Last week we put up a gallery wall in our lounge, a project I’d wanted to complete since January. I love a gallery wall, they work in any type of home, can be scaled up or down, and always create a great centerpiece for the room.

I have come up with some hints and tips that take the stress out of gallery wall hanging, see video below for more!

Do this for a truly unique, stand out gallery wall:

Curate a selection of objects that you LOVE rather than things that are 'on trend, then it’ll always make you smile.

Learning how to style the flat surfaces in your home will really help to pull things together and give your home a styled finished look. Here are 8 easy to follow tips for you.

The Spring solstice has passed and Easter is just around the corner. Many of us are at home much more than we usually would be, so I have decided to update this post in light of Corona, and because I simply don’t have time to create a whole new one (Like so many people, I’m trying to work and keep the kids semi-entertained!) Spring can still be a huge celebration at home, even if it’s just for 1! I have been doing small things here and there, when I think of them, to decorate the house and prepare for a much smaller Easter celebration than usual. But I think it’s lovely to make it just as much of a celebration as we would if we were gathering with friends and family, in fact I’d argue it’s more important! So get out your best linen and crockery, have a forage in the garden, and light the candles. I have started a hashtag, the same name as my e-book #asoulfulgathering, please do use it if you decide to mark the occasion at home!

As a family we celebrate each solstice/equinox. For our agnostic family, they mean more to us than the traditional Easter and Christmas celebrations, although we do celebrate those too. Any excuse for a celebration, really! The solstices/equinoxes come at the quarter points in the year so they act as brilliant points to review yearly plans. Marking the solstices and equinoxes also help us plan activities (marmalade making, strawberry picking, etc.) and we use it as a prompt to change toys and books around for the kids. I also love styling my home for each season too.

I have been making surface spray using citrus peels for the last year or so. I have shared it on instagram stories and always receive questions, so I thought i’d put the recipe in a quick blog post. There is something really satisfying about recycling and re-using all the elements (apart from the vinegar!) I gather the citrus in a bag in the freezer until I have enough to fill my jar. The thyme is from my garden. The glass bottle is an old vinegar bottle and the nozzle is recycled from another spray bottle too. I buy my vinegar in 5 litre bottles from Summer Naturals which is £5 for 5 litres. I used way less than a litre here so this cost me around 30p to make.

How do we plan now?!

How the world has changed in such a short amount of time. I’m writing to you as the the country goes on lockdown in an attempt to stop Covid19 spreading. Although I’m not too worried about the health of my family, I am worried about the vulnerable members of my family and community, and the wider effects of the impending recession. Auden has had a temperature so we are self isolating in an attempt to not be part of the spread. The sheer scale of the change both at home and internationally is dizzying, which is compounded by the speed at which it’s happened.

In a case of bizarre but excellent timing, some tips I wrote about curating your kitchen for British Standard last year were released on the same day after I published my kitchen decluttering and styling guide! You can read some tips below. Check out the beautiful press images too. Le sigh.

The Curated Kitchen, a guide from British Standard by Plain English

with tips and insights from founder of TAT London, Charlie Porter, and Stylist Hannah Bullivant

In the UK we have had storm after storm after storm, it’s one of the stormiest winters I can remember. My toddler does not like the wind so we have stayed indoors more than I’d like. A lot more. One of the things that has kept me occupied is a thorough kitchen de-clutter. Yes, this is one of the things that brings me deep joy.🤓Downstairs is generally fairly organised (I thought) but one of the last areas in my home that was stressful to use was the spice shelf. I started sorting it out last week and it turned into a whole kitchen thing! Spring is also very nearly here and I am definitely feeling the spring clean itch. The increasing light levels are doing a brilliant job of illuminating our collection of dust bunnies. 🐰

Heres what I did, plus some kitchen decluttering, organising styling tips too! I have packed LOTS of tips in this one, so buckle up!

I have talked a lot about why it’s so ineffectual to make goals that make you feel bad, and about why it’s so important to be kind to yourself. But I wanted to go in to a bit more detail about how I learned this. I have shared snippets of the following stories before but not fully.

So, I have decided to share 3 goals I totally failed. You’re welcome! I love a failed goals post as much as they next one!

You’ll notice that each of these “failed goals” are not really failures at all, which is kind of the point. I still call on and teach from these experiences now, and how they shaped the whole Life Book process.

