I thought moving into ‘Pinky‘ (the nickname for the new house – yes it’s baby pink) would be a simple case of: unpack, paint some walls, and shut up about it.
Instead, it’s been: unpack, open seventeen browser tabs, start researching all of the stuff I need to buy / think about, realise my to-do list is never, ever, ever going to end. Have a meltdown. Repeat.
I’m trying to turn a house into a home on my own, something I have never done before – and it’s both exciting, and terrifying. And because it’s me, I’m also trying to make more sustainable, long-term, non-wasteful choices as I go. Not perfect choices. Just more considered ones. The kind that don’t fill my house with crap, and don’t make me feel like I’m living inside a landfill.
So, without further ado – from choosing a new mattress and picking a coffee machine, to deciding what to do with an empty fireplace – three of the first big purchases for my new home have all come back to a few key questions: how can I sleep better, create a cosier home, and produce less waste, all at the same time?
1) The mattress: comfort, conscience & back support ticked off
Because at this point in my life, good sleep is a non-negotiable. If I’m going to be spending the next however long doing DIY, moving boxes, and making plumbing and electrics decisions I’m not qualified to make (whilst trying to juggle self-employment, eating out like it’s my full-time job, and my new-found identity as a Pilates girl) I need to be sleeping properly.
I ended up choosing the Simba Natural Hybrid Source Mattress – and I specifically picked this one for two reasons:
- Materials / sustainability: The sustainability part matters, I wanted something that felt more considered, and this one is part of Simba’s more natural-material range, made in the UK. The filling includes natural British and Hampshire wool, which means it’s more breathable; wool boosts airflow and helps to regulate body temperature – which for a woman entering her 40’s, is about to become pretty important.
- Firmness: I wanted proper support. My previous mattress (now relegated to the spare room) was an Emma memory foam mattress and, listen – it was comfy in a marshmallow-y way, but my back was not thriving at all. The Simba I chose, by comparison is heavy, sturdy and solid AF, with seven-zoned steel-sprung base which is designed to cradle your body, especially hips and shoulders – but it has a lovely cushioned top layer, which still makes it feel cosy and luxurious. Honestly, it’s the best of both worlds.
My honest review: I have been sleeping on this for a month now, and I absolutely love it – it’s actually so good. It felt a lot firmer than I expected at first, but within a week or two my body adjusted and my lower back and neck have been noticeably better.
2) The coffee machine: feeding the habit, whilst trying not to be a pod bin
Next up: coffee. Specifically – my ongoing ability to justify a daily takeaway coffee as “a little treat” when it’s actually ruining my chance of ever saving for a pension.
I’m not going to stop buying coffee on the go. Cardiff has too many brilliant spots, and I’m too social / too busy / too welded to the idea that it is my moral responsibility to support the indie coffee shops of my local area. However: I do want to cut down a bit, give pals a genuinely nice coffee when they pop by, and avoid building a home routine around wasteful single-use pods.
So I’ve been looking at bean-to-cup options, and with the Easter Bank Holiday putting on some great special offers, I settled on the Ninja Luxe Café Premier. My personal justification for the £400+ price tag:
- It can do espresso, filter, and cold brew – this is no one-trick pony!
- It’s bean-to-cup, with a built-in grinder which adjusts the grind size to your bean to make “barista-style” drinks achievable without me becoming someone who calibrates espresso at 7:17am
- There’s a milk wand for lattes/cortados etc, though I have realised that the chances of me becoming effortlessly good at latte art are slim-to-none tbh
The result is less waste, fewer impulsive takeaway coffees, a nice home set-up for when I have people round, and the chance to experiment with different roasters because that’s half the joy.
Which brings me to the coffee beans I’m currently obsessed with: Skylark Coffee – the only specialty coffee brand in the world that is both 100% non-profit and 100% transparent. That means they operate like any other coffee roastery, buying and roasting the best coffee they can, but they give away all the profits at the end of the year. Not a B Corp, not a social enterprise, not a CIC, but a non-profit which currently donates proceeds to:
- Knepp Wildland Foundation – a key environmental charity in the Southeast UK leading the way on re-wilding, conservation and climate change.
- The Stumping Project – an African project helping Ethiopian coffee farmers regenerate their coffee trees for sustainable harvests for years to come.
- Pro Baristas – a charity project focussed on unemployment especially among young people, training them for coffee jobs.
- Bette Buna – an Ethiopian coffee farm, mill, exporter, and social project that seeks to raise the living incomes and improve the working conditions for people in Taferi Kela Ethiopia.
I love what they stand for, and I love the coffee – it’s exactly the kind of ‘feel-good without being performative’ model I like supporting.
And if you want to grab your own Ninja Luxe Café Premier? Here’s a link to get 9% off via the Ninja website.
3) The fireplace: cosy, without the cough?
The new house has a small living room with an empty fireplace space, and I want to make it a proper feature – because designing a living room around a giant, wall-mounted flat screen TV will never be me. So I’ve been debating three directions which would avoid the obvious choice of a log burner; according to recent reports in the Guardian, the burning of wood and coal in homes contributes to almost 2,500 deaths a year in the UK due to the inhalation of small pollution particles.
A) An ornamental fireplace
By far the easiest option. There are some beautiful Victorian-style surrounds online, and it would look right at home in my 1900s terrace. No fuel, no mess, no upkeep. Chuck a couple of pillar candles in the grate and call it a day. The downside: other than a small candle flicker, it’s mostly theatre. No heat, no real flame.
B) A wood burner
I get why everyone defaults to this. Peak cosy. Real heat. Real flame. Classic as hell. But real burners are messy. You need log storage, you need to tend to it, and I can’t ignore what the evidence says about air pollution – both inside the house and outside it.
C) A pellet stove (the dark horse option)
I recently discovered Island Pellet Stoves, who are based in South Wales, and they’re making a strong case for pellet stoves as a cleaner, more controlled alternative to a traditional wood burner. They’re automatic (pellets feed in from a hopper for a controlled burn), which makes the whole thing feel less like a fire-making hobby and more like a really clever addition for consistent, controllable heat.
And crucially – they do a tiny 3kW stove (the SKYE 3) which sounds like it was basically made for my small living room (see below – image supplied). It’s super compact, low output, designed for smaller spaces and insulated rooms where fresh air flow might be limited. Most stove conversations assume you’re heating a draughty farmhouse in the Brecon Beacons. I’m obviously not. I’m trying to make one small room feel warm and cosy without adding log management to my LinkedIn profile.
So what’s next?
I really haven’t made my mind up on the fireplace yet. I still want to properly understand installation requirements, running costs, pellet sourcing/sustainability, and how it feels day-to-day in terms of noise, maintenance, and the rest of the unsexy bits. But I’m excited by this option – especially because it’s a local South Wales story, and I love keeping spend closer to home when I can.
But in a nutshell – this kind of content is basically what Staying In is going to look like on the blog from now on: the real-life decisions that make a house feel like home, with sustainability as the quiet filter, not the headline.
Of course I’ll end up sharing what I actually choose on the fireplace as it develops (that one might be a saga) – along with the decorating choices that I hope will make this chapter feel exciting, without having to spend like I’ve won the lottery.
So if you’ve got opinions on any of the above, I’m all ears!
Ooh, here for the journey!!