Spring home updates and a wander round the shops

Happy Easter weekend everyone. After a week of mayhem in the office (it’s never good when a forthcoming Bank Holiday coincides with the end of a lot of clients’ financial years), I’ve had some serious disruption to my schedule. So here I am, blogging on a Bank Holiday. However I will be logging off very soon and I’m going to spend the rest of today deciding how I’m going to bring some spring home updates into our house.

It’s hard to believe that we still have log fires blazing in the rooms at the front of our house at Easter. We’ve usually brushed them down and blocked the chimneys by now. As I’ve said before, we tend to hibernate there in the winter months and the rooms are all decorated in rich jewel colours to reflect this. The more modern extension that we’ve aded to the back (and which you often see featured in my photos) is where we live in the spring and summer months.

It took a lot of time (and trauma) to build because our house is listed and so it was a struggle to come to an agreement with the planning department in terms of what we could do. Even though it was replacing old stone outbuildings, they insisted that it had to be built in complete contrast to the rest of the house which is Georgian. So only modern materials were allowed although we were able to incorporate some of the existing features such as the old village well (where you see me do my shoe shots) and the old stonework where the house ended.

As a result, I kept all of the decor neutral so that these features could shine through. It means it’s easy to change the mood of the space with the seasons. This spring I’m going to be bringing in fashion’s gelato colours. It will be a battle because Mr MC prefers things to match rather than contrast. However I reckon that as long as something pulls them together (shape / fabric / substrate) he’ll cope!

These cushions are great value and they have 20% off this weekend. They’re made from linen and so they will elude a summery vibe. There are ten colours to choose from and you can either work them tonally as seen here…

Linen cushions 20% off

… or go for the gelato concept here…

Linen cushions 20% off

Alternatively, better value still are these polyester cushions. They don’t have quite the same feel as the linen ones but if you’re just doing a quick update it makes it very easy. They would also be good to add a splash of colour to your garden furniture. There are 13 colours to choose from.

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Gelato cushions

Another thing we need to update is our towels. Again our bathrooms are neutral so the towels really pop and it shows when they’re past their best (often as a result of being stuffed into rugby bags. How hard is it to put your sports kit in the wash when you get home? Impossible seemingly..). There are 48 colours to choose from here, all with 20% off over the Easter weekend.

Egyptian cotton towels 20% off this weekend

We managed to complete our staircase renovation project just in time for Christmas. Now all that I need to do is create a montage of photos on the walls – I’ll show you the end result when that’s done. I’ve been busy setting aside great shots to put in a series of different sized frames like these which have 20% off this weekend.

Photo frames 20% off

My other project for the weekend is thinking about refurbishing our patio which really needs some tlc. So with the endpoint in mind when we are sitting in the summer sunshine sipping gin and tonic, I’ve realised that we have a gap in our glasses and need some gin balloons.

Gin balloons 20% off this weekend

I have all of my chicks in the nest for the entire weekend. They claim to be exhausted so they haven’t made any plans with friends. I suspect they are also saying this to ward off any ideas of a long family walk that I may have! We’re going to have a long lunch on Sunday which should feel quite special after our aborted Christmas Dinner when everyone was in the full throes of norovirus. I spent some time in John Lewis last weekend and I’ll tell you more about that soon but I just wanted to show you some of the things I found in their Easter pop up.

I’ve been reading reports about how Easter decorations are an area of exponential growth in retail. I must smugly point out that I was ahead of the curve, buying beautiful blown, hand-painted eggs on our honeymoon in Prague. However it’s clear that Easter trees are now a thing, as are Easter versions of Panettone.

La Columba Easter Cake

…and Easter crackers in the shape of carrots – these are so sweet!

Easter crackers

And of course lots of different kinds of chocolate eggs that are so much nicer than your average Cadbury’s. I’m scrutinising them because the eldest has a nut allergy so shopping for foodstuffs, particularly chocolate, always takes a long time.

So I am heading off now to have a relaxing weekend. Do I sound ancient when I say that I was slightly relieved when the party that we were invited to was suddenly cancelled? I need to spend some time at the homefront, shaking off the winter; clearing some of the clutter that has accumulated in small, sad looking piles; making some plans for good times ahead with family and friends and just enjoying the chipper company of the boys.

Before I go though, I just want to show you something that made my heart beat faster last night when I opened my new May edition of Woman and Home.

I can’t believe that someone has said I’m ‘amazing’ in print. I should now have it tattooed on my forehead for days when the boys roll their eyes at me! I’ve never really thought of myself as a ‘Social Influencer’ but if I am, I will continue to use it in reverse. Rather than trying to make readers think a certain way about things (perish the thought), I want to harness our collective intelligence here and make other people, especially retailers, think about us in a different way.

It’s humbling to be on the same spread as women who really do make a difference such as judges and air vice marshals – even more so when you turn the page and read about brilliant doctors. However I feel very honoured to have been chosen… and I only wish my mum was here to see it. It’s the kind of validation that would have made her very proud.

So with that I will leave you to your Easter weekend. Whether you have a religious perspective on Easter or not, I hope that Sunday brings us all a sense of rejuvenation. Enjoy at least one chocolate egg and I wish you either lots of fun or a complete rest – whichever you need most!

Easter flash sales

J Crew – 20% off here with code SPRINGTIME
Baukjen – extra 10% off sale items here with code SPRINGTEN (this includes both the pink and grey jumpers that so many of you ask about when I wear them – my best buy of the winter)
Mango – new mid-season sale stock here
LK Bennett 20% off everything here with code EASTER20
John Lewis are price matching lots of brand sales – full list here, they also have a big home promotion going on with lots of different offers listed here
Marks and Spencer also have a Home Event going on with 30% off furniture here and 20% off homewares here.
House of Fraser have a huge mid-season sale here with offers up to 60% off and an extra 10% off all orders placed online.

The best of the new collections

Boden have added a few extra pieces to their new collection here
Finery have released a new collection here and are offering free delivery on all orders for this weekend only
The White Company have released their new summer collection here
Whistles have a stunning new collection here – amazing colours
The new Warehouse summer release is here
Me + Em have a surprisingly colourful new collection here
And Other Stories have a new drop here

Disclosure: ‘spring home updates’ is not a sponsored post

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