Five Things That I've Done Right In My Home
Rather than Five Things That I've Done Wrong In My Home which is a much longer post but lacking in positivity.
I was going to title this post ‘Things That I’ve Done Wrong In My Home’ but decided that would not be very positive thinking. Although I have, of course, done plenty of things wrong in my home over the almost nine years that we have lived here and most of those things have involved flirtation with the dark side. The first thing that I did - let’s not say the word ‘wrong’ as all decor projects are a learning experience - is to paint the family room in Downpipe. This was very much the cool colour to slap on your walls back in 2016, mostly encouraged by designer Abigail Ahern who set the trend before casting it with abandon into the Instagram abyss which was then in its interior infancy. Walls, ceilings, woodwork, floors, even fireplaces - no surface was left uncovered as you scrolled endlessly through a choppy sea of darkness, punctuated only by multiple sheepskin strewn sofas, neon word art and four foot high cacti. Ah, the old days.
Anyway, it soon became apparent to me that although my Downpipe family room looked VERY cool and moody (and looked even more so in other people’s homes), it wasn’t working for me. Not one bit. No one in my family would go into the room. They didn’t want to do their homework in there as it was gloomy (although quite frankly, they didn’t want to do their homework ANYWHERE) and even when we invited people over socially, it just felt a bit claustrophobic. It lasted around ten months before I was forced to admit to myself that it wasn’t the colour for us and slapped on the white paint. It was like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders (dramatic, but true). Yes, plants look great against a dark wall and yes, it’s great as a contrasting colour if you’re into jewel tones - I see so many people who just can totally nail this - but it wasn’t good for my mental health. Not one bit.
After this debacle, you would have thought that I would learned my lesson and stayed firm with the neutrals. But no. During lockdown, I decided that I wanted to tie in the courtyard with the kitchen - they are not combined but they sit next to each other and during the summer, we open the window so that it feels like one space. The courtyard had black woodwork which worked well as the room is full of natural light and it’s teamed with open brick, so I picked up a remaining tin of Bone Black (Zoffany, an excellent colour btw) and rollered it on to the kitchen cupboards. I almost IMMEDIATELY regretted it. Too dark, too barren, too harsh for my interior style. I could have cried (*definitely cried). However, by this point I had posted my newly dark kitchen on to my Instagram account to glowing reviews and not only would I have looked like an absolute knob had I immediately painted it back (plus mortally offended anyone else who had black kitchen cupboards), but also it would have been a shocking waste of paint and time (yes, my husbands words). I gave it six months, but the joy of swapping the colour for soft, earthy Myrtle Green was extreme.
Okay, so it is safe to say that I’ve done a few things wrong in my time, things that I’ve regretted decor wise. Things I’ve bought (the 1930’s cocktail cabinet where the stench of old Woodbine wouldn’t shift, even after I scrubbed it with a whole bottle of bleach), things I’ve sold (two pink velvet Andrew Martin theatre chairs which I had picked up on eBay but couldn’t work out where to put them), things I’ve wallpapered (it’s a fact that my talents do not lie in upcycling), things I’ve given away and things I’ve left in the store when I should have invested. But I thought that I would look at it from the OTHER perspective and consider the things that I’ve done right, things that have worked really well. Yes, there are big projects that we’ve taken on - barn renovation, glassed courtyard - but I’m thinking more of the smaller things, the personal relevant-to-my-own-style knowledge that I’ve picked up from living in this house and things that I would do again in another home. After much consideration, here are the top five.
Added A Covered Outdoor Space
When we moved into our house, there were two large outdoor patio spaces - one with stone slabs and one with decking, on separate levels with steps in between. We live in Yorkshire - those four words are enough to confirm that we do not often have weather suitable for sun sitting. Both seating spaces are backed by a large brick wall which is original to the age of the house - 1759 - so it was a great outlook, it just felt a bit exposed.
I considered a pergola but realised quickly that that wouldn’t work. I wanted to be able to leave furniture outside, even when it rained - I didn’t want to have to run in with the cushions or scramble with a rug. I wanted it to feel like a proper outdoor room and to be able to use it as such. I found a local garden designer called Simon and he drew up a design to build two structures, one over each patio, basic solid wood struts to create a frame with a corrugated roof. The roof material came from a local factory who made farm building walls, so I knew it would be super solid and practical. It was a simple design and didn’t take long to erect - we put a trellis in between the two to separate and the whole thing cost under £2,500.
But it’s made the biggest difference to the garden. The protective roof means that the furniture can be covered to store in the winter and come summer, we don’t need to bring anything in at all. One is set up with an outdoor sofa and rug; the other with a vintage French bar table and benches for dining (I cover with a plastic tablecloth in the colder months when it’s not in use). We’ve grown clematis up the trellis and come summer, it’s the perfect place to be, even when the weather isn’t that great.
Left The Stairs Bare
Ah, now this is a subject often debated on my social platforms. Surely it’s cold on the feet? Noisy? Does the paint not chip? Not cosy for a family home? Let me tell you now, it is the most practical and efficient way to furnish your staircase and I have tried ALL the ways, believe me.
Our previous home in Caversham had fully carpeted stairs, three stories of them, in fact. It was an Edwardian house and would never have been decorated that way originally (I am a big believer in sticking to the authentic feel of period homes; don’t start me on panelling, ha), so I had no hesitation in whipping the whole lot up. I sanded down the treads, waxed them and then painted the risers in dark grey (obviously; this was 2010 ffs). It took a while but with three kids, it was super practical and only needed slight touch ups on the paint every couple of months.
