Small bedroom makeover

As I mentioned in a recent post, I had given our little single spare bedroom a quick makeover when we first moved in (it had carpet tiles on the floor and a pine bed frame before!) but even after that it was never really how I wanted it to look. So recently, as I had some Farrow and Ball Off Black paint left from painting our fireplaces, I decided to repaint the bed frame in it and update the room with a boho monochrome look with a few botanical touches.  

boho monochrome style bedroom

Now I am SO happy with how it looks and love a little glimpse in it every time I go upstairs! I received this amazing HUGE Moroccan blanket from Moroccan Bazaar, along with the first and third cushions on the bed. These helped to set the basis for the room design. If you haven't heard of Moroccan Bazaar, they are a long established company importing Moroccan furniture, lighting and accessories to the UK market. They have a showroom in West London, and supply to the retail and commercial sectors. The berber throw and cushions are handmade using artisan techniques on looms from a 100% natural wool and feel so authentic. The blanket is actually folded in half here so you can imagine how big it is, so would also work well on a double bed or sofa too. 

Boho monochrome style bedroom
Moroccan Berber cushion with pompoms
Moroccan Berber throw and cushions

As you can see, the furriest member of our family is a big fan! I couldn't even bring myself to remove her to take these pics! I think she likes sitting by the window so she can keep an eye on things outside! 

Small bedroom ideas
Monochrome posters by Desenio
small bedroom decor

I then simply sourced a few extra details to add to the room. These amazing art prints are from Desenio. I discovered this website a little while ago, and got completely lost in browsing their collection of artwork, which ranges from photography to illustration to typographical prints. It is super affordable with small prints from as little as £2.95. Plus you can choose from a range of frames to fit your print choices. I got the two main posters in 50cm x 70cm with the frames and the little one in the corner at 21cm x 30cm. I've got a special 25% off reader discount for Desenio at the bottom of this post, so do take a peek, there is SO much to choose from! 

boho scandi bedroom
monochrome hanging planter  -Maison du Monde
peperomia plant

The other two cushions are from H&M and the mirror and the hanging planter are from Maison du Monde, and how beautiful is the plywood laurel leaf by LaLa Loves Decor? I love mixing artwork with items like this on my walls. The peperomia plant I picked up at the Conservatory Archives pop up in Liberty along with the stripy plant pot.  

boho scandi bedroom
boho scandi decor
small bedroom ideas
boho monochrome bedroom

As it's such a small room, we don't have much other furniture in there - just this table and a clothes rail, both made from bamboo, from Cox and Cox. Oh, and the final touch was this beautiful curtain from Urban Outfitters which ties in perfectly with the pom pom details on the cushions. I kinda wish we could just magic this room bigger and made it our own bedroom! It feels like such a cosy little spot to go and have some time to yourself, catch up on some magazine reading and hang out with Claude, who is now a permanent resident in here! I'd love to hear what you think! And as promised, here is the discount code for Desenio to treat yourself to some gorgeous artwork....

Discount code "patchworkharmony” gives 25% off posters* between 3rd - 5th October. 
*Except for handpicked/collaboration posters and frames.

Boho monochrome small bedroom style

*Thank you so much to the brands who provided complimentary items to assist with this makeover - Moroccan Bazaar, Desenio and LaLa Loves Decor. I truly love what all of these companies have to offer and hope you do too! 

Trend spotting in Milan with DFS

Every now and then, an opportunity comes along that simply can't be turned down. Back in March I received an invitation from DFS to accompany them to the Salone del Mobile furniture fair in Milan. When I worked at the FT on their House & Home supplement, we featured the Salone every year, so I was well aware of the scale and importance of this fair in the interiors world. So it was super exciting to get the chance to see it in person - plus I've never been to Milan, so that in itself was very cool! So hubby took over the childcare reins for 2 days, while I jetted off, all ready for a dose of interiors inspiration!

After meeting up with fellow bloggers Jess of The Only Girl in the House, Ashley of Lazy Daisy Jones and Geraldine of Little Big Bell, we had dinner with the DFS design team, before an early start to hit the fair the next morning. It was fascinating to chat to the people behind the brand and find out about how the sofa design process works and where they get their inspiration. 

A lot of their inspiration indeed stems from attending shows just like the Salone, as well as smaller events throughout the year. They are looking out for emerging trends - sofa shapes, colours, fabrics, design details - it was so interesting to browse the stands with them, hear their thought process and pick up on what things they plan to implement in future designs. 

For me, there were three trends that really stood out throughout the show, with almost every stand I visited having elements of these within them. These were: velvet, marble and botanicals. I'm already very partial to a plant or two, and if you read last week's post, you'll know I've clearly fallen for the marble craze, and well, I may have just ordered myself a few velvet cushions! 

There was also a lot of colour around - and while I'm still loving a bit of grey at the moment, it was hard not to fall for the sumptuous greens in every shade, the luxurious burnt orange hues and the blush pinks that seemed to dominate the fabric choices. 

I was then intrigued to see how the DFS designers translate all of this inspiration into their range. And well, it seems they are one step ahead with this gorgeous lime green velvet sofa from their Topaz range. They also incorporated the marble theme by using the pattern on a striking armchair and footstool. 

This Athena three seater sofa (inspired by another Salone-spotted trend for casual folds and visible seams) appeals to my grey addiction, and by simply adding colour with paint, accessories and that pink velvet Zinc armchair (swoon!), it looks stunning.

It was such an interesting trip - obviously it was amazing to visit Milan and the fair, but I also loved finding out more about the design process behind a brand like DFS. As part of the collaboration I've also been gifted my very own sofa, and I'll be sharing some pics of it soon, along with a peek at our newly renovated living room! You may just spot of few of these trends creeping in! 

If you are in the market for new furniture then I recommend you take a little peek at their sofa range, there are some lovely ones - my faves are the Zinc range which also comes in a velvet fabric collection, the Topaz range and the Betsy range. Thanks so much to DFS for a wonderful trip! 

My office makeover reveal

I'm so excited to finally have this room complete and ready to share with you! One of the things I looked forward to most about moving to our new house, was having a workspace again. For so long I'd worked in the corner of our living room, cramped and messy - and of course that usual thing of never feeling separated from work as it's right there, a few feet from the sofa. So now, having this space is fabulous, and in fact, it is currently my favourite room in the house!

