7 reasons to buy this top....

I spend a lot of time in the shops and occasionally I come across a particular piece of clothing that will work so well for a shape that I feel compelled to share it...and this is one such top.

If you've got boobs of a certain size and above, you will know only too well the problem of trying to buy tops which are flattering. The reasons for this are because:

• The most flattering style tops are often not the most stylish, or the most up to date;
• The majority of tops have a round neck, or a high neck and whilst they can be OK, they're not the best necklines;
• Buttons are the enemy of busty girls. They gape, which means there's a choice between flashing what you don't want to flash to people you don't want to flash it to, or going up a size. Going a size up adds extra fabric, which isn't always flattering;
• Lots of tops are really wide, sometimes with bat wing sleeves. These are also the enemy of the busty girl - especially when combined with a high neck. Then it looks as if boobs are coming from all directions;
• Huge prints and bright colours can draw attention to where it isn't necessarily required - not that ladies with a bigger bust should hide themselves in a corner but you know, sometimes women just want to be quietly elegant, emphasising their assets without shouting about them;

So when I spotted this spot print tie neck blouse from Warehouse (£39) I thought that it deserved a little post of its own. This is why, in my view, it's such a winner:

• It has that elusive but oh so sought after V-neck. Bigger busted women rejoice!
• It doesn't have buttons. Big tick!
• The black background is flattering;
• The small print keeps the eye on the move, so there's no lingering gaze where it may not be wanted;
• The tie neck makes it not only flattering but stylish and trendy too. Double tick! And the tie can be tied at different lengths which will not only give different looks but it can also make the top more flattering;
• The wide fluted sleeves create an area of interest away from the torso;
• The floaty but non-see through fabric won't add bulk.

That aside, it's just a great top to own. A little bit rock chick, a little bit 1970's, dress it a million ways for the Christmas season without screaming "Christmas"!

The return of the bar trolley....

For some reason, I've got it into my head that a bar trolley is an essential item of furniture for our living room - which is a bit odd given that neither I, nor Mr SG, really drink. But there's something about the nostalgia of a bygone era and all the paraphernalia that goes with mixing a drink, from beautiful glasses, to the stirrers, the cocktail shakers and the shape of the bottles themselves that is really appealing. Plus our house was built in 1927 so it kind of fits with the era.

For now I've created my own little drinks area, stretched across two units. The first unit was a big heavy kitchen unit which was given a new lease of life in the summer and which you can read all about here. Behind its glass doors it displays these bits and bobs...

Gin bottles. The reason that we have lots of bottles of gin is because my Dad lives in Guernsey and every time he comes to visit, he brings us another bottle of gin (duty free). I love the bottles. Thinking about it, the fact that we have two teenagers in the house could well mean that they have been emptied, re-filled with water and I would never know. I must give them a sniff sometime.

The ice bucket was a present from my aunt from a jumble sale and I just decided to fill the cocktail glass with small baubles that we had, as a nod to the bubbles it doesn't see in real life.

Fizz glasses!

The second unit is a new acquisition from a local shop, Cherry Tree Interiors which is one of my favourite local shops for a browse. This photo wasn't taken for the purpose of the blog - had it been I may have tried (but probably failed) to make it look a bit better. But at least it gives an idea. 

Because of the direction of the light in this room, the photos always will be a bit pants but you can see this collection of knick-knacks - a silver apple (a find from my Mum in a charity shop), a light up flamingo, a pineapple candle holder from Laura Ashley and a Kate Spade glass similar here. 

And at the other end of the sideboard, there's a combination of a succulent, a pear candle (also from Laura Ashley) a pineapple candlestick and a copper pot, which is waiting for the one and only item that I'm going to allow myself to buy when I go into town tomorrow...

But if we are going to go down the full on trolley route, I think it's a little way off yet. First I have to persuade Mr SG that painting the entire room dark blue is a good idea. He seems to think that we should sort the kitchen and bathroom out first and whilst I agree on the one hand, on the other hand the living room is nearly there (apart from the footstool and a chair being covered, plus some new cushions).  That's nearly there right? Oh, and it being decorated a darker shade of pale.

But that little matter of delicate negotiations aside, these trolleys have made it onto my hit list...

Rockett St George round brass and marble drinks trolley (£340)

Swoon edina drinks trolley (£349)

John Lewis west elm bar cart (£296)

I was looking at another brand earlier which had a great selection but I can't for the life of me remember its name now. So I decided to post this post anyway. It was either that or wait for 3 weeks to go by before I got around to hunting for it again. But anyway, you get the gist.

