A More Modern Cladding Effect

As most of my readers know I am something of an interior design tart. I am a keen watcher of everything from Kirstie’s Handmade to DIY SOS and love to dabble in new design styles. Pinterest is a great source of inspiration as are the design blogs I love to read and one curious “comeback” style I have stumbled across recently is the new popularity surrounding wall cladding.

 

It turns out cladding is quite popular these days, this is just one of the many cladding-inspired pins on Pinterest at the moment.
It turns out cladding is quite popular these days, this is just one of the many cladding-inspired pins on Pinterest at the moment.

For many, wall cladding invokes images of dark dingy wooden cladding in stuffy drawing rooms however times have changed. I saw several cracking pictures recently of how cladding changed a room when I was researching the new colours for my living room (grey/yellow/mustard but don’t tell Roy, I haven’t told him yet I’m changing the colour scheme again).

When the Decor Cladding Centre was introduced to me I was tickled to find that what I thought of as cladding, while not as old fashioned as some views, is actually quite modern and that you are now even able to get bathroom cladding and bathroom wall panels which completely change the way that your bathroom looks and yet is not susceptible to mould and the other nasties that comes with being in a warm and damp environment such as a bathroom.

There certainly seems scope for cladding to change a lot of rooms in a dramatic way (great if updating a property for example) and this is something I may well look closer at in the future, especially instead of replacing tiles!

cladding main

*This post was written in collaboration with the mentioned business yet is true to my own thoughts, feelings and experiences. It turns out that I do actually get most excited by the idea of cladding and other such interior design related things things.

Leisure Time

Yes, leisure time. I am Mum to two young boys, I work full time from home, I have a gorgeous house to run (thankfully I also have a wonderful husband to help me out here!) and there is always something else to keep me busy. Recently I have altered my working hours though so that I am able to do all of this and even squeeze in a bit of “me” time.

Friend have told me that I need to get out more. Go for a drink, a run (unlikely) or maybe even join a club of some sort. As well meaning as these wonderful people are, at the end of the day if I haven’t an urgent piece of copy to write for an impossibly tight deadline and the boys are all clean, warm, comfy and asleep all I want to do is flop!

My evenings off are precious and instead of gathering the energy together to drag myself out of the house again I choose one of the following:

TV time with the Hubby
Fortunately Roy and I enjoy (mostly) the same type of movies and TV shows. Sci-fi, crime, drama and all that sort of stuff is just our sort of thing. Walking Dead, The Following, pretty much anything from Alibi, Game of Thrones (roll on April!) and for me NCIS, Call the Midwife or anything remotely period drama is just perfect when cuddled up on the sofa with buckets of coffee.

Online Games
I’m not a big gamer as such however do enjoy the odd hour playing bingo games. I’d be no good in a real casino but online bingo can be a bit of a laugh, even the free games and I find them quite relaxing.

Reading
I love to read. Whether it is my Kindle or a “proper” book that grabs me doesn’t matter, there is nothing quite like losing yourself in a good story. Again, I like a variety of genres from crime, psychological thrillers, chic lit and historical books. There is something almost sinful about sneaking off upstairs to climb into bed at 8pm and read for a couple of hours before bed.

Cooking
This isn’t something that many people would call relaxing however I love cooking. Baking is more Roy’s department but making soups, stews and all manner of fancy foods is something I find fun and actually quite relaxing. I do occasionally spend a couple of hours on an evening batch cooking and then freeze everything for those busy days when I don’t fancy cooking or simply don’t have time.

Browsing.
You would think that spending most of my time online for work purposes I’d be glad to see the back of my laptop at the end of the day. Working online and playing online are two very different things though. I love pinterest and reading blogs, especially thrifty, foodie and interior design ones. I’m something of a social media junkie and can happily spend an hour or so jumping between platforms enjoying the content that I find and chatting with people. I also seem to spend a fair bit of time window shopping too. Thankfully I pin more than I purchase.

Friends think I’m missing out but right now, a quiet night in enjoying any of these pastimes is exactly what I look forward to at the end of the day. How do you spend your leisure time?

Leisure Time

*Consideration was received for writing and publishing this post