Before and After Home Pictures

I absolutely love a before and after picture of a home transformation. We've only been in the house a little under 6 months. We started with the livingroom / dining room as it needed a complete overhaul including flooring, lighting etc. We then moved onto the garden, office and the bedroom. 

THE LIVING ROOM / DINING ROOM

It seems to look bigger with our furniture in it. I think it's all the light colours and textures. 

THE LOUNGE 

The lounge / open plan kitchen area was already gorgeous, just needed some new furniture. It will eventually need a lick of paint.

THE GARDEN

The previous owners were amazing gardeners and the whole garden is bliss. The only thing we did was paint the shed, the wall, steps and added some furniture to freshen it up.

THE BEDROOM

A fresh white wallpaper on the feature wall and pale apple green walls. I don't like colour on walls as the minute I paint it I want to change it. But opting for a pale shade means I can chop and change the accessories, bedding etc.

Will keep you updated as changes are made. :-)

Hugs,

Laura-Amie xx

New Home

It's been a long time since I last blogged about anything - I lost all interest in truth. 

I continued to post on Instagram though and in the mean time we've bought a beautiful new cottage. So what better way to kick start my blog than with some Before Pictures. 

NOBODY PREPARES YOU 

Seriously though, you think about the overall cost of just purchasing house thats expensive enough with all the fee's etc. We knew there would be changes to be made but we didn't budget for what was to come.  Once you get the keys, all the stress and worries melt away. Although, they did for two nights! When we got in the second bedroom was soaked, the walls were dripping with water. Turns out the beautiful chimney was leaking but was in a state of disrepair. That had to be knocked down and tiled over to avoid any further damage. The blistering plaster and walls had to dry out (this has taken 6 months) Then we had a leaking roof vent, a potential slow leak in a pipe in the ceilings. More cost to check them out and fix. 

OLD HOUSE PROBLEMS

We had mysterious water marks all over the walls but THANK THE LORD these turned out to be condensation. Old stone houses need to breathe! And since the previous owners hadn't lived there for months it hadn't had a chance to do so. Along with condensation comes mildew. I spent 6 weeks worrying over the awful black marks appearing everywhere. I found some amazing techniques on getting rid of these (which I will share in a different post). Once I tackled them and understood the importance of opening the windows and doors as much as possible when the heating is on in the thick of winter -things got better. No more leaking and I learned to manage condensation! (a de-humidifier in the winter is a saviour - we bought one on sale from Amazon around £30 and it worked a treat) Since keeping the house aired, it has been much better - hoorah!

COTTAGE TLC

The weather was brutal when we moved in, lashing with rain, high winds knocking tree's down and pickings of snow and frost. We looked into stopping any penetrating damp and the best solution to protecting the old stone in the front was STORM DRY paste. This will go on, seep into the stone and stop any rain penetrating the stone. If you can buy it and do it yourself, it'll save you around £1,000. 

We also had the back of the house (that is already rendered) painted with weather shield in Country Stone and the sills and garage door painted Willow Green. I love the combination so much.

Since the weather has dried up and we've had little bits and pieces patched up and sorted we've had no problems (touch wood). Everything has dried up nicely and we're hoping to be sorted for winter!

Just remember to keep window's open where possible to allow the stone to breathe and tackle any condensation marks with some JEYES mould and mildew cleaner so it doesn't get out of hand in those wet and cold winter months!

HINDSIGHT IS A BEAUTIFUL THING

I wish I hadn't spent 4 months of worrying over things that I couldn't change overnight. Settling into a house can takes weeks and months and I feel like 6 months later I know the house now and it feels like home. Damp, condensation, leaking roofs and everything in between can't be helped, so just need to be fixed and learnt from. On a positive note - things are now looking wonderful in our cottage and I can't wait to spend the next how ever many years, bringing it back to its former glory with sash windows and a wooden cottage door. #housegoals

HERE ARE SOME PICTURES, WILL BLOG SOME "BEFORE AND AFTER"

 AS THEY ARE MY FAVOURITES.

Thanks for reading,

Hugs,

Laura-Amie xx

Drunk Shopping

OOPS!

We've all heard the stories about people who buy random things when they're drunk or book holidays and really regret it in the morning! A friend of mine once told me she woke up after a bottle of wine and had booked a £1,800 holiday! I was MORTIFIED for her but you know what? she went that summer and loved every minute. I laughed at her holiday photos thinking about how it came about but she had an amazing time. When people tell me about the random things they buy  I've always been smug and said "I've never done that" or "How could you be so stupid?" 

