Decorating updates & an interior design tip

After so many weeks, I’m finally back on Positively Beauty!

We have broadband, albeit a slow and temperamental one that somehow manages to let me down right in the middle of something vital, like uploading a photo on the blog…but I don’t want to bore you with my broadband misadventures, so let’s talk about something more interesting – like decorating

Although I’m far from done, our house is slowly turning into a home: we painted I supervised, P painted walls and radiators (white, of course); we had a carpenter turn the space under the stairs into a cupboard; we came to know IKEA in Coventry too well for our liking, and we searched oh so many salvage yards, antique and second-hand shops…and we’re not done yet.

I still haven’t found the right bedside tables, nor a coffee table, nor chairs for our dining table (we’re making do with two IKEA folding chairs that’ll come handy for the garden next Summer). We need a few lamps, and our walls are bare, screaming for pictures, wall hangings or some other form of art…but at least the house is functional and practical, and we can get into some kind of “normal” routine (picnics on the floor aren’t easy on the knees…)

I promised I’d share the process of decorating my new house with you, so let me tell you what I’ve done so far.

Step 1: painting: it’s much easier to paint an empty house than a fully furnished one, so painting was the natural first step. The walls were originally “magnolia” – a bland colour I just can’t stand; we now have beautiful white walls that open up the space and make it look much more luminous and airy.

Step 2: space planning. Whilst P painted, I drew up a plan of the house in scale, and started thinking about furniture layout. Space planning is essential for any renovation project; you need to decide the different areas in the house – like eating, cooking, sleeping, reading, working, storage and so on – and establish the traffic flows (.i.e how to get easily from one area to the others).

I went to several furniture layouts before I found one that best fits our needs and requirements; when I couldn’t decide between two layouts, I used a simple but very effective trick: I used masking tape to “draw” the outline of the furniture on the floor. Easy & effective! You can also use pieces of cardboard, or newspaper sheets, to make a 2D template of the furniture and place it in the room according to the layout you like. Although it’s not three-dimensional, seeing the templates will give you a very good idea of the amount of space taken up and of the flow and ease of access to the various areas, and will help you make up your mind. So there’s my tip for today

Step 3: Choose furniture & shop! Once I’d chosen the layout, I picked the main pieces of furniture, based on our taste, style and budget. We first bought the bed, and were most pleased to say goodbye to the air mattress that got punctured on its second day of use, leaving us to sleep on the floor for 3 extremely long nights…I never longed for a delivery this much! The shopping bit is still going on; we’re taking it easy because every time we introduce a new piece, its relationship with the others change the way the interior looks and feels, and I want to enjoy the shift before I move on to another piece.

During the following weeks I’ll keep posting about our house, showing you furniture, layouts and accessories; for now, here’s a glimpse of the sofa and sideboard. See you soon!

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Tagged as: interior design, tips