DSC_3412_1200.jpg
Day bed: Ikea / Vintage pendant light: V Interior / Curtain: H&M / Pirate cushion by Lucky Boy Sunday/ Spotty cushion: Rigby and Mac (via Trouva) / Triangle cushion: H&M / Throw: Oliver Bonas / Elephant print: Petit Pippin / Bird plate:…

Day bed: Ikea / Vintage pendant light: V Interior / Curtain: H&M / Pirate cushion by Lucky Boy Sunday/ Spotty cushion: Rigby and Mac (via Trouva) / Triangle cushion: H&M / Throw: Oliver Bonas / Elephant print: Petit Pippin / Bird plate: Donna WIlson via Moonko / Hello bear print by Aless Baylis / Beautiful print: John Lewis

When we moved in, this room slightly resembled a cave - a cave with a Statue of Liberty mural. Clearly someone had taken some time to paint this on the wall, but as you can imagine it wasn't quite to my taste! Here's a couple of 'before' pics. I worked in here for the first few months, and to be honest found it quite depressing (her stern expression didn't help!), so just before Christmas I bought a wallpaper steamer and started stripping the walls. 

IMG_0789_700.jpg

The walls weren't in great shape so I decided that I would get the whole room re-plastered, so I would have a nice base to work with.  We also pulled up the horrible carpet which you can't really see here (it was grim), and my dad painted the floorboards white for me. 

Around the same time Dulux had got in touch with me about doing a makeover collaboration for their Lets Colour magazine - perfect timing! So I agreed to complete the room by the end of March and shoot it for the magazine. It really helped to give me a deadline to get things done! 

Desk: Habitat / Chair: Voga / Floor lamp: Barker and Stonehouse / My Daily Melody print: Audrey Jeanne

Desk: Habitat / Chair: Voga / Floor lamp: Barker and Stonehouse / My Daily Melody print: Audrey Jeanne

I wanted to do something a bit different in the room, seeing as it is my creative space. I selected Dulux's Jasmine Shimmer in Light & Space, and painted the ceiling and half the walls in this gorgeous soft pink colour. I was a bit unsure how it was going to pan out, but I am so chuffed with the result. The pink looks so lovely next to the earthy tone of the bare plaster. 

One of my aims with the room was to have lots of storage for all my books and magazines, and I desperately wanted some plywood display shelving to perch my current favourites on. My lovely hubby set to work creating this! Homebase cut the plywood to size for us and delivered it as it wouldn't fit in our car, and then we simply added the pink painted ledges (also in Jasmine Shimmer).

Bookcase: Ikea

Bookcase: Ikea

Magazine rack: La Redoute / floor lamp: Barker and Stonehouse 

Magazine rack: La Redoute / floor lamp: Barker and Stonehouse 

Vintage pendant light: V Interior / Vintage cupboard: Goose Home & Garden

Vintage pendant light: V Interior / Vintage cupboard: Goose Home & Garden

Sheepskin rug: Barker and Stonehouse 

Sheepskin rug: Barker and Stonehouse 

I then added further storage with an Ikea bookcase, a magazine wall rack and my vintage cupboard. The Ikea day bed also has amazing storage in the three drawers, and the drawer on my Habitat desk is useful for hiding away paperwork that tends to build up.

pink plant pot: Anthropologie / Belly basket: Olli Ella 

pink plant pot: Anthropologie / Belly basket: Olli Ella 

Window cushion: Donna WIlson

Window cushion: Donna WIlson

Mini wall hanging: Kate Housley 

Mini wall hanging: Kate Housley 

Monstera print: The Lovely Drawer / Bear print: Seventy Tree

Monstera print: The Lovely Drawer / Bear print: Seventy Tree

Then it was just a case of adding a few finishing touches, some of which I already had, and others which I had fun sourcing! I've put the sources in the photo captions where applicable, although some don't seem to be available any more I'm afraid.

As of tomorrow, I am no longer doing the part time job I've been doing for the past 15 months, and I am back in the world of freelance. I've bought myself a sparkly new laptop and I feel re-energised to get to work on lots of lovely projects this year (if you need a writer, editor, blogger, picture editor etc - do get in touch!). It definitely helps to be able to work from this lovely new room that's for sure!  

Thank you to Dulux for supplying the paint for decorating this room. Look out for it in their Lets Colour magazine soon! 

Downstairs Loo makeover

So, it's not the most glamourous of rooms, but it is one of the first in our new house to get a full makeover! People keep asking me what our 'plan' is for renovating the house, but to be honest, we don't really have one, we are just doing things when we feel the urge, or when we come up with what we'd like to do in a particular room. With this, it was kind of a needs must job. While it was pretty grotty in there, it wasn't at the top of the list, but just after Christmas we realised that the floor felt really unstable. It appeared that there had been a long-standing leak where the cistern was boxed in. So we decided, if anything, we should do it for safety reasons sooner rather than later. Here is a 'before and after' to get the full effect...! 

As you can see it was pretty rough around the edges - a lot of yellow and a considerable amount of pine for such a small space! It simply needed a complete overhaul so my first task was to source some pretty tiles - naturally!

I'd fallen for some tiles when I was at an event before Christmas, and after posting a pic on Instagram, I managed to find out the supplier and checked out their site. Much to my joy, they came in pink - which I can't seem to get away from at the moment. The tiles are designed by Scandinavian designers Claesson Koivisto Rune, in collaboration with Marrakech Design. They are actually a Swedish company, and while I tried to source a UK supplier to save on delivery, I couldn't, so I bit the bullet and paid the delivery fee from Sweden. So, I'l admit they weren't cheap, BUT I am literally so happy to see them every time I go in there! 

We then opted for simple white metro tiles, painted the walls white and used some grey paint I had left over from a previous project for the window frame and folding door. We got our toilet and basin from Victorian Plumbing, and while we are happy with the items, I was a little disappointed in the service. The delivery came when I was in hospital, and it turned out the sink wasn't there. It took nearly two weeks for them to redeliver it! Not what I needed when I'd just had surgery! 

