Content creator Lucy Kalice is one of Ideal Home's Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on cleaning, home decor and making the most of small spaces. See the rest of her articles here.

I’m a hypocrite. Last year I wrote an article talking about how I was decorating for autumn and how I thought everyone should fill their homes with cute little autumn decor bits like cute knitted pumpkins and cosy autumnal cushions. Cute right?

Well, except it’s not…not always anyway. Let me explain.

I walked into Primark the other day and the first thing I saw was the autumnal home decor. Shelves and shelves of it all. And last year I would’ve been all over that like a rash. A new pumpkin trinket dish, an autumnal mug and at least 10 winter spice candles would’ve found their way into my basket within 5 minutes of me being in there. What can I say, I love going to the shops to browse (and buy) home furnishings and decorations, it’s one of my favourite hobbies!

However, this time I wasn’t filled with the feeling of excitement I usually get. Instead I was incredibly disinterested and a little bit bored. I actually think I heard my credit card sigh with relief!

It’s not that I didn’t like the decorations, in fact quite the opposite. They had some lovely candles and I ALMOST bought a pumpkin serving dish until I had the realisation that I was probably only going to use it once and then it would spend a year in storage. This is when I got thinking…

Did I need it? No. Did I want it? Yes. But where would I store it? Would it be just another thing that I buy and then forget about by the time Autumn comes around next year? Or worse, is it nice for now but then I decide I don’t even like it next year?

And the honest answer is probably yes.

We live in a world of overconsumption. Where we are constantly buying new things, trying to keep up with new trends and spending our money on indulging on things we don’t need.

Listen, I’m guilty of it too! A new pair of trainers when I have multiple pairs at home? Yes please! A new candle just because the seasons have changed, even though I have at least 20 that I haven’t burned yet? Immediately adds to basket!

But something switched in me that day in Primark. I realised that I don’t need to buy anymore stuff… because ‘stuff’ is ultimately what it is. Toot, junk, rubbish, clutter or otherwise known as landfill chic. The more I buy, the more storage space I need and the more likely it’s all going to end up in the landfill.

I already have autumn decorations at home which are in perfectly good condition and I haven’t even gotten those out yet, so why am I thinking about buying more? It’s so wasteful!

Now this isn’t to say never buy new things (I can guarantee I will still be buying things I do not need), however…I’ve decided to be more considered with the things I do buy, especially when I have perfectly good things at home. And I think this is something we should all be doing because we don’t need to buy new every time. It would be a lot less wasteful, our back accounts would be happier and we’d probably have more storage in our homes.

So what do you think, are you in?

Interior designer Natalie Jahangiry is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on decorating a home to suit a busy family life while sticking to your aesthetic values, too. See the rest of her articles here.

I come from a long line of feeders. My dad's a chef, my mum isn't happy unless you have food and drink in hand at all times, my grandma was Persian and that's all I need to say (if you know you know!!). So it's safe to say that with all of that comes the ability to host and throw a party.

At all stages of my life, family meals have been important. Coming from a partly Middle Eastern background, it's where you catch up from the day's events, debate, share and enjoy time together. All big discussions are held around the family table, where food sets the tone and the table sets the mood. It's something I have always shared with our girls, an important part of everyday life. So you can say hosting has been built into my DNA. Which is why our kitchen / dining space was so important when we designed it… it's the heart of our home.

Acts of service have always been my love language, and hosting feels like an extension of that. Bringing everyone together, making sure everyone is fed and comfortable, makes my heart happy. It’s more than just the food, it’s creating a space people feel welcome and want to stay just that little longer.

In September, I attended a talk at Livingetc Unlocked with Pip Rich and Yotam Ottolenghi, a chef I’ve followed for years. They discussed what a dinner party looks like at Yotam’s home, and so much of it resonated with how we host as a family. Perhaps it’s our shared Middle Eastern heritage, or simply a love of bringing people together and making memories around a table. Either way, it got me thinking about sharing some of these ideas with you. So as we head into what I like to call it ‘the season of hosting’, here’s my recipe for creating the perfect backdrop for a cosy dinner party at home.

Victoria Beckham has entered the chat

Now, as I was writing this piece, the new Victoria Beckham homeware collection dropped at Westwing, so I felt it my duty to talk about it. Partly because I'm writing about hosting anyway, but also because I’m a self-confessed tableware and serveware addict… I mean, what sane person needs 100+ glasses? Because I can tell you I probably have more!

Ok, so I have thoughts. I love the simple and sophisticated style of the collection. The vibe is very minimal and luxurious and it’s totally on-brand for the Victoria Beckham empire. Chic and on trend, it plays on steel and monochrome alongside some lovely shapes and textures.

However, the price point is on the higher side (I’m not sure I want to spend £60 on one butter, dish as nice as it is) and the Westwing/VB collab claims to "reimagine the art of the table”, which I wouldn’t necessarily agree with. To me, it’s a modern nod to vintage classics we have seen before. That said, it’s refined and certainly has a place.

Personally, my hosting style is much more Ottolenghi inspired. Mixing and matching, making it personal and bringing a little history to the table with grandma’s old gravy boat or a casserole dish that has been passed down the generations. Somewhat like decorating in general. So, although there are pieces I like in the collection, will I be getting out a white tablecloth and napkins to simplify my tablescapes anytime soon? No. They can stay in the cupboard with the beige paint.

The steel effect

Having said all of the above, I do quite like steel dinnerware at the moment, however leaning towards something a little more vintage in style. I recently found some wonderful stainless steel olive coupes at the Chiswick Lazy Flea Market. I love the history that comes with vintage pieces, but if you can’t find any, you can pick up something similar from Soos Atelier.

H&M also has a great collection of chrome and stainless steel tableware at the moment. I’ve mixed in these candlesticks alongside these other ones on my own dinner table setting. I also added in these black candlesticks for drama and height. I love playing with different materials, textures and metal tones, to mix and match styles, rather than everything looking too overly coordinated.

A little ceramic charm

As a perfect partner to metallics, ceramics can often soften the look and bring character. I recently came across Honung Ceramics, a small independent brand with a playful approach to everyday homeware. What I love about the collection is that the products feel playful and decorative, with interesting shapes and earthy tones that bring something different to the table.

On my table I have showcased the ever so delightful bubble coaster and cup set in burgundy, which I think works beautifully with the cooler stainless steel and black accent pieces. The tealight holders are another great addition with that little pop of texture here and there. Candles are important to me (we will cover this further down the article… I promise!) in creating that cosy intimate dinner party vibe, so having candles at different levels works really well to set the tone. And maybe my favourite item is the ceramic wine bottle coaster(which is a touch of genius!), because even the wine deserves its own little spot at the table.

Glasses set the tone

We’ve already established that I have a slight obsession with glassware, so it probably comes as no surprise that this is one of my favourite parts of setting the scene.

And ok… I am a glass snob, and I’m not afraid to admit it (as I recently documented in this Insta post). Give me a short stumpy wine glass with a thick stem and I think I might cry. It also changes the way the wine tastes, don’t you think?! Anyway, I love a fine stem and an elegant shape in my glasses, which is why Nude Glasses really speak to my wine loving soul. Nude is a contemporary glassware brand from Turkish glassmaker Şişecam, with a focus on simple, beautiful design. The brand creates wonderfully delicate shapes with… incredibly fine stems (hallelujah). It’s the sort of glassware that feels special without being super fussy. I have opted for the large Stem Zero Elegant Red Wine Glasses in my table set up and they are a true delight all round.

