Inspiration: Host a House-warming

So this weekend officially marked the first party ever held at my boyfriend's new flat...

House-warming parties are a great way to get all your friends over to see the place at once and an amazing excuse to throw a party. January may not be the most popular time for drinking but a sunny celebration is a great way to inject some life back into everyone's lives when Summer seems so far and the holidays have just gone.

And I do know how to throw a party if I do say so myself so here is my round-up of inspired ideas. I tried to do a bit of a tropical/ Mexican fusion theme to transport people to a bright fiesta vibe.


Loaded sweet potato fries 

(Tip; use salad servers and cute paper plates for less messy eating)
Serve with easy pizza, pasta sharing dishes for ease- you can 'Mexicanise' these by layering pizza with cheese, peppers, black olives, avocado, sweetcorn and red onion and adding chicken and fajita-mix into your pasta dish.

Source: Lauren Caris Cooks

Add an ice-breaker in the form of a moustache

Source: ucreateparties.com

Tequila & Lime Jelly shots

Source:A life of geekery

Popcorn favours

Myownlabels.com

Mexican chocolate and dulce de leche sandwiches for dessert

Source: The Beach House Kitchen

Make a small bedroom feel like a luxury hotel room

With my first little interiors project nearly finished, I thought I would share my experience with one of my biggest goals. I wanted the apartment to feel like a peaceful haven and one of the things I particularly wanted to do was to create a bedroom where you could get the best nights sleep. For me, I never sleep better than when I am in a luxury hotel room so I worked hard to try to recreate this feel. I thought I would share some of the ways I tried to achieve this and a few extra tips I would go to next time.

So here is your checklist:


Wall Lights

Wall lights make a great modern little feature and are perfect for a smaller room where you don't want big overbearing lampshades.



Large Painting

Traditionally paintings were a sign of wealth, so a large piece of art makes us think of luxury. With modern abstract paintings, you can really use them to pull together all of your colours or add some interest into an otherwise quite plain room.



Textured wallpaper

I love, love, love textured wallpaper. It creates a warm and homely atmosphere without taking away from the clean hotel look we are going for.



Statement Headboard

A recent trend has seen headboards turning into headwalls which is something I'm totally for. But, whether all the way up, all the way along or just there, a headboard is essential to a good luxe bedroom.



Crisp sheets

Probably the most important thing in practical terms and you'll be surprised the difference you feel getting into bed.



Luxury Bedspread

An easy way to dress up your bedroom every morning.



Occasional Chair

Great for putting on stilettos and also adds a little plush to the room.



Mirror 

A mirror opens up even the smallest rooms and doubles the size visually.

White Chocolate almond butter cups

My favourite food 'genre' is a pretty odd one. I am obsessed with healthily unhealthy food, be that in the form of chocolate covered salted almonds, deep fried and tempura sweet potato- and pretty much anything with peanut butter or avocado!

In January, we are all a bit freezing and a little bit blue but also on a mad detox afer the festive season. So considering that gruelling combo, right about new seemed the perfect time to showcase my most recent discovery- white chocolate almond butter cups truly is the perfect blend of  Reeses-decadence and health.

Quite frankly January is calling out for some guilty treats disguised as a superfood. So here's my recipe...

Source: Blissful Basil

You will need:

175g white chocolate 

1/2 teaspoon of coconut oil

2 big tablespoons of almond butter

Sea salt flakes

Melt the white chocolate and coconut oil to liquid, I do this with short burst in the microwave but a bain-marie is probably the 'proper' way 

Spoon equally into small cupcake cases, leave about a quarter

Dollop in equal amounts of almond butter to the chocolatey mixture

Make sure the almond butter dollops are covered with the remaining chocolate

Put in the fridge to set for about 30 minutes and top with sea salt flakes

If covered and stored in the fridge they will last weeks.

There you go, easy peasy... January blues be gone!