So until such time as the walls are (or aren't) painted/papered blue, or the bathroom/kitchen are/aren't finished, I will be going to John Lewis to get these flamingo forks (stirrers in my eyes - £5) for my make shift drinks cabinet/trolley. And I know that they will make for a very happy Friday!

Twinkle twinkle little star (jumpers)...

I'm so sorry to have been away for so long. Last week was bonkers busy and the nights that I wasn't working were taken up with fireworks and wedding anniversary celebrations so it was all good - just busy. I would love to have time to write about gorgeous winter coats, the best winter boots, party outfits and all sorts of other things but for now, I'm afraid, we're talking jumpers.

I love a good chunky jumper for when the weather gets cold and I've already had huge amounts of wear out of this funnel neck shaker sweater from GAP (£39.95).  Here I paired it with my also much worn pleated skirt from Topshop (look here for similar), which I still plan on getting plenty of wear out of throughout the winter.

OK so the light gives me a slightly alien like glow but here I wore the jumper under this sleeveless Zara coat that I've had for a few winters now. On that particular day it was warm enough to get away with it. I'm not so sure about today however. Brrrrr.

Or for a casual take, it works quite well with track pants - these are silky ones from Topshop - and sneaker boots. Ooooh, I do love a winter jumper that goes with everything! I know that I will wear it to death and how well it will fare after this winter I'm not so sure but for now? Well, I'm just living in the moment.

The GAP honeycomb cable knit sweater (£44.95) is a great alternative for those who don't like the idea of a funnel neck...

...and all things star related are always a winner! For people who aren't fans of print, or colour, stars are wonderfully accessible and just a little bit cool. So start off with, there's this GAP star crew neck sweater (£39.95) which is a great price.

Or new in there's this HUSH twilight jumper (£85). A cream jumper is also another favourite of mine, especially with gold stars - just not near to tomato soup, or beetroot. But this jumper is a fabulous option for those who choose not to head down the whole "Christmas dressing" route but who want something with a little bit of detail.

There's also a star jumper in Baukjen (£115) which I like because it has a different style about it. The v-neck is so much more flattering on some shapes and the longer length means that it works so well with skinnies.

But this is what I'm really after - the M&S star jumper (£25). It won't be overly warm but it will be great for layering...

...or maybe perhaps the M&S star roll neck jumper (£35)

We seem to be back to chunky jumpers, just with stars on them!

I have a blank wall - but LOTS of ideas!

In our house we have a dark navy wall and I wasn't sure what to do with it but thanks to all the lovely people out there on Instagram, I now have some fabulous ideas. But let me take you back a step or two...

As you can see from the above picture, the wall is high, inaccessible and it's on the way down to the first floor from the second floor, which is where our son resides in his teen cave. There's also a spare room up there and a good sized bathroom which we're all currently using as the tiles are falling off in our ensuite - but that's a whole different story/blog post.

The reasons for painting the wall this colour when we recently had the hall stairs and landing decorated were two fold:

• First, I had noticed large hand prints appearing on the previously white wall, where said teenager was obviously coming down the stairs, leaning on it and leaving his DNA;

• Secondly, this is the same colour as a wall in the "new bit" of the house and I liked the idea of tying the two together, as they are about as far apart as they can be. Why I liked the idea of that I don't know - sometimes I have these crazy thoughts.

  A picture of the rest of the hall, stairs and landing - we have the fish paper on three walls, all above one another

Having acquired the navy wall, I wasn't quite sure what to do with it. A selection of mirrors seemed the obvious choice. I have this lovely mirror which was hand carved by my Great Uncle Frank.

When he was alive, he carved frames for portraits of the Queen and he also helped to restore the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel after the war. So it seemed fitting to use it somewhere in the house and I like that there's an emotional attachment to it already - but I wasn't sure if this was quite the right place.  This is the sort of look that I had in mind - even if not these actual mirrors - first from Cox and Cox

or something like this from Graham & Green

But then I put it out there on Instagram with a plea for help and the ideas and suggestions came flooding in, all of which were fabulous! So I would like to say thank you to everyone who responded. I've tried to mention as many of you as I can below but sorry if I've missed anyone out.

Instagram is such a lovely social media platform that I didn't mind asking for help.  I put out a special plea to Erica Davis of The Edited who is just brilliant at this sort of thing and she came back in a flash with fabulous suggestions. If you haven't done so already, do check out her blog. I'm in love with her new living room which you can read all about here. This is what Erica suggested...

Rockett St George Ju Ju hat feather wall hanging, which is a Cameroonian ceremonial headdress. It's not something that I would have ever thought of but the scale, colour and texture are gorgeous. And Rockett St George is brilliant for all sorts of home ware and furniture so if you haven't taken a look already, do pop on over. Although be warned...you might never leave!