But alongside this I wanted a water glass that had a pop of colour… something a little different. So I have married the delicate wine glass design with the more playful Night + Day glasses from Our Place in Rosa. They are handmade, stackable and come in a range of gorgeous colours… you can even buy a set of mismatched colours, hoorah.

Made to be served

Over the years I’ve collected quite the assortment of serveware. From presenting food for my previous family business Modern Persian Kitchen, to hosting supper clubs and dinner parties, I’ve always believed how you serve food is just as important as the food itself… you eat with your eyes first! I love blending old with new, different shapes, proportions and styles. Nothing needs to match, and I think that’s what makes a table feel interesting.

One of my favourite additions is the new Dual Handle Always Pan from Our Place. I’ve been a long-time fan of the Our Place brand, having received one of their original Always Pans years ago (10 pans and counting in my collection now, plus all the accessories!). The brand, if you haven’t heard of them, celebrates bringing people together through food, something that as I mentioned, resonates deeply with me. I’ve always loved their colours and modern designs, which fit perfectly into our home. The new pan is both functional and pretty, making it a great edition from hob to table. Because you can make the rules for hosting, and no one said cookware couldn’t be part of the table setting. Functional and pretty is a surefire win for me!

Set the mood

For me, lighting is one of the most important elements not only at a dinner party, but in a room generally. And if you have been following along you will have heard me talking about layered lighting time and time again… but you could have the most beautifully dressed table and then spot lights glaring down on it that kill the mood instantly. Turn that overhead light off and bring in softer low level lighting, and of course, candles. Lots of candles. I like playing with different heights and colours to give the table a more eclectic feel.

I’ve recently fallen in love with the glass candlesticks from Issy Granger (although they have to be kept safely on the high shelf away from the kids). Their designs are playful with a nod to unusual shapes and sculptures. The Bugle Glass Holders are particularly beautiful, alongside the Martini Glass Candle Holders. Handblown by artisans in Cairo, they are almost little pieces of art across the table. Even when the candles aren’t lit they are pretty enough on their own to leave out on display. Set alongside a few rechargeable lamps, the mood will be well and truly set to cosy.

The finer details

It’s often the little finishing touches that bring the scheme together, and there are a few final things I always like to consider.

Flowers… of course! But make it subtle. Ottolenghi touched on this during his talk and I have to agree. I love flowers, of course I do, both of my children are named after flowers, however when it comes to a dinner party don’t go overboard on a big centre piece display in the middle of the table. It makes it challenging to talk over and gets in the way of a natural flow of conversation. Instead I like to get creative, use little vases, jugs or even mugs to dot smaller bunches or single stems around the table. It’s a lovely way to add a touch of nature without having to peer at each other around a big bouquet.

Linen is another area in which you can inject personality with patterned tablecloths, napkins and placemats. You can even use a little ribbon to tie your napkins for a cute little finishing touch. And the same goes for cutlery, mix and match it with different styles around the table rather than feeling everything needs to come from one set.

Finally, let's talk about a scent to set the scene. For something a little different, why not introduce a scent to the evening? Yes, the food will eventually do most of the hard work for you here, but a lovely fragrance as guests arrive can help set the mood. Something a little quirkier than a candle is the wax warmer from The Droplet Co. A lovely way to welcome guests before the cooking aroma kicks in.

Your table, your rules

For me, it’s the smaller details that bring everything together. It doesn't need to be perfect, in fact imperfect setups make it more appealing. It just needs to be you. Let’s call it the perfectly imperfect art of hosting.

Ultimately a dinner party is about spending time with your friends and family and enjoying the company in your home. So nothing above is a set in stone rule you have to follow, but a few small touches here and there go a long way. Happy hosting!

Interior designer and content creator Rebecca Constable is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on demystifying the process of designing and decorating a home, and helping people work out where to spend and where to save.

It took us 8 years to finish renovating our bedroom. In that time we added two children to our family, lockdown came and went, and I tried out a number of careers. But, despite the very long timeframe, I’m actually glad it wasn’t something we did in a matter of weeks or months. Of course, we haven’t been sleeping in a building site for the past eight years, but rather a room that is perfectly livable, just not quite finished.

Social media has a way of making you think renovating should be quick and high impact, mainly so you can delight your audience with a drastic transformation, with just the swipe of your hand across the camera lens. However the reality of doing any kind of renovation quickly, is high stress, high cost and often a number of wrong decisions due to the first two factors.

Where possible, I prefer to renovate slowly. It may not be so exciting or impressive for those following me on instagram, but I think the end result is always better for a number of reasons.

Firstly, a slow renovation gives you the time to work out what patterns, colours and materials work together in a room. There is nothing worse than having to make a design decision, under pressure, because your trades need an answer that afternoon. I prefer to choose one paint colour, or one fabric and slowly build out the room scheme around that.

For this room we started with a fabric called Chella from Romo fabrics, which we used for the headboard. This became the reference point for the rest of our design decisions. Paint colours, fabrics and artwork were then chosen based on this initial fabric.

Secondly, a long renovation gives you time to slowly acquire furniture and items that are unique and mean something to you. When you’re trying to fully furnish a room all at once, you inevitably end up needing to buy a load of stuff. What's more, the need to complete a room often means we compromise when trying to find the right piece for the space. We go with whatever we can find in that moment, that can be delivered quickly, with the budget we have left. If you allow the room to slowly evolve you can hunt for, make, and maybe even inherit pieces that are from people and places special to you.

In our bedroom we have a painting that was painted by my grandmother. It was handed down to me by my mother, a number of years after we started renovating this room. Fortuitously, the colours worked beautifully with the fabric on the headboard and we also used it as another reference point when choosing our curtain fabric.

Thirdly, living in a room helps you work out what doesn’t work! I used to have my dressing table in the alcove by our fireplace, but of course it turned out that the light was not very good for doing my makeup there. Thankfully we hadn’t made any concrete plans that revolved around the layout. We quickly worked out that putting built-in-wardrobes in the alcoves was a far better use of space, and placing the dressing table between the windows worked perfectly.

You can’t possibly know the best layout for a room until you’ve lived with it for a while. Of course there are principles around layout that you can follow, but there is nothing quite like living with a setup to help you work out what actually works.

One of the best things about our slow renovation is that we had the time to save for some really special pieces. The antique bedside tables were added a year after the headboard, the armchair in the corner a few years after that. And we waited a long time until we could afford to have made-to-measure curtains for our bedroom. In the meantime we made do with things that we already had, not wanting to compromise on the pieces and being happy to wait until we could afford them.

Delayed gratification is a real thing, and it is much more fun to still have pieces arriving for our room all these years later.

Finally I am a huge believer in the fact that you do not need to wait for a space to be finished in order to enjoy it. A candle and a lamp are all it takes to make a space feel warm and cosy, even if it’s missing half the furniture or the walls have chipped paint. Invite people in, enjoy your home, don’t wait for it to be perfect.

