As the January sales come to an end, over the next few weeks we will see the release of new products from the spring/summer collections for 2020. This week I’ve decided to focus on the best new table and desk lamps becoming available to purchase.
Read MoreAs I helped my son put on his uniform for his very first day at school, I scanned his bedroom and quickly realised that he had drastically outgrown the room I had decorated for him when he was just a year old. No longer a baby, his nursery-like bus wallpaper and aeroplane-themed furniture handles did not reflect this strong-willed young boy in front of me. His room needed to be updated, so over the space of 6 months I worked on different areas of the room to make it more in-line with his age.
Read MoreAs a child of the ‘80’s, I vividly remember my parents decorating our family home. Painting a room could only happen in the height of summer when all the doors and windows could be left open. Regardless, the harsh smell of chemical-laden paint always travelled through every room in the house. If the room being painted was a bedroom, you couldn’t sleep in it for a good few days until the fumes started to subside. The end result of a day decorating was two paracetamol for a banging headache, a dizzy spell and an early night.
Read MoreA few years ago when maximalism was the big interior trend, I papered all the walls of our master bedroom in a heavily-patterned, floral blue wallpaper. To accompany it, I painted everything else in the room a deep blue to match. While I loved this look for a while (and I still love the wallpaper design), I quickly yearned for a much more calming space to wind down, read, sleep and get dressed in. The room gets a lot of light with two windows in it, yet the deep shade of blue sucked that beautiful morning light away. The jazzy wallpaper pattern didn’t feel soothing or resting and didn’t provide the blank canvas required when choosing what to wear for the day (all the colour and pattern of my clothes intermixed with the wallpaper and the blue, making everything clash).
Read MoreCane webbing, boucle, Pampas grass, curves, pink painted doors and abstract face art were all interior decor trends that were keenly embraced in 2019. As we begin a New Year, I always find it fun to try and predict what interior trends will be at the forefront of 2020…
Read MoreThis dried flower festive wreath is a little bit different to traditional Christmas wreaths. The good news is that it is really easy to make and as it is mostly all dried, it lasts the whole holiday season. In this blog post I’m going to list all the flowers I used to make this wreath, plus the few simple rules you need to follow in order to make it successfully.
Read MoreAs it edges closer to that time of year, where you scratch your head and think ‘what on earth am I going to buy them this year?’, I want to introduce to you the idea of giving the gift of art. I think we can all confidently say that 2019 has been the year that we focus on being more sustainable. The idea of giving your nearest and dearest something for Christmas that will ultimately end up in landfill after they have left it untouched in a cupboard for 6 months is more unappealing than ever. Art, in contrast, is a timeless gift that will never go out of style. From a Matisse print to a framed iconic record cover, art is something that is cherished and often adorns the walls of a home for a lifetime. Choosing a piece of art for someone close to you also feels a very considered and thoughtful gift. By picking out that perfect print, there’s no sense of any rushed, ‘oh I just thought that will do’, style of gifting!
Read MoreSimple, Scandi-style paper decorations provide a stylish edge to any Christmas tree and if you hand-make them, you can personalise them to be any colour, shape and size that you like! My formula for making these is a simple cut, fold and glue method, which creates that very on-trend ‘ribbed’ look that is so popular in interiors and on glassware this season.
Read MoreI recently created this imagery for the Laura Ashley blog and had so many questions about the DIY fireplace garland, I decided to dedicate a post on how to create it yourself here! This garland is made up from a mix of fresh foliage and dried flowers, so should last a good 2-3 weeks over the Christmas period if you keep topping up the water regularly.
Read MoreThe decline in square footage for both rental and owned properties has been steadily consistent for a long time as we grow as a population and urban, city living draws new residents every year. As the spaces we inhabit generally become smaller, we need to be clever choosing the right furniture and decor so that our rooms, although modest, feel as large as they can possibly look. Below I’ve listed my five favourite tried and tested tips for keeping a room feeling spacious, all though carefully considering the interior decor..
