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Making Our Current Home Work for Us

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Making Our Home Work for Us
Photo by Scott Webb on Unsplash

Next week, Sausage starts senior school. She turned eleven a few weeks ago and suddenly seems so grown up. She currently shares a bedroom with her sister, which was their choice when we moved in, but a lot can change in the space of four years and I think Sausage is craving her own space. It will be even more important when she has homework to do and needs a quiet place to do it, so we’re having a re-jig of the whole home, to make it work for us.

We have three bedrooms in our home – one for Husband and I, one for the girls and another which is used as an office/dressing room/junk room. Sausage is going to have the room that Husband and I are in so that she and BB have rooms which are the same size, while Husband and I will move into his office and the dining room will become the office.

Both girls would like their bedrooms decorated too, and their colour choices could not be a better illustration of their differing personalities. Sausage wants her bedroom to be purple with black accents, and BB wants hers to be even more pink than it already is! Everyone says they look alike, but I always counter that with “…but their personalities are VERY different!” We’re buying a new bed for Sausage as she’s currently in bunk beds with her sister, and she’s looking forward to choosing one.

At the moment, what we call “the dining room” isn’t actually used for anything close to dining. It’s where Sausage’s budgie, Bagel, lives, as well as the family’s bikes. Our shed isn’t massively secure, so we keep the bikes inside, but this will definitely need to change. As well as a bed, we need to invest in some sort of bike storage for the home, like a shed or lockable bike box to keep everything safe and secure.

We need to do a few other things around the house, too. Our kitchen floor needs replacing and we have the tiles, we just need to get around to actually laying them! Our upstairs bathroom is in a state of disrepair, just because it’s quite old, so we’re hoping our landlady will take care of some of that this year too.

I think the only room we’re not doing anything to is the living room! However, once we get all of the moving around and rearranging done, our home will work a whole lot better for us.

Interiors

5 Unique Ways to Give your Room the WOW Factor!

Jayne4 Comments

MirrorWhen it comes to interior design, unless you’re an expert it can sometimes seem daunting trying to envisage what a room will look like when you’re finished decorating. You can have big ideas for the finished project, but when it all comes together it feels like it’s lacking something. Today, I’m sharing five ideas of how to add a WOW factor to your room to give you some inspiration for your decorating project.

Graphic Wall Paper

Long gone are the days when wallpaper had to be a flowery pattern; now, your wallpaper can carry you off to an enchanted land, make you feel like you’re sleeping in the stands of your beloved football stadium or even give the impression that you’re sleeping next to a priceless work of art. Azutura offers a whole range of wallpapers which will really take your decor to the next level.

Wall Stickers

If you aren’t brave enough for a full wall mural of wallpaper, you could always opt for a wall sticker. Wall stickers come in a whole range of designs from shooting stars to trees to your favourite quotes and are super easy to apply and remove.

Accessories

If you don’t want to make changes to the decoration of the room, you could always change up the accessories and ornaments you have on display. A statement clock in sterling silver will create a focal point in the room which will draw the eye and create a little wow factor all on its own.

Mirrors

A big bold mirror in an unexpected place will visually double your room size, increasing it’s depth and immediately make it brighter. I love them in areas where you wouldn’t naturally expect them and I like them BIG. The only thing you have to remember is that whatever you put directly in front of the mirror will be reflected so make sure it counts (and looks pretty even from the back)!

A Pop of Colour

Everyone has a different colour tolerance level for the amount of bright colour they have in their rooms. Some people want their spaces filled with bold, beautiful colour. Others prefer a quieter, more muted palette. No matter where you fall, consider adding a new pop of colour to your space. I guarantee it will turn heads.

What do you do when you want to add a bit of WOW factor to your rooms? Do leave me a comment below, I’d love to hear from you.

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Making Design Choices that Last

Jayne3 Comments

studleyOne of the things that Husband and I loved about the house we’re living in now is that our landlady is happy for us to decorate. As with most rental properties, obviously we have a “within reason” guideline, so painting the walls black is a no-no and we’re not permitted to make any major structural changes, but other than that we have fairly free reign. When you rent rather than own, it’s wise to make choices that will last, which means avoiding ‘trends‘ or things which will seem passe by the end of the year.

Obviously, as with clothes, if there’s a particular trend which is big at that time, there will be a LOT of that in the shops – remember a few years ago when metallic furniture was all the rage and it was nigh-on impossible to find a Welsh dresser which hadn’t been gilded?! For us, it’s all about finding balance – items of furniture which are high quality and classic in their design, so that they stand the test of time.

Another thing to consider is lighting – lighting can change the whole look of a room and is so easy to add to. Here’s that the interior design specialists from Baytree Interiors had to say about lighting:

“Strategically placed lighting is a simple yet effective way to change the ambience in a room with minimal effort. Pendant lights and chandeliers are a great choice when it comes to lighting, as are filament bulbs which provide a warm glow with a vintage look. With a range of different styles available from industrial to vintage and modern variants, pendant lights can suit any theme.”

As much as we’d love to re-decorate our houses every time the trends change, what’s far more practical is choosing a style which can be amended if your tastes change. Opting for furniture in neutral colours and classic shapes and then accenting them with cushions, place mats or storage inserts in different colours is a far more practical (and let’s face it, CHEAPER) way to freshen up the look of our homes.

It’s also a lot better for the environment to opt for furniture which has been well-made. Yes, going to a massive warehouse-style shop and picking up a bargain may seem great but that furniture rarely lasts longer than a year, will add to landfill once it’s thrown away and has probably used lots of carbon-heavy processes to be made. Choosing real wood furniture which has been made by craftspeople is by far the better choice.