It's taken a good year, but we're finally starting to make the house look like ours. When we moved in the house had been decorated for selling and not to our taste at all! The first thing we did was to rip down the wallpaper and paint the rooms that were looking a bit tatty with a neutral colour palette. The rest we've been gradually working on.
I've spent the last year pinning my heart out, coming up with ideas for each room. Gradually buying a few bits here and there. But with things starting to take shape, I thought I'd share with you my plans for the house and the latest purchases that I'm loving.
PROJECT LIVING ROOM
My current focus is the living room (or as Mother calls it, 'the lounge'). We've (I say 'we' it wasn't we at all, it was my husband and friend) painted the whole house in Dulux Timeless. I change my mind often, so the neutral colour allows us to accessorise in whatever colourways we're feeling at the time. Our house is also very small, so it brightens it up and gives us lots of room to use our imagination.
White walls mean lots of options. Which I'm very excited about. But it also means it looks pretty bare at the moment. So I'm slowly building up a collection of decorations to fill the white space. It's especially noticeable since we took the Christmas decs down. (Does Christmas feel like it didn't happen to anyone else?)
The base colours for the room are black, grey and white tones. I'm adding colour with accessories in pastels, gold, bronze and copper.
The base colours for the room are black, grey and white tones. I'm adding colour with accessories in pastels, gold, bronze and copper.
PRETTY PRINTS AND PASTELS
Along the back wall we have a shelf which I've filled with a couple of prints, some plants and candles. Last year I bought a gorgeous print by Jordan Andrew Carter - visit his shop 'here' - which sits nicely on the shelf.
There was still a lot of white space to fill, so I ordered a mint and gold paper garland, from Funky Frills on Etsy, to fill it.
What you can see is 50ft of garland which we've draped across the back wall. I love it. It highlights the gorgeous pastel colours of Maurice Bear and adds a subtle bit of colour to the room which I can now use as inspiration for the rest of the room.
Despite the pretty pictures and the crisp white walls, the room felt like it was missing something. With this being the area you walk straight into and the wall that's on show, the radiator just looked out of place, so we got a white radiator cover from ScrewFix. It was only £80 but it has made a huge difference to the look of the room. Tidied up that back wall and made a feature out of something that was just an eyesore before.
I love candles and have loads of scented ones on the shelves and tables around the house. The White Company are my current favourites. (I blame my friend Jess for this obsession - her house always smells amazing because of the candles and now I can't stop buying them!) Their Winter scents have been filling our house over the Christmas period and I've got my eye on their new Lime and Bay fragrance, the Noir and Twenty One collections. I'm also coveting the Neom candles. Oh my shelves need some of those beauties. When the pennies aren't flowing quite so freely, I've been opting for Ikea's scented candles in a glass. They're around 89p each and smell wonderful. They don't last as long, but the glass holders are great for holding tea lights after.
Oh how I love a succulent. I'm building up quite a collection. But I keep killing them! I haven't done too badly, but there's a few that are looking slightly worse for ware. Still, they look great and I'm going to be looking for more to put around the house.
I've also bought some bakers twine to make a macrame holder for the corner of the back wall (it'll go to the left of the garland above the chair). It's an empty space at the moment and needs filling. I'm not very good at DIY though, so I'll probably end up buying something instead. I want a nice big plant holder to go in it, with some sort of draping plant. Although I may opt for a fake variety, as my current track record isn't going so well.
We have two new shelves in one of the alcoves by the back door. They need filling with prettiness, so I'm currently looking for things for this.
It's looking quite sparse at the moment. So far, I've bought the gold pineapple which was £12 from Home Sense, we got the letters years ago (we need an M!), the gold star is from a lovely little shop in Pershore called Persora (it's now in the sale for £6! Bummer for me, bonus for you!) I'm going back to get some more things from here. I've got my eye on an LED light (and may have ordered a few bits in the sale too!) The black and gold candle holder was from Primark and the vase I've had for years. It's all just sitting there waiting for new friends to get some styling going on. For now, I've been keeping my crystals on there because it's in the sunlight for a lot of the day. Cleanse baby!
