As hopefully you’ve noticed so far, I like a bit of interior decoration. My Dad is a Painter and Decorator and so I’ve grown up surrounded by the aroma of paint and white spirit and strangely find it very comforting.
Whilst James and I definitely get more busy with the DIY now we’re homeowners, I was into my interior styling when we were in rented too. In fact I think it made me even more resourceful as I was always keen to add a bit of individuality to the magnolia backdrop and was always on a serious budget. In my own house, me and the other half are in the final months of a three year redecoration stint and have a list as long as my arm of projects to complete. [ezcol_2third id=”” class=”” style=“”]
Anyway enough about me and on to you. I’m ever so keen to find out what you’re up to in your abode. Don’t worry I’m not asking for your address but I would love it if you would comment and let me know your home style and a little bit about your upcoming plans. This will really help us to create content that really appeals to you.
Make sure you tell me if you’re tackling a bedroom or a kitchen, one wall or an entire house. Are you a renter or a homeowner? Does your next project involve seeking out a new piece of furniture or finding the perfect paint colour?
You might be a huge fan of shabby chic, have a penchant for the industrial, or have an affinity to mid century modern. Anything goes. Redecoration through to renovation, I am so flipping nosey that I want to hear all about it.
Looking forward to finding out more about you and your home.
[/ezcol_2third]
[ezcol_1third_end id=”” class=”” style=“”]
{My To Do List}
Carpet the lounge and start to introduce a few pastels Find the perfect light fitting for our newly decorated hall, stairs and landing Sort out pretty yet functional storage for my office
Images source: Etsy
[/ezcol_1third_end]
I’ve got two projects on the go – first one is much easier, I’m re-upholstering an ottoman with some lovely fabric I picked up in John Lewis. I say easier, I’ve not started it yet! The second one is overhauling the living room including having cupboards and shelving built into alcoves for extra storage and the part I’m dreading the most….getting rid of the Artex ceiling! Whoever thought Artex was a good idea has a LOT to answer for!
We had Artex in our last house! It was awful! A very nice plasterer came in one day and skimmed the ceiling and just like that, it was gone!
Definitely the best update we ever made.
The upholstered ottoman sounds lovely. You’ll have to share photos when it’s done x
That’s good to know Lauren, a few people had told me it’s a nightmare to get rid of but the peaks aren’t too big so it should be ok I hope!
The worst bit was prepping Emily! We sanded down the whole ceiling to get rid of the most spiky peaks – attractive plastic eye protectors are a must!
Oh god, the Artex!! I swear, getting a plasterer to cover it up is a life changing event!!
We’re just buying a new house (as well as selling our house and getting married in 5 weeks..) and the first things we’ll be concentrating on in the new house will be the entrance hall, living room and our bedroom.
In the bedroom I want a really minimalist room with white walls. But I’m interested in using something other than the usual dulux to add some texture/interest to plain white walls. And we’re getting a new bed but I’ve got no idea what sort yet!
In the hallway I want to find some interesting ways to add storage for shoes and coats that won’t limit the current spacious feel of the hall that made me first fall in love with the house. We have a cellar that’s accessed under the stairs so we don’t have an option of opening up under the stairs to make use of the space. Which is a shame because I think that looks awesome!
And we have no idea what well do with the living room. I love the nautical style cabin you featured previously but we’re buying a Victorian semi in land locked Nottingham so I don’t know if I can get away with that!
I’m loving the interiors posts though!
Hi Jennifer,
You busy bee! I think the coastal cabin we recently featured would definitely work in Nottingham if you take elements such as the Farrow and Ball palette and laid back furnishings x
I’ve just got my 50’s timber summerhouse back after it having been used as overflow storage for my husband’s exhibition business. I’m looking forward to reappropriating it as a sheltered garden haven for the purposes of Sunday-afternoon cake consumption and magazine reading. It’s highly likely that black, grey, off-white and pale aqua will feature… as well as Welsh woolen textiles about which I am obsessed….
Adore the colour scheme. Hope it leads to weekday cake consumption too… x
We move in 4 weeks after selling our much loved City Centre apartment. We are renting a large 3 bed Victorian house… this is very weird to me. A house? All to myself (well, hubs, pooch and the bubs are also joining me but still.. a whole house?!)? I’m afraid of getting lost in there. It also has a garden…I’ve never had my own garden before.
I’m thinking that project ‘make the place feel somewhat your own’ will start in the dining area which is where I will spend most of my time. Nice table, cute sofa… maybe some antlers somewhere. Then I’ll be on to prettying up the original fireplaces (which I love).
