Being super tidy and organised never came naturally to me until about a month or so ago, when I decided to spend a decent amount of money on revamping my bedroom. I live at home with my parents and brother, partly because rent around Surrey costs a very pretty penny but mainly because I love living at home and have a pretty sweet deal here.

This means my bedroom is the one place in the house I can truly make my own and as we live in a small Victorian cottage-style house, I have to make the most of what I've got! I've worked hard over the last couple of months to really do some research and pull together a room that I can relax in and blog in too, so creating a work space that can also double up as a vanity table too was the most important task for me.

Let's talk technical. I've been lusting after the Alex drawers from Ikea for a long time so of course they were a key feature to my workspace, I purchased two of these to sit either side of the desk. The table top is the Linnmon table, also from Ikea.

The large mirror, lined with fairy lights helps open up my bedroom and of course comes in handy when I'm doing my make-up and hair each morning. As the Linnmon table top is so big, I've styled the table in two halves; on the left side, I've got all my everyday beauty products, kept neat and tidy in containers and drawers. These acrylic storage devices are from Homesense and my make-up brush holder is actually a plant pot from Ikea.





The right-side of my desk is primarily blog based. I don't like to clutter my desk up so I just keep my iPad, a notebook and in this case, the latest ASOS magazine which I was flipping through for inspiration to hand. My blogging camera lives on the shelf in that empty spot next to a collection of concert and show ticket stubs and I keep my laptop tucked away in one of the drawers.





I wanted to use the wall space above my desk for a gallery wall and these are two of my favourite purchases! I custom-ordered the gold foil print which features lyrics from one of my favourite Echosmith songs.



I used Pinterest - a lot - to get inspiration for my workspace area and I hope in turn this post inspires some of you guys, so let me know in the comments below and don't forget you can automatically pin any images on my blog instantly to your Pinterest, just hover over the image!

A Week In Photos

1. This is the last post I uploaded before this one, it's an overview of all the things I am loving and pinning on Pinterest right now.

2. Now, I know some people aren't into taking photos of what they're eating but I've never eaten hummous before and I had some on a picnic with a friend the other evening and oh my goodness I love it! So this was yesterday's lunch (also had this today too) and it was scrummy!

3. I saw this on Instagram and absolutely loved it so re-posted it to my feed, credit to whoever came up with this though, it's hilarious.

4. Sigh, this is me reminiscing on my Florida vacation last October. I'm going back again next year and it's like a second home to me now, I was thinking about doing a Florida-related blog post with all my tips and tricks so keep an eye out because that might be coming very soon.

5. Elle magazine was giving away some lovely-looking beauty products and with the issue only costing £4.00 I just had to buy it for the freebies.

6. I grabbed this recipe book at a charity shop last weekend because my mum and I have been doing so much home-cooking lately. We've discovered some really great healthy-eating recipes in mum's Slimming World magazine and online, so we wanted to write them all down and keep them in once place so they're easy to refer back to. If you'd like to see some of the awesome Slimming World/diet recipes we love then let me know!

7. This is a funny one, these are my lovely acrylic nails after getting them done last Saturday, six days later and I can't bear them and sat at home last night using Superdrug's Artificial Nail Remover to dissolve them. I love how they look but they're so impractical for me.

8. This is my lovely new car the first day I brought it home, the weather was gorgeous so I had to take a photo, you can read more about that here.

9. This is the mixture that creates my all-time favourite no sugar, no flour banana and greek yoghurt muffins. So, so good.

That's my week in photos, if you'd like to see more then follow me over on Instagram @laurenefell

Citroen DS3 Love

After years of lusting over this car, my hard work has finally paid off and on Saturday I picked up this beauty and brought her home!

This is my new Citroen DS3 in Polar White with Pink detailing and I am in love! I've never been a huge car person, I had my first car - a little silver Fiat Punto - for six years until last summer when my parents got a new car and let me use their previous one, a Renault Megane. I loved that car but it was huge, super wide and I just felt tiny driving it around.

