Every wednesday morning after the boys have gone to school, I grab a pot of tea and log online and take a look at Design Mom’s living with kids post from the previous night. It is a regular treat for me, like getting a new magazine. I love looking at peoples homes round the world and how people uniquely live with kids. I know that my photo’s will never be good enough to feature on Design Mom, but as we were recently featured on At home with Hillary’s I thought I would share a glimpse in to our home with two boys aged 10 and 8!
The kitchen is the heart of our home and the chalkboard wall was added not long after we moved in and is currently in the process of being repainted with magnetic paint! We use it to leave family message and the week’s menu now. When the boys were small they used to love colouring on it.
Our home is filled with the boys artwork and things we have created. Instead of precious ornaments we display things that we have made. The hanging wires were from when we had an art nook when the boys were smaller. The small chalk table was replaced with a slimline bureau which we found on ebay and painted.
I adore my kitchen shelves, although they don’t like me and have fallen off the wall once destroying a lot of precious kitchenalia (but hey it is an excuse to buy more)!
We keep a lot of our baking supplies etc out on open shelves as cupboard space is at a premium, plus I want to encourage the boys to get involved as much and often as they can.
These choose happiness decal is one of our recent additions and I adore it. Keep on reading to find out how you can win a £40 voucher to spend with Wall Pops who supplied it to me.
I am not a minimalist, must to the husbeast’s dismay!
The sitting room is often filled with a host of boys playing on the Xbox or just chatting away to each other and is the home to our colourful rug from The Rug Retailer. That wicker hamper that you just see in the top right corner is our charging center and houses all the family’s tablets and phones. We have a screen free rule after six pm and that is where they are all placed overnight. We are trying hard to be a creative family in a modern world and balancing tech is something we are still working on.
We try to have lots of books and games through the house. I love reading and have passed that love on to Mini and we are a pretty competitive family when it comes to board games. No one likes to lose!
Have you guessed that yellow is my favorite color yet? The beautiful lampshade in the background was a custom make my the amazing Karen Lewis Textiles.
Our home is pretty neutral on the face of it, but most of our accessories are bright and colourful like this fab super sized anglepoise light from Tk Maxx.
I would love to have a carefully curated sideboard in the dining room topped with beautiful things, instead I have learned that it is better to have things that we use on it! We eat in the dinning room together to most of our meals and we love lighting the candles and making an occasion of it! The sideboard as my mums and is filled with our art supplies.
Food plays an important part in family life in The Mad House. We cook from scratch most nights and love eating together. One of my missions as a mum to two boys is to teach them cooking skills that will see them through life. I have learned boys are like dogs and they need good food, exercise and lots of praise!
One of the best things we did when we moved in to our home was add a conservatory on the rear. It has become our family room. It is currently filled with LEGO, board games and lots of toys! It might be be a beautiful room, but it does allow me to close the door on the chaos of the day and worry about it in the morning.
So this is the downstairs of our home. We love it. The school is in walking distance, as is the park and the high street. The estate is filled with kids and you can find the boys playing outside with their friends in fine weather. We live on the same street as my best friend who has four boys and our children come and go in both homes. If you want to know more about our home, then do pop over to the Hillary’s website.
Win a £40 voucher for Wall Pops
So now for a fab giveaway. You can win a £40 voucher from Wall Pops.
Both of the boys have wall pops in their bedrooms. They are fab repositionable stickers. This is why it doesn’t bother me that mini’s has wrinkles in as he installed it himself and I know I can go and reposition it!
What a beautiful, colourful house! Wish my kitchen had shelves! I love the Kids World Dry Erase Map x
You have a great house Jen! I always figure the most important thing is that everyone living in a house are happy, and you can see that you all are!
What a lovely, warm, colourful family house. It looks very welcoming indeed and I love the way you display all the artwork.
I love or your bowls and cannisters in the background. I spy lots of Orla Keily!
You have such a lovely home! I really like the brightness of it. You and your family must have lots of fun there. I like the idea of magnetic paint on the chalk board. Lovely!
What a lovely insight into your lives.
My husband keeps saying about building a conservatory – hmm somewhere for the LEGO does sound good.
You have a lovely home Jen. Thanks for letting us see it. I love the choose happiness quote, so colourful and happy.
I’ve never heard of design moms before, will check it out. I love looking at everyday family life photos, and yours are fab. I’m in love with your kitchen shelves! x
Love your home – so warm and friendly
I love the wall art you have, so pretty x
I do love having a nosy around other people’s homes 🙂 I have very similar taste to you Jen and also love yellow. Your kitchen shelf is amazing and I love the yellow unit !
I like the Alphabet Zoo Wall Art.
We already have their Dinosaur Expedition, but I’m thinking I’d like a world map for H’s room.
I love your house, it’s a great home and one for kids as it should be with kids. And I love that picture of you, it’s just you, smiley, a little coy and beautiful x
I like the Black Dry Erase Calendar Wall Stickers
You have a lovely bright home,gives me lots of ideas. I like the wall pops Espirit Wall Stickers.
