Creating an Amazing Home Cinema

Mr H is a dreamer at heart. He plays the lottery every week and fills his head with what he would do if he won. Whilst for some people it is an occasional chat over a glass of wine, for him it's a regular conversation. He is always on Rightmove searching out his dream house, and the favourites section is filled with mansions featuring games rooms, swimming pools, gyms, and the like. As a big film fan, one of his ambitions would be to have a home cinema.

Whilst the enormous screen and tiered seating might be a little out of the question for most of us, it’s actually fairly simple to create a scaled down home cinema. Here’s how…

Home Decor: The Dining Room

Since we moved into our house just over 18 months ago I have gradually been working through my long list of projects. As it was a new build, every room was an empty box for me to have free reign in, however with those little things we call budgets, I am still battling through all the ideas I had right at the start.

I have shared a couple of my project plans, such as those for our living room and Miss H's bedroom, both of which are works in progress, so I thought today I would share our plans for the dining room. Here's a mood board from the things I pinned right at the start:

This Year's Reality

It's getting the that time of year when everyone goes banana's for reality TV. Beginning with Britain's Got Talent, we then go right through to Christmas with Big Brother, Strictly Come Dancing, X Factor, I'm a Celebrity and Dancing on Ice. I do love a bit of reality and for years I was a huge Big Brother fan, even down to watching the live streaming into the wee hours.

The Great British Summer with Joules

I absolutely love supporting UK brands and country clothing brand Joules are definitely one of those that spring to mind. Having been around for over 30 years they certainly know their stuff, and are a brand that are consistently producing new and exciting products that keep their customers returning for more.

Keeping My Children Safe

Just over a year ago I had a long hard think about how much information I shared on my blog about the children. As a primarily parenting blogger, my posts mostly revolve around them, they are discussed via facebook and twitter and many a photo is shared. However after a discussion with a few friends online I became more aware of how this may affect the children, now and in the future.

Internet security is an important issue for all parents to consider. With the rise of social media, parents often don't think twice before posting everything about their little ones, from what they had for breakfast, their likes and dislikes to their toilet habits! However I don't think any of us often stop and think that by doing this we are putting our children at risk. It is a scary concept and with so many frightening things in the outside world to worry about, we don't want to then have to think about our online lives.

No longer are the dangers just outside our homes

What I realised myself during this time was that whilst I was happy to share information about my children and photos and felt it would take away from my blog if I didn't, that by the same token I didn't necessarily have to broadcast their names. This is why I now refer to them as Little H and Baby J, or often H and J. Particularly when they are older it means their friends or maybe even teachers won't be able to find them so easily online and discover all about their childhood and probably topics they wouldn't want discussing! Further to this, if a person decided to do the unthinkable they would know my children's names, things about them and quite possibly the right place to find them.

There are so many menacing threats to sharing very personal information online. Often I will share my upcoming holiday plans and whilst I may not reveal the date, I make it obvious the trip away will be soon and my house will be empty. If someone was determined enough they can also find a picture of my house on the blog. Frightening, yet according to an article on Norton's website 1/3 of us do this! Last year I posted a photo on Instagram of my children's pile of Christmas presents - an open invitation to someone maybe?

As frightening an issue as it may be, I think the time is coming where we all need to stand back and realise the world we are in, and maybe readdress how much we should share of our lives. The dangers of our modern world are not only outside our front door, but sitting in our living rooms.

*This post is brought to you in association with Norton.

The Hunt for the Perfect Present

Two weeks ago I turned 30 and the question on my mind has been for some while, a gift? I'm not really one for surprises when it come to gifts, especially big ones, I'm a bit of a control freak! After getting an iPhone two years ago and then an iPad not long after I really fancied a MacBook. My laptop is so slow and drives me crazy when I'm trying to upload photos, create collages and write blog posts in the same session. After about half an hour of usage it would just go painfully slow and trying to load photo-heavy pages such as webstagram or snapfish would take an age.

The old laptop had to be used in sync with the iPad

Having not owned a MacBook before I was a bit unsure, so turned to Twitter for some advice. Anyone who owned one instantly said it was the best thing they had bought, so I was convinced!

After doing a lot of research, including visiting Which? for their opinions, asking the techy gurus for advice and sourcing the best prices for laptops and netbooks, I decided on a MacBook Pro 13" with 8MB memory and 750GB hard drive. I take so many photos a week I really need something that can hold a high amount of data, so to me the extra £250 was worth it.

My Macbook arrived two days after my birthday (note: if you know a student, they get 15% off) and it is beautiful. It's lightweight, especially compared to my old laptop, it is shiny and the buttons light up - what more could a girl want?? On a serious note, it is super fast and the picture quality is amazing, everything is so sharp. It may be an expensive present but i know I will get so much use of it, it will definitely be worth it for years to come.

Now I just have to get to grips with a completely new platform!

*This post is brought to you in partnership with John Lewis