Interiors,Travel

A Brighton weekend in a house full of style

Kitchen of Brighton house

Living room

I went on my first trip to Brighton at the weekend for the wedding of one of my dear friends Shannon.

We have been friends since university, when seven of us shared a large, dilapidated house in Salford. That was an *ahem* experience which bonded us all together forever, as we are still as close 20 years on. We might not manage to meet up as often as we would like, largely due to most of us having children, all of us having busy lives and living in different parts of the country, but weddings (and funerals) have given us regular reason to see each other every year or so and we are in constant touch online in between.

The house I stayed in this weekend could not have been more different to that student house in Higher Broughton. Along with two of my close friends Bridget and Lucy, we booked a house in the Hanover area through Air BnB. It looked gorgeous online – but when I walked in I was blown away by the decor, how it was put together and how the rooms were styled.

Kitchen of Brighton house

Me in Brighton

Shannon's wedding

It was my first time using Air BnB and couldn’t have been easier. Apart from, that is, getting a taxi from the station and asking to go the wrong street at the wrong side of town, then having to get a taxi back to where I was supposed to be going… I blame that on the fact I was slightly tired after going out to the MAD Blog Awards in London the night before!

Once I arrived though, I had an hour or so in the house to myself to relax and get ready before meeting the others. It’s a slightly strange feeling being in someone else’s house, loving the decor and wanting to Instagram the hell out of it while you’re there! I took a few photos, more for inspiration that anything else, but decided I’d share them on my blog so you could have a peek too.

You see this house, I discovered, belongs to an interior stylist and not only that, she writes a blog and it turns out we have friends in common. Maxine is behind the blog We Love Home and through reading that this week I have seen that she writes for several magazines like Ideal Home and Home Style, as well as working as a stylist on many TV shows.

Disco pic Brighton house

Kitchen wall

I sent her a little message on Sunday night to ask if she wouldn’t mind me writing about her and luckily she said it was fine. Phew! I wonder how I would feel if someone stayed in my house overnight and took some photos for a blog post? I guess I would actually love it, not that that seems likely as my house is in a state of slight chaos after our major move this summer.

Anyway, Maxine’s home is so beautifully put together with some gorgeous and inventive touches from the shelving made from copper piping in the kitchen, to the painted grey armoir used for storage in the living room.

I’m not really one for print but one of favourite parts of the house was the wallpaper in the second bedroom, which I think is this one called Frontier from Cole and Son. I haven’t been brave enough to paper in my house yet as I’m not sure I could live with my choice, but I am considering it maybe in the playroom or or one of the children’s rooms.

Lounge wall Brighton house

Brighton living room

Picture shelves in lounge

Maxine told me she had just finished papering the day before we arrived, so we were pretty privileged to see the finished product.

Spending time in her home has inspired me with ideas for decorating my own home, and also given me a new blog to follow.

As for Brighton, well I loved it and just wish it didn’t take me six hours of travelling to get there! I met up with another friend while I was there too, Amanda, who I used to share a house with in Manchester and is now a swing-dancing twin mama. Lovely as ever to see her even after so many years. I feel lucky that I was able to take a few days away on my own to socialise, dress up and let my hair down a bit. Regular breaks are essential when you have kids, but even more so when you’re a single parent I would say.

If you live in or around Brighton, why don’t you check out my friend Shannon’s new blog Brighton Side of Life? She is a brilliant writer who has just started blogging as an aside to writing books and for magazines. Go on, you’ll love it!

x Julia

PS Thank you all so much for voting for me as best writer at the MAD Blog Awards. If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter you will have seen that I didn’t win, but I still had a great time! One day maybe, hey?

Flamingo picture

Brighton Pier

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7 Comments

  • Reply
    Maxine Brady
    September 23, 2016 at 6:59 pm

    Thank you so much for covering my home in your blog and for your kind comments. So nice to see my home snapped as a whole (not had time to do that yet). Pleased you enjoyed your stay. I’ve finished of the spare room a bit more now and have grand plans for the staircase so you have to come back and visit :))

  • Reply
    Carie @ Space for the Butterflies
    September 24, 2016 at 10:24 pm

    Oh envy envy of that wallpaper! What a beautiful house, and a lovely chance to get away for a bit. It was great to see you at the MADs and fingers crossed one day it’ll be a win for you 🙂
    Carie @ Space for the Butterflies recently posted…39/52 {the 2016 portraits}My Profile

  • Reply
    Shannon
    September 25, 2016 at 4:10 pm

    Ah it was an amazing weekend Jules. Thank you for sharing it with us. Let’s make sure we all meet up again asap and thanks so much for the blog mention! I’m still trying to work out how to enable the comments sections.. haha!

  • Reply
    mummyofboygirltwins
    September 26, 2016 at 9:31 am

    Oh it’s gorgeous 🙂 SO lovely! I saw a few snaps on IG and thought it looked cool 🙂 Glad you had fun xx

  • Reply
    RachelSwirl
    September 27, 2016 at 5:58 pm

    I have such home envy when I see all these amazing pictures on t’internet.
    RachelSwirl recently posted…#TuesdayTreasures 27/09/2016My Profile

  • Reply
    Hayley @hayleyfromhome
    September 29, 2016 at 10:11 am

    The house is gorgeous, how funny that you stayed there then realised who she was!! What a lovely place to stay and I love all the prints. How I wish my home looked like that…not a chance 😉 xx
    Hayley @hayleyfromhome recently posted…A Week On My FeetMy Profile

  • Reply
    Caro | The Twinkle Diaries
    October 12, 2016 at 3:00 pm

    It’s absolutely gorgeous Jubarb — I would have wanted to leave!! Love the RAR rocker and the Fornasetti plates — design heaven!! Weirdly, Maxine works with my good friend Holly!! Such a small world isn’t it? Cxx
    Caro | The Twinkle Diaries recently posted…Home Etc #72My Profile

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