Anyway, you get over these things... We're really happy with the transformation, it makes SUCH a difference! Below are a few of the little details I've added, some of which were things I already had, such as the plates, plant pot, perfume bottle and mirror, but I've popped the sources for the other bits at the bottom of the post.

Hand towel: House of Rym via The Future Kept

Meraki handwash - Trouva

Light fitting components: Enamel Shades

Gold light pull - Pushka Home

Toilet roll holder - Ferm Living via Scandinavian Design Center

Toilet brush - John Lewis

I'd love to hear what you think! I've got another room makeover coming up next week, so look out for that too. x

Bedroom makeover & bed upgrade

When we moved into the new house, one of the first things we needed to purchase was a new bed. We needed an additional double for the spare room so my parents could stay. So before we even moved, I'd earmarked this copper bed frame from Made.com for our room, and ordered it as soon as we got the keys. 

As the bed was quite a big spend, I decided to order a relatively cheap mattress and bedding - bad move! I should have taken my own advice and not scrimped on the things that need to do a good job. The mattress was really hard and too thin, and the bedding was too light and flimsy. The hubby wasn't happy and I was kicking myself for my less than satisfactory purchases. But luckily, that was when two fabulous companies stepped in to sort things out. 

Firstly, Sleepbear introduced me to their British-made, latex-topped mattress. A new family run business, Sleepbear have developed a 'one mattress suits all' design, which they believe is the ultimate in comfort, support and a good night's sleep. It seems the pure latex they use within the mattress is key to everything - it contours to your body and it's elasticity allows the mattress to bounce back. Not only that, latex is naturally hypoallergenic, so fends off dust mites, mould and bacteria, and due the materials open cell structure it is super breathable, keeping you cool in the summer and warm in the winter. 

When our mattress arrived and we lay on it, we both literally went 'OH YES!' It was SO different to what we had been sleeping on. You can see in the pic above how substantial it is (and it's lovely design!), and it has 100% kept it's shape since we started sleeping on it. It has a firmness to it, but still feels like you kind of sink into it each night. 

So with our mattress upgrade, it would have been ludicrous to then top it with the flimsy duvet and misshapen pillows we'd been using, so thankfully the lovely folk at Soak and Sleep were able to guide us on making our bed a truly luxurious place. On their website, you can tailor your choice of bedding to what kind of sleeper you are... side, back or front sleeper, cold or hot, allergy sufferer etc. We were advised to go with a pure wool duvet, which, as a natural material is great for temperature regulation - I often go to bed cold, but wake up in the night too hot, so it was perfect. As for pillows, it seems latex is winning out again! Same as the mattress, the latex pillows keep their shape amazingly well, and are hypoallergenic, (as is the wool duvet) which is useful for my asthma. 

Last but not least, the bed sheets. Again, I've always been a bit of a cheapskate when it comes to this, but NO MORE! 100% French Linen is the only way to go! I can't believe I've cheated myself out of sleeping between anything less. It feels amazing, it is breathable, again helping with temp control, and there is no need to iron it! added bonus! I'm totally in love with this Blush Pink set I went for, I can't stop looking at it! :) 

Doing this bed upgrade has honestly opened my eyes to how important a good mattress and bedding is. Maybe I'm just getting old, but it feels like a real priority to have a super comfy bed to retreat to after a long, stressful day! 

The entire bedroom has had a bit of a makeover, although it is not complete yet. We are still working out storage options and additional furniture etc. But we did strip off the lining paper that was painted a deep purple and repainted in white, We then got rid of the dark blue carpet and replaced it with this white laminate flooring. As it's a loft conversion, there were no nice floorboards under the carpet, hence the laminate, but I've honestly surprised myself with how pleased I am with it! It has completely transformed the space. I will probably repaint the pink sloping wall, and we need things like a new light fitting, a new door and window coverings, but for now, just making those small changes has made it a completely different room to what it was. Of course I forgot to take any decent 'before' pics (again!) although below is a terrible phone pic from when we viewed the property, and a few 'in progress' ones when I was stripping the walls! 

What a difference a lick of paint and a new floor can make right?! The only furniture I've added to the room so far are the little side tables which I got from Nordic House.

Things are slowly taking shape round here! There's still lots to do, but at least we now have a lovely, comfy place to retire to after days of decorating! Thank you so much to Soak and Sleep and Sleepbear for their help with upgrading our bed - I know I will continue to opt for better quality when it comes to bedding from now on! 

oh, and if you fancy upgrading too, Sleepbear have a £50 off discount code until January 31st, see their website for the code, and Soak and Sleep are in the final week of their sale so take a peek for some bargains! 

My Evolving Style and Harley & Lola

We are slowly beavering away at our new house, despite a bit of a setback when a drunk driver knocked my hubby of his bike a few weeks back. Luckily he is fine, but the injuries he did receive means he's not been able to do much manual work of late! But my dad has stepped in to help with a lot of decorating and sorting out the garden, so we're getting there slowly but surely. 

I'll admit that my focus has been on the sourcing side of things, which of course I love! A few years back my sourcing techniques would have mainly consisted of early mornings at flea markets and car boots and browsing eBay for bargains. While I still have a love of vintage and a good bargain, I feel a little like my style have evolved greatly of late, and I have found myself quite taken by the Scandi trend and mid-century look, particularly when it comes to furniture. Some of this evolution may be down to laziness and finding that getting things delivered to my door is much easier that rising at dawn to hit the markets! But whatever the reason, I'm spending lots of time online researching furniture, discovering new brands and building wishlists! 

Wycombe bed - £970

Wycombe bed - £970

One brand I've discovered is Harley & Lola, whose furniture and homeware is sourced ethically and they are committed to using recycled packaging wherever possible. I find that when I am not buying vintage - which feels like a form of recycling - that it is a bonus if a company selling 'new' products is willing to put the extra work into how and where they source their ranges from. 

Wycombe mirror - £367

They have a nice mix of styles, from the Wycombe range which is quite Scandinavian, to the Marlow range, which has a bit more of country farmhouse feel to contemporary style pieces in their Kielder collection. 

