Collaborative post Have you embraced rustic interior design in your home? The trend for rustic interiors is hugely popular, and it’s not hard to see why. The rustic look is all about using natural materials, embracing earthy colours, and dialling up the comfort factor to create a warm, welcoming home. And you don’t have to live in an old property to make it work; modern twists on the trend have brought a freshness and light ...
Creative lighting ideas for darker nights
Collaborative post Has the shift into autumn and the accompanying reduction in daylight hours taken it's toll on your mood? Having started painting the shed too late in the day last weekend and finished it in the dark, I can definitely say I'm not a fan of the shorter days! It's understandable why the onset of autumn can impact on our general enthusiasm: those balmy evenings of barbecuing, entertaining and relaxing outdoors are gone for ...
Kids’ bedrooms: design tips for small spaces
Collaborative post As the season shifts into autumn, my home projects are also shifting focus from outdoors to indoors. We’ve done so much work to our home in the last twelve months, including a major kitchen and garden renovation, so I definitely don’t have any big plans for the near future! That said, we do need to make some tweaks to our youngest’s bedroom, and this is my next interiors job to tackle. In my experience, kids’ ...
Design tips for creating the perfect home office
Collaborative post Does your home have a dedicated office space? With more of us working from home than ever before - it’s estimated that by 2020 up to 50% of the UK workforce will be working remotely - the demand on our homes to provide a comfortable, stimulating working environment has never been greater. Even if you don’t work from home, chances are you need to use your home for some form of ‘office’ work on a fairly regular basis. ...
Tips for creating an outdoor living area
Collaborative post Do you think of your garden as an outdoor room? Using our gardens as an extension of our homes is a trend that’s most definitely on the rise. The Office of National Statistics reports that the average number of people per household has remained constant this decade, but according to Which?, new houses built in the UK since 2010 are smaller than ever before. So it’s no wonder that lots of us are looking to our ...
How to create your ideal bedroom ambience
Collaborative post There’s no other room in the home quite like the bedroom. It’s the place where we go to relax every day, and is often the room where we let our personality influence décor the most. However, striking the balance between personality and clutter can be a fine line. Since we spend nearly 34 years of our life in bed (yes, really!), creating the right bedroom environment is crucial. Here are some of the best ways to create a ...
How to get your garden ready for summer
Summer is on the way, and with it the chance to spend more time enjoying our outdoor space. Is your garden ready? During the colder months we naturally spend less time taking care of our gardens, but when the weather warms up again in summer we immediately want to get out there and enjoy them. The trouble is, there’s often work required to get things looking good before we can sit back and enjoy the view! If your garden is looking a bit tired, ...
Interior lighting: how to get it right
How early in an interior design project do you consider the lighting? I suspect we’re all a little guilty of leaving this particular element of a room re-vamp until the later stages, concentrating instead on things like room layout, paint colours and furniture. But really, lighting should be one of the first things we consider when embarking on an interiors project, because it’s so integral to the finished ‘feel’ and functionality of a room. If ...
Tips for maximising natural light in your home
No matter what type of home you have, I bet you’d like to make the most of the natural light. I know a light, airy room always lifts my mood; I guess it’s a similar effect to being outside in a bright, open space. Think about how you feel waking up in the morning in the depths of winter versus midsummer; light definitely helps us to feel awake, energised and positive. Having said that, the amount of natural light each room in a home ...
Review: BenQ e-Reading LED Lamp
How much time do you spend working on screens each day? We all worry about the amount of screen time our kids are getting, but chances are as adults we spend much more time than them staring at computers, tablets and smartphones. I spend a lot of time working on screens, and by the end of the day I’m often feeling the strain in my eyes, especially when the natural light in my office is poor, or I’ve been working in artificial light. Over the ...