It was £30 from This Modern Life we're having fun leaving messages for each other. And I'm already regretting not getting the extra letters at the same time. Doh!
Despite the pretty pictures and the crisp white walls, the room felt like it was missing something. With this being the area you walk straight into and the wall that's on show, the radiator just looked out of place, so we got a white radiator cover from ScrewFix. It was only £80 but it has made a huge difference to the look of the room. Tidied up that back wall and made a feature out of something that was just an eyesore before.
MY CANDLE OBSESSION
I love candles and have loads of scented ones on the shelves and tables around the house. The White Company are my current favourites. (I blame my friend Jess for this obsession - her house always smells amazing because of the candles and now I can't stop buying them!) Their Winter scents have been filling our house over the Christmas period and I've got my eye on their new Lime and Bay fragrance, the Noir and Twenty One collections. I'm also coveting the Neom candles. Oh my shelves need some of those beauties. When the pennies aren't flowing quite so freely, I've been opting for Ikea's scented candles in a glass. They're around 89p each and smell wonderful. They don't last as long, but the glass holders are great for holding tea lights after.
SUCCULENTS
Oh how I love a succulent. I'm building up quite a collection. But I keep killing them! I haven't done too badly, but there's a few that are looking slightly worse for ware. Still, they look great and I'm going to be looking for more to put around the house.
I've also bought some bakers twine to make a macrame holder for the corner of the back wall (it'll go to the left of the garland above the chair). It's an empty space at the moment and needs filling. I'm not very good at DIY though, so I'll probably end up buying something instead. I want a nice big plant holder to go in it, with some sort of draping plant. Although I may opt for a fake variety, as my current track record isn't going so well.
SHELVES
We have two new shelves in one of the alcoves by the back door. They need filling with prettiness, so I'm currently looking for things for this.
THE FIRE PLACE
The previous owner, for some reason, blocked the fireplace and replaced it with an ugly grey board. We have the TV on the wall above it, so it's not my favourite part of the room, but I'm making it better with the addition of my new light box. I couldn't resist jumping on this band wagon.
It was £30 from This Modern Life we're having fun leaving messages for each other. And I'm already regretting not getting the extra letters at the same time. Doh!
The string lights were also from This Modern Life (love the shop, great products, good price and brilliant service - check it out), the star light was New Look and the Skull was Cox and Cox a few years back (I won it in a competition!).
EVERYTHING ELSE
I've never been one for ornaments. We've had other homes together, but we always knew they weren't forever so we never really got into styling the rooms and as we bought our first house together 7 years ago our taste has changed and I've ditched most of the stuff we originally had. We won't be in this house forever, but I know the style I want for us now so when I spot something I love, it comes home with me. I'm loving finding new stores. Here are a few of the other things I've bought lately.
My Mum got me this beautiful owl plant holder from an shop in Bath, I can't remember the name of it, but it was a lovely shop. The bronze candle holder was a cheapy from Primark.
We were given this Ikea chair by some lovely friends. The room is really small, so we haven't got space for an arm chair as well as the sofa, but this chair fits perfectly. My Coco De Mer 'Peacock' cushion loves its new home!
We're using half of the 'L shape' sofa we've had since we lived in our first place together. We had this gorgeous open plan living/kitchen area, so we got a huge sofa to fill it. Great for the flat, not so great for this room. But, because we don't know how long we'll be here, we're not buying anything new and this is just going to have to do. Same goes for the carpet. Ideally I'd like to get the whole downstairs fitted with wooden floor. But I don't want to spend the money on something we won't get to benefit.
We have a couple of bookcases too, filled with M's books and colouring books, some candles, decs and more books. My husband and I have very different taste in reading material!
And that's where I am right now. On the hunt for more loveliness to fill the shelves, which I'll share with you as I buy it.
My next project is our bedroom. Which needs a lot of work and I'm finishing off M's bedroom too. I'll share his room with you next.
Where's your favourite place for home decor? You can also follow my inspiration on my Pinterest board 'here'.
