A cosy rainy day decorating my cottage for autumn 🍂

May I just start this video by saying if there has ever been a video where you need a cup of tea, a biscuit, a cozy blanket It's this one. So much so, press pause, go and make yourself a cup of tea, come back to me when you're all cozy underneath the blanket, and let's have the ultimate ultimate cozy day at home together. I have been looking forward to today. Well, A, all year, but B, definitely all week. So we're gonna start today with a little bit of reality from me, which is that I've had a weird week this week. Just not anything that's happened, but just how I've been feeling this week. I have just been feeling off and it's nothing that I can really put my finger on. There's no, it's not sort of anything that's happening in my life. I've just seen a spider in the window. So please do not move, sir, because I cannot, that's not the vibe for today that we want, okay? I've just been feeling honestly anxious this week, which I don't often feel these days. So it's just been a bit of a weird week, but that's okay because we all have weird weeks. We all have weeks where something just feels a little bit off and we don't really quite know why, but don't worry because I've got the cure. I have been waiting for today all week, but I wanted to wait. I've ordered a few new bits. I wanted to wait until everything was here and until I had a whole free day that we could just spend at home getting cozy and decorating for autumn because that's what we're doing today. And I have never been, dare I say, I think this might be my favourite decorate for autumn. Obviously we do it every year. I think this year might be my favourite and I feel like it might be your favourite too because anything that I've bought this year, I've really taken the time to like really consider whether the material's a really good quality, whether it's something that I can see myself using in five years, in ten years, also thinking about whether it will go in the new house and just, yeah, really being really intentional about what I've bought and the result. I'm just so excited to show you. I have started like pulling it together in my living room upstairs on the table. I've still got to run around the house actually and get a few extra bits, but I'm just, I have never been more excited to get to this evening, to sit on my sofa, to make, honestly, a hot chocolate because I haven't had a hot chocolate yet this year and I will tell you now it's time. I'm just like watch something. Do you know what I'm kind of disappointed about? Because I was under the impression, falsely under the impression, that the new Harry Potter series, you know, there's a new one coming out. I don't know how to feel about it, but I'm definitely going to give it a go. But I was under the impression that was coming out in September. I don't know where I got that idea from, but I've been like hoping and like thinking, oh, that must be coming soon. And then yesterday I look it up and apparently it's coming out on the 25th of December, which I will say, exceptional, immaculate timing from them. Totally get it. Can't wait for Christmas. That will make my Christmas Day. But it turns out we won't be watching that anytime soon. But that would be like my dream series to watch this evening when the house is all cozy, the candles are lit, I've got a hot chocolate, I'm on the sofa. That would be my dream. So I'm gonna have to find something else. I know last week we chatted about this. So maybe, do you know what I should do? I should look through the comments on last week's video and try and find a new series that I can start and obviously also that I can share with you. So that's my motivation for today. Even though I don't feel a hundred percent, just the thought of you and I sitting on the sofa this evening and just being like, just feeling so cozy and having that new, you know when you're a child and you rearrange your bedroom and there is no better feeling. I feel like what we're doing today is the adult version of that. It's just giving everything that little like seasonal refresh and making everything extra, extra cozy. I will not be leaving this house apart from walking the dogs. But my plan is to just be at home all day. I'm staying in what I'm wearing. I've got the coziest, let me show you. It's the coziest, like chocolate brown knitted matching set. These are wide leg. I can never get far enough away, but these are wide leg. Just super cozy, super warm, comfy trousers and then this is the matching zip up hoodie. It's a hoodie at the back. You'll see it anyway as we decorate later. Glasses on, probably hair up, cup of tea in hand. I have used the pumpkin mug for the first time today. I feel like it's just, it is just time, isn't it? We can all agree. It's time. If you're ever using a pumpkin mug, let it be today. And I just can't wait to spend just some quality time with you just at home getting cozy. I'll see what else. I'm actually gonna bake something this afternoon because when was the last time, when was the last time I baked anything? I honestly don't know. I feel like it's already been months