Fire cracker 4

No, this isn’t the name of the new must-see film due to hit the big screen, it is the name of the must-see (and much talked about) spring feature colour from Dulux.

Fire cracker 4 - Spring colour from Dulux

Some of you will know that I am a bit of an interior design tart. I constantly update my home with touches of colour and new accessories and spend many hours glued to the home and living channels on Sky. I love home interiors. I adore seeing how a little bit of colour can completely turn a room.
As well as browsing the TV renovation show I have been known to hit the estate agent websites for inspiration. So many interiors that I can admire or look at and try and work out what it needs to bring it to life. I’m pretty convinced that in another life I will be a very famous interior designer.

Someone representing Dulux emailed me recently about their newest feature colour, Fire Cracker 4. Often I gloss over these emails but the colour jumped out at me. Fire Cracker 4 is bright, vibrant and very exciting! Would I use it in my house? Possibly, I’m hesitating only because my home is a very traditional home built in 1880 which needs a lot of light colours for people to appreciate the size of the rooms.  I would love to see it on the estate agent websites or on DIY SOS though because I’m sure that there is a way I could incorporate it into my home!


Such a gorgeous colour which could be used for a feature wall, inside glass front cupboards, for whole rooms or half rooms if painting up to a picture rail. This is a colour that an complete transform a room. If I used it I would couple it with bold textiles and smooth lines. Funky and modern is a good way to describe this colour yet in the right room it could also turn from invigorating to calming and restful as it is a warm and very versatile colour.

Would you use Fire Cracker 4? Could you see yourself with such a bold colour in your home? Feed my interior design love and tell me what you think of this season’s key colour and if you do like it, where you would use it.

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Has Britain gone to the dogs?

 

photo by Arthur Guy via PhotoRee

It would seem so wouldn’t?

Riots, the economy, the state of our armed forces that are being cut regularly, political scandals and more. The UK hasn’t had good press the last few years has it? Unemployment levels are at a record high, the housing market is in a state and British weather, lets face it, is rubbish!

Is it time to pack up and leave for more prosperous and possibly warmer climates? Some have already decided to leave the UK and start again elsewhere.

Would I consider emigrating and starting fresh? Absolutely not and here is why. Britain is struggling a bit but she’s ours and I’m proud, despite recent and well documented events, to be called a Brit. We have some great things here that get forgotten in the presence of not-so happy times. The NHS for one. Yes they are understaffed and the system isn’t perfect, but who else can boast that they have access to free and quality healthcare 24hrs a day? The NHS has been a godsend for me and my family on several occasions.

Our armed Forces, police service, firefighters and other emergency services do an absolutely stellar job. The Riots were a terrible time for all but were a shining example of how our boys and girls in blue can really pull it together.

The community spirit you see on a daily basis, not just the publicised times such as, again, the riots or during floods, can be heart-warming. Down at the core we have what is important.

The riots, so fresh in my mind are an easy example, and the opinions that our youth is damned, they they are “all” less than they should be saddened me. The majority of Britain’s youths were not involved in rioting, we have not got a damaged generation that will bring our country to it’s knees in a few years. There are shining examples everywhere of fantastic undertakings from our younger society members. Don’t write them off just yet!

Are we irreparably damaged? No, I don’t think so. Despite our troubles we are much better off than many countries and if you look back at history we’ve risen and fallen over time but have always picked ourselves up as a country, dusted ourselves down and soldiered on. Yes change needs to happen, and little by little it will, although possibly not as quickly as we’d like, but we’ll get there again. We don’t have a great empire anymore, we don’t own half our natural resources anymore but we do have something very special that no-one can sell on, our pride.

It’s called Great Britain for a start folks and I for one am proud to call myself a Brit.