Student bedroom essentials for all budgets

So this post is a bit like last weeks but rather than pretty pictures of unrealistic student rooms from Pinterest, I'm going to be talking about the essentials you need to take to uni and coincidentally, I'm moving into my new uni house today so my essentials are already packed.

Bedding

If you've got a bit of extra money to spend, Parachute have lots of bedding and blankets for you to snuggle into after a day of lectures or a night out.

At $249 (£160) these duvet covers made from a linen and cotton blend are definitely more of a luxury item. I love the colours because they look quite airy and Mediterranean. See more of their lovely bedding here.

Most of you probably won't be able to afford this kind of thing, but ADSA home have lots of lovely duvet sets too.

If you still want that airy Mediterranean feel then this duvet cover from ADSA home is £12, and it won't feel as soft and comfy but gives you money to spend on other essentials.

Fairy lights

A bit of strange essential but fairy lights really add a nice homely free to a bedroom, especially one made out of breeze blocks and florescent tube lights. Basic fairy lights can be very cheap, but Etsy have lots of unique handmade fairy lights if you want to spend a bit more.

These lights are from an Etsy shop called NajaKonicaSan and are £43.26. The seller also makes pink ones, which could brighten up your student room.

Fairy lights don't have to cost loads, IKEA have lots of novelty plastic fairy lights.

These lilac diamond lights are £14 and the little LED lights aren't too bright but give off a soft lilac colour.

Desk lamp

Desk lamps are always useful when you want to concentrate on revision or something late at night.

For £130 from John Lewis you can get this Pixar style desk lamp that can be angled in any direction.

For £15 from Tesco you can get this lamp which can also angle a little bit and also comes in blue.

Speakers

Speakers are an essential if you're just sitting in your room or if you're having a flat party.

This mini amplifier from Urban Outfitters is £250. It works as an amplifier for instruments but can also be used as a speaker for your phone.

This little Alba bluetooth speaker is from Argos for £9.99 so this is good if you want something a bit smaller and more portable. 

So there's some of my student essentials! What are yours? 

Sophie x

Student room inspiration

In a couple of weeks I'm going to start moving things into my new house in Lincoln for my second year of uni. I'm so excited to personalise my room however I want, and living in a house with 9 other people is going to be interesting too!

My room comes with a desk, a chair, a chest of drawers and a wardrobe. So I get all the basics but want to make everything look cute.

Desk spaces

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I really want to have a tidy desk layout, like the ones you see on Pintrest or other people's blogs, with little cacti and polaroid photos etc.

I know these ideas are unrealistic because my last uni desk was a complete mess, covered in books, pizza, loose change, other random stuff. But I can try and keep it tidy for a few days.

Bookshelves

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Over summer I've had a lot of time to waste wandering around charity shops, which means I've acquired a lot of books and now need a lot of space for them. These bookshelves look like they'd take up a lot of space and I'm not sure how much room I'm going to have. I really like the idea of just sticking cushions on top of a bookshelf to make a seat.

Other stuff

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Here's just some other stuff I thought looked cool but didn't fit into a category. Photos and plants are definitely a necessity and I love the idea of displaying photos next to fairy lights so they stand out.

Does anyone else have any cute student room ideas? 

Sophie x

My current summer book: Atonement, Ian McEwan

I'm currently reading Ian McEwan's Atonement, I'm about a third of the way through and I love it. I bought it from a charity shop for 99p a couple of weeks ago. I watched the film years ago so I've wanted to read the book since then.

From the film I remember it having some dark subject matters but also some romantic aspects, so it's not all depressing, and it has some amazing description and detail. The reason that I think it's a summer book is because the first part that I've read so far is set on the hottest day of the year, in uncomfortable heat, which adds to the uncomfortable awkwardness between some of the characters. So if you read it in the summer you can understand the feelings of characters more clearly.

I love finding books in charity shops because I don't look for anything in particular, just things that I've heard of before, but that also means I end up coming home with about 4 books every time.

What's everyone else reading at the moment?

Sophie x

Sighh Designs Lil' Cacti case review

Sighh is a online store created by graphic design student Polly Vadasz. When it opened two years ago there were around 5 phone cases for sale, now the shop sells phone cases, Macbook skins, pocket mirrors, mugs, make-up bags, stickers, pencil cases, temporary tattoos, prints and tote bags. That's a lot of stuff for one 19 year old to organise.

I bought the Lil' Cacti case for £14 a few months ago, after weeks of trying to decide which case to buy. I finally went for this one simply because I love cacti and I love the green colour scheme. The case also has a nice matte finish which gives it a nice texture. I mainly bought the case for the cute design, rather than for something to protect my phone.

On Polly's website, it mentions that keeping your phone case around your keys (or other similar objects) could cause it to scratch, but since I've had it hasn't scratched at all, even though I just throw it into my tote bag filled with all kinds of stuff. 

These cases aren't the kind that would protect your phone from smashing if dropped on concrete as they are just plastic and quite thin. But they do stop your phone from getting scratched or chipped.

The one negative about these cases is that they can be quite difficult to get off the phone because of the plastic material so bits of tissue and stuff can get a bit stuck.

The case is definitely worth the money and I would buy another case from Sighh again. I'm also thinking of buying other products because I love this tote bag but it's out of stock at the moment (but will be in stock on the 20th of July!)

Make sure you all check out Sighh and look at Polly's pretty stuff!!

Sophie x

Trying to get organised

(this is going to be a bit of a rambly post I apologise in advance)

Diary - Paperchase
Notebook - Gift
July definitely seems to be the month where everyone loses their motivation, I've read about three blog posts dedicated to the idea.

Along with everyone else, I'm also stuck in a blogging block, as you've probably noticed. The main reason is that my blog isn't very organised as I don't have that 'niche' I can write about, so it's often hard to find something to write a post about.

I've slowly been steering away from fashion blogging ever since I started uni. I don't really follow trends or even read anything fashion related anymore so I can't really pick up the motivation to get my tripod out and stand in front of a camera for half an hour.
So I've decided, since my blog isn't anything serious and is just a little hobby, why not just write what I want?
This means you'll be seeing a lot more random posts, like lifestyle stuff, photography, book reviews, random product reviews, blog posts about days out and there might be an occasional outfit post if I feel like it.
And because my subject matter is a bit wider, this means more blog posts, more regularly (I'm aiming for one a week at the moment).
Sophie x
thanks for reading my ramble!