Making my house a home: Studio room/ guest room renovation!

 Hello guys!

How are you doing?

Today I wanted to share something a bit different than my usual fashion & beauty topics here on my blog.

I wanted to document everything about renewing my house and making it a home.

The work is going rather slowly, and it's been a bit frustrating at times because I thought by the spring time, we would have finished at least with one floor, but it turns out we only managed to renew one room!

The reason behind this is because we don't have that much time free to invest into this project, since we have our daily life work/obligations/house work, so only when we have some extra time on our hands, we can dedicate ourselves to making our house a home.

We now live in a big house in Croatia, with a very spacious backyard, and this used to be my parent's house. When my Dad past away, 10 years ago, the left the house to me, and we only stayed here during our summer vacations and a couple of weeks a year. So obviously now there is a ton of work to be done! Sometimes it feels overwhelming, but then, I have to remind myself to just relax and not rush anything, but enjoy the process. I can't expect everything to fall into place overnight!

So finally we managed to finish our first project: Studio/ guest room! It's the first room in this house that we redecorated, and now it looks just the way I wanted it to!

I combined some old furniture from my parents, with some old pieces, and did a lot of DIY home decor projects :-) I really had fun with it and enjoyed creating little home decor objects :-)

Here I have a vlog showing you the renovation process, but I'll soon film a video on the finished look:

We bought the chest and the lamp in Momax, and photo frames and black candle in Pepco. We found a lot of affordable and beautiful home decor pieces in those two shops.

I really, really wanted a lot of golden stars on the walls of this room. This is supposed to be a room for relaxation, reading a good book, or watching a fave tv show, but also a place from where I can work on my blog/ youtube projects, and...why not, a place from where I can dream!

The couch is also new, we bought in at Momax, and the furry blanket/cover is from H&M home (I got it on sale, while I was still working there.)

I still need to put some flowers in this vase, I was actually thinking of an olive tree branch and some palm tree leaves, that I'll paint in gold.

We also have our little work corner, and I love how it's placed right by the window, so it always is very pleasant to work from this position because from here I can look at my trees and the nearby sea.

The mirror, basket and blanket are from Pepco, and the vase in hand made and quite a vintage piece, from my parents.

The straw basket is also very old, and I painted it, and these old little pumpkins too :-)

From the window I see my old oak tree, and then, the beautiful blue sea :-)

I hope you liked this type of post! Let me know how do you like the final result how the room turned out? Is this your style too, or would you have done things differently? I really want to hear all about what do you have to say about it!

If you like this kind of topics that concerns home decor and house renovations, I'll make sure to post more frequently about it and keep you updated on the renovation process :-)

Talk to you soon!

Lifestyle: My bathroom renovations plans

Hello guys!

This is going to be a little lifestyle update post! 
As some of you might recall (as I blogged about it), 5 years ago, my hubby and I bought our first appartment here in Italy.
As most of the young couples, we had a limited budget so we couldn't exactly get our dream home, but we managed to arrive pretty close to that!

Our issue with this appartment is the lack of space for our ever growing family! 
When we first moved here, there were just the two of us, and now we're in four (our doggy Lancia, and our son Sebastian Josip now form our little family!).

We're always on a lookout for small spaces optimization ideas, that are also budget friendly!

Another thing that we always knew we wanted to change when it comes to our appartment, was our bathroom. It's tiny, it doesn't have a bath tub, but only shower cabin (quite out dated too), and it's just not very representative, nor functional!
We definitely have in plans to do some renovations in order to make it more enjoyable.

Having a bath tub instead of a shower would be ideal, not only for us, and relaxing moments after a stressful day at work, but also for my granny, who finds it very difficult to shower without my help, when she comes to visit.
In fact, this proves to be a major flaw of our appartment, as my grandmother is 85 and she can't stand on her feet the way she used to.

Renovating will take a lot of time and we need to ensure a significant budget for that, plus, we will be without our bathroom for a few days...which means we'll probably have to stay elsewhere during the works. All this requires us to have enough time on our disposal, which is something we currently don't have.
Renovation plans are definitely still on for the future, but, in the meanwhile, what can we do to improve our living space?

Great solution for when our granny comes to visit would be one of those wall mounted shower seats
that I found on-line.

I found wooden and plastic models, and the good thing about them is that they can be folded, so sitting whilst taking a shower is optional, and they really don't occupy any of the (already small) space!

Here are some of the models I was considering:

Our bathroom is green & white, so this particular model could work well for us.

Next is this bright yellow, plastic wall mounted stainless steel folding shower seat. I like the pop of color, this could bring some light into our small bathroom.

I also liked the bamboo teak wood wall mounted folding shower seat. It looks classic and practical.

I'll keep you updated on how my home renovations are going and what option will I decide to go for!

* sponsored post

VLOG: October's Snow & The Day of the Dead in Croatia

Hello girlies!