So, after working my butt off and finally being happy and secure in my job I decided to splash out and finally get the car I'd always wanted! Well, actually, I set out to get a little blue Citroen C1 but after seeing this one in the forecourt I knew it was fate and I just had to have it. It's probably one of my favourite purchases ever!

Whats your dream car?

Bookshelf: The Never List by Koethi Zan

Wow. This exciting, terrifying thriller written by Koethi Zan had me hooked from the very first pag and although I'm never one to spoil a good story, let me set the scene for this incredible book that gives Gone Girl a run for it's money.

In The Never List, two young women - who have been overly safety-conscious and wary since they were children - are kidnapped and thrown into a cellar where they are kept for years by a sadistic psychopath who uses them - and other girls - for his experiments. With four girls inside the cellar, only three manage to escape. The story follows survivor Sarah and her quest to find out what really happened in that cellar to the friend she never saw again.



I absolutely loved Gone Girl and I will gladly hold up my hands and say I enjoyed this book even more. The story is gripping to say the least and if you love a book that will push you to your limits then this is the one. The story is dark and grim but I don't know a great thriller that isn't.

The author Koethi Zan has a way of writing the gruesome and grizzly parts of this story in a way that makes you go back and read what you've just read a few times over, just in case you thought 'no, surely he didn't do that..'.

If you've read The Never List then I would love to hear your thoughts. Tweet me about it @laurenfell!

 

I found a box of memories!

I'm not a hugely sentimental person, I'm lucky to have enough amazing memories to last me a lifetime but every now and again I come across something that reminds me of a great time that I just can't throw away.

Last weekend as I cleared my room out in preparation for my new furniture's arrival I stumbled across this little box of memories that was hidden under my bed. Here's what I found:





This was my first ever week-long school trip during secondary school and it was a PGL holiday to the south of France. I don't think I have ever enjoyed a trip away nearly as much as I enjoyed that one! These photos are from an album I kept from that trip and setting my blue-Powerade-tongue and dodgy truckers hat/Clash tee aside, here are a few photos of some of the amazing people I met on that holiday!



This is a little snapshot of my primary school leavers book. I didn't get a yearbook in secondary school but I absolutely adored my primary school so I'm glad that I kept this one! The craziest thing as I'm reading this now is that I still live just around the corner from my primary school and still see a lot of these people around our town - and on Facebook of course!



Finally, this little gem was a birthday card made my best friend. It was for my 22nd birthday a couple of years ago and is probably one of my favourite gifts ever, true to form the two of us are going to see Magic Mike this weekend so very little has changed in the last two years!

Things I'd Tell My Younger Self

I'm not one to dwell on the past but as I get older I experience certain things in life - mostly positive - that I wish I could reassure my younger self about if I had the chance, especially zits, boys and the ever-daunting 'life-plan'!

Don't try to remove your black hair dye with bleach. One of my favourite memories - because of it's hilariousness - starts when I'm 14-years-old. I was a huge Harry Potter fan and really, really wanted Emma Watson's light, golden-brown locks. Unfortunately, my hair was dyed black, super, super black. So, my best friend (who is still my best friend to this day despite the horror that ensues) bleached my entire head. Due to the fact she was also a fourteen-year-old girl with zero experience in hairdressing, she began at my roots, leaving me with white roots which then faded slowly into yellow and then orange. Not very Emma Watson at all.

June Favourites

June has all round been a pretty great month for me, it started off a bit rocky and I struggled with some bad bouts of anxiety but I also went on an incredible week long holiday to Mallorca with my best friend which was full of sunshine, cocktails and very yummy food! As the month comes to an end it's time for me to share my June favourites with you all!

Anxiety Busters

Suffering from anxiety isn't something I blog about regularly, mainly because I like to spend time proactively doing things to beat it, rather than dwell on it.

The last few weeks have been pretty anxiety-inducing for me and I've had good days and bad days, luckily more of the former and less of the latter!

Even if you don't suffer with anxiety, sometimes you can feel like there's too much going on in your head or perhaps you are a worrier. Everyone copes differently but these are some of favourite anxiety busters;