Super-mom

Not content with the drab surroundings Emma Parkes 49 has turned her bland cottage into a multicoloured paradisemdashand she managed it on a small budget Parkes from Shropshire who works in special needs education moved in 16 months ago with her daughter Poppy 18 and her son Ralph eightKeen to make the place feel more homely she stripped out the old carpets which revealed rustic floorboards which she then painted white with permission from the landlord Picking a ldquofeminine and upliftingrdquo colour palette to replace the magnolia the mumoftwo added pops of colour into every roommdashspending a total of pound1500 on the renovationPicking a ldquofeminine and upliftingrdquo colour palette to replace the magnolia the mumoftwo added pops of colour into every roommdashspending a total of pound1500 on the renovation PicsInstagramldquoWhen I first arrived the cottage was all magnolia but structurally soundrdquo Parkes said I knew I wanted to inject colour with a boho style with plenty of plants throughout the houserdquo The first room Parkes tackled was the lounge where she spent pound800 overhauling the furniture with ldquoretrordquo secondhand buys and creating a feature wallpapered wallShe said ldquoI first decorated the lounge with a colour palette of green pink and soft pink and vivid pink The walkin fireplace also had exposed brick which I freshened up with some white paint and I created a feature wall with wallpaper gifted by Lust Home I removed the curtains and replaced them with a natural branch with plants hanging from it Irsquove also created this in my bedroomrdquoIn the kitchen Parkes spent just pound200 and used her creative skills to paint a bright pink and aquamarine mural across one of the wallsThe single mum said ldquoThe kitchen was the first room where I painted one of my murals on the wall All my murals are handpainted and original It is very much floralthemed and uses bright but soothing colours The use of plants continues into the kitchen where Irsquove hung a reclaimed ladder from the ceiling with flowers hanging from itrdquoParkes who has done all of the work herself began DIYing her home as a way to deal with the grief of suddenly losing her dad in 2020 ldquoIrsquom a single mum and work full time so it can be hard to achieve the work I do on my home quickly I dip into it as and when I canrdquo The mum credits her ldquocreative thinkingrdquo for being able to carry out the renovation on such a small budgetThis is not your tableA bride considers having a separate lsquoantivaxrsquo table at wedding for relativesThe last two years have seen weddings disrupted cancelled and shrunken in size due to the Coronavirus pandemic But as restrictions have eased the industry has opened back up and brides and grooms have been able to get on with planning their special day One bride has shared how shersquos unsure whether or not to have a separate table at her wedding for all of the unvaccinated guestsHeidi the bride from Sydney appeared on the radio show Kyle and JackieO on KIIS 1065 to discuss her dilemma Heidi told the radio hosts how shersquos tying the knot in March of 2022 and a few of her relatives havenrsquot had the vaccine She said ldquoIrsquom thinking do I have a special lsquoantivax tablersquo so all the other guests are a little bit more at ease with having people that arenrsquot vaccinated there or do I not worry about itrdquoDoes your fingerprint match this islandLocated off the coast of Croatia in the Adriatic Sea Baljenac is a tiny island covered by a series of drystone walls that make it look like a giant fingerprint when seen from above Pic FacebookWrong number leads to 20yearold friendshipOne Florida womanrsquos phone folly inadvertently spawned a friendship with a Rhode Island man thatrsquos lasted for more than 20 years ldquoHersquos a very nice person I love him to deathrdquo Delrayrsquos Gladys Hankerson 80 told Today of the accidental relationshipBurglars knock a hole in the wall steal LegoGerman police are looking for witnesses after burglars broke through the wall of a toy store to steal dozens of Lego sets The theft took place over the weekend in the western town of Lippstadt The burglars left about 100 empty cardboard boxesAcc to survey Australia is the drunkest countryOrganisers from the Global Drug Survey asked more than 32000 people from 22 different countries Participants from Australia got drunk an average of 27 times over the course of the yearmdashalmost double the global average which was 15Dad gets famous for going clubbing with daughterAn iconic dad has become an internet celebrity after taking his daughter out clubbingmdashand people are swooning over his dance moves TikTok star Talia taliasc was on holiday with her family in Madrid and decided she wanted to hit the tiles so she put on her dancing shoes and prepared to head into the night Then her dad offered to go with her wearing his best shirt spectacles and sweater vestmdashand together they danced the night away as the Daily Star reportsScientists make plastic cup out of salmon spermResearchers at Tianjin University in China have developed a sustainable biodegradable plastic derived from salmon sperm and vegetable oil which might just be the most viable solution yet for the worldrsquos imminent plastic pollution problem The promising substance was created by extracting strands of DNA from the sperm of salmonmdashthough the stuff could come from just about any living thingmdashand dissolving the genetic matter in water with ionomers