since I baked something. So I thought let's do it today because yesterday my mum was mentioning that she had three bananas that were going over and I said, you know what? I've got a use for them. You give them to me and we'll bake something this afternoon. I'm gonna try and make like a, maybe like an autumn twist. I don't exactly know what that's going to be yet, but we'll figure it out together. In fact, I don't really have a plan for the day in general, other than decorating for autumn and spending time with you. And if that's not a perfect day, I truly don't know what is. So let me run around the house and finish like grabbing all the bits that feel really cozy, pull them all together and I can show you. And I have never, ever been more excited to share anything with you, I don't think. So let's go do it. Okay, I've just been running around gathering together all of the bits that I want to show you and all of the bits that I want to decorate with. And I came up to my dressing room and I noticed this sat on the side and it reminded me that I wanted to chat to you about Wild Deodorant's gorgeous, gorgeous new collection. So I've been partnering with and using, of course, Wild Deodorant for years and they have just created this beautiful collection with Cath Kidston. It's called the Cashmere Rose Collection and the print is their iconic sort of vintage archival floral print. The scent is so delicate, so soft. It's sort of rose petals and also cashmere musk. They're launching the stick deodorant, the roll-on antiperspirant and also their body wash. I have been using the stick deodorant for years. This is probably my most loved product and this is 98% natural origin ingredients. It's completely aluminium free but it still provides 24-hour protection. So this is pretty much my daily deodorant. But if I know I'm having a day where I'm going to be more active or this summer when it's been so hot, then the roll-on antiperspirant actually offers 72 hours of protection. It doesn't leave white marks and it is still 90% natural origin ingredients. And the body wash is a personal favourite of mine. My shower is basically just a lineup of all of my favourite scents and this will be going straight into that lineup. It's enriched with organic aloe vera and also prebiotics which really help to look after your skin biome. But it also just feels gorgeous and smells gorgeous too. As always, all of World's products are certified vegan and cruelty free and I have a discount code for you. So with the code ADKINS, for a limited time you'll get 20% off all World's products. So what I'll do is I'll pop that code on screen here and I will also make sure that any links that you need are down in my description. So I'm going to go and finish gathering together everything and then we can get into decorating. Okay, really quick change of plan because we're going to take the dogs out now because I remembered that I want to go to my parents' garden. These are new bellies so I need to get them over there. Aren't they nice? They're like a chocolate brown with kind of like a tartan print on the inside. So nice. But yeah, I wanted to go to my parents' garden and see if they've got any hedges, bushes, trees, like anything that I can steal a few branches from to put in a vase, rather than going out and buying like fake autumn leaves and things. Or even I did go to Burford Garden Centre a couple of days ago and they've got a really big, like really, really lovely dried floral kind of section. But I just thought actually I've seen so many of these bushes and so many of these like beautiful berries and things in my parents' garden. So maybe we try that first. So anyway, that's a long way of saying we're actually going to take the dogs out first today and then when we come back then we can decorate because hopefully I've got the leaves and the stamps for the vases. Rue, you're too cold. Come on. Okay, success, I think. I mean, I don't know how long all of these things will look good for but they will definitely do the job at least for a couple of days. Maybe if I take the leaves off, definitely need to trim the thorns because they, let me tell you, there's some huge thorns on here. But I think they're going to definitely look good at least in the short term. So I'm going to try and trim these down and make them look pretty and then we can get on with the rest of decorating as well. One sec, I'm back because I keep meaning to say and I keep forgetting to say I know we want house updates like new house, new cottage, other house renovation updates. Believe me, if you think you want renovation updates, just imagine how much I want renovation updates. But we are just in that phase where things are with the architect, things are with planning, we're sort of sorting out. Yeah, we're just getting all the permissions, all the surveys, all the things that need to be done before we can actually start. So it's going to be a quiet couple of, probably couple of months honestly. Like this is just the reality. I was thinking the other day, maybe I started sharing all of this too soon because now we've got this kind of little bit of