House Renovation - Gets worst before it gets better

Hi Guys,
I hope you are all well and safe.
I have chosen to block out the awful events of Saturday and focus on things that make me happy.

So here is a new post on the renovation.

I am off work this week, so it will be mostly full of decision making. We are making a final decision on flooring, paint colours, bath suites for the main bathroom, ensuite and downstairs toilet. We also plan to look at more kitchens... yes more. We have already viewed a few but I keep changing my mind.

The kitchen will be in the extension which is phase two so we have some time to reach a final decision.

Right now the house looks scary. I believe this week they will finish the dry lining before the plasterers come in. The builders have been working flat out. I am really quite impressed.

Here is what it looks like at the mo.

Kitchen 

Study

Lounge

 Landing

Landing and Bedroom 2

Stairs

Master bed and ensuite

So there you have it, I can't wait for it to be complete. 

I hope you have an awesome day and I will be back soon.

Caio for now.

Love Mrs Berto x

Maternity Wardrobe - Plain black Dress

Hi Guys,

I am now 18 weeks into this pregnancy. The main differences I have noticed so far are, my bump is growing a lot quicker than it did the last time and I can not stand the heat!! Which means I'm having to buy maternity clothes sooner.

Last time I was pregnant over the winter months so I was able to wear big jumpers, but being pregnant in the heat... well that is a game changer. I am sweating in places I didn't know was possible and its only May!!!

So I did a bit of online shopping...because can you believe it nearly all high street stores (apart form good o'l H&M) only sell maternity clothes online?! I mean whats that all about?! Everyone knows shopping is about the experience.

Anyway I have invested in some key maternity pieces to see me through.

First key item is a plain black dress.

This dress comes as part of a maternity essentials set by Next which includes a black vest, black pencil skirt and black leggings. Great foundations to any maternity wardrobe I would say. Also not bad at £32 for the lot!

I have styled it four ways below:

Weekend casual

Day date with the hubby - (I.E too hard to get babysitter for a night out)

A day at the office

Night out with the girls- (as long as its not past 10pm hehehehe)

So these are my picks. What do you think?
Styling the bump is always a challenge and as much as I want to look stylish, today I have sat around in slouchy pants while putting this post together. Gotta keep it real, right ladies?!

I will be back soon with another few looks for all you expecting mothers out there.

Ciao for now
Love Mrs Berto x

House Renovation - Planning, Planning, Planning.

Hi Guys,

What do you think of the new house?

It has all started, the builders are in and the ceilings are missing! They have estimated that Phase One, the renovation of the main house will be done in 4 to 6 weeks! Once it's done we can move in while they continue with the extension.

Mr Berto has been working hard at preparing plans for the builders to work to. We will be using an architect for the extension but the main house they just needed a guide.

Here are our plans.

The wall between the existing bathroom and bedroom 1 was made of concrete block and the floor was bowing under weight of it. Due to this it had to be removed which was good because we couldn't decide wether to have the master bedroom as part of the extension or not so it made our decision for us.

Now that has been decided we are moving the bathroom to bedroom 3 and then will have an ensuite in the master bedroom.  This does mean that the house is temporarily going from a 3 bed to a 2 bed but once the extension is built we will have two additional rooms. 

I have already started planning the interior for each room of the main house. The only thing I'm struggling with is what Kitchen I want. I still have a bit of time but there are so many choices.

Its all very exciting!

I will be back soon with the next instalment.

Ciao for now

Love Mrs Berto x

House Renovation - The Beginning

Hi Guys, 

I'm back again!!! 

This is my first instalment of my house renovation series, so where best to start than at the very beginning. As I said before the new house is a BIG renovation project. It hasn't really been touched since the 50's. It doesn't have central heating, which makes me very thankful that Mr Berto is a gas engineer! 

It also needs all new electrics! I mean check out this light switch?!

 Really it needs everything updated.

 These are the current floor plans.

To start with we want to get the main house done so we can get out of my aunt's hair. Then we are planning an extension at the back for a new big kitchen with an additional room upstairs. Here are some before pictures to show you what we are working with!

 Front

 Living Room

 Hall

 Kitchen

 Study

 Bathroom

 Bedroom 1

Bedroom 2

Bedroom 3

Garden 

I can't wait to show you more!

See you soon.
Ciao for now.

Love Mrs Berto xx

Back at it... blogging and babies that is!!

Hi guys, 

How the heck are ya? 