So our bedroom may have taken 8 years to renovate, but in that time we have enjoyed many mornings, all crammed into bed as a family of five. Christmas stockings have been opened, birthday breakfasts have been enjoyed, and neither the children, nor my husband, have cared about the fact that we had stained curtains and curtain poles that looked like they could fall down at any minute. It has been a place of respite for us, in all its iterations. The lovely wallpaper and the antique bedside tables that we now have, are simply small additions to a room that has already given us so much.

Home decorator and content creator Leah Hodson is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on overhauling a home with clever DIY and decorating tricks. See the rest of her articles here.

I’ve recently gone through a full home renovation, including an extension, garage conversion and loft conversion. Unbeknownst to me when we started, this renovation would snowball and end up taking up the better part of the year! It started in January and has often felt like for every 2 steps we progress forward, we take one step back…

Thankfully, however, we have had a fully working kitchen for the last few months! This autumn, I’m focusing on the small wins and finding ways to regain control of my home through my kitchen. I’ve found practical ways to make my kitchen more cosy, yet still remain functional.

1. Chopping board

I chose compact laminate for our worktops, mainly because I wanted the installation process to be quicker and more seamless. However, part of the worktop was damaged during installation – somehow, there was a long scratch approximately 40cm long. This taught me an important lesson early, and that I need to be more careful with the worktops during daily use.

Therefore, a very functional purchase I made was the IKEA bamboo chopping board. I don’t use it as a chopping board, rather as a worktop protector! I tend to use a normal chopping board placed on top of it, just in case I accidentally slice past the board. I also like using the bamboo chopping board as a trivet, placing hot pots from the stove or hot trays from the oven whilst protecting my worktop!

Not only is this functional, however I really like using the bamboo as a worktop protector because it adds a design feature to my grey kitchen, adding some warmth.

2. Fruit bowls

I love being creative and using things in ways other than what was originally intended. Fruit bowls are a great example - technically any round receptacle can be a fruit bowl, meaning they don’t have to be boring! Using fun unexpected bowls or even wine holders create something interesting to look at, bringing a little more joy to your day.

When I was a vintage dealer years ago, I saved many interesting items that I wanted to have in my future home. One of those things was a silver pedestal bowl, which now holds my weekly supply of oranges. I also inherited a wicker wine holder from my husband’s grandmother that now holds cooking essentials like onions and garlic. The shape is perfect next to our range cooker where space is often a premium, and also adds a variation in height. Don’t be afraid to mix materials as it makes an interestingly styled worktop!

3. Trays

By zoning items together, it makes styling the worktop neater and more cohesive. Another favourite of mine is to use trays or tiles! In my kitchen, I’ve used a baking tray filled with various cooking oils and a marble tile to protect the worktop in our ‘drop zone’.

A couple years ago, I bought a gorgeous scalloped baking tray from Habitat and it’s been very well used since – so well used that I’m sad to report it now has a large crack on the side! To be safe, I’ve stopped using it for baking and instead use it to house cooking oils. This has made even the most boring plastic bottles look much better!

If you have a favourite tile but no room to install it, turn it into a tray! I fell in love with the Rosso Levanto marble tile from Mandarin Stone but didn’t have anywhere in my house that it could go. So I ordered a single full tile and turned it into a tray with some cork attached to the back. Now it protects my worktop and also groups my little trinkets I have on display nicely.

Worktops don’t have to be bare and boring, or cluttered and busy. These styling tips I use are perfect for any kitchen and find the happy medium between the two!

Amanda Jones is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on sustainable living and decorating a home in way that is good for the environment. See the rest of her articles here.

The ‘Cottagecore’ aesthetic crept into many of our homes back in 2018. It captured our love of nostalgia, and cosiness. It gained even more traction during the pandemic, when many of us were forced to stay home, and it’s lingered ever since.

Cottagecore, romanticises and simplifies the past, tunes into our need for a slower life. I want us to push those boundaries further, embrace the aesthetic, but also adopt the mindset of our Grannies (and Grandpas). I think we have a lot to learn from them.

Most of our grandparents would have known hard times, understood scarcity. My grandparents lived through two world wars and the depression. They knew how to make a little, go a long way. There were no guarantees, on wages, food, homes, nothing was certain. If you had a surplus of anything, you knew how to make that surplus last, how to use it wisely.

So, let’s not just embrace a nostalgic aesthetic of cottagecore, let’s embrace the ethos too. Bring back those wise old sayings and learn from our grandparents. Here are a few I particularly love.

‘Watch the pennies’

‘And the pounds will take care of themselves’. I heard this a lot during my childhood, and it’s become part of my psyche. The thing is it really works. In the fast-paced world we live in, we can often discard those pennies as ‘insignificant’. It’s not hard though, to develop ‘penny watching’ habits, that don’t take up a huge amount of time or energy but can save you pounds in the process.

I always check receipts, and if I’m paying in cash, my change, mistakes can be made. If I’m running low on an item, I check supermarket offers, see if that item has been reduced, if so, I’ll buy several and stock up for the next 3-6 months. You can save a lot of money doing this. Always try and get the best deals you can, when you are purchasing something, watch those pennies, and your pounds will surely grow.

‘Save for a rainy day’

Our grandparents, especially those born before the establishment of the welfare state, would have understood the need for household resilience. Very little financial help was offered for illnesses or job losses. Today, there’s no such thing as a ‘job for life’ anymore. It’s wise then, when we can, to put some money aside, for a ‘rainy day’.

I’ve written before about building resilient homes. Part of that might include having some emergency savings put away, for a new washing machine, or to offer support during illnesses and job losses.

Another way to build household resilience is to have an emergency pantry. The Government have recommended 3 days’ supply of shelf stable food and water, which would be a good start, you can then build it up over time. There plenty of advice online on how to do this, even with a small budget.

Recently I was in a situation where I couldn’t access my bank account for a couple of weeks. Having a little cash to hand, a full petrol tank, and a well-stocked pantry, meant we didn’t have to panic, and we could still eat and travel, whilst this was sorted out. This bought home to me the importance of being prepared, those rainy days will inevitably arrive.

‘Waste not, want not’

How did we become such a wasteful society, with a ‘throwaway’ mentality. We put food that only last a few days, into plastic packaging, that will last hundreds of years.

I dislike waste, of any kind, food waste, product/packaging waste or financial waste. It’s not good for our bank accounts, or our planet.

Do you produce a lot of rubbish? For many years I tried to go plastic free, and it’s not easy. There are things we can all do to reduce the plastic waste we produce. Again, think like your granny (or grandad). Swap over to renewables. Renewable water bottles, food containers instead of plastic wrap to store food in, and bar soap, instead of hand wash in plastic pumps. Buy in bulk where you can, that reduces packaging waste. When shopping, if possible, opt for glass, tin, cardboard packaging, these can all easily be recycled. A few changes and we can all reduce what we put into our landfill or recycling bins.

Do you waste a lot of food? Meal planning, and regular pantry/cold food checks can prevent this, always use up what’s starting to soil first. Rotate panty foods, being mindful of best by dates etc. Any food peelings and vegetables can go into a home compost bin, they don’t need to go into landfill.