I have packaged everything I have learned so far about making goals that stick into a free downloadable checklist to promote the new self paced version of The Life Book e-course. The checklist makes it as practical and as applicable as humanly possible!

I LOVE working with flowers. They bring me so much joy I embrace the imperfection and wildness of nature, and favour a wild, asymmetric look, rather than super neat and curated.

The getting of the flowers is itself an enjoyable act, whether that’s selecting blooms from the florist, snipping them from your garden, or foraging a few bits when out walking.

Then there’s the act of making itself, it’s surprisingly meditative to sit and work on something just for the beauty of it. It’s not something we do very often. I’d encourage you to focus on those mindful floral moments to get double the enjoyment!

Then there’s the act of giving them to people you love, and this is such a joyful thing to do!

These little posies would make the perfect present for Galantines, Valentines or Mothers day, a friends birthday or just because

Welcome to my February Sunday Supplement. The darkest days of winter are now behind us, and the first crocuses are sprouting in the ground. Spring is but a hair's breadth away! In December we had about 8 hours of daylight. In February this will stretch to 9 hours. Have you noticed? 4pm is so much lighter than it was a month ago. Taking some time to reflect on that feels pretty special. I have been planning my spring workshops and am super excited to announce that i’m running a Spring Wreath workshop on Sat 21st March (the day after the spring equinox and the day before Mothers day!) . I'll be teaching my popular woven base wreath and we'll be adorning it with fresh and dried foliage and flowers. These workshops sold out quite quickly last year so grab your spot here.

If you steer clear of the Valentines tat February can be lovely month. I've come to quite enjoy this month of love, especially when you expand your definition of love to your friends, children and the earth. It’s also the month of pancakes, Galantines day, and Imbolc too!

I was so so excited to be asked by Medina from Grillo Designs to tour my home for her rented house series. I’ve followed Medina for ages and have pored over her other home tours. Anything which normalises and celebrates renting is so welcome and necessary as far as I am concerned and I was delighted to be involved. For this tour, Medina’s usual photographer wasn’t available, so Dave stepped in. We style and shoot together quite a lot so it felt really relaxed and fun, and it was really lovely to just hang out with Medina. I wish we had longer! This was filmed in October and released in November, then i got super busy with workshops and my e-course. But I saw that today the series is back, so I was inspired to finally hit publish!

We have lived in our rented house of dreams for 2 years. We love living here and have a great relationship with our landlord and lady. We also share similar taste. We inherited a house that had White walls, stripped pine floor boards and some gorgeous antique furniture. (the dream, like I said) So our own style fit in effortlessly.

My style values are: calm, spacious, minimal, natural, fun, storied (ie secondhand or antique) and ethical. In the white rooms in the home, we have layered in our own possessions keeping things minimal and calm. I adore plants and have them in every room, and have put up art and textile pieces. Many of our possessions are antique or vintage. It’s really important to me that my home has as little environmental impact as possible; from using a green energy supplier to buying secondhand.

I love our home and try to honour it as much as possible, even though it’s rented.

I could talk and talk about it but am going to stop there! The sources are listed at the end of the post.

You can see the video by Medina at the end of the post too. There is a full interview over on medina’s blog here. All photos are by Dave Bullivant.

Ok, on to the house (and maaaaany photos!)

We have lived in our rented house of dreams for 2 years. We love living here and have a great relationship with our landlord and lady. We also share similar taste. We inherited a house that had White walls, stripped pine floor boards and some gorgeous antique furniture. (the dream, like I said) So our own style fit in effortlessly.

My style values are: calm, spacious, minimal, natural, fun, storied (ie secondhand or antique) and ethical. In the white rooms in the home, we have layered in our own possessions keeping things minimal and calm. I adore plants and have them in every room, and have put up art and textile pieces. Many of our possessions are antique or vintage. It’s really important to me that my home has as little environmental impact as possible; from using a green energy supplier to buying secondhand.

I love our home and try to honour it as much as possible, even though it’s rented.

I could talk and talk about it but am going to stop there! The sources are listed at the end of the post.

You can see the video by Medina at the end of the post too. There is a full interview over on medina’s blog here. All photos are by Dave Bullivant.

Ok, on to the house (and maaaaany photos!)