The Trials and Triumphs of The Home with Able and Game

Today is your last chance to enter this week’s Guest Blog giveaway, a huge pack of treats from the lovely Anna and Gareth of Able and Game! Make sure you leave your comment before 10pm tonight, the winner will be announced tomorrow! And don't forget to visit the Able & Game Etsy store for many more laughs on cards for every occasion [Father's Day is just around the corner people!] -Jenny x

I often wonder what people would think of our house if it was featured on The Design Files. I’m sure they would be impressed with the ‘classroom chic’ we have created and sigh with jealously when they spot our second hand Ikea furniture and hard rubbish collected from outside my sister’s house one weekend. All these creative people who know how to decorate a home in such an amazing way makes me realise what a skill it is. Maybe one day I will get it and it will all come together, we just shifted recently so I’ll stick to using that as an excuse for a while.

You spend the day cleaning the house and feel the effort was enough to keep it clean for a month. Two days later when it is a pigsty, you have no energy to clean it.

One thing I never get is how people keep their houses so tidy. You visit someone, the house is spotless and then they tell you it is a pigsty. My Mum has a pet pig so I know what a pigsty looks like and this isn’t it! I like to keep quotes like ‘only boring people have clean houses’ in my mind when the house is looking a wee bit shabby and then shove everything into our junkatique of a spare bedroom. Maybe when the Census data is released and I find out everyone does 40+ hours of unpaid domestic work I will know I’m letting the team down.

The key to a good house party is printing 200 cute full colour invites on your art lecturer's photocopier code.

Is there anything more fun than a really good house party? Think about some of the best nights you have ever had and chances are it was a house party. Even though your feet will stick to the kitchen floor the next day and for months you will find mysterious beer cans in strange locations it is all worth it for the fun that can be had. I once lived with a guy who told me the key to a party was the lighting and spent hours beforehand setting up lamps around the house. I always thought they key to a good party was a few casks of Fruity Lexia and 200 cute invites you printed up with your art lecturer’s photocopier code. With winter almost over I’m hoping the invitations open up again and Saturday evening will be spent sipping wine in grassy backyards watching the sun set.