Do you waste money? A spending audit, just for a month, will enable you to assess what you bought, and reduce and financial waste. Write down everything you spend, what was essential, and what could you have done without. Our grandparents would have tracked their expenditures much more closely than we do, it’s so easy to spend mindlessly in the ‘click and collect’ of today’s culture.

There are so many ways we can reduce our spending by being more mindful of what we buy, I’ve written an article about how I stopped my impulse spending, which you can read here.

So, whilst I quite like the cottage-core aesthetic, I’d love us all to start thinking more like our granny did, to adopt more of her ways. To be careful how we spend our money, to be a little more prepared for difficult times, and for our households to stop producing so much waste. Our grannies were wise, we should be too.

Home decorator and content creator Grace H is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on colourful home design, mixing vintage pieces with new and making personality-filled spaces. See the rest of her articles here.

So, you’ve decided to decorate and, naturally, the first place you turn is social media. You start scrolling, saving and pinning images for inspiration. I do this myself regularly, and it can be a brilliant source of ideas. But are we missing a trick?

It’s all too easy to keep scrolling without really taking in the details. We save image after image, but how often do we stop to think about why something caught our eye in the first place?

There are so many other places to find inspiration, away from our iPhones and Pinterest boards. Sometimes, the best ideas come when we’re not actively looking for them at all.

Unplugged observation

We’ve just returned from Greece, and my camera roll is filled with beautiful colours found in the most unexpected places. A raspberry-coloured streetlight, a weathered old fishing boat, the saturated colours of fresh produce at the local market, old buildings painted in rust and white, and railings in that unmistakable shade of Greek blue.

Tiles, native plants and painted shutters all feed the imagination, encouraging creativity and a little out of the box thinking.

Where could I use these colours? Why do they command my attention? What exactly has captured my imagination? Is it the colour itself, the way it sits alongside another shade, the texture, or perhaps the feeling it evokes?

It also helped that I switched my phone off for the week. I felt more present and able to soak up the details around me, rather than moving through the day feeling visually overstimulated. I noticed so much more when I wasn't constantly looking at a screen.

Wearable inspiration

I’ve touched on this before, but the clothes I choose to wear often have just as much influence on my home as the interiors I save online. Red stripes, contrasting colours, lived-in pieces sitting alongside newer additions…there’s usually a reason we’re drawn to certain combinations. So why not consider bringing them into our homes, too?

You already know you like these colours, patterns and textures because you choose to wear them.

I save so many images of outfits on my phone (often spotted on people going about their everyday lives), but it's not necessarily the outfit itself that interests me. It might be an unexpected colour combination, the introduction of an interesting textile, or a particular accessory that makes the whole look work.

Rather than copying the outfit, I can take those little details and translate them into a room scheme. Perhaps it's a combination of colours I wouldn't normally put together, a clash of patterns, or the way different textures sit alongside one another. Inspiration doesn't have to come from interiors to work beautifully in them.

Lessons from the landscape

If a colour combination can be found in nature, it's a pretty good place to start when putting together a scheme. As the seasons change, so does the palette around us, and budding plants, flowers and changing foliage can be a wonderful starting point for a room.

On a recent stroll through my local park to get my daily caffeine fix, I stopped for a while and really took in the details. A wrought-iron bench with wooden slats sat alongside autumnal leaves. Vibrant red geraniums popped against foliage that was just beginning to turn, while above me, a clear, crisp blue sky was scattered with clouds in the softest off-white.

It sounds simple, but there was so much inspiration in those little combinations. The contrast between the painted metal and natural wood, the vibrancy of the flowers against the changing leaves, and the softness of the clouds against that clear blue sky.

You don't need to go looking for a perfectly put together colour palette. Sometimes, you just need to stop, look around and notice what's already there.

The power of print

You can't beat riffling through your favourite interiors magazine with a cuppa in hand and time to kill. There's something about the way you absorb information from a physical publication that feels different to scrolling on a screen.

The colours feel more considered, and you start to notice the details: cupboard handles, wood grain, texture, patina. They seem to jump out at you. More importantly, there's space for your eyes to rest. You're not constantly moving on to the next image, searching for the next thing to save.

I still order some of my favourite interiors magazines and love the satisfying thud of them landing on the doormat. I put them to one side until I know I have time to put my laptop away and properly enjoy them. It's become a little bit of me time, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

There's nothing quite like flicking through the pages and suddenly landing on an image that makes you think, this is so me. I still tear pages out of magazines and pop them into a folder alongside fabric samples, ready to refer back to when I'm working on a scheme.

There's something about having something tangible in your hands that sparks creativity in a different way. You can revisit it, compare it with other ideas and see how it makes you feel, without the distraction of another notification or an endless scroll.

So, how do you take all this inspiration and turn it into a room scheme?

Mostly, by playing.

Get your paint charts out and hold together the colour combinations that have caught your eye. Introduce fabrics and textiles inspired by nature and see how they sit alongside your paint samples. Borrow cupboard handles to test out different finishes. Try artwork, hold up ceramics and slowly begin to layer things together.

There is no right or wrong answer. Just play.

I always order fabric samples when I find something I like online. More often than not, they look or feel different from how I imagined when they arrive (for better or worse!). But that's part of the fun. A fabric can spark an entirely new idea once you can see its true colour, feel its texture and hold it alongside other materials. It's something a flat image on a computer screen simply can't replicate.

When I'm feeling uninspired or overwhelmed, you can often find me rummaging through my fabric drawer. It's the physical things I keep coming back to, rather than scrolling through Pinterest in the hope that something will suddenly click.

From there, I can start to build a scheme, introducing layers and asking myself questions as I go.

Is this finally the moment to use that raspberry shade I spotted on the streetlight in Greece? What about adding a glossy finish to contrast with the softer textures, like the painted metal on the park bench? Ooh, I have a dress with these colours in it… what other shades does it bring together? Could I introduce those into the mix, too?

These are the kinds of questions I find myself asking when I'm putting a scheme together, and not one of them requires social media.

Don't get me wrong, I still love a good scroll and there's absolutely a place for it. But sometimes, we can become so caught up in collecting inspiration that we forget to actually experience it.

The next time you're thinking about decorating, try putting your phone down for a while. Look at what you're wearing, take the longer route through the park, flick through a magazine or simply notice the colours and textures around you.

You might be surprised by what catches your eye when you're not looking at a screen.

And who knows? Your next favourite colour combination might not come from Pinterest at all. It might come from a raspberry-coloured streetlight in Greece.

Strategist and content creator Francesca Swan is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on the concept of 'Everything' and what makes a home special to you. See the rest of her articles here.

It's now my firm belief that in every renovation, there is one room that acts as both carrot and stick as you wade through the often sludgy, seemingly endless weeks or more often, months of your project.

The proverbial carrot is the big shiny dream that literally keeps you going. A vision of one room so perfect for your needs, your home, your life, that you constantly think of it; quite often it will be the one room you have finished designing and maybe buying things for, long before the dream is due to become a reality.

The stick, however, is that this then acts as a measure against which all renovation progress is made or not made. Just HOW much longer before that meticulously imagined mirage can be realised and all will finally be well in the world? Well, in my home at least. You get the gist.

With this comes both extreme excitement, joy, optimism and crucially motivation. The flip side is frustration, annoyance and sheer desperation.

