Amphora Aromatics Reed Diffuser Kit

Posted on November 11, 2017 by Fiona Martin

Amphora Aromatics Reed Diffuser Kit is the perfect home accessory to fragrance your room with pure essential oils leaving the air with an aroma that boosts your mood and morale. With 15 different fragrances available there’s sure to be something for everyone and suit your individual tastes.

We received Meditation to try out which contains an uplifting and balancing blend of Bergamot, Ylang Ylang and Clary Sage. The natural reeds draw the special blends upwards and then disperse the gorgeous scent into the air and throughout your room. The kit comes presented in a pretty box that would make an ideal gift for friends and family.

So what did I think about it?

Well I have to say the combination of fragrances comes across like a bunch of lilies and I did have one visitor ask me if I had some lilies somewhere and they were looking around my room for them. I found it very pleasant and warming, giving the room a lift as you entered. I find it best to turn the reeds upside down every few days to keep the fragrance fresh and flowing. It’s nice to have a scent in the room as you walk in and I found my front room the best place for this one. With a great choice of fragrances available – why not try one out for yourself?

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received the product in order to write an honest review.

The Perils of Buying a Second Hand House

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Fiona Martin

So it’s the middle of the night, the hottest day of the year and in fact it’s Summer Solstice, yes that’s right the longest day of the year and I’m lying here hot, tired, sweaty praying for some sleep before the morning routine starts again. Just as I start to drift off for the 23rd time tonight my dream comes true, you know that inbuilt sprinkler system you wished you had above your bed that gently sprays cold water over you to cool you down in this sweltering heat.

Oh HELL NO!!! Sitting bolt upright I suddenly realise that I haven’t fallen back into the land of nod, I do in fact have water splattering in my face from my ceiling above my bed, soaking my duvet that has casually been pushed to the bottom of the bed throughout the night in my bid to cool down. Until the droplets appeared on my face I hadn’t concluded what was going on lower down my bed and the main trail of water appears to be coming through scarily close to the chandelier light fitting in the centre of my bedroom leaving my duvet pretty much drenched!

Rushing to my feet in utter horror, I run up the attic stairs and see that the loft conversion bathroom floor is swimming in water and spreading a couple of feet across the main room carpet. Help!! At this point my 9yr old comes running up and I yell at her to grab some towels, find the mop, just anything and she starts telling me about her tooth fairy visit that happened in the night (well about 10am – shhhh!) and is trying to read me the note the fairy has left her!

Next mission is to find the cause of my middle of the night rain shower, bearing in mind it now feels like I’m in 100 degrees heat, the attic should be reincarnated as a sauna in its next life I tell you, the sweat is now dripping off my face faster than the water dissipating through the floor!

Bingo!! Mummy struck gold – well not literally – but I have single-handedly resolved my current predicament and discovered that due to the sink tap being left on with a very slight drip and a missing aerator under the bottom of the sink tap, the water didn’t actually drip into the sink but came back on itself under the tap and went over the edge of the sink causing the sea of mayhem I’m in right now.

Quite frankly, this is the story of my life with my recently purchased second hand house. At first glance it looks ok, nice area, great layout, large extended space downstairs, amazing garden, just a little modernising required here and there, a touch of tlc and a fresh lick of paint and you’d think it would be a lovely family home. But no, once you move in you find out that a previous owner who carried out the loft conversion, downstairs extension and all the other botched DIY jobs that we come across quite literally bungled his way through fixing things up, ditching official tradesmen along the way to add his cheap mismatched fittings, and scrapyard finds, leaving doors hanging askew, unfinished jobs and to put it bluntly extremely shoddy workmanship in every aspect of our house. So of course with this attitude, who would care if a little thing like a tap aerator fell out – you wouldn’t bother putting it back in or buying a replacement would you – well not if you were my previous owner!!!

It just goes to show how little things left undone can escalate into substantial issues for the future. Running through my head I wonder what would have happened if I’d just gone to work for the day…. Please fix any problems as you find them, don’t leave them. Not only does a slapdash attitude send a house into a downward spiral of DIY disarray, the jobs seem harder and costlier to fix in the long run ultimately devaluing your home. Houses are a huge investment and one I want to continue to grow for my future. The events of the early hours of this morning are proof of that – with some love and care I WILL turn this house into a home!