Kielder bench - £322

It's funny, I almost feel guilty for the evolution of my style, and what I am drawn to. I feel like I am 'cheating' on my vintage roots (!) or that I am being too easily influenced by current trends (which I previously always thought I avoided) But I've decided it's best to just go with it, and buy what I like, after all, tastes tend to change as you get older, and I think we are influenced by trends whether we like it or not! I know I certainly wouldn't dress in the same clothes I wore in my late teens, so my interiors preferences are bound to be different too! 

Anyway, I'm excited to see how our new house progresses and how different/similar it might end up to our last place. I hope you will follow along too! 

Do check out Harley & Lola for more of the above too. 

*This post was written in collaboration with Harley & Lola, but all views, thoughts and choices are my own.*

Quick bedroom makeover

Since we moved into our new house about 5 weeks ago, we've been very busy, but it feels like we've been jumping from job to job - there's just so much to do, and we keep spotting or discovering things that need our attention, so it's hard to stay focused on one thing. But I really felt like I wanted to get at least one room 'done', so the smallest bedroom seemed like the place to start. Of course I forgot to take a proper 'before' shot - it originally had some carpet tiles (!) on the floor that were filthy, but thankfully very easy to get rid of, so this is what it looked like after these were removed.... 

Firstly my dad painted the walls and floor in white so this freshened up the space instantly. The bed on the left was actually left by the previous owners, and fits perfectly along that wall, so for now we've decided to keep it there until we find something else. So in the meantime, I decided to give it a lick of paint. I must admit, I am a bit of a lazy decorator. I wish I could click my fingers and everything was painted! So that is why Annie Sloan's chalk paint was so appealing. I didn't want to spend too long on this room, so the fact there is no need for prep before using Annie's paints got the thumbs up from me. 

I selected four paints from the Annie Sloan range - Paris Grey, Old WhiteScandinavian Pink and Antoinette. I painted the bottom panel Paris Grey, the top panel Old White and then for the drawers I did a little bit of mixing. The left drawer was Old White with a little bit of Antoinette mixed in, the middle drawer is Antoinette on it's own, and then the right drawer I added a little Scandinavian Pink in with the Antoinette. All finished off with a little bit of Clear Wax

I plan to make some new cushion covers and change the bedding as it was a quick fix as we had someone coming to stay, but the little rug is a new addition from Oliver Bonas. I didn't want the room to look overly pastel-y, so added this darker rug to contrast with the paler colours. 

It's such a teeny tiny room, that there isn't much space for furniture, but obviously we wanted something for our guests to put their clothes, so this gorgeous clothes rail from Cox and Cox was the perfect option. it's made from bamboo, which is a sustainable wood, and also looks beautiful. It literally took minutes to construct and I'm loving the simple design. I am tempted to steal it out of here for my own room! 

plant pots from Howkapow

plant pots from Howkapow

prints by Audrey Jeanne

prints by Audrey Jeanne

There's still a few bits and bobs to be added to this room - a bedside table and lamp, a window covering and maybe some shelves, but for now am happy that at least one room in the house feels like us rather than the previous owners! I'd love to hear what you think! 

*Thanks to Annie Sloan and Cox and Cox for helping me out with this makeover.*

Our new home... finally!

So, I know it's been pretty quiet around here of late, but as you may have read in recent posts, we have been waiting to move house for a whole year! We put our flat on the market in September 2015, expecting to have moved by Christmas. We found the house we wanted to buy in the October, but had to wait while the owner found her new home. In the meantime, we lost buyers left, right and centre due to the wait, but eventually got a dedicated couple I think around April. But then the legal problems commenced. I will never own a leasehold property again in my life! It is a nightmare! After months of thinking it might never happen we finally exchanged at the start of September, and completed on the 30th.

While we were desperate to move to a bigger house, it was still sad as we watched the removal guys take everything out of the flat we'd lived for 7 years. So many big events happened in our lives during that time - getting married, bringing our first child into the world and of course I launched 91 Magazine from here - and if you didn't know, this house inspired the magazine's name - as the address was no.91.

We look back and hope we managed to improve that flat while we were there, I particularly loved the kitchen which was our biggest project, and the room that most prospective buyers seemed to love. Here it is just before we left... and yes, we did leave the Smeg behind! :( 

Goodbye no.91, you will always have a special place in my heart! But it definitely felt like the right time for us to move on. We have now been in our new home for a week and it feels great! We have somehow managed to upgrade from a 2 bed flat to a 5 bed semi detached house! The day we viewed it last year I literally couldn't sleep that night thinking about it. The house was a bit of a mess in terms of decor and maintenance, but I loved the space and the flow and just knew we could bring it back to life. When we thought we might lose it, I realised that it would be very unlikely we'd find the same amount of space for the price we were paying. Particularly in an area we liked and that suited us in terms of future schools for Ruby. So we held on and did everything we could to make sure the chain didn't collapse. So, here we are, finally in, and WOW, there is a lot to do! 

Downstairs there is a large knocked through living room, a large conservatory (or 'garden room' as I like to call it!), the kitchen and a downstairs loo. We decided on our second night in the house it was time to start painting. We just couldn't bear to be surrounded by dark, dark blue walls for any longer than was necessary! Dark walls can look great if done well, but I personally find it super oppressive. The room also has a worn red/brown carpet throughout! oh and did I mention the gold fireplace feature walls?! 

We are half way through painting this huge room white (it's taking 3 coats to cover the blue!) and already it feels so much brighter and even more spacious. There's still lots more to do in here - rewiring, flooring, and skimming the artex on the ceiling, but really it's all cosmetic, so shouldn't take too long to transform. 

On through into the 'garden room', I've tried to do a touch of styling and sprucing it up with plants, but there is NO hiding those lime green walls! Oh and yep, they carry on right through into the kitchen.... 

I realised after we agreed to include our Smeg appliances with the sale of the flat that I'd made a big mistake! My husband suggested we just get a cheap fridge to tide us over until we do up the kitchen, but I literally couldn't bear it (I'm such a Smeg snob!!) - but luckily I managed to get this one at a great price as it has a bit of damage. But those lime walls just aren't doing it justice are they?! So I think they are next on our hit list! 