I would choose YOLO You Only Live Once Wall Art Quotes, and I think I would put it in a hallway
I like the Puppy Love Wall Art Sticker Kit 🙂
I like the World Map Dry erase sticker
I love the Green Enamel Dry-Erase Peel and Stick Board. I’d love it in the kitchen. With a bit of luck it may encourage everyone to write down things when they run out, which my bit of paper on the kitchen noticeboard seems to be failing at!
I love the idea of a map for the playroom
The Black Dry Erase Calendar would be ideal in the kitchen to keep me organised
I love the White Board Monthly Calendar Decal
Your house looks so homely and a real family home. I love the idea of the maps especially as we plan to travel lots and also the Organizational wall sticker kits for a command centre for us all.
A question about them – do the reposition well as in if you move house they could come with you?
I love the Kids World Dry Erase Map
I would put it in the playroom!
I loved the chalkboard!
Jen your home is gorgeous so homely , i love all the little trinkets that you have and all the boy’s artwork displayed. It looks like such a happy home that i bet is always filled with children’s chatter and laughter xx
Ooh this is so difficult. If I had £40 to spend I’d probably choose a number of the slogens/quotes.
your home is colourful
I need an injection of colour into mine
the Veranda Fabric Pin Board in the kitchen
Habitat Wall Art Decal Kit for my bedroom 🙂
The privacy window film would be nice for the lower doors in the nursery I work at.
Those maps are awesome! I’d love to get one for the gym I volunteer at – we could use marker to chart the countries that people come from, since we get a lot of international visitors passing through.
I would get my son the Construction Zone Wall Art Sticker Kit as he is obsessed with them
it was so lovely reading the piece on their website a few weeks back! .. i love your home and your style so very beautiful .. i would totally love the happiness sticker .. it would go in my kitchen able the door 🙂
I loved having a look around your home… it’s nice to see how others mix family life and keeping the home comfortable and cosy (not always easy when so much mess is made on a daily basis!!) We’ve been looking at using more shelves in the kitchen as our new home has very few cupboards, so you’ve given me some inspiration too 🙂
As for the wall pops… I’d be torn between “Be your own kind of beautiful” as a lovely reminder for us all and “Construction vehicles” for Little Man’s bedroom, as he is a bit mad on those at present!
I’ve so envious of your kitchen!
I think I’d have to choose “jungle friends’ wall stickers! They are so cute! 🙂 x
I love your home – so colourful and welcoming – I a especially jealous of all your Orla Kiely tins!!
I like ‘you can go your own way’ stickers
Lovely photo’s Jen – you have such a lovely home and a great family too!
Ooh, I enjoyed this little tour round your home. That saying about kindness, I might put it up in my home x
I would love the World Dry-Erase Map, as a daily reminder of the different places around the world I still have to visit. Would place it in my bedroom. Sweet Dreams
Your home looks le such a happy, inviting place! I bet you’re an amazing hostess who always makes her guests feel at home. I love your eclectic style and those gorgeous Orla Kiely and Cath Kidston jars. As for the bureau, I just had a look at your renovation project and I am jealous: it is exactly what I want. You’ve done an amazing job and going for a bold colour was such a perfect choice!
The Lets Go On Safari Wall Art Sticker Kit for my new Grandsons bedroom
I love the wall art you have,
Your pictures are lovely, your house lookss lovely and snuggly and a haven of love for kids x
I love your home! So much happiness bursting from it 🙂
The White Board Monthly Calendar Decal is lovely
Your CommentsI love all of your tins and the artwork, I always love having artwork ont he fridge that my nephew has drawn 🙂
Love your house and all the nik naks! Like the 70’s feel to some of you things! Your house looks very comfortable and lived in which I like x
Your home is gorgeous, so cosy and a real home. Kaz x
Love the calendars http://www.wallpops.co.uk/black-dry-erase-calendar-wpe0981-uk.aspx
loving the map idea
Icicles Chandelier is really cool
I LOVE THE CHOOSE HAPPINESS WALL ART
I love this: http://www.wallpops.co.uk/jungle-friends-growth-chart-decals-uk.aspx I would put it in my daughters first bedroom as we have just moved house and all the walls are bare!
Argh-Pirates set would be for my pirate mad pudding
World Dry Erase Map. I would put it on the Playroom wall so we could plan trips around the World
world map for my sons bedroom
I would choose the Be Your Own Kind Of Beautiful Wall Art Quotes
I love the Kids World Dry Erase Map, would look great on my boys wall
Your Comments
I like the height charts 🙂
Monkeying Around Wall Art Kit, would put in my daughters bedroom, she loves monkeys 🙂
love the World Dry Erase Map
I like the Animal Instinct Wall Stickers. Would put them in my living room
The construction zone wall art sticker for the boys’ bedroom. they’d love it.
Love this – Bistro Notes Wall StickersBistro Notes Wall Stickers
I like the Kids World Dry Erase Map for the kitchen