Ready, Steady... BAKE!

It's that time again, the time that almost all women (and men) look forward to. Forget your soaps, forget any documentaries, it's time to watch people bake!

That's right The Great British Bake Off is back (Wednesday, 06 August 2014, 8pm) on the BBC and the baking buzz has started all over again. Who knew that something so simple could cause such a stir in Britain!

For those of you who have been living under a rock for years and don't have a clue what the GBBO is (or you just aren't from Britain...), here's a quick brief and an intro to this years contestants!

• We begin with 12 contestants, all amateur bakers from different backgrounds, but all very much love to bake. 
• Every week you will see the contestants bake, various recipes from pretzels to profiteroles, come rain or shine in a very large domesticated tent in the middle of a field. Very British if you ask me.
•  You will meet the sweet Mary Berry (she really is lovely), and the infamous Paul Hollywood (love him or hate him, he really is marmite), who both judge the contestants creations and decide who has to leave the competition each week.
• You will also meet the presenters, the charismatic duo, Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroy, both as delightful and entertaining as the other!
• There are some educational aspects where GBBO will show you where certain baked good originated from, as well as seeing Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood bake their own recipes, just to show everyone how easy it should be.
• You will see baking disasters and chaos, as well of beautiful masterpieces that will make you drool.
• And of course, you will be addicted. They should have a disclaimer before every episode, "WARNING: The following episode will be highly addictive and you will be watching it religiously every week from now on."

And now, for the 12 contestants... CLICK HERE to read all about the contestants.

Now you've got one day to go... Get stocked up on tea & biscuits because you've got 11 episodes of pure baking heaven to go!

There's nothing like a bit of National Pride.

Well we're absolutely hooked. The Commonwealth Games Glasgow 2014 have taken over. 

I spent 4 hours watching the games last night, hopping between the different sports, trying to grasp all the different rules and tactics. And I can honestly say I thoroughly enjoyed myself, having the same overwhelming sense of patriotic pride that the Olympics gave me. Never in my life have I voluntarily sat down for such a length of time to watch sport, but you're drawn into the Commonwealth bubble and you don't want to leave. It really is fabulous seeing all these young competitors putting in every ounce of effort and seeing people with genuine ambition fight for what they have worked so hard and so long for! Living in Berwick-upon-Tweed we find ourselves supporting both Scotland and England, with no preference to who will win (however at the 800m Men's Final tonight we'll be cheering from the crowds for Guy Learmonth, another fellow Berwick-er.)

Here's hoping that it inspires many young kids to keep fit & try a new sport!

So far the results are as follows (31/07/2014. 12:11pm):

So whichever country you find yourself supporting, I don't think anybody can deny the comradery that has taken place and the sheer pleasure that the athletes have running on their home British turf!

A huge congratulations to everybody who has taken part, everybody who has cheered a competitor on, or even just switched on for a bit of evening entertainment, you all have helped make something memorable.

Grand Illusions Vintage Paint... We're excited. Are you?

Very sorry that you haven't heard from me in a while, but I think you might forgive me when you see how busy we've been at Drift Living. Between re-vamping stock, re-organising our shop (plus planning a whole shop move, but tell you about that later...), in the process of re-designing our website, we stumbled across Grand Illusions Vintage Paint and fell in love. 

 

A LITTLE BIT ABOUT VINTAGE PAINT

Based on the buttermilk paint used in the 18th and 19th centuries, this chalky Matt paint is inspired by Nordic and French colours/design and has over 25 colours for you to choose from. 

DRIFT LIVING AND GRAND ILLUSIONS VINTAGE PAINT

You will slowly be seeing more pictures, updates, and general excitement coming from our direction starting from now! We will be selling a huge variety of paint pots, from 1L (capable of covering 12 square metres approx.) and a generously sized 125ml "small project" pot. Not only that, but we also plan to do our own paint courses that you can buy where we will teach you exactly how to create that paint finish you want! 

We've got lots of lovely new furniture, some of it painted, some of it ready for customers to revamp, all ready for a big launch in our new shop and warehouse in Summer 2014.

Stay tuned in the next coming months!

I'll be back soon with more of our exciting news!

Mixing your Pantones.

My previous post gave you some ideas about the Pantone 2014 colour palettes and how to use them, and on this post I want to show you some examples of how to mix these colours to produce beauty in every room.

 

 

Hopefully this has given you some more Pantone-inspiration!

Pick the Pantone colour for you!

2014 Colour Trends

Pantone have chosen some fantastic colours for you for 2014, however if the colour chart above just isn't inspiring you enough, I have scoured the Internet for pictures to give you that little extra...

PANTONE: Cayenne.

 I've been seeing this colour slowly sneak into our lives in the past year, and boy am I glad it did, I just can't get enough of this colour!

 PANTONE: Dazzling Blue.

 

Reminds me of Royal Blue, with more Jazz. Think, feature walls. Think, statement pieces. Think, Dazzling Blue.

 PANTONE: Paloma.

 Possibly my favourite out of all the colours this year, but that's only because I'm a sucker for Grey tones. Team Paloma with any of the other colours and you'll have a match made in heaven. Beautiful.

 PANTONE: Celosia Orange.

  Throw away everything that made you dislike Orange because Celosia Orange is here to win your heart. Are you in love yet?

PANTONE: Hemlock.

 You really can't go wrong with Hemlock, whether your wearing it or painting it on your wall, it's a safe, comfortable, reassuring colour. Hemlock will be your best friend this year.

 PANTONE: Sand.

 Sand with White. Perfection. If you're a lover of the neutrals, like me, Sand is a perfect alternative. A little deeper than the usual beige, but equally as relaxing and comforting.

 PANTONE: Freesia

You just can't deny it, Freesia is a happiness in one pot. Paint anything this colour for an instant boost.

 

PANTONE: Radiant Orchid. 

Pantone's 2014 Colour of the Year and what's not to love! It's bright and yet not too "in your face", it's uplifting and yet still relaxing... It's just radiant. Radiant Orchid to be precise. I suspect you'll be seeing a lot more of this colour, everywhere!

PANTONE: Placid Blue.

  No colour chart would be right without it's light blue tones, and I like this one. Even the name reminds you that you should be relaxing with it on your walls, "placid blue"... I'm feeling mellowed already.

PANTONE: Violet Tulip.

Cute, delicate and pretty. Paint anything this colour for the instant "aw, so cute" effect, in fact lets just paint everything in this colour. I think the world would be a better place if everything was Violet Tulip.