Upstairs isn't quite so bad in terms of colour schemes, except for the room I'm typing from now, which has a questionable mural painted on the dark blue (again!) walls! Above is a small bedroom which I've managed to make passable for now, although what you can't see is the carpet TILES on the floor! 

Ruby's little room isn't too bad either - it just needs decorating and to be rid of the stained carpet. I never thought I'd say this, but I think we may actually go for carpet in the bedrooms. Even though the current ones are a bit manky, we've been quite enjoying the softness under our feet after having hard, cold floorboards in our old place.

This is all I dare show you of the bathroom! It needs complete replacement but it is quite a big room, so lots of scope to make it lovely. For whatever reason this is the only room that's been left with exposed floorboards, everywhere else has been covered with carpet or lino! 

So that's the first peek into our new home. I know it's all going to take a while, so I need to make my peace with that and endure living with things as they are for a while. But I am looking forward to the journey, and making the space lovely again. I hope you'll enjoy following along with me! :) 

The history of my home

A few months go I had the most intriguing of emails. It came from a woman who had lived in my house nearly 20 years ago. She had come across pictures of our kitchen/dining room online, and spotted the fireplace which she had purchased in an antiques shop in Glasgow in the 1980's - apparently it was bright orange when she found it! She cleaned it up and brought back to Kingston to install in the house. Shona emailed me to let me know of this crazy coincidence and we began chatting about the house and what it was like when she lived here. It really is incredible the connections that can be made via the world wide web right?! 

It feels particularly poignant to be looking back on the history of our home, as we prepare to move on from it ourselves after nearly seven years of living here. (that's if we EVER exchange, it's been the longest process). Shona sent me a few pictures of the interior when she was living here which was SO interesting, so I thought it would be fun to show the comparisons (which also includes some shots from when we bought it in 2009) and I did a little interview with Shona, to find out about her time living here... 

Now image by Cathy Pyle

Now image by Cathy Pyle

Patchwork Harmony: When did you live in the flat?
Shona: 1989-1997

Patchwork Harmony: What was the house like when you bought it? 
Shona: Not great, it needed totally refurbished - it was in a real mess. It needed a new bathroom, kitchen and it didn't have any central heating so that had to go in too. Before buying the flat we looked at one of the top floor flats next door, which was immaculate but I think about 25k more (!) - that gives you an idea of how much work needed to be done on it. I think the purchase price was around 72k.

Now image by Cathy Pyle

Now image by Cathy Pyle

Now image by Martina O'Shea

Now image by Martina O'Shea

Patchwork Harmony: Do you know any history of the house prior to you living there? 
Shona: I think it had been rented, although for some reason I think I was told squatters had been living there before we moved in!

Patchwork Harmony: What are your memories of living here?
Shona: I had an interesting time there. It was exciting in the early years as I had moved down from Scotland and just started my career. It was my first step on the property ladder. I got married when I was living there and then divorced just after I left the house so it's a place of real mixed memories and emotions. I also got two cats when I was there: Pyramus and Thisbe and my fondest memories seem to be of them as kittens!! I asked my friend if she had any interesting memories of the house and she said she remembered dancing a lot!

Now image by Cathy Pyle

Now image by Cathy Pyle

Patchwork Harmony: Did you make many changes to the house in terms of layout etc? 
Shona: The kitchen was made slightly bigger. The only other thing was the garden was really small and as we got on well with our neighbour we decided to make it one large shared garden instead of two smaller ones.

Patchwork Harmony: Things are very different now from when you lived here in terms of where homeowners find inspiration for decor - how did you go about it back then? Where did you find ideas? Where did you shop for home furnishings etc? 
Shona: If I remember correctly I loved Habitat, Laura Ashley and Designers Guild. I must have got inspiration from magazines and my brother is a designer so he was a great help. I remember I had to learn how to make soft furnishings as it was too expensive to buy them all - curtains, cushions etc. Festoon blinds were all the rage in the 80s :)

Patchwork Harmony: How long did you live here for and why did you decide to move on? 
Shona: From 1989-1997 then we moved about fifty metres up the road until 2006!

Thank you Shona for getting in touch and giving this little insight into the history of our home! I don't know if this is interesting to anyone else, but I felt the need to document on here even if it just for myself. 

I guess when you are about to move on from a home that has been so important in your life, it is a nice time to reflect on and look back on your time there. It was our first home we purchased together, we became a married couple while living here, and we brought our first child into the world here, not to mention that the magazine I founded is named after this place! It's funny how there are some similarities in the life events Shona experienced while living here too. Her email definitely wins the prize for the most intriguing of the year! 

From nursery to toddler room

So it seems I am now officially the mum to a toddler, not a baby. I honestly don't know where the time goes. One minute they are sleeping in a tiny moses basket next to you, next they are scrambling all over your furniture like a excited puppy! Ruby is 19 months now, and is of course still sleeping in a cot, but I've been thinking recently about giving it a little update as she gets older, and will very soon have grown out of her sleeping bag. So whenever Silentnight got in touch to ask me to take part in their 'Room for a little one' campaign, it seemed like a good opportunity to give her sleeping quarters a mini update! 

I choose some lovely bedding from Olli Ella, whose designs I've admired for a while. I went for a fitted sheet and pillow in their confetti pattern, and a blanket in Terra and Tartine. 

It makes such a difference to the cot, as before there was just a plain white sheet on the mattress, so it looks much more 'grown up' and part of the room decor. Plus the bedding goes perfectly with the existing wallpaper.

The other thing with a growing toddler is the ever increasing accumulation of 'stuff'. I've talked about storage for kids before, so you'll know I'm always on the look out for lovely baskets, boxes or bags to incorporate, so I also ordered one of their lovely belly baskets to help with the expanding toy collection! (I may have had my eye on one of these for some time!) Ruby's comment when she saw the new basket in her room was simply 'what's that?!' I'm sure she'll appreciate its beauty one day! 

I think new bedding is to a bed, what new cushions are to a sofa. It can make such a huge difference and generally for very little expenditure. It's a transformation that literally only takes a few moments! The next thing will be when she is ready for the cot to be turned into a bed! That really will bring home how fast she is growing up! 