Rockett St George wall plaque - so kitsch and totally brilliant!

Rockett St George Silence is golden print - with three children the irony isn't lost on me! 

My friend Nat (nataliejsingh) suggested the pineapple wall sconce from Abigail Ahern which is also featured in this month's Living Etc magazine in an amazing house, every detail of which I love.

Other suggestions came in thick and fast and included a neon sign (Annie from my _life_in_lipstick) Emma from (deacsem), which I very much like the idea of, although being suspended so high up I'm not quite sure how the practicalities of that may work. Maybe the teenager with the arms long enough to reach up there could help. He very much liked the idea of a neon sign, as long as it wasn't the word "Love".  Of course that's exactly the type of word I would suggest.

This "Good Times" LED neon light from Love Inc is right up my street. Maybe it's the colours! Or there are these knitted word options at seventyseven84 which can be made to order in a whole host of different colours.

Moving on, another friend (nemithelabrador) suggested a pink flamingo and I came across this one, also at Rockett St George - he's so cool!

Space Like This which is an interiors shop in Menai Bridge, Anglesey suggested this....

the Pedlars "expect nothing" print which again was a fabulous suggestion. We used to have a Pedlars franchise in our Selfridges but it disappeared and I had all but forgotten about it, so it was good to be reminded of it again.

Gold, or chartreuse framed pictures or paintings were also suggested by Pics1112 as they look so good against this colour wall - again another brilliant idea to put into the melting pot of suggestions.

Sally (Sally Todd), Lula Belle from Glamour in the County and Angela from Willeys World all suggested statement pieces, a large print in a white frame, or a favourite quote painted in white or gold so we are inspired each morning as we come downstairs to start the day. Janet Bell is an artist who lives in Beaumaris in Wales and I love her work, particularly the colours in this "early morning frost" picture, which would look great against the navy wall...

There was also the suggestion of a metallic stags head - OK so this isn't metallic, but rather hazel. I've linked to all of the Rockett St George animal heads here for anyone who fancies a closer look.

...and Sian from blondpolkadots suggested a big mirror so that I could see myself catwalk style before I went downstairs - great idea, although I felt that I would probably fall down the stairs due to the shock of looking in said mirror first thing in the morning.

I loved all of the suggestions but now the issue is deciding what to go with. Maybe a little bit of a lot of the different ideas - a gallery of ideas perhaps, a tapas of artwork, mirrors, neon signs and animal heads.

And the teenager's favourite so far? This "Churros" sign that we spotted (whilst eating Churros) on a pre-birthday shopping trip for him. I'm happy to put it into the melting pot although it might inspire my choice of breakfast on a fairly regular basis, which might not be such a good thing.

So thank you to everyone. You're all lovely and I'll keep you posted!

Styling "the Faces of the Fort" Campaign...

Way back in August, when the sun was shining and we were all heading off on our holidays, I was shopping for Winter clothes. I have worked with the Fort Shopping Park a couple of times now, either appearing in their previous campaigns, or styling their shoots, and it was great to be styling this shoot, which featured six of their staff members as the faces of their autumn/winter 2016 campaign - "Styled by the Faces of the Fort."

In the shot above from left to right there's , Jamil, a Sales Associate at River Island, Kennedy a Sales Associate at Schuh, Adrian, the Manager at Next, Tiffany, a Sales Associate at River Island, Adrian, Manager at Costa and Tiffany, a Sales Associate at the Perfume Shop.

The brief was to create two outfits for the campaign, one "Winter Warmers" and one "Christmas outfits". This top shot was the first of the two shots that we needed to capture and the outfits were styled to include different prints, textures, colours and trends. The additional photos are my out-takes!

Forgive me but I'm just going to concentrate on the girls' clothes for now! So Kennedy, who is second from the left, is really young, and quite a tomboy and I thought that trousers and a baseball jacket would be great for her but with a silky cropped cami and sparkly shoes for a bit of femininity too.

All of her outfit was from New Look, other than the shoes which were from Schuh  as follows :Crop trousers £19.99, Satin cami £9.99, Baseball jacket £39.99, heart choker £3.99, Glitter shoes £25.99

Demi, who is sitting down in the above shot is very pretty and elegant and loves sophisticated, feminine clothes. Her outfit is from River Island as follows: Blue Coat £75, Black pleather skirt £32, Black suede OTK boots £75, pale blue ribbed top £20. I really loved the blue coat in this outfit and the combination of the pleather skirt and OTK boots worked really well for her.

