What Recession Mum? (Homes and Interiors)

Despite the recession, there are many simple, cheap and easy ways to spruce up your son’s or daughters bedrooms without feeling the pinch.
Being creative and wise with storage space and cheap accessories can improve a room instantly without breaking a sweat – or the bank.

If you shop around, many high street department stores also have regular sales and discounted bits and pieces that may be useful.
And then theres stores that focus on selling affordable products for the home, such as Dunelm, BHS and of course, IKEA.

This week we’re focusing on a bedroom makeover for a teenage girl, suitable between the ages of 12-20.
And here’s the challenge – the budget is £40.
However low or high the budget of revamping a bedroom, there’s a few top tips to remember.

For a vintage feel within a bedroom, mix and match fabrics, colours and ornaments. Chandeliers also complement a vintage inspired bedroom, and can be picked up cheaply from a range of interior stores.
However, this style of bedroom is not always suitable for teenagers as it can become cluttered.

A fresh, modern feel for a young person’s bedroom is a suitable alternative, with plenty of storage space, and a clean ambience (even if their room isn’t always spotless!). A crisp feel to a bedroom also creates peace and tranquility; perfect for clearing their mind for a good nights sleep or letting them focus on schoolwork.

White is a great colour a bedroom to make it feel more spacious, clean and modern. A 2.5l tin of Dulux pure brilliant white paint can be bought from Homebase for around £10.

IKEA is a great place for buying décor and fittings for a room, and suitable for anyone with a low budget.
Blue is a tranquil colour that complements bright white walls, so a blue striped quilt cover and pillowcase set from IKEA would be ideal for the bedroom, and at £12.99 is an absolute bargain.

To create the illusion of space and light in a room, mirrors are a superb alternative to windows if a bedroom is dimly lit – and what teenager can live without a mirror?
IKEA’s wiggly mirrors are long, and stylish and at just £6.99 each, the bedroom would have a much lighter feel.
Similarly, adding a bedside lamp to a bedroom gives a calming atmosphere and adds light when it’s needed, whether it’s for bedtime reading or just for comfort. A small, cream table lamp would fit well in any bedroom regardless of colour, for the tiny price of £2.59.

Seeing as clearing out pockets is the cleanest teen’s go, the perfect solution for instant storage space is IKEA’s blue clothes tidy, therefore providing more space in a wardrobe for other possessions. The tidy is just £2.49 and hangs elegantly from the ceiling storing folded clothes, shoes and more.

Finally, if you want to give your daughters room a final touch, IKEA’s blue striped rug is the perfect finish and at £4.99, you can’t go wrong with it.

Teenagers have their own ideas about what they want, so if this isn’t up to ‘their’ standard, then maybe take them along to the Ideal Home exhibition, which is on every year around the country. There’s plenty of inspiring and exciting accessories and decor to see, which would fill you both with ideas for a theme.
Encouraging teens to mastermind their own bedroom make over is smart, and allows them to add their own creative flair to your home.

The Frock Swap (Press Release)

With the credit crunch ever present, what better way to get a whole new wardrobe without spending a penny?
Fashionista, Katie Taylor, is pairing up with the Orange Rooms bar and club in Southampton to hold a fashion party with a twist in December, otherwise known as the ‘Frock Swap’ or ‘Swishing Party’.

Fashion-conscious women are welcomed to a new world of shopping, without having to spend anything!

All you have to do is bring an item of unwanted clothing, jewellery or a pair of shoes along to the event to begin shopping. Once set up on clothes rails, women can browse through the selection of second-hand, chic, hand-me-downs, and choose anything they like to take away!
It’s a great way to meet other fashion-savvy women, crack open a few bottles of wine, snack on nibbles, and have a giggle with other garment-givers. There are also free desserts and 2-4-1 cocktails available courtesy of the Orange Rooms.

There may be squabbles, but there should be plenty of quality garments to satisfy any shopping indulger, and a definite presence of Southampton style. Any unwanted garments will be given to charity.

The event has a great similarity to fashion icon, Twiggy’s Frock Exchange, featured on BBC2.
The programme is presented by Twiggy, who is also assisted by Lauren Laverne, Paula Reed and the Designer Paula Kirkwood. There are also tips on how to alter and update clothing and accessories by customisation, which is a massive hit in fashion for the past few seasons; with television programmes such as Channel 4’s Frock Me hi-lighting the benefits of customising clothes, giving you an individual, quirky look.
‘’Each guest brings at least one item of clothing, pair of shoes or accessory to swap. The clothes are displayed for everyone to choose from and try on. You and your friends go home with a great new look. It’s that easy.’’