Also, I’m not sure this counts as house related but I have sourced the most fabulous kennel for the dog. It is like a dog mansion. She is going to love her outside house with freedom to come and go as she pleases. A place that is all her own. Is it a bit weird that I feel more excited for her than myself?
I’d love to know how others have made rented accommodation feel a bit more like their own without having to hang several hundred photos… landlords don’t like it when you put holes in their walls do they?
I’m hoping when we’ve got the sofas in and a lovely rug down in the living space that I’ll quickly start to feel a bit at home. Strange when something as important (to me anyway) as home if a temporary fix.
Hello Becky!
The new pad(s) sounds lush. Love that the dog gets a brand spanking new home too.
I always feel that Landlords over here aren’t as lenient as the ones over in the US. I’m constantly reading how people in America paint their kitchen cupboards, put up shelves etc. I know my old landlords would never have agreed to that even if it looked a million times better. Definitely a great idea for a post.
Good luck with the move my lovely xx
I think most landlords are OK with putting pictures up. If not then there are other things you can use instead of bashing stuff into the walls.
I feel your pain though, a house without stuff on the walls always feels… temporary
As far as I’m concerned the more interiors posts the better..! We moved into our house two years ago and did some bits and bobs here and there to make it ours, but as soon as we’re married (four months to go!) getting the house is our number one priority.
We have a TINY hallway, so any tips on how to get the most out of this would be brilliant. I have some ideas but am really struggling to find beautiful storage solutions that don’t drown the space.
We also have horrendous fitted cupboards and (the horror) a fitted bed that are all connected, and I have made my fiance PROMISE me that these will go. Any tips on getting something beautiful but not losing storage would be IDEAL!
x
Thanks Sian, we’ll see what we can do on the storage ideas front x
Hurrah! Great news x
Oh! Flooring! We have beautiful floorboards upstairs, carpet on the stairs (?) and laminate downstairs. We want to keep the floorboards but want the whole whole to be as cohesive as possible without costing the earth.
x
We’ve moved into our house 5 months ago and the list of things to do is getting longer rather than shorter. Quite a bit of DIY going on but leaving big jobs to the pros as there is a reason me and my husband have jobs in IT…
The next project is somehow turning our 2nd bedroom into a pretty nursery while still keeping it as occasional guest bedroom. Would be really nice to see what Charlotte has done with hers.
Style-wise I like mixing things up a bit and love a touch of industrial design to go with my floral curtains.
I’m about to start sorting out our back yard. We’ve got a builder coming next week to add a handrail to the rear steps abd repoint the brickwork. After that we’re going to add gravel and then I can get busy with pots, outdoor cushions, a sandpit and anything at all to beautify the space and make it suitable for playing in. After that I hope we’ll be moving and I will be starting from scratch again!
Your garden plans sound lovely Kathryn. I love an outdoor cushion or two x
We are renters too and so all interior design is purely from textiles and furniture that don’t require any holes in walls. (Shhh don’t tell the Ikea man we haven’t drilled our bookcase to the wall!!!)
Now the wedding is over I can really concentrate on making our newest place (our gorgeous & quirky 1 bed house) a little haven.
I am hoping to create a little gallery wall in the lounge using those genius little Command hooks (used some in the old place & they really didn’t leave any marks on the walls) and am currently on the hunt for the perfect bathroom mirror.
Our main issue is ALWAYS storage. Try as we do to get rid of unwanted/unused items we still seem to have accumulated a whole world of ‘stuff’ So I really want to get all of that in order and still keep it looking pretty
I’d love to say I have a ‘style’ but I’d be lying! I am a fickle person this is definitely reflected in our interior design! I work more on the principal of ‘Oooo that’s pretty, we should have that in our house’ & working out how it fits in later! My favourite recent purchase was our gold and orange Moroccan puff, that comes all the way from the markets of Marrakech. Is still a little out of place in our lounge, but I will be working on that! 😉 xx
Command hooks and strips are one of the best inventions ever (after blackboard paint). RMW Becky – you need these! x
Ordering some as we speak! Whoop x
We own our house and I’m still not going to drill the bookcases to the wall!
We are currently in the process of buying our first home and all being well we will exchange in the next two months. It is a two bed Victorian conversion, with a big but overgrown garden. The first thing we need to do is get enough furniture as we have only ever lived in a small, rented one bed. Luckily it is all white walls with a new bathroom and kitchen so we don’t need to decorate, just fill it! My favourite style is mid-century and all things Scandinavia. I obtained my very first piece for Christmas- an original 1960s bar cart which I adore. It just so happens that we are moving to Crystal Palace – an absolute gem for mid-century shopping! If only we hadn’t just spent every penny on our deposit…
The bar cart sounds amazing Anna. Even if you don’t have a bed sorted you can still have a cocktail in your hand to celebrate becoming homeowners!