If you follow me on instagram you know the last few months have been... well a bit MAD! 

 We finally sold our house and completed on our new house in April which seemed to feel like an eternity!!! 

Packing up the house was one of the most stressful experiences I've ever had. Due to delays I had already returned to work and although I'd done quite a bit before, we didn't actually know what what happening so the remaining stuff was a bit last minute.com! Not to mention looking after Squidge and struggling with the joys of morning sickness which is more like morning, noon and night nausea. 

This pregnancy seems a lot more intense. I'm not sleeping and I get quite dizzy. Can you believe I'm 15 weeks already!!!!

So where are we now? Well we are living with my Aunt while the house is renovated. How amazing is she for allowing us to to move in with a teething 14 months old. It's not too bad but I will be happy once we are settled in the new house.

I plan to do a whole blog series on the renovation and I can't wait to show you guys. Here is a sneaky peeky before picture.

Be back soon.
Ciao for now.
Love Mrs Berto x

House Tour...... Finally!!!!

Hi Guys, 

Some big changes are a foot for myself and Mr Berto, we put our house on the market late last year and I'm happy to say that we now have an offer (we had two previous ones but the people found other properties). We have also made an offer which has been accepted on another house. 

The new house is going to be big renovation project which I will be covering on the blog, my Pinterest is going to be on fire in the next few months! 

I always planned to do a house tour for you guys but I never got round to it. Mainly because it is never tidy! I thought now would be a great opportunity to do it, to have a record of our first property together which holds so many wonderful memories and to say goodbye.  I also have the pictures from the estate agent, so it makes it even easier!

Solicitors etc always take a little while, so we will be here a bit longer but I am really excited for our new adventure and to be able to share it with you.

Now our house is never normally this tidy or empty, I've packed a lot of trinkets, book and clothes away, ready for the move. Right now I am looking at Arthur's foam flooring and toys scattered across the living room floor. There is also a clothes horse of washing in the kitchen and boxes of things to be sorted in the sewing room. I'm trying to sort through things as our possessions will be in storage while the new house is made livable. We will be staying with my aunt for a short while. 

As this chapter of my life comes to a close it I can help but feel nostalgic about the first time I saw the house, the parquet flooring, built in unit and pizza oven in the garden made us instantly fall in love. We actually nearly missed out on it because it was under offer when we found it but it came back on the market 2 weeks later.

Oh little house, thank you for the last 2 years!

I hope you enjoyed this little post.

Ciao for now.

Mrs Berto xx

Curls, Curls, Curls

Hey Guys 

How are we? 

As I am easing my way back into blogging I thought I would start with my curly hair routine. 

I have naturally very curly hair however in 2001 I found GHDs and wore my hair straight 99.9% of the time. Don't get me wrong I've always loved my curls it's just firstly straight hair was easier to manage and secondly I had quite a heavy fringe for a few years which had to be straight, otherwise I would look like I have a birds nest on my forehead.  

Anyway since I got pregnant and even after I had Mr Squidgy Pants I found my hair isn't staying straight as well as it used to. I think the curls have had enough and are fighting back. So for now I am embracing them and here's how: 

Tools - Body shop Rainforest Moisture Shampoo & Conditioner, Boots Extra firm hold mousse, old t Shirt, Bounce Curl, a hairdryer with diffuser and a wide tooth comb. 

1. I wash my hair with the shampoo and use my fingers to detangled it before rinsing. 

2. I add conditioner and leave it in for 2/3mins. Then I use the wide tooth comb to remove any final tangles. I then rinse it but I don't completely rinse out all the conditioner. 

3. I then squeeze any excess water out and add the mousse. At this point my hair is sopping wet. 

4. I wrap it in the t Shirt and leave it for about 15 mins, usually when I am putting make up on. 

5. I then separate it into four sections and add Bounce Curl to each section before drying each individual section with the diffuser while scrunching it. Once each section is 80% dry I unsection it, add a little more Bounce curl before drying it again all together. 

6. Finally I use the wide tooth comb to tease the roots as they get a little flat with the weight of my hair. 

 

And that's it I'm done. 

To keep my curls in tack I always sleep with my hair piled on the top of my head like a pineapple and in the cooler months with a satin pillow case. I've tried to use a satin pillow case in the summer months but I just get too hot! 

Well there you have it, I hope you enjoyed this little blog. 

See you soon. 

Ciao for now. 

Love Mrs Berto xx 

 **This is not a sponsored post, these products are just what work for me.**