This post was created in collaboration with Silentnight. All product choices and views are my own. 

Utilising your space for storage

I'm sure I'm not the only one who struggles with storage in the home. It's a constant battle right?! I was recently asked by Harvey's Furniture to share three storage ideas so I thought I'd share some that have worked for me in my own home. Finding good storage solutions is about utilising all the space that you have, but also making sure it looks good. If like me, you don't have a loft, then it's necessary to find ways of using each corner of your home, without it just becoming cluttered and messy. 

1. Use the space above you

When we had to transform my office into Ruby's bedroom, I was left with a lot of boring files of paperwork and boxes of other admin type stuff I couldn't get rid of. I had no cupboard space available to hide them away, so instead we installed some shelving up above the line of the door to store these. They are things that don't need accessed on a regular basis so it is fine for it not to be easily accessible, but make sure you keep it orderly and neat otherwise it will just be an eye sore. The other idea is to create a fun fabric curtain to pull across and conceal it. I had actually planned to do this, but decided I quite liked the slightly utilitarian look of the shelves. 

2. Choose stylish bags and baskets

With things that do have to be easily accessible, such as toys, lovely storage bags and baskets are a perfect solution. BUT make sure they are lovely! I could never bring myself to buy those horrible plastic storage boxes as they are so ugly, and then you have to find somewhere to conceal those. Pretty baskets and other containers are readily available, so choose some that suit your decor and make them part of it. They can slot in anywhere where you have a little gap, and the kids can move them around as and when they like. Plus it's super easy to tidy up at the end of the day! I published a post recently about some great options you can find online

3. Make a feature out of existing spaces

Try to make use of awkward nooks and crannies, making them into an interesting feature instead. We have this beautiful fireplace, but it is not a working one, so I decided to stack up some old books which I often use as props for photos in there. It means my beautiful old books are on display rather than packed away in a cupboard, as well as making use of the otherwise dead space. 

What storage solutions are you most proud of in your own home? I'd love to hear!

This post was in collaboration with Harvey's Furniture,. As well as my tips, you can read two other bloggers top storage ideas on the Harvey's blog

Creating a timeless interior

So this week I was asked by Carpetright to be their 'interior advocate' for the launch of their new range of flooring in collaboration with House Beautiful. I do love a collaboration, so think it's great that these two brands have come together to combine their expertise.

I was asked to share my thoughts on creating a timeless interior, and actually this is something I'm thinking about a lot recently, as we are in the process of (hopefully) buying a new house. We hope it is somewhere we will stay for quite a few years, so I want to make the right decisions at the start in terms of decor, so that it will be long-lasting in terms of style, and will just need minor updates now and then. 

For me I think the best way to start is with a neutral backdrop. White, grey or pale colours on the wall, which you can then add to with art, accessories and perhaps the odd piece of brightly coloured furniture if you want to create a statement - just make sure you really love that statement, otherwise you might grow tired of it quickly! 

Period features are another way to have enduring style, as long as you maintain them and accentuate them. Look at the windows, radiators and panelling in the above shot, so lovely. Even if you aren't lucky enough to have original features, you can always replicate some of them in your home. Perhaps add deep skirting boards, if the height of your room can take it, or there are lots of great cast iron radiators around - we got some for our kitchen/dining room, which we sprayed copper. 

Of course flooring has a huge impact on the overall look of a room, so make sure you really think about what you can live with, what is practical for your situation and of course what you can afford - as it can become costly. I love this image above, which would you believe is vinyl flooring! At first I thought it was concrete, which I'm massively into at the minute. 

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While we might not all be lucky enough to have these huge windows, we can bring a little nature into the home via indoor plants and flowers. These will never go out of fashion, so make sure to always have some greenery in your space, whether it's an easy to care for group of cacti, or a pretty posy of flowers on the kitchen table. 

I'd love to hear your thoughts and tips on enduring, timeless style. I really want to achieve this in our new home! Oh and by the way, if any of these images have inspired you to put down some new flooring, Carpetright are running a competition to win £700 worth of vouchers as well as some other goodies. You can enter here.

Living stylishly with kids

When I recently received an email about a new book called Design Mom: How to live with kids, a room-by-room guide, it really resonated with me. When you care a lot about how your home looks, it's a natural worry to wonder how all of the paraphernalia that comes with children will fit into your decor. Ruby is still young, so she doesn't have too much stuff just yet. I currently use boxes and baskets just to throw all of her toys into once she's gone to bed, but I'm sure this will change as she gets older and wants more things. 

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So this book by Gabrielle Stanley Blair, grabbed my interest. The book is full of lovely interior images that show you how to still have a lovely home with kids in the mix. It's broken down into bite size chunks; perfect for us mums who don't have extended periods of time to read - we can pick it up when we've got five minutes! Tips such as 'shoe storage is your best friend' and 'furniture that moves as quickly as your kids' will probably ring true with some of you. It also has some easy DIY projects thrown in which is really nice. 

These are a few of my favourite images from the book to give you a taster. I love how there are clearly children living in these homes, but the owners have made it part of the space, rather than trying to hide it all away. It really is a lovely book that is practical as well as pretty. I'm sure I'll be referring to it for years to come! 

Photo credits: 1: Caroline Rowland / 2: Caroline Coehorst / 3: Meta Coleman / 4: the Land of Nod / 5: Anna Napthali / 6: Meta Coleman / 7: Heather Zweig, with stylist Jordan Ferney

Design Mom: How to Live with Kids: A Room-by-Room Guide by Gabrielle Stanley Blair (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2015 Buy it now mums and dads

kitchen renovation tour

Following on from my last post about our DIY kitchen worktop, I thought I'd share some more images of the kitchen renovation we've done over the last year. I'm so happy with the space now, so I'm quite sad that we are going to have to sell later this year. :( 

Annoyingly I can't find any decent shots of what we had before, but basically it was a small kitchen and a separate dining room which we never really used that often, apart from sometimes in the summer as it opens into the garden. So the main thing we did was knock through the wall between the two rooms. We had to get steel beams installed, and that was probably the most costly bit. We had a back door in the kitchen (where the pink and black print is now) so this was blocked up and then we had a raised floor created for the kitchen area. As I mentioned in the worktop post, I designed the kitchen island myself and a carpenter built it for us. Strangly while they were trying to source some reclaimed wood, it was discovered that we actually had two layers of floorboards in the dining room! So they ended up using the top layer to construct the island, saving us quite a bit of cash! We then white washed all of the wood for a bit of a rustic feel.

