Monochrome Kids Bedroom

As a mum, sometimes it would be nice to have an easy life, to not have to engage our sleep deprived brains too much when making important decisions – which is exactly why I love monochrome. It makes interiors shopping, styling and living just that much easier with the simple rule – black, white with an odd splash of grey.

In the same vein, it would be lovely to have the boys of this house agree on something, or just agree with me on ANYTHING. We seem to spend our days debating the finer details of… dinner, activities, tv channel or even toothpaste flavour. But I’ve cracked it, they all seem to like the idea of monochrome bedrooms. I’m not sure if this is down to a lot of subliminal messaging coming from my direction or whether they’ve secretly been stalking Pinterest in their spare time, but either way – I’m not about to argue.

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Mummy Shortcuts To Being a Domestic Goddess

One thing that seems lacking in the world of stay at home mums is the “well done” at the end of a long day – it’s a pretty thankless task. I find myself missing the office environment whereby if I achieved something, even small-scale, there’d be someone there with a nice pat on the back or even a bit of commission as a “brava, you go girl!”. Of course, comes the lifelong achievement of having hand-reared small humans into, hopefully, reasonable grown-ups – with the vague hope that one day (in a far-off, distant future) they might turn round and acknowledge that you did an “alright job” and they actually enjoyed their childhood.

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The Pleasures of Motherhood – Ironing & More

I think it happened somewhere between the episiotomy and the endless sleepless nights, a seismic shift in my pleasure receptors and what I consider a reward. Once upon a time I took great pleasure in travelling, new shoes, finding the right shade of lip gloss with a zero hair-stick factor – I’m not saying these things no longer give me pleasure, but these days they are considered more of a luxury. After having children, the little time vampires have an effect on how you view menial tasks; perhaps it’s because prior to the little second-suckers entering our lives we would freely roam super markets, taking minutes deliberating over which fresh juice one might prefer to sup in peace on a lazy Sunday morning, or leisurely separate, not only lights from darks but, silks from wool as we generously applied a suitable washing solution based on the fabric composition.

But not only do I dream fantasise of a trip to Waitrose (sod it, I’d be just as thrilled with a Lidl these days) on my own, for at least an hour, without having to separate what looks like Tyson Vs Holyfield in the bakery dept as my 7 & 8 yr old go hell for leather for the third time whilst childless twenty-somethings gawk in disbelief, but I find myself ranking household chores into things I must do first before I’m allowed to move on to the more “fun” tasks.

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Sunday Round-Up

Aaaaand, BREATHE! Bloody hell, what a week – I made it with all children and pets in tact! There’s been so much happening over here at The Only Girl that I feel like I need…

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Interior Trend: Family Friendly Marble

I’m super lucky that as part of my “day job”, that’s when I’m not being a mum, girlfriend, cleaner…. I get sent off to fantastical interiors shows, jammed packed with inspiration, trends, creative bods, ideas etc – however, one thing that quite often strikes me is that not many of the wonders I lay my eyes on are for the family home. Or maybe, that’s just at first glance?! I’ve come to the conclusion that there are family friendly, practical and beautiful items to be had, just not all on one stand and not in that particular context – after all, who would want to make a mother’s life easy right? It’s a bit like attending London Fashion Week and hoping to find something suitable for the school run – it’s about seeing what parts of the trend you like and making it work for your needs.

On a recent trip (yes, they very occasionally let me out!) I ventured to the mecca of interior and home designs for those in the know – London Design Week (LDF); one week in the year, when the hip, hot and down-right cool of the interiors world descend upon our capital to see what the designers, makers, creators and artisans have to offer for the coming seasons. A trend that we’ve seen time and time again in recent years, and shows no sign of waning is… Marble. Whether it’s being paired with inky blues or blush pinks, copper or brass, this hard wearing material wants to make its way into our homes whether we like it or not. “Oh, but that’s not a kid friendly material” I hear you cry – oh, but it can be. I’m a firm believer in just because we have chosen to bring little humans into this world and into our homes, our style and surroundings needn’t be compromised – the more you instill a sense of respect for their home, the more the wee ones might pay attention when you say – “don’t kick that ball at my Jonathon Adler vase”, or so the theory goes!

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