WELL... 

When you're at a house party, drunk off a prosecco based cocktail after loosing several rounds of drink roulette your mind isn't quite clear. My friend Alex started searching for festivals for the summer, encouraged by the other girls we all thought it was amazing to drop £800 on festival tickets to T IN THE PARK! I vaguely remember dancing and toasting the occasion too. 

HOWEVER, we live in SOUTH WALES and this festival is a 7.5 HOUR DRIVE AWAY in SCOTLAND!!! 

When I woke up and the girls were still laughing and excited I decided to embrace the fact that we're going. WAAAH! 

We even upgraded to the pre-pitched tents with hot showers, pamper stations and mobile phone charging so all is grand! more £££ (crying face) but I cannot wait.

So yeah... My first ever drunk purchase was festival tickets. I'm £300 down and flat broke but my summer is shaping up nicely! I'm sure my older self will look back and pat me on the back for grabbing life but the scruff of its neck (mega LOLS) 

Anyone else drunk purchased? I'd love to hear your stories! 

You can tweet me or find me on instagram on the links below! 

Hugs Laura-Amie x

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5 ways to wear GENDERLESS CLOTHING

GDL Clothing doesn't have a specific targeted audience! The clothes are made for EVERYONE, it's just how YOU choose to wear them... Let me show you five very different ways to style GDL to suit your own look.

ACTIVE LIFESTYLE. GYM 

The GDL team spend the day at newly renovated GELSEI Academy HYPE GYM a few weeks back and some of their top Body Builders (including the gorgeous Stefanie Nadine - Booty Bible Bikini Champion) to try and test our GDL Gym vest, hats and T-shirts. 

They both agreed the material was breathable and flexible - perfect for working out. In fact, they loved them so much they both nabbed an emblem vest each to keep and said they were their new favourite racer backs! Stefanie also nabbed herself a GDL bobble hat for wearing whilst working out / hanging around them gym. We are hoping to stock these vests and hats in their GYM reception soon. 

FEMININE. PARTY WEAR.

 A few of my feminine girl friends have said to me "I love the clothes, I just don't know how to wear them, I'm a girly girl" NO worries girls. I got you. Being feminine myself, I can definitely help you.

Here is the gorgeous beautician Amy Beth from #BeautySecretsByAmy modelling our classic grey Sunday Club Tee. We styled it up with this KILLER leather skirt and vampy heels. She said she couldn't wait to wear it out on a sunday session. (Drinks on a Sunday) 

When chatting with Amy on how she would wear the clothes she says this outfit suits her perfectly but she also would wear the tops with leggings and trainers for a casual day and she matched out Overachiever baseball top with jeans and heels and her Louis Vuitton clutch for a day of shopping. 

Here is Amy's instagram selfie of her shopping day!

I've added a few more feminine looks for those girls who just aren't sure... take a look at a few more versions of our other GDL genderless line...

 

We teamed Sorry Not Sorry Tee with some leather pants and either heels, converse or pumps.

And the World Wide Vibes with the vampy heels and skirt combo. Don't be afraid to swap the midi skirt for a Mini, or the Leather for Denim. If you're on holidays maybe swap the skirt for a pair of denim shorts, sandals and our GDL hat. YOU GOT THIS GIRLS. Don't forget to tag us in your photos to show of your fem GDL! 

FROM DAY TO NIGHT. SMART OR CASUAL?

In our shoot with Welsh Actor Adam Byard we took his style from casual day wear to evening wear in a few simple steps. Pictured left modelling our Sorry Not Sorry from the SS16 line Adam is wearing the Tee paired with jeans and trainers for his casual day look. 

We then added smart brown shoes, a brown tailored blazer and some sunglasses for a smart summer afternoon to evening look. This T-shirt is our only LONGLINE so it gives a different look to the other t-shirts.

Adam also modelled some other various smart and casual looks. I love this androgynous black blazer and jeans combo with our classic sunday club tee. I envison this look on both men and women. I also had to put up his laid back emblem vest look. Note adam wearing our MULTIBRAID and GDL SNAPBACK in the emblem vest picture. These accessories are summer essentials! The multibraid has multi uses (hence the name) It can be worn as a bracelet, necklace or anklet on both men, women and any non binary gender. 

BEACH. SUMMER HOLIDAY.