I exaggerate of course, however dramatic intent aside, I feel sure all renovators can or will at some point experience this to some extent.

In our case, the hallowed space was our living room, and in true carrot and stick style, of all the many rooms and parts of the project, this one has truly lived up to the legend.

Creating our forever home and Everything living room

We both have ADHD, which screams very loudly against chaos. We like space and organisation and have struggled (also argued a LOT!) in previous homes with overfilled multi-purpose rooms.

The kitchen/diner/living room also serving as an office? That was fun. The spare room which frequently and frantically morphed between wardrobe/dumping ground/office/guest room/gym. A veritable nuclear bomb in more ways than one.

We waited a long time to be able to do something about it, and moving to this apartment was our chance to create a Forever home.

Whilst it was very similar in style, proportions and original features to our beloved old apartment, it also had a large garden, which allowed us to extend and build, fulfilling our long-awaited and hard worked for ambition of a room for everything.

Well, almost everything. I’m not allowed a Christmas room. The other half very firmly put his foot down on that. Hopefully not on a box of my vintage baubles.

But we do have a primary bedroom suite of connected rooms with a partitioned room for just the bed, walk-in wardrobes, a vanity area and bathroom, separated from the main apartment.

A new extension creating a spacious kitchen/pantry/diner and connecting to a new office. A separate summerhouse annexe creating another office, a gym and a guest suite.

And the crowning glory, a living room, filled with books and art, lots of comfy seats and expansive leafy views. No desk. No dining table. Just pure relaxation and joy.

This will be the room where our beloved Everything feeling can be protectively nurtured and thrive easily. Walking in will immerse us in immediate joy, contentment and escapism, resetting our fraught nervous systems and gently pulling us into being present.

It will be a warm, communal space for us to spend time alone, together and with friends and family, as we lay around relaxing, napping, chatting, listening to music, reading, watching films, playing games. A seat or comfortable cushion for everyone, perfectly lit for every situation, art and books to spark conversation (not that it’s massively needed in our circle of exuberantly chatty characters; the other half and I probably being the worst culprits!).

That was our carrot as we embarked upon this two year project – the room we dreamt of and couldn’t wait to bring to life. But, of course, it’s been the longest to materialise and jeez, has it been one very spiky stick.

Learning the lessons from our old apartment

The living room in our last apartment was very similar to this in terms of dimensions, proportions and features, but thanks to our small kitchen, it had to double up as a dining room as well. This of course somewhat squashed the beauty of the room, its purpose and how we wanted to live in it.

I’d also made unforced errors. I didn't unify the alcove joinery; on one side we built cabinetry to enclose the TV, with bookshelves running up to the coving. However, the other alcove, with the same shelving, didn’t have the matching cabinet. This asymmetry bugged me constantly and disproportionately.

And then there was the cheap replica fireplace, which we never got around to sorting out. It stood out like a sore thumb against the craft of the original features and drove me wild.

The cased opening worked brilliantly to create open-plan living and connect the room to the central atrium of the kitchen and hallway, whilst also being sympathetic to the period property. However, the layout of the adjoining rooms meant it had to be right aligned, which obliterated any chance of symmetry and always annoyed me, even though there was no way around it. Can you tell I’ve got a thing about symmetry yet?

We took advantage of the grand bay window and its expansive views down to the sea by building a window seat, which handily served as a dining nook. But it interrupted the flow of the room and ate up floor space I would much have preferred to use for a chair I had squirrelled away in storage, waiting patiently for the perfect home. My poor chair waited a few more years before that opportunity arose…

These were all the things I held in my mind when we viewed our new apartment for the first time and walked into a practically identical living room, ripe with potential.

Two problems, one architectural solution

We approached the build and renovation in two phases. Phase one was renovating the existing apartment. The primary bedroom suite shot up in no time, creating a much-needed sanctuary from the works.

Next was the living room. Once first fix had been completed it was onto creating the cased opening. This was essential, not just for our preferred open-plan style, but also to revive the hallway.

Albeit a long and majestic space with sweeping high ceilings and intricate coving, it had zero natural light. Not ideal for both the entryway and connecting backbone of the apartment; linking the primary bedroom suite, living room, eventual home to a cloakroom, then leading into the new extension with its kitchen/pantry/diner.

The living room is southwest facing and graced with a lusciously verdant view of huge trees, through which elegant red brick mansions can be glimpsed. Every moment offers the experience and full effect of the seasons and weather. The sun may creep round mid-morning and bathe the whole room in glorious light, or perhaps a ferocious storm will lash the huge windows with rain, whilst the trees sway buffeted by strong winds. All of this can be enjoyed from this vantage point; brilliant for a living room and even better for an entry hall.

Structural engineer engaged, plans approved, the work on our grand new cased opening commenced. This time, it centred precisely to the middle of the wall, facing the fireplace and providing the perfect sightline from the front door into the garden. The borrowed light transformed this once dingy and dark space creating a welcoming and dynamic hallway.

Restoring the dream

Then onto restoration. Whilst a beautiful apartment blessed with original features, years of neglect meant it had fallen into a sad state of repair.

Thankfully, and somewhat miraculously the huge ornate ceiling rose was in near perfect condition, however the same could not be said for the delicate lace-like cornice. Thankfully we found a wonderful local restoration expert, who magically vanished the gaping holes, making it like new.

The wooden fireplace was replaced with the original Carrara marble fireplace reclaimed from our bedroom, lovingly restored to pristine glory by yet another highly skilled and passionate local craftsperson. Finished with a woodburner and Italian slate hearth, the room finally regained the majesty of its former days, ready to begin its new chapter as the warming heart of our home.

Never forget the importance of good bones

Those of you who regularly frequent my fortnightly tales will be familiar with my obsession for good bones. Those permanent fixtures and fittings that subtly elevate a space, stand the test of time and importantly, create cohesion throughout a home.

In my case, it was back to my old faithfuls to complete the living room, bringing back the quality stars that had shone in the old apartment and already taken their place in the primary bedroom suite. If it ain’t broke…

First up, laying my much-loved Flooring Superstore Cambridge Bavarian Oak Chevron flooring – there might have been actual tears the day this went down and the sunshine brought the golden tones of my new floor to softly glowing life. This flooring lives in every room of our apartment, including the summerhouse, and in further testament to my love for it, we also used a similar version of darker oak in the old apartment. It’s a decision I take pleasure in every time my bare feet caress the soft grooves and grain of the wood.

Radiators came in the form of my favourite bronze Paladin Bartholomew from Trade Radiators. We all know that radiators can be design features, as well as functional and this one definitely understood the brief. Softly curved, yet statuesque and elegant, it lends a period-friendly architectural detail and acts as an unexpected, yet stunning sculpture.

Last but not least, bronze switches and sockets c/o my go-to Corston Architectural. An investment, certainly, but with slim profiles, elegant form and subtly sophisticated materiality and finish, one worth making.

Joinery at any cost

Restoration complete and bones in place, it was onto the joinery and my longed-for shelves to release my books from their prison in storage.

The phasing of the extension build, and therefore our kitchen, required a makeshift solution in the living room to see us through three months whilst work was completed. I refused to allow any overspill into the bedroom suite, holding fast in the belief we needed to protect one space from the creep of chaos.

So, the living room became our de-facto one room living space.

