[Our] Place; The Downstairs Facelift

Having done nothing but procrastinate and 'moodboard' since moving in, three weeks before Christmas I decided it was imperative that we decorate, almost the entire, downstairs for the festive period of entertaining. Sigh!

'My poor [long-suffering] other half!'

Luckily he is used to my ways and coped very well through the subsequent onslaught of wallpaper samples, paint samples and the creative turmoil that only ensues when I’m designing [Our] Place.

Swatches galore!

 

When considering our scheme I really started to think about my design principles and personal style and what I came up with was very 'fluid' but based loosely on the statements below; 

• I find schemes that develop from a single source of inspiration are the most effortless
 
• I love schemes that can be added to and evolve as your tastes and lifestyle changes
 
• I like adjacent spaces to have something in common so they flow from one to the other
• I consider lighting to be the most influential aspect of any scheme.
• I try to avoid seasonally biased themes and colours- I try to choose a neutral scheme that can be easily updated seasonally or with the trends.

Over the next couple of weeks I’ll publish posts with more detail on each of the spaces and the finishes and products we used...

 

I'll keep you posted x

NYR for YPYR

I just read a lovely post on Apartment Therapy about the Theresa Gonzalez's New Years Resolutions for her apartment.

I love this because it turns the concept of those niggeling 'to do' lists into time invested in your home 'a little TLC' as Theresa puts it.

Following her lead my 2014 Resolutions for [Our] Place & YPYR are:

1) Design our extension
2) Put in a shower (currently using a shower attachment hung from a shelf)
3) Get our expensive range oven out of the garage and into the kitchen (I miss gas hobs)
4) Clear the box room (the smallest bedroom is still full of boxes from the move)
5) Maximise and utilise the storage in the house; A Place for Everything
6) Entertain more at home
7) Better time keeping when entertaining so its more enjoyable
8) Be more organised
9) Allow more time for homemaking and hobbies
10) Use every inch of [Our] Place
11) Blog once a week
12) Revamp the blog page
13) Instagram once a day
14) Become featured Interiors blogger

What are your resolutions for [Your] Place?

[Our] Place: The Old and The New

Exciting developements at [Our] Place we have moved!

Now aside from having a whole house worth of new projects to design the impending move has also made me reflect on what we have achieved in this house.

The following are a few images of the before and after shots of the rooms we have did in our previous house:

 

[Our] Place: A Place to Dress

My other half will whole heartedly endorse that my clothes, accessories and cosmetics are a major contributor to the lack of organisation in our room. My having to look for things when trying to get ready constantly leaves "us" running late.

The new house allows a little more room in the Master Bedroom and the potential [fingers crossed] to extend to create an en suite and dressing room, which in my book is the ultimate luxury.

Dressing rooms aside, I am very excited about the potential for my first dressing table.

Slone Dressing Table by Marks and Spencer

Elysee Dressing Table available at Very

Marilyn Compact Dresser by Dwell

Habitat Perouse Dressing Table

Ikea Hemnes Dressing Table

Ikea Stockholm Console Table

Ikea Stave Mirror


Getting dressed has never been so much fun!
 

[Our] Place: Lounge Update

Whilst taking photos of [Our] Place for the blog, and mentally comparing them to the schemes I'm currently designing, our house came up short, very short.

The Lounge was one of the first rooms we did and on a tight budget. Five years on and our hand-me-down table and chairs are beyond tired, our 'cheap as chips' sofas are sheading bolts faster than our dog sheds fur and our mis-matched storage is cramping our layout. This is not the home of a interior design business.

However we are planning to move house soon to a place that we can really develop the way we want to with extensions and knocking out walls, so I'm not going to start replacing all the furniture just yet.

In the interim I am planning a few minor updates to maximise the impact with items we can take with us when we move.


The red tones and pattern of the feature fabric [a hug piece of remenant fabric which made two curtain panels, covered six dining room chairs, made two cushions and customised a nest of coffe tables] from Feran Fabrics need updating.

The Theatre Spread, in the John Lewis magazine, featuring metallic lighting spurned my recent metallic obsession and I find myself focused on bringing out the subtle metallics in the Graham and Brown feature wall paper, which I still absolutley love.

The Theatre Spread from the John Lewis Magazine

I intend to do this by replacing the ‘upcycled’ coffee table nest, incorporating the deep pink paint and the red feature fabric and replacing them with, what I consider to be a brilliant and very reasonably priced white coffee table nest from Habitat.

  

The Kilo Table nest is a sleek thin oak frame with a formed powder coated metal top give the apperance of a modern product with a nostalgic nod to 1950’s design. Kilo is avliable as a nest of three or a single table which allows us to inject a bit of symmetry into the lounge and have plenty of flexibility for when guests come round.

The tables are avliable in a range of colours, we have selected white to echo the white in the light fittings we installed when we first did up the lounge which also have a bit of retro appeal.

To make the space feel larger and seat more people we bought an Poang Arm Chair from Ikea for £55. Its so light and versitile we'll be able to find it a new place in which ever home we end up. It is now Milo's favorite new spot.

To accessorise the scheme I bought a neutral dog tooth pattern throw from TK Maxx and the Yves table lamp from Habitat with Grande black and copper lamp shade, also from habitat.

At a total cost of less than £300 the lounge updated has neutralised and updated the lounge ready for potencial buyers.

This is the joy of designing in a neutral base, something I often encourage clients to do, it’s easy to change and won’t break the bank, which is especially important if, like me, redecorating is a professional hazard.