Cocoa & Cotton

Cocoa & Cotton is the inspirational lifestyle blog curated by Elizabeth Gibson; if you’re looking for a little indoor or outdoor inspiration this is the instagram account to follow.

With some fairly large scale house and barn renovations going on, together with landscaping a pretty spectacular garden and potager, we’ve been loving seeing Lizzie’s account detail each step of the journey.

HM were commissioned to create the kitchen and pantry in the newly renovated house which will also feature a beautiful orangery by Vale Garden Houses and we are so looking forward to see this project complete in time for Lizzie and her husband to enjoy the festive season in their newly completed home.

We thought it would be interesting to share some images of the project in the weeks before the kitchen installation started…

As you can see in the image above, the installation of the Babington natural limestone tiles has started and this absolutely stunning limestone will provide the most beautiful and natural foundation for the new kitchen and pantry.

Choosing the grout colour is almost as important as choosing the limestone itself! A question we get asked a lot over at HM Flooring Library is how wide should the grout be – there’s no right or wrong answer, but the wider the gap the most rustic the feel. Wider grout lines from 12-15mm can create a more country look, whereas, under 12mm is more suitable for a contemporary look.

Following along on the instagram account gives an insight into Lizzie’s life as a mother of two young boys. It’s wonderful to see them getting involved with baking and gardening as well as helping guide key design decisions!

While the house renovations continue apace, we wanted to share with you some of the baking highlights from the Cocoa + Cotton blog: above are the ‘sludgiest fudgiest dark chocolate brownies’ – it is a simple recipe though and can be adapted easily – take a look here for the details.

For something fresher with a little zing to it, this glazed lemon and poppyseed cake recipe is a must try. looks oh so impressive but don’t panic it’s very simple and sounds absolutely delicious.

A four ingredient wonder, this flapjack recipe will become a new classic. Failsafe and easy to whip up in a spare half an hour what’s not to love?

Making ice-cream at home usually requires an ice-cream maker but no-churn ice cream recipe is a simple one with just three ingredients and no equipment needed. The ideal base to get adventurous and add flavours too.

For recipe inspiration over on Elizabeth’s lovely blog click here or to follow her on instagram for more renovations updates here.

Images: Elizabeth Gibson