I was in your neck of the woods last weekend and have to agree Crystal Palace is amazing for mid-century pieces. Congrats on the upcoming move x
ooooh where in Crystal Palace do you go shopping for bits?
Gemma – Designs of Modernity is amazing and Do South has some great bits in. If you walk around the triangle there are lots of great shops that spill onto the street!
I would love ideas about storage and how to go about combining different styles of furniture into one cohesive look. Although my husband and I have similar tastes I don’t feel that some of our rooms look very put together (this could partly be due to the packing boxes still sitting in most rooms as we only moved in just under 2 weeks ago). I’m loving the interiors posts and have already gleaned some tips I’ll be incorporating into our new house. That blackboard idea from the beach place a few weeks back will definitely be making an appearance as soon as we get the extra cupboards we so desparately need in our kitchen, although you wouldn’t think it if you saw it.
Glad we’ve given you some ideas Sarah. We’ll try our best to keep them coming 😉
Like you, Lauren, I love a bit of interior decoration!
We’ve been in our house (which is definitely one to grow into!!) for just over a year now. It’s the second house we’ve owned, and while I loved all the interior decorating in our previous place, I think our style has evolved and is a bit more eclectic and grown up now.
Project-wise… there’s all sorts on the go to be honest! I’m one of those people that starts something and moves on to the next thing while still working on the first project!
A major thing for us to tackle this year is the garden. We’ve got a pretty blank canvas but we’re looking to create a more asthetically pleasing space that’s pretty easy to maintain.
We’re also wanting to do something with our floors – new tiles in the bathroom and ensuite, and wooden floor in the hallway. There’s a couple of rooms left to finish decorating (either walls or upcycling some furntiure) too – guestrooms and the kitchen… and then I can start looking for the finishing touches for most rooms in the house…
Hello Katie, It’s lovely to see you over here!
I’m adding garden inspiration to the upcoming post list now, especially low maintenance ideas x
Congratulations on nearing the end of the redecoration project Lauren!
Anna we used to rent in Crystal Palace, I loved living there 🙂
We bought our little house 18 months ago and are in the middle of having the 100+-year old original house windows replaced. I hope nobody else ever has to go through this as I really thought that the house might come down with the windows! After that, we’ll be tackling the kitchen. My vision is a country cottage kitchen, with whitewash cupboards, oak worktops, a Smeg fridge, and walls painted in something like F&B’s Teresa’s Green. Then there’ll be the beach-chic main bedroom and Balinese-stye bathroom. And removing every single dado rail in the house (does anybody like these?). I think we’ll be busy for a while x
Thanks Siobhan. It’s taken far longer than we ever thought but well worth the wait.
I bet the dado rail looks lovely in your house but in my old 1990’s two bed it just looked plain odd! Not as odd as the hatch through from the kitchen to the dining area that was barely big enough to put a plate through…
Your kitchen plans sounds fabulous x
We moved into our first house (that we own) just over a year ago.
Since then we’ve put a new kitchen, a new bathroom, put down wooden flooring downstairs, redecorated the entire house and put new windows in…and we are STILL not finished! We did all this while planning our wedding and now we have a little one on a way, talk about needing our heads testing.
On our to do list now is replace kitchen flooring, carpeting upstairs and doing up the nursery…all before June.
We’ve gone for quite neutral colours with shabby chic furniture with a hint of the industrial, if that makes any sense. Our budget is pretty small so there’s still loads I would love to do but we’re just trying to work with what we have at the moment. We’ve just recently put up my Ribba picture ledges from Ikea after seeing them in your house Lauren, and they look fab! xxx
Did you see Charlotte’s instagram picture Tabitha? Baby O’Shea has a whole Ribba shelf full of shoes and booties! Super cute idea for a nursery x
We’ve been living in our new house for 6 months and have just moved out back to my parents so the building work can start, we have a chalet type house which means we only have one room upstairs at the moment but with a massive walk in attic area. The builders at the moment are in the process of taking off the roof and creating the space into 3 bedrooms and a bathroom plus knocking walls down downstairs to convert the old bedrooms into a kitchen diner. We are picking the kitchen at the moment which has been a nightmare deciding what layout to go for and what style, i think we’re nearly there though! Then it will be colour schemes etc. We’re deciding all this while planning a wedding for June this year!! Yeah we’re mad but the stress levels haven’t been too bad so far! ha xx
Laura this sounds incredible! What kind of kitchen have you gone for?x
We were going for ultra modern high gloss but have found this guy that makes all the cupboards himself and they are beautiful, they’re all hand painted so choosing a colour will be a nightmare but love the French greys that are out at the moment! We have a 1930’s built house so feel this style will fit in better than the high gloss ones. He also makes these beautiful larder cupboards that have all the shelving for spices and mason jars plus a worktop built into it, im just trying to pursuade the other half to stretch the budget so we can have one! 🙂 xx
Laura this sounds amazing! I love grey, but not the glossy type (sorry – just my personal taste) and I dream of having a larder cupboard!!!!