It was my dream to have a Smeg fridge ever since we bought this house, so I was super happy the day it arrived! We also had a Smeg hob and built in oven installed, as well as a Smeg dishwasher and washing machine which are tucked in the other side of the island, opposite the fridge. I wanted the lighting to be really simple in the kitchen so we just hung three bare bulbs from fabric covered cable above the island. The freestanding vintage larder I bought from lovely Paul and Sarah of Goose Home and Garden - it is so perfect for all our store cupboard foods, and the lower part has all my china, cake stands and things like tea towels and baking items. 

The tiles in the kitchen are were sourced from Armatile. I really loved the idea of encaustic tiles, but original ones were expensive and hard to look after, so these were a perfect alternative, and I love the patchwork look. The Belfast sink I bought online from TapsUK and I sourced the gold taps from a small bathroom supplies company called Colton bathroom supplies.

I found the vintage school science lab stools on eBay. They were a real bargain, at £25 each! I love how they have got graffiti scratched into the wood! 

In the dining area there were no big structural changes, but we added some tongue and groove cladding to the wall and adding some shelving to help solve storage problems, and then painted the floor in Farrow and Ball Wimborne White floor paint. We actually have a new dining table since I took these photos which you can see here on Instagram which came from made.com. The pendant lights are from John Lewis.

We put in new radiators as the original one was on the wall which was removed. They came from Period House Store. I just ordered the ones that came with primer on, and then I spray painted them in Plastikote Metallic Copper. The sideboard was another eBay find.

I had to have some handmade details in there too, so the dining chair seat covers were made by me, and I also customised the Ikea net curtain, by adding a little bit of Liberty fabric and some pom pom trim to the bottom edge.

And that is pretty much it! Apart from the main building work we really did try to do this on a tight budget, mainly through doing a lot of things ourselves, like decorating, making the worktop, painting radiators etc. I did use some of my industry contacts to get some discounts for things, but I was also super savvy when it came to sourcing fixtures and fittings. All it takes is a little bit of time researching online to find the best deal. 

Anyway, I'd love to hear what you think, and if you have any questions just let me know! ;) 

xxx

DIY: Kitchen island worktop

If you are regular reader or follow me on Instagram, you will more than likely know about our kitchen renovation that we've been doing over the last year. (yeah, it's really taken that long to finish!) This was my original moodboard post. It is finally finished now, and one of the major challenges we faced was the kitchen island worktop. The initial plan was to have it clad in copper - this wasn't a cheap option but something that I was really keen on. This all fell through when the company went awol, then our builders offered to do it, but then they went awol too. They left us with a plywood worktop which, while I actually quite like plywood at the minute, it just looked really rough and unfinished. They also left us with temporary taps as they hadn't yet fitted our new ones and I hated them! The cheapest of the cheap taps that kept twisting round when you turned them! 

We decided we needed to find an alternative to a copper worktop as really it was just a bit expensive. For a while we toyed with the idea of concrete, which I blogged about here. We thought about doing it ourselves, but then concluded that it was just a little too daunting and we might make a real mess of it! So we got a quote from a company to do it, but this was just as expensive as the copper. So we were back at square one. In the end, we decided to go for a simple DIY idea, that would finish off the worktop but not cost a fortune. 

We bought some wooden planks, and simply screwed these on top of the plywood. Thankfully this meant that the hob was now flush to the worktop. (The builders has left it slightly raised up above the plywood for some reason)

This was then all sanded down, and the screw holes and any gaps were filled with wood filler. We then stained and varnished the wood. The final issue was how to cover the edge of the plywood. We went back to the original idea of copper, and bought copper strips and copper nails online and used these around the edge.  

Ta da! This is the finished result! Oh and we fitted the taps ourselves! I think it turned out really well and was a much cheaper alternative. The great thing about copper is that it ages well, so even around the sink where it gets wet, the oxidation and patina just adds to what i hope is a kind of modern rustic look.

It cost us approx. £400 for the materials - the wooden planks, stain, varnish, copper strips and nails. And nothing else but a bit of our time and hard graft. Compared to the quotes of between £1000-£2000 for the copper or concrete worktops, it has certainly proved a more affordable option. It might not be quite as impressive as either of those, but hey, when you're on a tight budget, you often have to compromise. I'd love to hear what you think! x

5 tips for a mini bedroom update

Our bedroom has been feeling a little unloved of late. We don't spend that much time in there really, apart from sleeping, and it's easy to just dump things in there or let things pile up. So at the weekend I thought it was time for a little tidy and a bit of refresh. 

I didn't do much,, but it has really made a difference! Maybe I'll even go and spend some time reading my book in there this evening.... So here are my 5 tips for a quick and easy bedroom update!

1. Buy some new bed linen

This has made the main difference in the room. We've had plain white sheets on our bed forever, and while I do like white they seem to go grey and dull so quickly, and I'm always having to replace them. So this time I opted for a patterned set which fits in really well with the other nature related elements in the room. This duvet and pillowcase set is from BHS, and a snip at £35 for the king size version. 

2. Make some new cushion covers

I really needed to refresh the cushions that I had on the bed, so I decided to whip up a few new covers with a bit of Liberty fabric. One of my favourite patterns is pepper, so I choose two colours in this design and used some ribbon to trim the opening. They are just super simple envelope covers, but I'm really pleased with them. 

3. Add some flowers 

For me, displaying fresh flowers in any room makes such a difference. It may seem like a bit of an expense, but all you need is a stem or two in a bottle or vase, so rather than buying a big bunch just pop in your local florists and choose a few individual stems. Also look out in the reduced section at the supermarket, sometimes you can find a great bargain on flowers that only have one sorry looking bloom. 