When we bought this house, the stairs were - inexplicably - clad in cream carpet. I honestly don’t know how or why this would have been done, but with a family and a dog, it started to deteriorate the very minute we moved in, resembling a dirty protest within months. After a few half hearted forays into stair runners, I decided to do as previous and rip it all off, painting them in Off Black oil based gloss from top to bottom, including the bannister, spindles and patterned edging (tap here for a full tutorial). This, my friends, was over three years ago and they are still going strong, no touch up’s required and ridiculously easy to keep clean. Yes, there are dust ball fluffs, but quite frankly I’d rather see them in full view than have them ground into a carpet. The hall looks chic, clean and simple and it just WORKS. And for those who complain about cold feet? Socks are readily available at all good fashion outlets.
Added Built In Storage
Prior to moving into this house, I had no strong feelings about built in storage or shelving at all. We arrived with bookshelves, cupboards and wardrobes but gradually over the last eight years, we have shed them in favour of building our own. I’ve found this to be not only practical but also means that we make the most of every single inch of the space that we have, maximising it to full potential.
The first room that I tackled was the sitting room. We had lived here for about four years and I struggled really hard to make furniture work in the space. It had a door either end, a through room to the family room, with a window on one side and a big blank wall opposite. It was REALLY hard to furnish and the wall was large but with limited depth in front of it due to the doorways, meaning that anything I put against it looked wrong and a bit out of place. So after seeing something similar on Pinterest, we built a shallow shelving unit that hung from the top to the bottom of the wall using MDF, then painted it to blend in. It worked brilliantly - not only was it unobtrusive in the space but it also enabled me to add favourite accessories and artwork in a cohesive way. Plus, of course, I could update it as I wished by restyling it.
The second was the family room. A long room, it’s hard to zone and has a bar at one end next to the patio doors to the garden. It was a social area, but there was a lack of storage and adding storage furniture made it look clunky and diminished the space available. So we took the opposite wall to the bar and added floating painted scaffold shelves which were 3m long, five levels of them from the top to the bottom, again, maximising the space that we have and enabling loads of storage and display plus creating a focal point in a difficult room to style.
Kept The Walls Neutral (Pretty Much)
It has taken me almost 20 years to learn how I like to decorate my house. Seriously. Since my love of interiors was ignited, I have tried pretty much every style trend in the book, from shabby chic (think traditional cream sofas, ticking blinds, ornate Frenchesque pillar candles and Farrow & Ball throughout), past dark decor (see intro above), a dabble in boho (macrame wall hangings, moroccan pouffes, high risk of being whacked on the head by a hanging plant) right through to present day and where I currently sit. Not in my office, not even on the fence, but solidly in the neutral base bracket.
I like things. I like art. A lot. And as a result, I have a lot of STUFF that I like to display in my home. I have realised over the years that the only way that I can personally do that and keep it looking pulled together is by having a neutral background. As a result, 90% of my house is painted white and it works for me. I can hang what I like and you can SEE what I’ve hung as you’re not distracted by pattern. I can add to my shelves and I can do so in whatever arrangement or tone that I wish as there is no colour for my possessions to battle with. I can swap rooms about, move things around and shop my home to change the look with no worries. Should you strip my home of all, you would be left with almost a totally blank canvas. No piece in my home is restricted to a colour palette and it works.
Now, I understand that not everyone is of my persuasion when it comes to home decor and I am often in awe of people who are able to live with strong bold colours and heavy patterns and make it work (which they do; there are endless examples on Instagram of home owners who do this super successfully). But one of the worlds most transient decorators who likes to move stuff around, a neutral base is perfect for me.
Added A Floor To Ceiling Cork Board
And finally, cork boards. I am a big cork fan and in our next home, I will 100% be incorporating a cork flooring or wall covering. Last year, I was lucky enough to go on a Press Trip to Porto with Colour Flooring (who have loads of amazing cork floors) to see how it’s made and I am now obsessed. It’s sustainable, long lasting and a natural material and therefore an excellent choice for the future (and even better for me given my love for a neutral base).
I also love a photograph. I said in my post last week that I was always the one with the camera, always the one taking the photographs. It’s hardly surprising that I now do it for a job, tbf. But in these days of phone photography and cloud storage, it is rare that we print them to keep. I have books of old snaps from years past and I really wanted to bring them out so that they are seen; lots of childhood photographs that were taken by my Dad in various places across the world that hold great memories and which are fab to be reminded of.
So I went to The Range and picked up a load of adhesive cork tiles which I stuck to the walls of the downstairs loo. I went from floor to ceiling on two walls and then whacked up all of our favourite photos, including lots from Joe’s family too, many of them dating back to when our Grandparents were children. I love having these on display - they are the kind of photographs that are put in books and rarely seen which seems like SUCH a waste. I also regularly print off iCloud photographs to add to the wall. There’s a reason that I do this. Joe once deleted four years of our life in error from the iCloud and if it wasn’t for Facebook it would be as if we had been abducted by aliens between 2010 and 2014. I still bring it up regularly during arguments. Anyway, I love the cork board wall and will now never be without one. Give me ALL the memories.
So those are the five things that I feel that I’ve done right in my home. What have you done in your own home that you wouldn’t be without? Or what do you wish that you’d never started? Tell me below!
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This is such a funny post Lisa and brutally honest to boot! I used Hopper Head, which is the slightly darker version of Downpipe in my last kitchen. Insta seemed to love it, but I thought it was god awful and regretted it instantly. It's good to be honest. 🤣💝
Also. Which White?! Another minefield!