We bought two handy portable kitchen units and installed temporary shelving, which could be used as part of our setup and then finished properly when the time came. We then created two zones; a small seating area with our sofas, and a kitchen with a dining table, also acting as a desk, with numerous boxes and materials stacked in any free space. As you can imagine, I was in hell.

However, when planning our survival room, I knew one wall would remain untouched, so embarked upon a typically Francesca plan of pushing through with installation of beautiful cabinetry and shelving on either side of the fireplace. When they were fully decorated, we decided to paint the wall too. Note the singular there. Yes, dear friends, I finished one side of the room perfectly, whilst the rest of it was basically a dumpster hellfire.

It made sense to me; I rescued some of my books from storage and set them up to striking effect in their new home. When sitting on the sofa, looking at the magnificent fireplace and watching TV (neatly encased in cabinetry mirrored perfectly in the other alcove – live it, learn it), you could almost imagine the room was finished. Just keep those blinkers on and block it all out. In truth it did kind of work and I was happy to take any wins or small signs of progress I could.

I won’t bore you by regurgitating the torturous details, however needless to say planning delays meant three months turned into nine. I repeat, NINE months of our waking life squeezed unceremoniously, noisily and dustily into this one room. The motivational carrot of my dream room was a distant memory, and instead I had a very hard beating from the stick reminding me daily just how far we were from finishing.

Eventually the kitchen was completed, and we gradually reclaimed the space. The units and the table went. The sofas were rearranged. We could actually walk around the room without sustaining minor injury and a sort of calm started to settle.

It was time for the rest of the joinery. Matching bookshelves running up the ceiling on both sides of the cased opening, also mirroring the joinery on the facing wall. This creates a very pleasing symmetry, not to mention finally enough storage for our books.

I won’t linger on the point the shelves are already near full to bursting. We'll cross that bridge another day. And no, it doesn’t mean I will stop buying books.

Bringing our Everything living room to life

As we finally reach the end of our two-year project, (I know I’ve written those words many times before, however this time I actually think it’s true) the living room is within grasping distance. The boxes are clear, things are slowly coming to life, and we can finally see the living room we've imagined for these past few years.

In my next column, it’s onto completing the decoration; lighting, furniture, soft furnishings and art. All the incredibly sexy things I’ve been dreaming about for three years, which are now mostly bought, and some already in situ, such as my Vogue magazine coffee table of dreams.

In the meantime, we’ve realised that although it’s a rather wondrous experience every time we begin to complete and use a room properly, this one is even more special having been so long in the making and through so many different incarnations.

We’re falling in love with our home that little bit more. All the memories of stress and horrific never ending expense have started to fade away.

We could not wish for a stronger feeling of Everything. It’s in every single corner, every clean line of joinery, the soft curves of the marble fireplace, the view onto the autumnal trees in our garden and beyond. And there’s even more to come when we finish decorating and dressing it.

We feel like we belong here. We now know without a shadow of a doubt that we have made the right decision, and it definitely has been worth it. Phew.

Home decorator Ammarah Hasham is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts infusing her rental house with plenty of personality. See the rest of her articles here.

I think I have reached the level of maturity where I have come to realise that the things we use on a daily basis deserve far more consideration than those we bring out occasionally, such as fancy guest towels and decorative centrepieces reserved for special gatherings. Don’t get me wrong, I love a seasonal refresh as much as anyone, but over time, I’ve come to appreciate the value of investing in good-quality everyday essentials rather than spending hundreds on things that barely make it out of the cupboard.

In my house, it’s the sofa, cushions, duvets and pillows that rarely get a moment's peace. Our two cats are fully convinced that everything belongs to them and we are merely borrowing it. I must admit, though, there was once a time when I’d buy a cushion purely on the basis of colour or pattern, and would give almost no thought to what the insert was like. You live and learn that what goes inside a cushion plays a key role in making furnishings look expensive and considered. And once I upgraded to feather-filled inserts, there was no going back. As for the pillows, I’ve always been fairly fussy. Anyone who has spent ages trying to find THE pillow will know it's no easy task.Which brings me to today's chat.

Not long ago, I shared a photograph of my soft furnishings enjoying a sunbathing session in our garden. It intrigued quite a few of my Instagram followers, and many were left wondering what on earth I was doing.

Well, the explanation is pretty simple. In fact, it is a habit I mentioned in my earlier article where I shared easy housekeeping tips I learnt from my mother. I was sunning my soft furnishings, something I grew up watching my mother do.I’ve always been an advocate of old-fashioned housekeeping hacks, particularly those that involve fewer cleaning chemicals. And if they involve a simpler practical solution, I am definitely in.

How I freshen my soft furnishings

As I mentioned earlier, with two Ragdolls, finding hair in almost every corner of my home is inevitable. The other day, I found one in my make-up bag, of all places. There’s always fur hiding somewhere and if anything is made out of velvet, then it doesn’t stand a chance against their shedding. A lint roller, pet hair remover, or any soft upholstery brush normally does the job. I always stock up on a few of these BÄSTIS lint rollers from IKEA because they are quite effective in removing any dust and fur. The next step is to take a quick look at the fabric care instructions. It’s always good to know what materials we are dealing with and if there are any specific precautions that we need to take.

Of course, I do this on a dry, sunny day. I arrange the cushions on a clean sheet in our backyard. You can also use a garden bench, clothes airer or other outdoor furniture. Just make sure the surface is clean and dry. For duvet covers, I find it easier to hang them on a washing line. The important thing is to leave enough space around each item for the air to circulate. This step is entirely optional, but sometimes I spray them lightly with a suitable fabric deodoriser. The key here is to spritz gently from a distance, making sure not to saturate the fabric.

Then, I just let them sit in the sun, soaking up all the goodness. I flip them halfway through before leaving them outside for some time so both sides get a chance to air. Depending on the manufacturer's care instructions, I leave them outside for four to five hours. Once they’ve had a good session in the sun, I give them a good shake and fluff them up to redistribute the filling before bringing them back inside. And that’s it. It really is that simple. I leave them outside to air in the sunshine, and nature does the rest.

Why it works

When you bring them inside, that fresh, outdoorsy feeling is hard to ignore. Pillows, duvets and cushions naturally absorb moisture from our bodies and their surroundings. Airing them in dry conditions helps some of that trapped moisture evaporate, reducing lingering odours and the stuffiness that can develop in the fillings over time.

Fun fact: Sunlight actually has antimicrobial properties, which can help reduce certain microorganisms that may be present in fabrics. The combination of warmth, sunshine and fresh air works as a natural way to dehumidify and freshen up soft furnishings.

Buying good-quality items is one part of looking after our homes, but learning how to care for them is equally important. I guess sometimes we end up inheriting much more from our parents than just their genes.

Home decorator Lara Winter is one of Ideal Home's Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on revamping a 200 year old cottage to make it right for modern family life. See the rest of her articles here.

I'm a firm believer that cosiness is a feeling, not a decorating style. And while the shops would have us believe we need an entirely new collection of cushions, throws and decorative pumpkins every September, I've found that the things that make our home feel cosiest are usually the simplest.

Although I should probably admit that I buy candles in bulk. Apparently, I do have my exceptions.