I haven't vlogged in a while, I just wasn't feeling inspired, plus I haven't been out & about much...

Ever since this bad weather arrived I was all about house-work-grocery shopping, nothing much was going on...ughh :(

So my recent trip to Croatia was the perfect occasion to put together a new vlog!

I went to Croatia on the occasion of The Day of the Dead (01.st November), it's a holiday in Croatia, and we have a tradition to spend this day visiting the graves of our beloved ones who are no longer with us on this Earth, bringing them flowers, lighting the candles and saying prayers...

My entire family has roots from the town in the Croatian mountains of Gorski kotar, called Delnice, so ever since I was a child, every year around the Day of the Dead, I would go to the graveyard there, to remember my late family & relatives...

This year, it was painful, because my Dad sleeps there now...

My Dad & I, on my wedding day, 21.07.2007. in Italy
♥
I MISS YOU SO MUCH

Tears are falling from my eyes now, as I'm writing these lines, but I promise you, my vlog wasn't about sadness, but it was about making the most out of every single day of your life, and about re-connecting with the family, about getting in touch with your roots, and about remembering that my beloved ones who are no longer alive, keep living in me & through me...

And this is what gives me strength to keep going on & to live my life with joy & happiness!

You can watch my vlog, see what was I up to during my trip, (and also see the October's snow!! yes, it was that cold!), here:

Here are a few random pics that I took during my short stay in Croatia:

When we were in Delnice, we went to this cozy little bar/restaurant "Tron"
I took some pics of the interier, as I really liked the way it's decorated :)

Interier of "Tron" restaurant, decor in old/mountain style
A part from the decor, have I mentioned, the food was yummy?
Def. must return here! ;)

Re-connecting with my family...my uncle Miljenko & I :)

A gift from my Mum for my house in Croatia :)
This flower decoration is beautiful!

THANK YOU MUM ♥

Have I mentioned, by the end of my vlog, I'm also showing you some bits & bobs that I bought while I was in Croatia, at DM and Kozmo drugstores? haha, I know you always enjoy my beauty hauls :)and this time I was very pleased with some low price/high quality croatian beauty products! I will be talking more about them in my upcoming beauty videos...

I was sad to leave my home in Croatia, the atmosphere was so warm & pleasant & whenever I'm there, I can really feel the presence of my Dad in his house :)

But, this past Friday, I had to work, so I had to go back to Italy! At least I managed to spend a few nice days in Croatia :)

Thanks for joining me on this trip & for watching my vlog!

Kissss from Italy,

xoxo, S.

Please take a moment to vote for me in Starcentral's magazine FASHIONISTA OF THE MONTH Poll! It really means a lot!

You can vote for me every day :)The contest is open until November, 21st. 2012.

Thank you so much!!! 

CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR ME (AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE)!

♥

My New Home: Work in Progress!

Hello dolls!

As you already know, I'm in the process of moving into my new home!

The work is slowly progressing, we're working on transering all the things (& building my customized wardrobe!!!) every day.

It's pretty stressful & exhausting, but once we finally get settled in, it'll be worth a while!

In almost 8 years that my hubby & I are together, we never had an actual place to call "our home".

We always traveled & moved a lot, never had our own place

(except for my hubby's workshop!).

That's why, having our own little space now, finally, feels so good & surreal!

I just returned from another "busy" day at our new home

(we still don't sleep there, as we haven't transfered the bed just yet!!!)

& wanted to give you guys a little update on how everything is going & post a few pics that I've taken today & over the past couple of days...

WARNING: (!!!) We're still at a very early stages of moving in, so everything is pretty messy & all over the place!

My clothes are piled in these black garbage bags!!!

My hubby IS in a temptation to actually throw a few in the garbage, as this isn't even the half of it!!!

I still have tons of clothes & shoes that I need to transfer...

I think I'll have to put a number on each of these bags, just in case...so nothing can "acidentally" go missing, lol!

A few pics that I've taken today...

The area where we're going to live is pretty quiet & peaceful, away from the noise & the traffic of a big town.

We're in the countryside side now!

Exceuse my hairstyle...or the lack of it!
My hair is up in a messy bun (it makes it easier to clean & organise things) and I really, desperately need my
hairdresser in Croatia!!!
oh well...will have to wait a couple of more weeks on that :( sighh

That's it for now :)

I hope you enjoyed this quick, little update!

I wanted to show you a glimpse of my new home, before I go MIA

(probably sometime next week, when we definitely move in our new home ...with our bed & all...)

I won't be able to get an internet connection right away, but I'll do my best to get it as soon as possible!!!

I swear, I feel a little bit sick every time I think I'll have to be without internet for a while!

I'm such a huuuge internet addict, I think I'll have to go through a "no-internet" crisis next week, lol

However, I'm still going to keep filming my beauty & fashion videos, so once I get my internet line, I'll have a material ready to upload :)

Have a lovely Sunday evening!

Kissss from Italy xx

Sonja