And finally Tiffany, who is on the far right is wearing an outfit from Warehouse and New Look. She loved the idea of print and layering so the dress and sleeveless coat combination worked well for her and as I'd used boots for Demi, the idea of these peep toe tie boots added something a little different. The details of Tiffany's outfit are as follows: Warehouse printed dress £55, new look sleeveless jacket £19.99, new look lace ups £24.99, new look filigree necklace £3.99

As well as being hard work, shoots are great fun and I love to see how people come to life in front of the camera and embrace it - once they've relaxed and got used to the whole idea. I'm convinced there's an inner star in most people and being styled and having hair and make-up done also helps with stepping off your own world for a day and entering a more glamourous one!

Because the shots were taken a while ago, some items may no longer be available at the Fort, or they may well be in the sale. The Christmas campaign will go live soon, so I'll bring you further shots and outfit ideas.

You can find the Fort at the following:

Visit the Fort website at www.thefort.co.uk 

Follow the Fort on Twitter @Fort_Shopping

Like the Fort on Facebook here www.facebook.com/FortShopping

Giving our new light a "glowing" review

Although the building work finished on our house way back in July, it wasn't until we started living with the new room through the changing seasons that we really started to work out what else needed to be added to it (what a great excuse for a purchase or two!)

Because the new room is quite spacious and because we have a lot of glass, the very far corner of the room can seem a long way off, and a little lacking in atmosphere, especially when it's dark outside. I knew that it needed lighting up but preferred the idea of a "glow" - more like a fire, rather than anything direct or task orientated.

I'd had my eye on this Chicago floor lamp from Made (£189) for a while and then a couple of weeks ago I spotted a pop up Made store in Birmingham so in I went...

And having had a good fiddle, and having given it a good once over, I decided on the muted grey and brass. It's quite hard to take a photograph of a light when it's dark and get an accurate idea of what it's like - but I think that you get the drift. The reflection in the above picture is probably a more accurate reflection (sorry about the pun) of what the light really looks like when it's switched on.

It's definitely glowing!

The design of the light is based on the lights used on Hollywood film sets and luckily Mr SG is a fan - so it's here to stay. What he's going to think of the new sideboard that I've bought and which is being delivered on Friday is, perhaps, another matter.... 

Keeping it warm but silky....

I'm never quite sure why I think that I will achieve so much more in the holidays, than in term time. After all these years you would have thought that I would have learned that having three children at home means that I have less time available to blog, instagram, exercise and catch up on things that I think that I will have time to catch up on. It's not that I don't love having them around, far from it. I love doing lots of baking, being taught how to play games on the wii, going for walks and to the cinema I'm just like an elephant but in reverse....they never forget. I never remember.

So now that I've got that off my chest, I'm going to share one of my favourite ways of wearing something pretty whilst keeping warm. At heart I'm a girl who loves pretty things - lace, bows, frills, sequins, they all appeal but it's how to wear them in the colder months and remain warm.

One thing that I have mastered over the years, well insofar as I've mastered anything, is the art of layering. True, it's not much of a skill but you know, it all counts.

So I start off with a vest, something like this one from M&S one for £5 works a treat but H&M also has great ones too. This one comes in five colours and quite often they are two for £8.

My revelation from last winter were some cropped, long sleeved, ribbed cotton tops from Topshop which I wore over a vest and underneath everything. They were great because they offered warmth where I needed it but because they were cropped, they weren't bulky around the middle. Topshop seem to have replaced them with this style which might not work so well as the tops have a turtle neck and a twist  - so they may not sit quite so flat. But at least they give an idea.

Next we have the ribbed turtleneck jumper from H&M (£24.99). There's something about the snug fit of a ribbed jumper that I find really warm, despite its lack of wool, or bulk.

Now some of you will have broken out in a sweat just looking at those layers but for those of you who haven't, I find the combination of those three pieces offer a great base layer but without the bulk and that means that I can then get to the fun part, whether it be a cami top, a slip dress or a lightweight silky top.

In the above photo I'm wearing the M&S lace trim cami (£22.50). I was actually trying this for size, thinking that I had bought the size 8 but in fact it was the 10, so I have the 8 on order so that I can compare them. Of course I would prefer to pretend that I could wear the silky top just with a thick cardi thrown over it but that's not the case. And whilst arguably I would rather not have to layer three extra pieces underneath the silky top, at least it means that I can wear one, even in the winter.

Whilst writing this post I went a little off piste but I thought that I would share these pieces anyway. First of all, I came across these gorgeous shoes from M&S which are, of course, in THE fabric of the season...

And I'm actually quite fancying them with this H&M dress (£29.99) which looks as if it is the snuggliest dress ever made.

The alternative Christmas Day outfit perhaps?!