Don't get me wrong, I love a bit of seasonal decorating. But I also don't particularly fancy finding storage space for 27 ceramic pumpkins come November. So over the years, I've developed a few little habits that make our home feel warmer and more inviting without having to redecorate or spend a fortune.

1. Candles are non-negotiable

I buy candles in bulk because I genuinely cannot imagine getting through autumn and winter without lighting at least one every evening. Or afternoon, if it's particularly gloomy outside. Which, let's face it, in England could be any day of the year.

I'm also a big believer in a good-quality reed diffuser. My personal favourite is Skandinavisk. Scent is such an underrated part of cosiness. You can have the most beautifully decorated room in the world, but if it smells like last night's fish fingers, the atmosphere is somewhat ruined.

2. Little lamps, big difference

I've recently moved a small lamp into our kitchen and honestly, I don't know why I didn't do it sooner. I now leave it on in the evenings and it makes the whole room feel so much softer and more welcoming.

I'm famously opposed to the big light, so little pools of indirect lighting are my absolute favourite. Table lamps, wall lights, anything that doesn't make the living room resemble a dentist's waiting room.

My latest discovery? Smart plugs. I've finally invested in some so that our lamps can switch themselves on and off automatically. Because while I love having lots of lamps, walking around the house turning them all on individually every evening was becoming a part-time job.

Now the house gets cosy all by itself. Technology at its finest.

3. Shop your garden, not the shops

One of my favourite ways to make our home feel seasonal is to bring a little of the outdoors inside.

And no, you don't need a garden overflowing with beautiful flowers. A few branches, interesting stems, some greenery or whatever is still hanging on for dear life in the flowerbeds will do nicely.

I love putting them in a favourite vase and letting them be a little imperfect. In fact, the wonkier the better sometimes.

It's free, it changes with the seasons and there's something rather lovely about having a little piece of your garden on the kitchen table.

4. The annual blanket migration

When the temperatures start dropping, out come the fleece blankets for the boys. They go on top of their normal duvets and somehow make bedtime feel approximately 300% cosier.

It's such a small thing, but I love these little seasonal rituals. The same blankets come out every year, and there's something comforting about that familiarity.

And really, that's what cosiness is about, isn't it? Not necessarily having the prettiest blanket artfully draped over a chair, but actually using it. Preferably while watching a film with a cup of tea and absolutely no plans to leave the sofa.

5. The biscuit jar comes out of retirement

There's something about autumn that makes me want to bake approximately three times a week. Whether it's cookies, cinnamon buns or something involving an unreasonable amount of butter, the kitchen becomes a much busier place once the evenings draw in.

We have a favourite biscuit jar that comes out every autumn, and I love keeping it filled with homemade treats. Although 'keeping it filled' is perhaps a bit ambitious in a house with two children and a husband.

And I think that's another part of making a home feel cosy that we often forget. It's not just about what a room looks like, but what happens in it. The smell of something baking, a slightly flour-covered kitchen and everyone appearing the moment the oven door opens.

No new decorations required. Just a decent biscuit recipe and a family with absolutely no self-control.

Making a home feel cosy isn't about adding more and more things. It's about noticing what makes you feel good, using what you already have and creating little moments to look forward to.

Although if anyone knows where I can buy candles by the pallet, do let me know.

Committed home renovators David and Andrew Harrison-Colley (better known on Instagram as The Home Boys) are part of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing their thoughts on making a home together and living through the tricky parts. See the rest of their articles here.

Our terracotta floor ends at the bottom of three oak steps. From there it's engineered oak, through the atrium and hallway and all the way to the front door.

We did think about running the terracotta straight through. Quite a lot, actually. But the snug, which opens off the hallway, already has its own brick floor. Terracotta across most of the ground floor and then brick in the snug felt like too much. So we changed floors at the steps, and tried to make the change look like we meant it.

Why oak

The steps sit where the original cottage meets the extension. The terracotta in the extension has underfloor heating under it. The steps and hallway are in the old part of the house and don't. We went for engineered oak from Flooring Surgeons on an insulating underlay, and in that part of the house it feels warmer underfoot than an unheated tiled floor would have.

It sits well next to the terracotta too. Both are warm in colour, but they feel completely different to walk on. That's what we were after: connected, not identical.

The steps we didn't want

The extension is about 400mm lower than the cottage, so there were always going to be steps. The question was what kind.

The architect's first drawings had two separate little flights, one up into the hallway and one up into the study. The revised plan swapped those for one wide flight, but it stuck out into the new kitchen and dining space. We didn't like either.

So we drew up our own. We're not architects, but we can put together a plan a builder can work from. Ours has three steps running the full width of the opening, sitting between the walls rather than spilling into the kitchen. The builders put them up in breeze block to our spec. Making them look nice was down to us.

Where the tiles stop

The join between two floors is often where things look awkward. Here, the terracotta runs right up to the bottom step and the first oak riser covers the edge of the tiles, so we didn't need a threshold strip at that point.

That worked in our opening because the level changes exactly where the flooring does. Not every doorway will give you that.

How we clad them

We clad the breeze block in plywood first, so we had something flat and solid to work on. Then came the oak: bullnose treads cut to length and joined to the oak flooring with a strong wood adhesive, and risers in the same engineered oak so it all matches. Everything was pinned into the ply with tiny nails and the holes filled.

The one hitch was the treads. The bullnose pieces were a couple of millimetres taller than the flooring, so there was a lip where the two met. Not much, but you could see it and feel it. We bought an electric planer from Wickes and took the treads down before fitting them, until the two surfaces sat flush. Least exciting purchase of the whole project, but it's the reason the join works.

We started with the steps and worked outwards: along the hall, under the staircase and up to the front door, where we cut the oak so the coir mat sits flush in the floor rather than on top of it. Doing the hardest, most visible bit first meant everything else had a clean line to follow. It also turned a "weekend project" into several weekends.

The finish

When we posted the steps on Instagram, we promised a follow-up on the finish and never got round to it.

So, for anyone still waiting: it's Osmo Polyx-Oil Tints in Amber (3072), matt. We tried three shades, and Amber was the one that came out warm without going orange.

The door we haven't sorted

There's still one join we haven't dealt with. The snug has its own door off the hallway, and at the moment there's nothing between the oak and the old brick floor. We'll add a proper threshold when we get round to doing the snug.

What worked for us

Look at what's already there. It was the snug's brick floor that made us stop the terracotta.

If the level changes where the floor does, use it. In our opening, a riser hid the tile edge and we didn't need a strip.

Think about what's underneath. The underfloor heating, or lack of it, was part of our decision.

Keep the colour, change the texture. Warm oak next to warm terracotta felt related to us rather than clashing.

Check heights where two products meet. Our treads and flooring were a couple of millimetres out, and we sorted it with a planer before anything was fitted.

The bullnose edge is the bit we're proudest of. It makes the steps look like proper joinery rather than something we put together over a few weekends. Which, to be fair, is exactly what we did.

Screen printer Hannah Carvell is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on colourful home design for a creative family to live in. See the rest of her articles here.

I have been busy this month redecorating my living room (finally), having been pondering it for the last two years. I knew I wanted to go green and finally took the plunge with a gorgeous chalky-finish Sage Green from Dulux Heritage. Living in a cottage, we have very low ceilings downstairs, and I knew I wanted to go full colour drench: walls, ceilings, skirtings, window sills and doors, all green. It was absolutely the right decision, I adore the finished result.