4. Restyle the bedside tables

This is the area where things can sometimes accumulate: books, handcreams, coffee cups, phone chargers etc. But as this is potentially the first area you see in the morning, and the last one at night, it should be a joy to look at! Give it a little tidy up, add a scented candle or two, those beautiful flowers and maybe tape a cute postcard or favourite photograph to the wall and voila! - a simple pleasure to enjoy every day! 

5. Tidy and clear clutter

As any interiors book or magazine will tell you, the bedroom should be a tranquil, uncluttered space, so if like me, it has started to build up, just take an hour to tidy things away, and discard or put in storage anything that you don't really need or that isn't pretty. It'll make your bedroom a much nicer place to wake up in each day! 

I'm certainly feeling much happier when I go in the bedroom now! If you'd like some more inspiration for your own bedroom, check out my Bedroom Style Pinterest board too! 

Thank you to BHS for sponsoring this post, and for supplying the beautiful bed linen.

xxx

WIN a Scandi style wall stencil!

If you fancy some pattern on your walls, but find wallpaper expensive and/or daunting to put up, then what about decorating using a stencil? Stencil designs have moved on a lot in recent years and I was particularly excited to discover StenCilit on Etsy. Their designs are fresh and modern and inspired by Scandinavia.

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StenCilit is based in Estonia, and designer Merili Sulg has a background in screen printing and wallpaper design. There are nearly 50 different designs in her Etsy store, so lots to choose from, and of course it is up to you what paint colour to use and also how to utilise the stencil. It could be to completely cover an entire wall or just as a small detail. You could even use the stencil on the floor or on fabric, so it's a really versatile product that will only set you back between £25-30! 

The image below shows the Siberian Taiga design (my personal favourite!) in situ in Justine Hand's child's room. You can also follow her 'how-to' of using the stencil over on Remodelista which is very handy. 

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I'm excited to share that StenCilit have offered for one lucky Patchwork Harmony reader to win a stencil of their choice - hurrah! All you have to do to enter is visit the StenCilit Etsy shop, and choose your favourite design. Let me know which one you love as well as how and where you might use it via a comment on this post. I will then choose my favourite reply after the closing date which is the 10th April 2015.

Merili & her team would love it if you liked their Facebook page, and shared your fave design on your Facebook too! Show them some love! :) 

Terms and Conditions:

- Please make sure to leave a contact email address with your comment so you can be informed if you win. 

- If the winner does not respond within 14 days with their postal address details, I will select another winner. 

- The competition is open to readers worldwide.

- Only comments posted before 11:59pm on the 10th April 2015 will be valid. My decision on the winning comment is final.

Here are a few more of my favourite designs to whet your appetite! I can't wait to try one of these out myself. I'm thinking perhaps on a set of plain curtains! Good luck everyone! 

Our bathroom makeover

As I mentioned in my recent 10 ideas for styling a small bathroom post, we have been redecorating our own bathroom, and now that it's all finished I thought I'd share a few snaps of it. It's really tricky getting decent photos in such a small room so this is the best I could do, but hopefully it gives a bit of an idea. 

Of course I forgot to take any decent 'before' shots and only remembered after we'd started preparing the room for painting, but these images show the beige-brown wall colour and white woodwork which has been there since we moved in over five years ago. (excuse the filler!) 

It wasn't actually that bad before, although it was definitely in need of a refresh, it was still liveable. But it was the installation of a new boiler that spurred us on, as we had the new cupboard in the corner built to house it, so this needed painting anyway. 

We decided to brighten the walls in plain white and used Dulux Timeless (it looks quite beige on the website, but actually comes up quite white), which is actually the colour we've used in many of the other rooms in the house. But to add a little bit of interest we painted the woodwork in a lovely shade of grey. This is Dulux Modest Grey in matt finish. I hate gloss paint which I know a lot of people use on woodwork, but I'm really pleased with the finish the matt paint has given - it seems much more modern to me. 

As I said in my bathroom inspiration post, I wanted to add a few simple details in the room to lift it. As it's such a small room, it only needed a select few nice items such as a delicious Anthropologie candle, and a lovely bottle of handwash which I found in TK Maxx. I've went for dried stems of eucalyptus and billy buttons in vintage bottles, and a flowering house plant for a little bit of greenery. (here's hoping I can keep this one alive!) The little bar of soap on the windowsill is from The Future Kept

On the walls, I've hung some of my vintage plates that used to be in the hallway, a new mirror I bought from Rockett St George and in the reflection of the mirror you can see a framed print which was given to us by a friend. 

And that was basically it! A lick of paint, and a few decorative touches and it feels like a totally new room! It might be small, but your bathroom should never be neglected! :) 

A special thank you to Dulux for supplying the paint for this makeover. 

xxx

Considering carpet

I've always loved the wooden floors in our house, but it's funny, since having Ruby and knowing that she will soon be crawling and/or walking around in the not too distant future, I've started considering the idea of carpet more and more. I realise I'm not the first person to have a baby and have wooden floors, but ours are mostly original and some are pretty rickety - I often catch a sock on a nail that's started to protrude, or found a crumbling corner of board and had to discard it. 

Carpet has had a rough ride of late, I guess it had fallen out of fashion for a while, but I do feel it might be due a bit of a comeback. While wooden floors do look great, you just won't get the comfort, insulation and cosyness that a lovely soft pile carpet can offer. I've been having a look around to get some carpet based inspiration, and lo and behold, Carpetright have recently released some images that show that carpet can look really quite lovely. 

What these images say to me is that you have to be really quite thoughtful about what colour and style of carpet will work with your decor, and whether you want it to be a feature or if you prefer it to be inconspicuous. But also that it can look modern, fresh and cool, as well as being practical.

I will definitely be thinking about carpet as an option when we move house later this year, and are making our new home a bit more child friendly. What do you all think? Do you have carpet and love it? Would you never entertain the idea, or are these images making you reconsider the possibility?

This post was in collaboration with Carpetright.  

DIY: pom pom trim seat pads

You might remember a little while ago I shared my dining chairs makeover? After painting the chairs in two Farrow and Ball colours, I decided to make seat pads to tie the look together. I chose two fabrics from M is for Make, and was able to alter the shape and size of the seat pads to match the individual chairs. My tutorial for making these is up on the AO Life blog, so if you fancy a go, pop over there for the full instructions