Category Archives: furniture

Creating A Living Room The Whole Family Will Love

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Spring is the season of refreshing and renewing, at least in my house it is. So you’ve just finished your spring cleaning but aren’t happy with the look and feel of your lounge? Don’t panic; it just needs a little makeover, that’s all. Your lounge should be somewhere that you love spending time in, alone and with your family. If it’s not a space that you love, then it’s time to rethink it a little.

The great thing about transforming your living room is that it doesn’t have to be a big project. Many people don’t realize it, but you can easily update your living room with just a few simple changes – all you need to do is get creative. To give your some living room design ideas, I thought I would put together this handy guide. Have a read, take these tips and ideas on board, and you can create a family living room that you love.

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Look carefully at your flooring

Your choice of flooring is important to the look, the comfort and the warmth of your home. A classic carpet is still hard to beat when it comes to a little luxury beneath your feet, but if you want the look and style of a carpet, but are worried about the cost of fitting, or the maintenance, you could instead opt for carpet tiles.

JHS carpets create tiles that can be used in offices, but because they have cool, quirky colourways, and are hard working, they are also great in residential settings, especially if you have children or pets. Another good choice of tile is gradus genus, which is also known to be hard wearing and comes in stunning colours including Winter Fjord, a glorious dark blue shade.

Get the decor spot on

For a living room, you enjoy spending time in, getting the decor just right is important. If possible, avoid decorating in bright, bold colors, instead keep the decor neutral. You can add color and style later with accessories and furniture. It’s best to keep the space neutral so that should you decide to change the look of the space, it’s just a case of switching the accessories. If the paintwork doesn’t need redoing but you want to make the space feel a little different, consider adding an accent wall. This is a great way to change the look and feel of the space, without too much work. For inspiration have a browse on Pinterest.

Make it a comfortable, cozy space

The most important thing you can do to make your living room a space that the whole family loves, is ensure that it’s as comfortable and cozy as possible. This means selecting a sofa that fits everyone on and is family-friendly. Your best bet is to opt for a leather or faux leather design, as these types of sofas are easy to keep clean as they’re wipeable. If you need to add extra seating, consider investing in large floor pillows, bean bags, or an ottoman. Dot cushions around – you can use these to add style to the space, as well as blankets and throws.

Add a few little luxuries

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If your living room is going to be somewhere that the whole family enjoys spending time in, it’s worth adding a few little luxuries. To create a space that everyone loves, it’s important to think about the needs of each family member. For instance, your husband and kids would probably love a big, flatscreen TV. Especially if it has a fantastic Sky package on it that caters to the whole family. You can guarantee that should you buy sky, your husband’s first question will be, “What channels are on Sky Sports?”. Or if for instance, you’re a big reader, add a lovely, large bookshelf to the room, so that you have plenty of books to choose from when you’re relaxing.

Make storage a priority

Last but not least, in a family living room storage should always be a priority. Kids make mess; that’s a fact, but that doesn’t mean your home has to be a mess. Ensure that your lounge has adequate storage space for your children’s toys, so that they can be easily put away. This is important as your living room needs to feel like an adult space, not a children’s play room.

 

Want to create a beautiful living room that you and your family will love? Then make sure to take the tips and advice above, on board.

Adding Art Deco touches to your home.

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When it comes to style, there is one era and design period that stands out as perfection. The Art Deco era, which was first popular in the 1920s and 30s was a time of design that was notable for its striking modernity and visual boldness, both in colour and form.

Art Deco was all about rich, bold colours. Geometric shapes and straight lines were also fused with curves, half moons and ornamentation that was not always well received at the time. The Art Deco look now seems so well suited to the 1920s, you can only really see this trend rising at the same time as the emergence of the Flapper, the movies and the Jazz Age. But in recent years, Art Deco pieces have again become popular, seen in films like The Artist, stage plays like Top Hat, and preserved in the great London hotels Claridges and The Savoy.

If you are interested in incorporating some Art Deco style into your home decor and decoration, there are some key features that you can focus on. These can help you to achieve Art Deco style in your home without turning it into a museum.

Here are some areas you could look at.

The Use of Glass

Glass was a major feature in art deco style homes, often incorporating coloured panels and geometric style designs. This is something you can easily achieve in your home with the use of toughened glass to create splashbacks, screens and even mirror features in your home.

A key room in Art Deco homes is the bathroom, so you could look at using frosted satin glass with engraving detail to make sure your shower screen is in keeping with your art deco theme.

Cupboards and Units

Furniture is an obvious way of incorporating the Art Deco trend. Good pieces can be picked up in junk shops, antique shops, and there are good quality reproductions around. I love how this kitchen has mixed the modern and the vintage to create an incredible space.

Designer kitchen by Morgan from Homify

Designer kitchen 

Lighting

Lighting is very important to achieving an Art Deco look. Free standing lights like the one featured below are just so evocative of the look, especially when you take a glimpse at the base. Is there anything more Deco than black and gold – think the Biba sign and the Gucci flapper dresses from a couple of seasons ago? (click here for a recap). The second example almost has the look of a vintage cigarette holder, again, an icon of the 1920s.

16 Stehleuchte Grenoble, rechts die Messing-Variante : Lighting by Art Deco Schneider

08 Stehleuchte Panther, rechts die Messing-Variante : Lighting by Art Deco Schneider

Floors

There are some really good examples of modern flooring that would certainly fit into the Art Deco era. Parquet flooring, of the sort so wonderfully exhibited in Eltham Palace, can be a great fit for an Art Deco inspired home. You could also use a floor tile for bathrooms like the sort shown below. The blue and white is striking and modernist.

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What are your thoughts on Art Deco?

Creating A Garden Space For Your Children

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With the coming of Spring with the promise of warmer weather and lighter nights, my thoughts always turn to my garden. A lovely garden is a haven, a place to relax and unwind, a place to enjoy being outside with a book or a glass of wine, to let the cares of the day disappear. But if you have a young family, then the garden is not just your preserve, you need to make sure it is a place that you can all enjoy.

So how can you do that?

Create a play area for your children

A garden is a fun place, and if you add the right elements it can also be a godsend come school holidays and the weekends. If you have children, have some lawn space where they can play safely, whether it be kicking a football around or playing with outdoor toys. A lawn area gives you a base for a paddling pool, or a set of goalposts and only requires the maintenance of mowing.

It is also worth investing in some sort of large play apparatus. A climbing frame is great, a climbing frame with slide is even better as it avoids the need to have to buy both a climbing frame and a slide. Wickey has some really fun and sturdy examples that will help your garden compete with the best of adventure playgrounds and will ensure hours of imaginative play for your little ones.

Wickey’s frames include versions that incorporate climbing walls, or have the appearance of pirate ships. You can also have a netball/basketball net for another element of fun. They also help to keep your child fit and active, and can be used by more than one child at a time, which stops those playtime arguments.

Wickey climbing frames are made from pressure treated solid wood which makes them hard wearing and durable. They also come with a 10 year guarantee on all the wooden components, and have been extensively tested for quality and safety. They are literally toys that your children will be able to enjoy for years and years, especially as they can be adjusted to your own choice and you can add extra features if you wish, to keep changing the playing experience.

With your lawn, and your play apparatus in place, it is also worth investing in some toy storage for smaller items like bats and balls and cones. This could be in the form of a shed, but some feel that sheds just get filled with rubbish, so a smaller, heavy duty plastic chest may be a better alternative and will help keep your garden tidy so that you can enjoy it when the kids have gone to bed.

How do you keep your garden child friendly?