P.S. My 6yr old slept through the commotion – oh to be young again!

Ottoman Beds from Sueno for all your Storage Needs

Posted on January 25, 2017 by Fiona Martin

Looking for more storage in your house? Then an ottoman bed from Sueno is the way to go. With January being the start of everyone’s New Year decluttering, optimising your storage spaced at home is crucial to becoming more organised and keeping clutter at bay. With a move to a new house last year, I found my main bedroom almost half the size of my old one – eek! By the time I had fitted my wardrobes and chests of drawers in the room, I had no space for my beloved blanket box at the end of my bed so had to find a new home for it downstairs. This left an overspill of bedding, towels and blankets without a home but that’s where Sueno came to the rescue with this stunning silver velvet covered ottoman bed and matching headboard.

Knowing we were on the lookout for a new mattress, I was also browsing beds and came across the relatively new idea of ottoman beds as opposed to just having drawers underneath which only give you a small storage area. Ottoman beds lift the whole upper lid of the divan up leaving you the entire inside of the divan for storage. This surely had to be the answer to my storage needs!

I found Sueno online with a wonderful selection of high quality hand made beds that seemed to be perfect for my needs. They also came with a stunning array of upholstered headboards that can be matched to the fabric used to cover the divan part of the bed. I knew I wanted a silver/grey colour and thought I saw the perfect fabric on the website but to be sure I phoned up and ordered a batch of swatches. This was late on a Friday afternoon and after a lovely chat with customer service checking out all my concerns of the beds ease of opening, sizes etc I was impressed to find the sample materials arrived in my post on Saturday morning!

Having selected ‘Silver Naples Velvet’ for my fabric choice, I was keen to place an order to allow enough time for the bed to be produced and delivered before Christmas. The website is user friendly and simple to use. I opted for a Sueno Ottoman Bed along with a Chesterfield Headboard. Delivery arrangements are by phone call allowing you to discuss a suitable date and although it’s an all day appointment they do give you an approximate idea of the time that they aim to arrive at your house. I also got a phone call within an hour before arrival from their in house delivery team. Being a long way from the production site my bed was the last delivery of the day and at approximately 6pm the lorry turned up.

This is where purchasing from an established independent family run company really shines through. Not only is the bed delivered to your house, but the delivery team carry the bed to the room of your choice, remove and take away all the packaging and then build the bed in front of you, leaving you with a fully set up ottoman bed ready for you to apply fresh bed linen onto. That extra bit of service is really worth it and makes the whole experience a lot more pleasurable. We probably wouldn’t have built the bed that evening if it’d been left in the hallway covered in packaging whereas we had the novelty of sleeping on our new bed that night. The team even kindly unpackaged and placed our new mattress upon the divan which we had purchased from Wayfair a few weeks prior, and I’m so grateful for that as it is incredibly heavy!

So what can I say about my new ottoman bed?

The bed is amazing, everything I expected and more. It looks stunning, feels stunning and the bit you’ve all been waiting to see is the storage which is fantastic and incredibly spacious. The structure of the bed is well made and the quality is high. The base lifts up using two fabric loops on the side with the help of the sturdy gas struts to ease the weight. When the gas struts are fully opened they hold the weight of the top of the bed and mattress in place allowing you to reach in and organise your belongings inside with both hands.

I’m so pleased with this storage space and managed to fill the ottoman bed in no time at all. It does need organising though which I’ll do in my Spring declutter and I need to also invest in some vacuum storage bags to shrink down a spare duvet I keep in there. The whole thing looks amazing and you’d never know that it held the vast amount of storage inside that it does.

The whole look of the bed and headboard is stylish and modern which has given my bedroom a higher quality feel and image. We still have a few finishing touches to go such as curtains and carpet but hopefully these will be achieved this year for a whole bedroom makeover – a complete turn around look from the fitted wardrobes and flowery wallpaper that adorned the walls when we moved in.

All in all I’ve achieved my goal of more storage in a stylish way thanks to Sueno. I can’t fault the quality or customer service, both of which have been outstanding and a company I’d highly recommend and would use again (should I ever need a new bed!).

Why not check out Sueno for ottoman beds to give you the ultimate bedroom storage solution that keeps all your belongings hidden away but easily accessible?

