I’m going to say something that might sound a little bit strange, given that a laminate floor company has asked me to write this post.

I’ve never really liked laminate floors.

*gasp*

I know, Floormaker are going to hate me. I mean sure, I know the benefits – they’re durable, affordable, easy to keep clean, great for families and homes with pets. I get it. But I’ve just never liked them.

But guys! It’s okay! Because I’m converted! I think the problem was that my experience of laminate floors has been of cheap, poorly fitted, badly designed floors. I never even knew that they could look good. But they can.

You can get laminate flooring in just about every style you can think of, including parquet style flooring, and all sorts of laminate designed to look like tiles.

Here are three laminate floor ideas though that you might not have thought of…

Laminate floor walls

I’m not sure I would ever think to cover a wall with laminate flooring but you can’t deny it makes a statement can you? I’m a big fan of wooden walls and ceilings. They make me feel like I’m in a holiday cottage in the 1980s.

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Have you ever wondered what it might be like to drive around in a conservatory?

No, I can’t say I have either to be honest. Until that is, we test drove the new Citroën C4 Picasso for the weekend.

Review Citroen C4 Picasso

I often find with newer cars that it’s very hard to see anything at all. They all seem to have these small, steep windscreens, which means you end up with very little visibility, wondering where exactly the car stops and starts and where you are on the road. I turn into an old lady, sat really far forward, leaning over the steering wheel trying to figure out what’s going on.

The Citroën C4 Picasso definitely does not have that problem.

Not only does it have a massive windscreen, but it has large side windows too, plus the sun visors can be slid back into the roof, giving you even more of a panoramic effect. (Very cool.) The end result is that you feel a bit like you are driving around a conservatory. View Post

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I’m not one of those people that’s massively into new clothes, shoes and handbags, but I DO love it when I discover a brand that’s not afraid of colour and pattern. If you were to open my wardrobe you’d see what I mean – I’m not even sure I own a plain black dress. Inside the wardrobe is just a mass of floral prints.

My new bits and pieces from Alice’s Pig fit right in.

Alice’s Pig creates vintage inspired clothes and statement pieces that have a lit bit of magic to them – think Alice in Wonderland, with an edge of sassiness. Dressed in something from Alice’s Pig, I feel you’d always be ready for an adventure.

Alice's Pig View Post

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That’s a song lyric, but it’s true isn’t it? When you find a pair of shoes that fit you well, and look good too, everything is right with the world.

Growing up, I was really hard to buy shoes for. I have weirdly different sized feet – my right foot is about a size bigger than my left – and my feet are quite wide too. (I’m painting a sexy picture aren’t I?) I can remember going to Street when we were little and trudging from shop to shop looking for school shoes that weren’t impossibly uncomfortable.

I’m not much better now. I pretty much always wear flats, and even the most sensible of shoes leave me with blisters when I first wear them.

I had a bit of a revelation a few months ago when I bought my first pair of Converse, aged 38, and so when Cloggs asked if we wanted to have a browse of their site and pick out a couple of pairs of shoes to try, I went straight for the Converse section.

Converse Cloggs View Post

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Looking for a healthier way to eat conveniently? Read my Everdine review and get a £25 discount code* for your first Everdine order. (*It’s actually £25.20, which brings the cost of eight boxes down to just £30. Got to be worth a try for that surely?)

I must confess that I’ve not spectacularly leapt onto the ‘clean eating’ bandwagon. To me, clean eating means putting your toast and chocolate spread onto a clean plate rather than just brushing the crumbs off a plate you find beside the sink.

I don’t think that’s the standard definition though, and it’s certainly not how Everdine defines it.

Clean eating is actually about eating as much ‘real’ food as possible – food in its natural state, unprocessed and unrefined. It’s essentially about going back to basics and eating as nature intended. I think. Although it probably helps with the general ethos to have a clean plate as well,

Recognising my strengths and weaknesses when it comes to food preparation, I’ve been trying out a new food delivery scheme from a company called Everdine.

Everdine review discount View Post

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Following the popularity of her review of the SpaceCot, Bee is back again with her new baby sister Martha, this time trying out the Sleepyhead Deluxe.

Sleepyhead review

After Martha’s first foray into the world of reviews with the SpaceCot, she’s back again in all her cuteness reviewing the Sleepyhead Deluxe!

The Sleepyhead Deluxe is great because not only is it designed to keep your baby safe and comfy when co-sleeping, but it can also be used in a cot to help your baby sleep better and to make the cot seem smaller, and it’s also perfect for learning stuff like tummy time and also just for relaxing on the floor without being able to roll away. View Post

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I’ve been very lucky as a parent that I’ve never had to take either of my children to A&E. They have been to the minor injuries unit a few times, but never for anything serious.

The first time I had to take Belle was when she was about seven years old. She had a friend over to play after school and they were busy in another room. Suddenly I heard this SCREAMING. Proper loud screaming that I’d never heard from Belle before. She was reluctant to tell me at first what the matter was, but it turned out that she had been experimenting with putting pieces of orange peel into her ear (?!) and a piece had got stuck. The more she tried to get it out, the further in it went, until it had became so painful that her only option was to scream until I came and sorted it out.

