most recently I took to my own wardrobe to find repeat style ideas and combined it with what I saw on my Pinterest+ pins as to my actual style and what I actually like to wear. The three key themes I saw are outlined in these images. Structured clothes with a lose, comfortable element and something exciting. These three collages in fact sum me up perfectly and prior to this I had never even utilised this but now … now I have a perfect way to shop and get dressed in the morning.
2. What I also need to be really, really careful about is what does my life actually need? A massive fan of casual, comfy clothes I always have to be really careful to not overload my wardrobe and find that I can’t go to work in the morning for racks of leggings and no trousers! So be careful to shop for what you actually need. What my Pinterest pulling has proven to me is that I can mix my love of relaxed comfort with smart. I don’t have to look like I’ve rolled out of a hedge backwards! Its not a requirement!
3. Finally and I am so excited to do this is pull out your autumn winter clothes before you start buying. Remind yourself what you were wearing back in May, you might have forgotten that actually you have enough sweaters to sink a battleship and maybe like me you’ve invested in a load of skirts but only have three T-shirts (real story.) Remember what you own! And yes sweater and jumper season is my favourite time of year!

Leave your thoughts below on new season shopping and also let me know what you think of your own Pinterest boards! Are you pinning things wildly different to your own clothes or spotting patterns and likes? If your not a fan of blog commenting you can also tweet me! @JessicaAbigailL

Home Décor | Lessons in home ownership and not falling prey to Pinterest

(A blue so dark its black at night. I’ve paired this with so many patterns that it can make your head spin when falling into bed with a too big glass of wine firmly planted in your belly.)

Whether you’re renting, own a property or heavens, even live with your folks how do you think about buying furniture and designing a room?

I have heard so often and from so many people about how you should buy your larger pieces in neutral colours that I’m beginning to think that the whole world operates in monochrome. We are told daily, don’t buy that bright pink velvet chair unless you’ve got cash to burn. If I won the lottery I would . . . sort of thinking. Let me burst the bubble; you don’t have to play it safe.

During the house hunting process I had boards and boards of Pinterest with ‘minimalist’ design. I am talking full on grey as an accent colour style minimalism. It was fun, it was very capsule wardrobe obsession led but ultimately when I looked around at our existing furniture I realised, this dream of living the simple life was so not fun and so not going to happen!

In between these times I found, Abigail Ahearn and I quite frankly fell in love. She is this bold, experimental, love her colour, paint all your rooms dark designer and I fell really hard with her book, colour.

Within an hour I was thinking about bronze leaf kitchens, wood cladded hallways like a men’s smoking room and painting everything a dark moody blue. Suddenly I felt so revived that I went home to re-fall in love with our dark red leather couch. I re understood why I laid on our red and orange floral stool from my mums store in the middle of the showroom one afternoon. Quite frankly everything made sense in my world again.

(A floral velvet Chair from TK. I stood in the Wandsworth branch for a full ten minutes drooling. Wondering, how I could convince Josh that the £300 price tag was an investment and moreso how he should for sure detour from Maidenhead to Wandsworth to drive us, (me and the chair) back to our home in Kent that evening. Ultimately, I realised this wasn’t going to fly. Especially after six snapchats from different angles went ignored. Thats not to say I’m not still waiting, thinking that he might re stumble across these and shout, lets go! Need that chair! He won’t however, sad.)

I had gotten so tied into this idea that a Scandinavian home would make me happy. I forgot that this home is not for Instagram. It’s for us and we like to be brave with our choices. I’m not afraid of making our long galley living room feel smaller by painting the room aubergine and bronze. Just think how wonderful that colour is going to feel in winter when we are watching The Flash or Arrow buried under our mountain of pillows and the long haired faux fur throw that I have yet to purchase.

Suddenly it makes sense. A narrow, armless futon in a rough grey fabric will never make me happy, so we paint our house in all the colours. We look forward to not thinking about paying out for a wedding so we can buy occasional chairs in crazy coloured florals even when it doesn’t match the rest.

This by the way is home bravery and if you didn’t catch it, this is happiness.

(Zebra rug, probably for a childs bedroom. It looks far better under my dining table.)

One Skirt Three Ways

Hat: Accessorize

Top: Gap

Jacket: Zara

Skirt: H&M

Shoes: New Look

So today I just wanted to apologise for not being around more! What kind of a blog mother just abandons her blog like that? Well this one apparently. See, heres the thing. We are going to India! For ten days and its completely zapping my brain function. Mainly because we are going for Christmas so I have be trying (and failing) to fit in all my many christmas related business.

Christmas shopping, seeing friends, packing, buying flight socks . . . you know, the normal! I am currently both excited and petrified. Its a delicate line im walking but one I can’t seem to stop so my creative outfit side is well . . . a little lacking. Today im wearing an odd mix of grey strips (high waisted mid length skirt)/white cropped tee, cream socks and grey not sensible if it snows ankle boots and leggings (cause wrestling with tights this morning just wasn’t happening! Needless to say I’m a bit of a mess.

Thank god we still have part three of one skirt, three ways! Yay! Look out next week for holiday snaps! In the meantime though, find me on Instagram+ and Pinterest+ where I have a fresh Board just for the blog! You lucky things you!

A little Birdy told you . . .

A little Birdy told you . . .

That I have Pinterest!