a gap, but that's just real life. And if you've renovated a house, as much as I would love to be there every week being like, look, the new kitchen's in, the new, you know, let's pick furniture. Look how beautiful this room transformation is. That's just not really how renovations go. So there will be so many updates and so many exciting things to talk about, but it's all coming. Like in the next few months, things will start and I'll have more to show you. But that's why I guess it kind of seems like I talked about the house nonstop for about probably six weeks and then I haven't really mentioned it since, but that's what's going on behind the scenes. So I promise as soon as there's something to show you, you will be the first to know, of course. And I fully intend to take you on every single step, but unfortunately I can't take you into the architect's office and set the camera up and watch him work. So we've just got to wait a couple of weeks, but I just keep meaning to say that. So I just thought I'd quickly say it now while I remembered. I could honestly shed a tear. I could shed a tear for how excited I am. And just, I mean, have you ever seen anything cozier than this? I could not be happier with all these bits and just so, so excited for these all to be in their place and to see the room. I just, I can't. So I thought I would go through, I'm going to set you up and chat to you a little bit because these are all new bits this year, which looks like a lot. And it looks like a lot because it is a lot, but I can explain myself, I promise. I don't smoke. I don't drink a lot. I've never taken a drug, not one in my life. But this, this is my thing. And there are worse things and I've got an explanation. So my thinking this year was to, rather than go to some of the places that I would usually go to and pick up lots and lots of like different little pieces that I might love this year, but next year, maybe not. I thought let's actually be a bit more intentional this year, really think about the pieces that I'm certain I will still love and that are pretty timeless and would go in any house, in any room, in any house. Really most of these pieces, as much as they feel very cosy and they are very cosy, you could have them, they're like all year round, like they're still going to look great in January. And the main thing that I really tried to focus on this year is buying materials and fabrics that are more natural, more durable, so that there's just less like polyester, less things that are going to age poorly and that probably aren't the best anyway to be having in our houses. So a lot of this, in fact, pretty much all of this is either cotton, wool, cashmere, like a really natural fibre. Materials that will really last and that are also better for us to have in our homes because, yeah, it gets a bit scary when you start to think about just how much plastic there is in everything. So this is, I have to show you this one because this is one of my absolute favourites. I just loved this. This is the White Company, like I said, but I loved the fringe on it. I feel like if you know me, you'll know that I'm a big fan of a fringe. And then it's just this really gorgeous, like knitted, oh, it's just, honestly. And then I also got this cable net cashmere cushion, cosiest thing ever, and a matching throw that goes with that. And then I also got this big chunky throw. That's probably one of my favourite things that I've bought this year. It is huge. It's so heavy. When I was bringing it home in a bag, it is like, it's like a weighted blanket because it's that chunky and thick and cosy. I have to introduce you to Morris. So I got Morris yesterday. I was out just picking up a couple of bits from, I was in Cheltenham actually, and I saw Morris. He was sat on his own. He's called, by the way, I'm calling him Morris because he had a name tag on when I got him and it said he was called Morris. And he was sat on his own on a shelf and I just couldn't leave him. So I came up with the excuse to myself that it's for Ru and she does actually love him. She's been cuddling him. She fell asleep cuddling him last night. But this is Morris and he is the sweetest little thing. So that's who this is. But the other thing I was going to show you that I nearly forgot. Do you see this basket at the front that's full of socks? That was very, very kindly sent to me by this gorgeous dreamy company called Pez. And all they make is socks. I think all they make is socks. I mean, have you ever seen anything as cosy as this? This is possibly the best delivery I've ever had in my life. It's a whole basket, or I put them all in a basket of cosy bed socks in all different kind of like neutral tones that will go with everything. And again, it's all natural materials. And I think I'm actually going to keep the socks in this basket. I'm going to take the packaging off and then I'm going to put this somewhere on display in my bedroom. And I can just take a pair of cosy socks and come and curl up on the sofa, the dream. And then hiding down here, I've even got a new bath mat. This is actually from Darnell. I was in there again