Wednesday 22 April 2015

Ideal Home Show | Money, Beauty, Home and Food

So in March I was lucky enough to be handed a complimentary ticket to the Ideal Home Show from Joe Bloggers. I was super excited because I'm actually slowly but surely improving the house bit by bit.  Though this has slowed down even more now as Matthew's got a new job.  It's more secure which is good for the baby but it's now minimum wage. As I got given 2 tickets I decided to take my dad as he is always looking up ways to improve his house.  Not only that but when we looked at the timetable we noticed Martin Lewis was going to be there!  It's safe to say we were both interested in that as we love saving money, who doesn't!?

So off we went on the train.  It took a while to get there as we had to get a bus replacement service from South Kensington station.  They did have mascots though showing you the way which was good. However we did have to cross a very busy road after getting off which we found odd and would of much preferred getting off at the same side as the building.  The building was beautifully decorated with fake greenery on the outside.  Despite arriving at 11am we went straight in.


The place was huge and there was garden and homeware everywhere.  I was also pleasantly surprised to see a beauty and food section. We started off by making sure that the table I had booked for us in the Gregg Wallace restaurant was booked (more on that later).  Afterwards we went to the Martin Lewis presentation and I'm SO glad we went.  I managed to find us some seats, they were really uncomfortable and there was no where near enough.  I suppose in a way the positive thing was that we felt up close and personal with Martin Lewis but I would of preferred a seat with a back cause damn it hurt!



Martin Lewis gave some great tips and he was a great speaker.  He spoke really fast so some people might of found it hard to keep up but he reminded me of well...me because I do exactly the same.  He spoke about how we don't really actually have a credit score!  There is no black list!  So it's safe to say I'll be having words with Santander possibly.  His #1 tip was that when applying for credit whether that be through a credit card or a loan was to always use the same information.  So the same mobile/home number and the same email address.  Obviously if your phone number changes then that's fair enough, but try to keep it consistent.

Another great tip I'll quickly message was that with school holiday fines (which for almost every parent is a nightmare).  Was to find out if it's cheaper to book a flexi-flight with Easy Jet a week before the school holidays start and then after 24 hours you can change it to a week in the actual school holidays.  He said to only do it if there are more then 20 seats left though as otherwise the odds are stacked against you.  Feel free to click this link if your interested in more information and great saving tips in general.

When Martin was finished it was time for me and my dad to go to our 3 course lunch meal at the Gregg Wallace restaurant.  This was an optional extra I paid for as it wasn't that expensive for what it was and it was one of those experiences that were rare in life.  We arrived and had some problems with the tickets as there was no where to collect them.  So I just showed them my receipt on my phone.  I did ask about the ticket collection when we first walked in but no one knew what I was talking about etc so it was a bit un-organised but eventually we got in.  The place felt a bit empty in my eyes not by population but well love there was a few decorations but it seemed....hollow?  I can't word it that well.  We were shown to our seats and ordered some tap water which was always re-filled the waitress was so lovely.  I started off the Ham and Mozzarella board

Salsa, breadsticks, ham and mozzarella
Picking the main was really hard but in the end I went with the pulled pork burger that came with a mix of regular and sweet potato fries alongside some coleslaw.


For dessert I had the cheeseboard.  I didn't fancy anything sweet.  I didn't take a picture but believe me it was yummy...I was sadden I couldn't eat my brie.  Damn pregnancy!

When we were finished we took a walk around the beauty section.  We found some useful for dad's bad shoulder straight away.  Some woman were selling heated salt packs and it relaxed dad straight away so that was the first thing that was purchased.  I wanted to explore a bit before buying bits and pieces.  I did some nice fairy lights but I could easily buy them online or in Primark and I haven't even started to decorate my room yet.  I did see a demonstration on some curlers and well..I had a weak moment and ask her to do my hair....I then brought said curlers.  To be fair they were a good price and they did do a really god job and when she was doing my hair she didn't just sell them to me but instead told me how to use them which was much better then just someone "selling" them to me.

Yes yes lets ignore the creepy guy in the back
There were a lot of massage sections and dad tried out a few.  Some worked some didn't but it was good to try them out to see how they worked etc.  I don't like massages myself I dunno why ha ha.  I looked around the food section too but there were only a few good stalls that took my interest like a juice stand etc.  Many were meat stands and well I get my meat from a local butchers so they didn't interest me at all....though it smelt divine. 



I dunno if it was just me though but I didn't find the home section that good as I'm renting but they had plenty of options for home owners to install fancy new luxury showers etc.  However I did see Hillary blinds there and that did interest me as I need new blinds for the kitchen and David's room.  My kitchen is going to be pastel pink and white and David's bedroom is pirate theme which would work out a bit difficult.  They had some beautiful Spring styles though one of them being green and grey! Which is what I'm decorating my living room with.

There were lots of cute little stands and as well as the curlers I walked home with 2 cute mason cups with lids and straws (which I use all the time) and a heart chalkboard.  All in all it was a great day out and I'd love to go next year.  I was worried one day wouldn't be enough but I think apart from maybe some of the timetabled shows I would of liked to have gone to one day was plenty for me.  If I did want to go more then one day then I would of booked a hotel so I was nearby as I dunno if it was because I am pregnant but I was knackered afterwards.


Sorry for the lack of photos and more writing but I only just found my camera and was using my phone for the day.  Until next time folks!



0 comments:

Post a Comment