I couldn’t reach it, so we ended up going to the hospital. I had to sit her on my lap and hold her head still while the doctor fished about with some very long tweezers. It was actually a pretty horrible moment for me, as she was clearly in a lot of pain, and I was there, basically having to hold her in a headlock. Her ear bled a little as they got it out, but she as fine, and we all lived happily ever after. (The friend never came for tea again.)

Belle has had other problems with her ears over the years, and when she was only about four years old she actually had them syringed by the GP as she had a build up of wax. I don’t think doctors really like to syringe ears any more, so the next time she had the same problem we were referred to the hospital for ‘manual wax removal’. Sexy times. Unfortunately, about a week before our appointment, we had a letter saying that they didn’t have the budget for the procedure any more and so there we were, back to square one.

(Isn’t this just the most glamorous blog post you’ve ever read?) View Post

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Mum's List DVDI had a bit of a moment last week.

I watched the trailer for Mum’s List, which is released on DVD today. I got about 40 seconds in before I had goosebumps all over and tears in my eyes. I actually just got goosebumps again then, typing that sentence.

I dare you to watch it now and not feel moved, knowing that it is based on a true story:

What did I tell you?!

If you really want to finish yourself off, (which is what I’ve just done), then have a read of this feature in the Guardian, which is all about the real life events that the film is based on. View Post

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Today I have a review post from Bee, featuring her brand new baby sister! (On her Daddy’s side – I’ve not had a secret baby.)

I have a baby sister, Martha. She is small and very funny. Martha is only three weeks old. When she was born, we were all very surprised to see that she was a girl. Even though she cries a lot when she has to get her butt out, she is really so cute and I love her a lot. She is definitely in my top two favourite sisters. (I have two.)

Hippychick SpaceCot

Before Martha was even born, we were offered the chance to test out the super cool SpaceCot from Hippychick, an easy to use travel cot for babies. While Martha is still a little bit small to use it properly, we popped her in there to test it out and she had fun just chilling there in her room.

Recently I got a new camera so it was a great opportunity to take some pictures of young Marth in the SpaceCot. She was over two weeks late so we have been itching to try it out for ages! View Post

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There has been a smell of spring in the air over the last couple of weeks.

Do you know the smell I mean? I’m not sure how to describe it really – it’s not quite a warmth, but it takes the edge of the cold. It isn’t a sweetness either – more of a promise of sweetness to come. It’s a smell that makes you want to take a deep breath in and smile to yourself, a smell that makes you want to open a window and dust your skirting boards, in anticipation of a spring clean.

It’s the kind of feeling that inspires you to hang washing outside, even if it is still a little bit on the cold side. You want to wash your sheets and have them dry in the breeze, just to bring a little bit of the freshness into your bedroom.

Neutral 0% washing liquid sensitive skin
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This post about my new DFS sofa contains three of my favourite things:

  • Winter
  • Cosiness
  • Sitting down

I’m not going to be one of those people, and call it Hygge just because I put a blanket over my knees, (I ranted about this), but I will say that I do like a cosy winter’s evening at home on the sofa.

What’s not to love really? Christmas is all done, spring is on its way, and in the meantime you have an excuse to put your pyjamas on at 4pm every day. Snuggle up with a cocoa, light some candles and crack out the Fresh Prince back catalogue. (Sooo excited that this is now on Comedy Central.)

My snuggling has been severely impaired until now by the fact that our biggest sofa was also the least cosy sofa in the whole world. It had no arms, no squishiness – what on earth is the point of a sofa with no arms? You may as well just sit on the floor and lean against the wall. That’s not very cosy is it? That’s like being 13 and on a school camp in an old mansion house and hanging out on the floor in the corridor because you think you’re cool.

No more corridor floor chic for me though.

I’ve got a new sofa from DFS – the Zinc 2 seater sofa, designed by French Connection. You see how comfy yet stylish I look?

DFS Zinc sofa review View Post

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Today I’m doing a bit of a tech review, looking at the Philips driving video recorder.

Do you ever do that thing when you’re driving, when suddenly you feel super tired and your eyes become harder and harder to keep open? Around 2.30pm in the afternoon is my weak spot and a few times this year I’ve had to pull in somewhere for a power nap. It’s a bit dull for Belle when she’s with me and has to sit watching me sleep in a service station for twenty minutes, but I figure better that than driving her into the back of a lorry.

The weird thing about getting tired while driving, (or generally), is that often you don’t notice it’s happening. You forget that you’ve been on the road for two hours and you go into that weird semi-awake state of mind where you can convince yourself of things that aren’t actually true.

‘Oh no it’s totally fine to close my eyes on the motorway for a minute or two,’ you find yourself thinking, ‘because I have that magical goat that sits on the dashboard to take over when I get sleepy.’

Heads up guys, the goat is not real.

Instead of a magical goat though, you could get yourself a Philips driving video recorder.

The whole ethos of the Philips driving video recorder is to give you peace of mind whilst driving. Philips describe it as a ‘personal road safety guardian’.

Philips dash cam video recorder View Post

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