yesterday with my mum and I needed a new bath mat. And I thought instead of just getting another white one, I really, really liked this colour. And I thought it kind of warms things up a little bit in the bathroom. And it goes, there's a lot of wood in my bathroom. So I think it will go really nicely. As we go through, I can just link, I'll link all of this. I can link any of the bits that maybe I've got from previous years that they still stock. I can link that for you as well. And it will all be in my description underneath the video. So what do you say we make a fresh cup of tea? Because it's just back to back tea, I think today. And then we can start figuring out where these different bits should go. Okay, I've stripped the sofa so you can see what we're doing. So crazy, it's so big. So what do we think? It is all looking pretty neutral. I would like some richer, deeper colours in there. But let's see how we go. And I'll do the coffee table. Okay, let's see what we can do with this. Because I have just been piling and piling and piling coffee table books onto here. This is very summer. God, this needs a dust, I'm realising. This is quite summer. This can stay, this is actually such an interesting book. I know it looks dirty, but it's actually just old. I think my sister got it for me from like a secondhand bookshop or an antique shop or something. But it's obviously pictures of the Cotswolds from 100 years ago. And it's so fascinating because it's got all of the places that I grew up and what it looked like before, well, 100 years ago. So this is Burford, Chipping Camden. So this is where I went to school. That was the high street. And this is obviously the pig market. Anyway, very interesting book if you're me. Right, maybe what we do is this Soho House book goes upstairs. My gorgeous friend Georgie bought me this for my birthday. And it's got a message in it, which I think is so special. This is a very wide book is what I'm realising. But I think that's fine. And then do we maybe... Yes, let's go with that. And then do we maybe just do that one? How are we looking? Does this work? Maybe. And then the thing is, I definitely want this on here. So I don't know whether the two... No, see that looks weird now, doesn't it? Do we just put this here and this here? Okay, don't hate that, maybe. And then I did think, now I don't know what this is going to be like, but I thought maybe let's just try putting it just like this, roll it up again. Would it maybe look better with a bit of texture? What does that look like? Yeah, okay, let me show you. Let me stand back and show you. Love. I think it looks so cosy. It's still pretty neutral. So it probably would be nice to have a few more pops of colour and a bit more warmth and maybe some richer tones. But I think it's a really, really good place to start. And it's always easier to add in a pop of colour than it would be to kind of go overboard and then be trying to backtrack. I'm so happy with it. How gorgeous is this cushion? When you sort of zoom out a bit and you can start to see the carpet and then also just behind me on this side, I've just put a side table that I had and the books that came from here. I've just popped them on there. I think that starts to sort of pull it together and it doesn't feel quite so neutral and there is a bit more warmth and obviously the carpet and things. But I'm just so happy with it. I could quite honestly turn the TV on and just sit here for the rest of the afternoon. But we've got things to do. Just had the idea too of this here. Quite hard to show you because it's in the window. But in real life, I think it works. I think it just adds a bit of something. And then I saw on Pinterest, somebody stack their extra cushions just on a stool in the corner of the room. Probably when I'm actually using the fire. This will have to be further away. But what does that look like? Are you modelling it for us? She's so cute. Yes, that's you. Yeah, I think that looks nice. Do you think we can add another one in? No, he'll probably be too tall with another one. I've got so many cushions. Okay, I think maybe this is the best we're gonna do for now. I probably need a throw. And then I've just stored a couple of extra bits. Some blankets, cushions and things. And my new hot water bottle in these baskets. My hot water bottles, I use them every single night. They're always on my skin. And obviously, it's a lot of heat. So I thought it was probably better to have a natural fibre or like a natural hot water bottle cover rather than something that's like polyester or whatever. Okay, new bed sheet time. So we have got bottom sheet, duvet cover and then pillowcases. So let's do this. I love how this has got pops of that colour that seems to be running through everything that I've bought this year. Why does this never get any easier? Doesn't matter how many times you do it. Honestly, this is one of the worst things. No exaggeration about living alone. I'm trying to do the bed alone. Yeah, everything's looking a little bit creased but so cosy. How gorgeous is this bedding? I cannot wait to dive in and also let me show you. I'll kind