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received a discounted product in order to write an honest review.

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Instant Whites 7 Day Teeth Whitening System

Posted on November 24, 2016 by Fiona Martin

With Christmas approaching and lots of social events on the way, it’s a good time to think about your teeth. Looking white and sparkly helps you feel more confident and gives you a great smile so I’ve been checking out Instant Whites, a 7 day at home whitening system that is simple and quick to use. It can boost your teeth by upto 9 shades but this obviously depends on the current state of your teeth before you start.

wp_20161119_09_27_53_pro The kit contains 7 liquid filled peroxide free swabs, contained in a plastic case. To use them you simply remove a swab and push the stick together to release the liquid into the top half which then oozes out of the swab. Then rub gently across the teeth that you wish to whiten for between 10-20 seconds per tooth. This is really easy to do and there is no bitter taste or any unpleasantness.

So what did I think?

Well I have fairly light teeth anyway, although yellower than I would personally like so I was interested to see if this would make a difference as it was such a gentle treatment. When you rub the wand across your teeth there is a very slight abrasive feeling to it, which I guess scrubs away any stain and marks. I would definitely say my teeth look fresher, brighter and more healthy. Maybe a shade or two whiter as well. It’s definitely given them a boost ahead of the festive season which always makes it easier to give a confidence smile as I’m sure there’ll be lots of photos taken in the upcoming weeks!

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Available from various retailers the Instant Whites – 7 Day Whitening System costs £30 and is a great way to give your teeth a brighter, sparkling shine!

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received the product in order to write an honest review.

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iWhite Instant Teeth Whitening 2 – Review

Posted on August 23, 2015 by Fiona Martin

iWhite 2 Instant Teeth Whitening 2 is a simple to use home kit that gently whitens your teeth over five days. With ten prefilled trays included, that need to be worn for 20 minutes each day, you can’t go wrong, but you can really make a difference to your teeth.

It’s key features are:

Clinically proven INSTANT whitening results
Up to 8 shades whiter
100% safe and hydrogen peroxide free
Active stain remover
Strengthens the teeth
Restores the enamel
Easy: one step system, prefilled, no mixing
Comfortable: soft transparent trays for a custom fit teeth whitening, one-size-fits-all
Whitens the front and back of the teeth

To use, you simply peel open the foil cover which reveals two filled trays, simply put one on your top row of teeth and one on the bottom. Then wait 20 minutes, you can’t talk during this time so I found it best to do in the evening when the kids were in bed. Once the time is up simply remove and discard the trays, and rinse your teeth around to remove any excess residue.

Then check out the results to see if there’s a difference. I think it’s quite hard to tell the difference between the pictures below as they were taken in different lights a week apart, but I can confirm they are definitely whiter, they look a lot clearer and brighter and I’m very happy with the results. It’s really is a very simple to use and the results are effective so it is something that I’d use again if my teeth needed it.

My husband noticed the difference in my teeth straightaway so that I believe is a sure sign that it worked!

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and I received the iWhiten set in order to write the review.

iWhite Instant Tooth Whitening Treatment – Review

Posted on June 3, 2015 by Fiona Martin

iWhite Instant is a home teeth whitening treatment that gives instant results. I have to say my immediate thoughts are a little sceptical as to will it work, but I was eager to give it a try. With five sets of trays to be used over five days, the kit looked simple to use but would it be worth it?

Each set of trays contains a tray for the top and bottom set of teeth. You simply peel of the foil lid and place in your mouth. Then leave for 20 minutes before removing and rinsing any excess gel off of the teeth. I found this really simple to do and best done in the evening when the children were in bed.

The first day I used this I wasn’t expected to notice any change at all, but was rather pleasantly surprised. My teeth were visibly whiter, better than they have looked in ages, not that they were ever really yellow, but clearly a few shades whiter than normal. Being so impressed with the initial results I showed the husband who immediately agreed with me, he could see a difference too!! I was very pleased and couldn’t wait to get to day 5.

As you can see my teeth are noticeably a few shades whiter which I am really happy with. The product is easy to use, only takes 20 minutes a day with no effort required and definitely gives results, a great way to pep up your teeth before a big event or suchlike. I think iWhite Instant does what it says on the box and would recommend!