Journalist Siobhan Courtney also attended a swishing party, and overhears, ‘’Everyone’s swapping now, darling – it’s so fashionable’’.
There is also a great ethical advantage to these ‘swishing parties’, as it’s a perfect way of recycling.

A textile recycling charity known as Traid, says 900,000 tonnes of shoes and clothing is thrown out every year in the UK alone. That’s 7.5 billion items of clothing! With swishing parties and frock-swaps on the rise, this number could soon be reduced, and help to keep the planet green.
So wise up ladies, and become involved in the new fashion rage of clothes mixing and matching, swishing and frock-swapping! The pocket friendly way of achieving that new wardrobe look and feel, for literally nothing!

For advice and help on hosting your own Swishing party, visit www.bbc.co.uk, and start informing your favourite fashionable friends to attend, especially if they are owners of a few designer pieces!

The event in Southampton is scheduled to be in December, from 10am-4pm in the Orange Rooms, Vernon Walk. A date is yet to be confirmed.

(Sources BBC News, Quest twenty eight)

Easter Feast (Food Writing)

The time of fluffy bunnies and chocolate eggs is approaching and the thought of preparing a delicious Easter meal is daunting. What is Easter all about in the world of food? And what would be the perfect way of complementing all of the wonderful seasonal, spring produce?

A traditional Easter feast is typically Greek, using ingredients such as cheeses, salted pork, lamb sweetmeats and sweetbreads, vegetables and salads, cookies, cakes, wine and Easter bread, with a main of meat (lamb or goat) roasted over a charcoal fire.
There would also be eggs dyed red to represent the blood of Christ and new life.

Obviously times have changed, and not all these ingredients or meals appeal to everybody. But if you want to incorporate some of the traditional Greek Easter into your cooking to really treat your guests with a delicious meal, there’s an easy way to accomplish it.

For an Easter meal for 10 guests (including 4 children), all you are looking to spend is around £50 (about £5 a head).

The seasonal produce of this time of year is a lot of green vegetables (broccoli, green beans, sprouts, runner beans, cabbage, spinach, cauliflower) and root vegetables. Fruits include, strawberries, kiwis, raspberries, blueberries, apples, plums, nectarines and rhubarb.
Typical ‘spring’ meats are lamb, pork, turkey and chicken.
All of this wonderful produce can be found at it’s best in Waitrose.
Alternatively, fresh fruits and vegetables can be bought in season from any local farm shop, and are usually naturally larger in size, organic and better value for money.

To start the meal with a modern take on the traditional theme, Red Pesto and Tomato tarts topped with Goats cheese is a brilliant way of infusing the salad and cheese aspects of the traditional Greek starter. This red starter also symbolises the blood of Christ in a much easier and more appetising way.
And for children, a starter of Poached egg with grated Cheddar cheese is another way of including the Greek tradition in your starter.

With the traditional Greek Easter main being the biggest spectacle, there’s no scrimping on the twenty-first century lunch.
A way of incorporating the traditional meat of lamb or goat is to cook two Legs of Rosemary infused Lamb, with Sweet potato mash, Seasonal vegetables and a Redcurrant jus. This would be a main course to really ‘wow’ your guests, and is an absolutely delicious, classic, hearty, meal most adults and children can enjoy together.

The Greeks weren’t one for puddings, but a modern day English, Easter meal wouldn’t be the same without one.
A mouth-watering way to use seasonal fruits would be to make a Strawberry and Rhubarb Pie. A simple, sweet recipe then topped with single cream, would refresh and enlighten taste buds, completing a truly festive Easter banquet.

To compliment all the beautiful cooking, your feast would be nothing without a pretty, decorated table.
A way to incorporate traditional British Easter into your decoration would be to visit your local craft shop and pick up lots of dyed, colourful feathers, glue, pens and sequins. This is also a great way of getting children involved in the meaning of Easter and the celebrations.
Hard boil some eggs, and leave them to cool for a couple of hours. Once cooled they can be decorated using the feathers, pens and sequins, adding your own touch to the decoration. They could also be decorated with your guest’s names written upon them, turning them into a place card-esque decoration.
Scattering the loose feathers around the table would also add a creative effect to your table.