of half show you in the mirror but I read somewhere that if you have a pretty bottom sheet, you should fold your duvet like a third of the way down so that you actually get to see it. So that's what I've tried. My sock basket. And then little Morris can also live up here until Ruth wants to play with her. I can't tell you how much I love the fact that this little basket can be part of my evening routine. Like I put my pyjamas on and then I can come and just choose a pair of socks. Okay, house is feeling cosy. I say we bake a banana bread, we make a cup of tea, curl up on the sofa and read a book. That sounds like the dream afternoon. So I'm going to make this banana bread. It couldn't be easier. I make the same recipe every time. I've kind of made this recipe up because I just adapt. I adapt the BBC Good Food vegan banana bread recipe and I just make a few swaps. For example, I use coconut sugar, I use olive oil instead of sunflower oil. I'll show you as we go, but I can also put my adapted, like slightly healthier, I think slightly healthier, like adapted version in my description. So I'll pop that recipe down there. Okay, so we've got plain flour, three very, very ripe bananas. This is coconut sugar, cinnamon, green and blacks, they're cooking chocolate. This is olive oil. And there should be baking powder somewhere, but somewhere baking powder. And I think that's everything. So first things first, we just need to put our bananas into the bowl and then mash them up. Now that it looks like this, we've just got to add our sugar and olive oil. Okay, mix this together. And then our flour goes in. I might just mix through in bits. Three teaspoons of baking powder, three more of cinnamon. I add a good amount of cinnamon, so probably three heaped teaspoons. Mix this. I'm just going to chop my chocolate into little chunks. These. Okay, I cannot tell you how good this smells. I know we're supposed to let it cool down, but when has that ever stopped me? Let's have a slice. The butter honestly unlocks a whole new level of banana bread. Highly recommend. This honestly might be the nicest one I've ever made. It's so light. It's really good. Okay, me and my two girls, I've got this little one and a big one over there. Have come to just honestly spend the rest of the afternoon. It's about four o'clock now. And I'm just going to spend the rest of the afternoon and the evening reading my book. I've really, really got into this. So I maybe have only spoken about this on my Instagram stories, but maybe we talked about it last week. I can't quite remember. But I am reading The Nightingale by Kristen Hannah. I know this is such a well-loved book. When I mentioned on my Instagram story that I just started this, the amount of messages that I got saying that it's your favourite book, that you wish you could read it again for the first time, that you love everything that Kristen Hannah writes. So many recommendations as well for other books to read if I love this one. And so far so good. I mean, it's got all of the things that I love in a book because I really love like a historical fiction. This is set in France in 1940 in the war. And so far so good. Do you want to know what else it's got that I really, really appreciate? I really appreciate short chapters or if the chapters are long, you know, when they do like the sort of little... Actually, I don't know what these are called, which I should probably educate myself. But you know, when they do a break where you can put your bookmark in and come back to it. I appreciate that so much because it really encourages me to just like read a bit more and a bit more and a bit more. Whereas sometimes, you know, books that just have like really, really long chapters with no breaks. It makes me feel like, oh, do I really have time to start? I don't know, it feels like more of a big undertaking to actually start the next chapter. So when you're in bed and you're tired and you just like you want to read a bit more, but you can't commit to a chapter. Really, really appreciate short chapters in a book. And this definitely has that. So I'm loving it. So I'm so ready to just... I think I'm about maybe a third of the way through. And I can't wait to see what happens. So this is what I'm going to do for the rest of my evening. And I think for that reason, I'm just going to leave today's video here. I know we haven't done much today, but hopefully you don't mind because I just really, really needed like a full day at home just to chill, stay in my comfy... I even wore this on the dog walk this morning. So cosy. It's going to be really, really warm. Like truthfully, it's borderline a little bit too warm. Still, like at certain points today, I'm like, yeah, I could probably be in a t-shirt. But I know as it gets colder, I will be wearing this nonstop. Such a nice colour as well. Anyway, thank you for spending the day at home with me. I feel like in the coming weeks, we can definitely add like little touches here and there. But it's feeling so, so nice in here. I hope you have the best week ever. Make the banana bread. And I will catch up with you next weekend. Bye guys.