One thing I slightly regret in life is not having the proper ‘Uni Experience’. Sure if I didn’t stay at home to go to Camberwell to do my Art Foundation I would never have gotten into LCC to do my Graphic&Media Design course, meaning I would never have gotten the jobs I’ve been lucky to have had since graduating. But the seeing countless pictures on Facebook of my friends having fun  in new cities with new friends quite frankly broke my heart a little at first. I’ve always been surrounded by a group and to suddenly be on your own in a situation was a little daunting. Sure I have a great home life, with my brother being one of my best mates, and super laid back parents who are more like friends to me. But living at home when everyone has moved away is not the nicest thing.

In second year I moved out for a little bit to Peckham (not as scary as people think) with my lovely friends Anna and George, to live with them and their other friends James and Lewis. Although it was nice to be doing something different and living closer to London, my weekend job back home meant that I was staying at my parents Friday to Sunday – so I didn’t ever really feel like I had moved out properly. We had a lot of fun – although living with boys had its downfalls (once when the loo roll ran out I found an old Metro paper had been being used instead. Yummy).

Since those uni days it has been lovely having people back around, and introducing old friends to the new, as well as meeting my old friend’s new ones has been fun too. So apart from paying (a very small) rent, living at home now doesn’t seem so bad. So why am I now moving out?

As much as I love my beautiful room (when it’s not covered in clothes) and having dinner on the table when I get home from work, I’ve always said I want to move out properly before my 25th birthday. This is apparently something that I told my now boyfriend on one of our first dates, so I’m not sure if that had stuck in his mind all this time but come September (two months shy of my 25th) we’ll be moving in together.

Naturally before we’ve even found a flat, my Pinterest has been filling up of decor ideas and nick-nacks to buy. My room at home is already filled with fun quirky bits and bobs, art and photos – and this is the same kind of look I’d like in the new place.

Now obviously our budget is almost non existent for fancy furnishings, but one thing we have both agreed on is that we are going to have a picture wall. Black frames are cheap to buy and between us we have a nice collection of things to be framed (it helps we are both Designers). Here is some Picture wall inspo I have found..

Aren’t they beautiful! Another thing I’m looking forward to is getting some nice plants in (God I sound old) – and really want a cactus! Plants are also a good idea to test my responsibility as my dream plan is to get a sausage dog and name him Ralph(!) so this obviously wouldn’t be the best idea if I can’t even look after a few plants. We’ll be together one day Ralph!

So obviously the dream would be to kit out the flat from Zara Home and live like millionaires. But sadly we’re not. So I’ve been looking at some cheaper stores and exploring what cheaper alternatives there are. One shop which I think is highly overlooked for homewares is Wilkinson. There’s a massive one in Kingston that I’ve been to a few times, and their homewares are great. You’d never know they were discount (and cheaper than Ikea). Here are a few lovely things I found on their website:

I’m loving all the glassware – well plastic-ware, and those ice cream bowls I think are very Zara-esc. Ah imagine your keys in that palm leaf bowl.. dreamy. Another gold mine for home bits is Tiger. We found a massive one near our hotel in Barcelona recently and popped in – the items in there are a lot more fun and colourful and you will more than likely come away with something you don’t need but couldn’t resist. Here are my picks:

One thing I know we will struggle with is finding enough room for all our stuff. I have a lot of girlie things – clothes, shoes, makeup etc which need a place to live. And these along with furniture and a lot of boys clothes – not to mention enough Vans to open a shoe shop – means we will have to be clever with storage. We will have two of the Ikea classic cubby hole shelving units, and thought we could tip it on it’s side and fill it with all our arty fart books like below..(colour blocking needs to happen too!) I also spotted these mega cute corner units from Ikea, which are such a good idea, and I’m sure my future cactus could find a home on top of it.

After only two years working in Magazines, I have already accumulated copious amounts of discount beauty sale items (who can say no to £1 MAC lipsticks?!) – so much so that my ‘favourites’ have taken up a whole chest of draw’s top draw, with my others filed away in bags and containers dotted around my room. Of course having enough makeup and beauty products to last a life time is never a bad thing, but sorting out what to take with me will be hard. After seeing Kate‘s post on her blog gh0stparties.com I let out a little squeal, and I think you’ll realise why.

This magical desk is from Ikea, and while may not be cheap, would definitely be something on my wish list/birthday list/Christmas list.. or worth saving up for. If all else fails there’s always this genius idea..

All in all I am very excited about the move. Sure it may be stressful now trying to find somewhere we both can call home, and of course all the initial money issues, but I’m sure once we settle in (and get some lovely stuff) we will be really happy in our own little pad.

+ Photographs taken from: babble.com / homelife.com / myscandnavianhome.blogspot.se / gh0stparties.com / numerous found on Pinterest.com