Read MoreJust a quick post from me this week, as I just wanted to share my DIY Halloween decor! This year I created everything myself using my Cricut crafting machine, some Pinterest inspiration and a crazy idea for some ‘scary trees’ around the entrance using dead twigs, hollowed pumpkins and some concrete!!
Read MoreI was first introduced to Diane Hill a couple of years back when I read an interview with her in Estila Magazine. An image of her reading to her young daughter in a teal room adorned with intricate drawings of birds and florals on the wall behind them really drew me in. The interview revealed Diane to be an incredibly talented yet exceptionally humble person, so I started following her on Instagram.
Read MoreThere has been a recent flurry of really good interior books being released in recent weeks. While we all love an Instagram and Pinterest scroll, there is something about a beautifully curated interiors book to browse through. Hardcover interior books also make great styling props in the home - place a few down flat on shelves with a candle on top, or slot a few into a decorative tray on a sideboard to create a sophisticated, full-time flat-lay.
Read MoreA bright wall mural in a child’s bedroom or nursery is a great way to create a bespoke interior for them, without spending too much money. Thanks to the recent release of Gorilla Crystal Clear Mounting Tape Squares, part of the new Stationary range from Gorilla, I decided to go one step further and create a 3D wall mural in my son’s bedroom. These clear, pre-cut 1” x 1” squares allowed me to bond toys and figures to the mural up to seven pounds in weight, adding another dimension to the landscape scene that I had painted.
Read MoreAs we move into the new season and 2019 starts coming to an end, new colours are released by the paint companies and there is a focus on certain shades which are likely to be popular in 2020. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you will know that I consistently bang on about the ‘power of paint’. Yet, with a tin of emulsion and a bit of determination, you can transform an entire room with paint in a couple of days (and all for less than fifty quid.) This is why I look forward to and really enjoy the announcement of certain pivotal hues and the release of new paint collections. It provides a whole new opportunity to give your house a new look, or think about what you want to achieve in your home. This could be creating a calming space, or making it feel more modern.
Read MoreIf I say ‘DFS’ to you, what do you think of? Boxing Day sale bargains? Crushed velvet corner sofas? A large retail presence? All this is true, DFS do cater to mainstream taste and are one of the largest suppliers of furniture in the UK (it’s estimated that a quarter of the UK have owned a DFS sofa at one point in their lives). Yet, if you scratch under the surface, you’ll be surprised to learn that this British company, now celebrating its 50th year of business, is incredibly trend-led and forward-thinking with many of its designs. It also still retains the old-school charm of manufacturing via craftsmanship, with the majority of its products being made, by hand, in the UK.
Read MoreAs the summer months wind down and we move into the new season, new bits and pieces from the AW19 home collections have started to pop-up in-store and online and boy, there are some gorgeous things out there to purchase right now. All the items listed below are currently on my personal ‘lust list’. Some I know I’ll cave in and purchase, others I have no space/need for but would snap them up in a heartbeat if I did!
Read MoreMy house needed a facelift. Lots of bad British weather, a leaky gutter and rotting windows were just not doing this beautiful Georgian building any justice. A priority was sorting out the front door. Placed perfectly in the centre of the symmetrical exterior, the front door is the focal point when you look at my house from the street. Having not been touched in well over 5 years, the door was faded and cracked. While the conservative, Oxford blue that it once was didn’t give me any pangs of excitement when I looked at it.
Read MoreA few weeks ago I attended a bloggers dinner at the Miele London showroom to talk all things interior trends for 2019. Before the event all the bloggers were asked for their predictions beforehand and it was quite surprising to see that we were all pretty much on the same page to what we think is ‘over’ in interiors, and what we think will be the next thing that everyone will be doing in their home.
Read MoreOur old range cooker was inherited from the previous owners of the house when we moved in three years ago. To be honest, it was always on its way out - one hob never worked and over time it took so long to cook anything I probably could have gone outside and rubbed two sticks together to create fire to boil a pan of water quicker than the time it took to cook a pizza to a decent standard in that oven. So when it finally packed up completely two days before Christmas (we ended up making roast potatoes in a frying pan for Christmas dinner) it was time to start 2018 with a brand new cooker.
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