About

MANCHESTER | INTERIORS | CULTURE

‘Well I Guess This Is Growing Up’ is an award-winning Manchester-based Colour & Culture blog, with a focus on design and living life beautifully – written by me, Karen Clough.

I’m a trained journalist turned marketing manager who loves to write about Manchester, property projects (currently on house 2) and travel which soothes the soul. After buying my first home in 2011, this site was launched covering the complete overhaul of the abandoned 1930s semi-detached, often turning to DIY.

Skip forward to 2018, and we’ve evolved.

Myself, along with my husband and daughter, are in our forever home, a Victorian semi-detached, on another decorating adventure. We love nothing more than finding new ways to create a bold, bright family home on a budget, seeking inspiration from travel, local creatives, street art and architecture.

Accolades & Collaborations

‘Well I Guess This Is Growing Up’ is consistently ranked in the Top 100 UK Home & Interiors Bloggers by the Lifestyle community, HIBS100. It was named the “Best Affordable DIY Blog” in the Bathrooms.com Blogger Awards 2015, Shortlisted for the “Best DIY Blog” in the Amara Interior Blog Awards 2015 and Shortlisted for “Best Colour Inspiration” in the Amara Interior Blog Awards 2017. As of 2018, the blog was named Top 50 Trending Interiors Blogs worldwide in the Feathr50 report, has been shortlisted as the “Best Interiors Blog” in the Northern Blog Awards. In late, 2018, this site WON the “Best Colour Inspiration” title in the Amara Interior Blog Awards 2018. 

I am proud to note that I have collaborated with some of my favourite brands in the industry including IKEA, Homesense, Valspar Paint, Rose & Grey, Ryobi Tools, Denby, Graham & Brown, DFS, and British Gas to name a few. If you’re interested in working together, please head over to my Contact page.

Not sure where to start? Here are some of my top reads:

Choosing Colour
New House Tour
Manchester in Technicolour
How We Made 100k On Our First Home
Where to Find The Manchester Bee
Finding Colour & Culture in Spain
A Manchester Guide to Shopping Interiors & Gifts
Budapest’s Love Affair With Yellow

How to Hang a Wall Mural

Disclaimer

Any products or services mentioned on this blog are a reflection of my own experiences and have all been paid for by myself, unless stated otherwise. I do love to review products, which are relevant to house, home, decorating, or DIY, but I will always mark when something has been gifted or sponsored and I will continually give my completely honest opinion. There are no exceptions and I cannot be bought. In addition, if you are looking for guest post opportunities, this is not something I allow on this site so please bear this in mind before e-mailing. Saying that, I am a pr-friendly blogger who would love to work with reputable brands that fit it with the content of my site. I’m not here to endorse rubbish. I just want to embrace home life and share it with others in my little bubble of happiness, right here. You can find more information in my FAQs section.

Polite Notice & Privacy Policy

I work really hard on this blog and request that you do not replicate any of it elsewhere on the internet, unless it has been discussed with myself first. I am not responsible for republished content from this blog onto other sites without my permission. Should you wish to use any of my content, please do credit me as the source, or just get in touch. I’m really quite nice!

This blog does not share personal information with third parties, and does not store any information about your visit to this blog other than to analyse and optimise your content and reading experience through the use of cookies. (By the way, you can turn off the use of cookies if you like by changing your browser settings.)

This privacy policy is subject to change without notice and was last updated in January 2020.