Interiors and homey things are my absolute fave. I dream of doing interiors for a living and have wonderful fun practicing on my own house. We have a 1930s house with a modern ‘kumquatery’ (like an orangery but smaller…!) that my clever husband built. Our house is a mix of country modern rustic French industrial style… So a grey gloss kitchen (sorry Charlotte!) with rough French limestone flooring metro tile splash backs and wooden worktops. I’d never ever have wood again – I get followed round the kitchen with kitchen roll as wooden worktops don’t like splashes! It has all been recently ish renovated and so doesn’t really NEED anything but I’m bored of the damson sitting room and so am looking for a grey with a hint of mustard. I currently have fabric samples pinned to the curtains awaiting a decision. My latest ‘hobby’ is making lampshades so I have done some new ones for round the house – an instant update! Loving the interiors posts. And just realised I’ve written an essay, sorry folks!!
Don’t apologise Victoria! Loving the sound of your lampshades x
I love interiors posts. I love love love our house since beginning decorating when we moved in last year. It’s all grown up and it’s ALL ours (having rented for 8 years before taking the plunge and getting a mortgage). Lot’s of dark grey, original coving, wooden floors. Prints and photographs all over the walls. We have a mishmash of furniture; cheap and cheerful shelving, found things (my boyf literally found the side table in our bedroom outside his work) and antique pieces (lovely french pine drawers).
I’m pretty confident when it comes to styling up the house, I know what I like and what I don’t like. I would find it really useful to know roughly how much odd jobs would cost to get professionals in. We have done everything ourselves so far, and just have big jobs (new kitchen/ bathroom/ garden) to do. I’m nervous to even think about these things as I know someone else will have to come in and do the work and costs might spiral. And what big jobs is it ok to ask your other half to do. For example, we desperately need a bigger loft hatch, but my boyf doesn’t think it is something he can tackle (although I know other men who have had a go!).
I also like to know about small online shops selling ‘home goods’ and I don’t like to have the same as everyone else.
Thanks Clare, your house sounds absolutely beautiful.
Really good point about getting the professionals in – it can be really daunting. My advice would always be to get several quotes from different tradespeople, and always try to go with someone who’s recommended.
We’ve had a mad 3 years doing our house and ended up having far too many big jobs to do, incl rewiring the whole house a week before my first little girl was born! We are now on to the nice jobs and recently finished the kitchen and bathroom. The kitchen ended up being a mammoth (and expensive!) job as ended up moving doors and windows all so I could fit in my lovely new rangemaster. Well I do need somewhere to bake all those cakes! Next projects are bedroom and garden so would love ideas on those. Especially nice garden furniture as really struggle to find anything I like that doesn’t cost the earth. Also, storage ideas are good as our Victorian house seems to lack that. Oh and I adore wallpapers so anything on that would be great! My current favourite is mini moderns and seem to have an ever growing collection adorning my walls! Basically just love all things interior so keep them coming! Xxx
Ooooh a Rangemaster. Very nice!
I love it! So worth redoing the whole kitchen! X
[…] were over the moon with all the feedback we received on our recent interiors post and are working hard on some upcoming posts that will hopefully give you lots of inspiration. A few […]
I need help! We are just in the final stages of buying our ‘forever’ home. We are buying a huge 5 bed Victorian terraced house that has not been updated since the early 70s. I’d love to post you some pictures to get some fresh ideas. I love blues and greys but can’t decorate every room the same!? Also, what room should we start with? Gem
[…] may remember that we recently asked you about your home and the projects you’re looking to undertake. Lots and lots of you commented about your hallways, […]
[…] back in March, my home to-do list included finding the perfect light fitting for the landing, carpeting the lounge and sorting […]
My next home is going to be a challenge. We are moving into school accommodation as my husband will be a house master (required at all times!). I can’t really complain about the accommodation as it is a very generous 4 bed home with a garden, but after moving from our clean off white/grey interiors all that magnolia woodchip is giving me the chills.
I will not make any expensive changes but also know I’ll be there for 8 years or so. I desperately need some inspiration on decoration and furniture that will be able to travel with us. Any ideas on how to make simple changes to already existing features would be great as well, I’m considering changing the hardware on the 90’s kitchen units for a cheap update.