GDL is totally made for the beach. Our organic cotton is loose and breathable so be sure to pack them all and make GDL your summer essentials! Tie the vest and wear over a bikini girls for a crop top look! Pair with denim shorts or skirt to take the look through to the evening. One of my faves is wearing the emblem vest over a bikini. the GDL SNAP BACK IS ESSENTIAL for summer and our 13.00 price tag is an absolute STEAL! 

The ways in which you could wear GDL in summer is endless. Our brand reflect all shapes and sizes and don't forget we stock from size XS to XXXL in some items. If you're size isn't on the site (perhaps its out of stock and is temporarily off the site) don't be afraid to email the team to find out at contactgdlclothing@gmail.com and one of our team will be happy to assist you. 

LOUNGE. BED. 

Check out the gorgeous Leah and Jess in their boudoir shoot. These girls look gorgeous in our clothes. I absolutely adore the LOVE IS GENDERLESS Tee on Leah. 

The couple took to the studio to help create a sunday chill shoot and nailed it. 

I also love model Ashleigh in our Love is Genderless. This girl is effortlessly beautiful. The love is genderless is a classic GDL statement piece. We love promoting equality in fashion and slogans are just one way we campaign.

So just to round up my post I want to say to anyone who's looked at our website or looked at our instagram, twitter or Facebook accounts and thought what we do is great but haven't bought, I hope this blog shows you how you can make GDL clothing suit your style.

here are the links to our other social media pages:

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

Hugs,

Laura x

PINK HAIR, DON'T CARE

I BLOODY LOVE BLEACH LONDON! 

HAIR HORROR STORY!

Before I explain about this product lets get a little back story on my poor hair this last few months... I've wanted pink hair for a while now but after an unfortunate incident where I tried to go silver / grey and ended up being khaki green, I have been a little off put to say the least. 

My hairdresser did the colour change for me, she is fully qualified, been doing my hair for years. She asked the girls at the colour wear house for the most recommended product for the colour I wanted and they advised her of this certain brand (not sure what it is now). Anyway, She puts the dye on all going well she starts to look a little panicked a few minutes in. She checks my hair then says, "lets wash it off Laur, It looks a little dark." 

Within a few minutes my hair had gone from bright blonde to black roots and khaki GREEN SHIMMER. I nearly died. I was so upset I just calmly walked over to the fridge, pulled out a bottle of Rosé wine and chugged it. My hair dresser was like "If I weren't driving I would be doing the same" 

After a bleach bath and an extremely sore scalp I ended up having to go brunette with strands of blonde. I had awful breakage and my hairdresser was distraught. The whole process took 5 hours! 

BUT, the worst part of my hair disaster is that when she goes back to the hair warehouse in Cardiff the SAME girl who sold her the product listened to the story and calmly says "weird yeah a few people have said the same" .....UHHHH WHAT??! ARE YOU KIDDING ME WOMAN?

Marie (my lovely hairdresser) was so shocked she didn't even know how to respond. Absolute MANIACS! So anyway, hair horror over, my hair is gently healing, scalp mended and hair growing a bit thicker now.

I decided I wanted a slight pink tone but too afraid to actually try anything I see these Bleach London Rosé Shampoo and Conditioners! Voila! Answer to my prayers. 

You simply follow the instructions to leave on for a few minutes and rinse off. You see the pink change after about a minute and I was so excited. I LOVED the initial pink rinse it gave, I did this on my 26 birthday -before shopping. I absolutely loved it. I wasn't brave enough to leave it on too long (obvious reasons) but this was the colour it came out...

A nice subtle pink rinse. I Adored it. I had lots of compliments too!

Since then, I've washed it out (just washes away after maybe two washes) and then gain re-did it leaving the product on for longer (than it says on the bottle oops) I also added a tiny spray of Claires Accessories Pink ROSE hair spray (wash out) to give the colour a bit more depth. 

and here were my results 

PINK HUR, DONT CUR! 

And I love being pink, I do feel so safe in the knowledge it'll wash out if I need it too. 

totally recommend this product. I know there are other colours so may give them a try.

You can get them from boots or bleach londons online website 

Hugs,

Laura-Amie xx

A perfect gift

                 

  I treated myself to the beautiful keyring made by the wonderful Louise and her best friend Rosie. (She's her beautiful dog) and I couldn't be happier! 

It's so dainty and pretty it looks gorgeous in my keys.

I've decided it's the most perfect gift so friends and family done be surprised if you all get some of these. 

Head over to her Instagram page 

@thejanuaryrose 

Or her Website www.thejanuaryrose.co.uk 

And share the love.