What I hadn't anticipated was what would happen once I started.

Having not touched the room since we moved into the house, we had become very used to living with a few chips and holes in the walls, no curtains, and a floor that was stained and scratched. But suddenly, as I set about filling the holes and giving the space a fresh coat of paint, with absolutely no intention of touching the floors, it really highlighted just how bad the floorboards were in contrast to the lovely freshly painted walls.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely would have wanted to do something with them, but I really couldn't afford to. Halfway through the project, we (I roped in my husband at this point) thought we had better tackle the issue head-on. Now, I had already been checking the sales on all the online flooring websites, but the reality was that, whatever the discount might be, it wasn't in my budget. It's not just the cost of buying the flooring, which even discounted can be pricey if you want real wood but there is also the cost of removing the existing floor and laying something new, which would mean paying a tradesman too.

I wasn't even sure if our current floor could be saved. It was a dark, varnished wood (in my online dreams, I would have loved to swap it for a lighter wood), but it was also stained and deeply scratched.

So, on a whim, I took the plunge and hired a sander for the day. How hard could it be?

Turns out, it's VERY hard work, and VERY, VERY dusty.

I did put dust sheets up, but they were no match for the clouds of dust this creates. The one-day hire meant my husband was at it all day, and then I helped into the evening. We were still going at midnight, with one slight moment of disaster where we were both tired, hot and very dusty. I was trying to hoover, he was on the sander, and somehow he went over the Henry Hoover cable. In dramatic fashion, Henry Hoover fused out with a large bang and a few sparks. Very luckily, the sander was not harmed, but facing the clean-up without a hoover felt like the bigger disaster at that point in the evening. Roll on the next day. We managed to get the Hoover cord fixed (it's just got a little less reach than it used to), and the clean-up began.

And then we saw the floors. They had come up beautifully. The brown varnish, scratches and stains were all gone! So, for a day (and evening) of maximum effort, this job was absolutely worth doing. We used a clear Osmo oil to finish the floors, and, if I'm being really honest, I am a little disappointed that the lighter tone we achieved by sanding has gone back to a darker shade. They say to do a patch test for a reason – I did not do this. On reading the back of the tin afterwards, I discovered it says the wood will go the colour it would look when wet, hence darker than I had imagined. Now, I don't know if there would have been a different product that would have kept the lighter look. Maybe a wax would have done it, but hey ho, what's done is done.

Moaning aside, the floor is a huge improvement on what it was. It's clean and stain and scratch-free, you can see the wood grain again and rather than a varnish the oil gives a slightly less shiny finish, and I really like how it now does my newly painted walls justice all for under £100. Hiring the sander was £35 for the day, plus the cost of the sandpaper belts on top, which were on a sale-or-return basis when you dropped the machine back and the tin of oil to finish.

It also spurred me into finally buying some new curtains.

I had a dream that one day I was going to make it down to the House of Hackney sample sale in London, find the perfect fabric and make myself some cool curtains for the room. But even heavily discounted, the amount I knew I would need to buy made me realise that I couldn't see it being less than a thousand pounds just for the fabric alone (on sale) and that's assuming I actually made it to the sale and they even had a fabric I liked.

So, I stopped resisting and bought some ready-made blackout curtains from Habitat in an olive green stripe. They were actually a massive bargain at £50 a pair and really finish the room off perfectly.

So, by starting one job, it somehow led to a few more along the way. I may have also started a project in the fireplace, but more on that another time… I am so pleased to finally have a room that has come together and is looking lovely, ready for winter and getting cosy.

Content creator Lucy Kalice is one of Ideal Home's Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on cleaning, home decor and making the most of small spaces. See the rest of her articles here.

You might remember that I started a garden renovation at the beginning of summer. Yes, the last update might have been a few months ago but lets ignore that…i’ve been summering!

Gardening has been on the back burner but I’m pleased to report that the shovel has been dug back out of the shed and we finally have progress. Actually better than that, it’s so almost finished and I can’t wait to share it all with you!

Now as a first time garden renovation-er and gardener I’ve learnt a lot. So if you’re also planning on doing up your garden, grab a cup of tea, get a note pad and pen and take my advice…

The good

Two recommendations were given to me in this process and I feel it’s only right I pass these recommendations on.

The first – buy a good quality paint and you’ll only have to do one coat. Painting always sounds like fun at the beginning…it’s therapeutic and it’s ‘easy'. But after painting two fence panels your arms start to hurt and you start to lose the will to live (and paint). Minimising the amount of time you spend painting is key and a cheap, bad quality paint is only going to keep you painting for longer.

We painted our fences black and sometimes a black paint can look dark grey which was not the vibe we were going for. We used the brand Bedec and the quality is amazing. We only did one coat and the colour is very rich, no one will be mistaking it for grey!

The second great recommendation we had was to use a paint gun instead of brushes. Admittedly I was a little hesitant to do this at first because I’d seen someone say that the paint can sometimes spill through to the other side of the fence. I wasn’t looking to make enemies with my neighbours so we started painting with a brush. Big mistake. It was going to take us days and days and days.

After three fence panels I caved and bought a paint gun. It’s electric and sprays the paint out evenly. We painted all our fences, the bar and the garden shed in a matter of hours! So basically it’s life changing and you need to get one if you ever paint your garden fences. Best £40 we’ve ever spent.

The bad

Unfortunately we had a little teeny weeny hiccup in our grand garden plans. We wanted an awning to help shade our south facing garden. The vision was an awning with black and white stripes and oh my goodness was I excited about this. I thought it would compliment the fences and the stripes were just so fun! We measured up, I placed the order, my husband’s dad came over to help fit the awning…only to find it didn’t fit. Heartbreaking.

I’ve scoured the internet and can’t find an awning with measurements that will fit what we need. So unfortunately we are having to park the awning for now. I’ll get onto it again before next summer and it’s not a big deal. It’s just a reminder that things never always go seamlessly and my dream of a black and white striped awning will remain a dream for a little longer.

The blooming ugly

Now this is where we talk plants…the best part! We visited a garden centre and had one of our favourite days out of the year. Garden centres are so much fun (is this what happens when you turn 30?).

We had a loose vision with what plants we wanted but as soon as we walked in I saw these gorgeous plants and knew they were exactly what we needed.

The best thing about them is they are evergreen and low maintenance. Perfect for a novice gardener like me. And that’s definitely something to think about when you’re doing up your garden. Do you want plants you have to regularly look after? Plants that are seasonal or evergreen?

Picking a plant can be like choosing a dog and you have to pick ones that suit your lifestyle.

Now this is where we are up to on the garden…so close! I can’t wait to show you the finished product!

Interior designer Natalie Jahangiry is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on decorating a home to suit a busy family life while sticking to your aesthetic values, too. See the rest of her articles here.

I would like to believe I know my home aesthetic pretty well… I’m a warm palette, cosy vibes kinda girl. From the clothes I buy and the colours I use in my graphic design work, to the product design I’m drawn to on supermarket shelves and the fabrics I love, there’s definitely a theme going on. So if you have been following along with my previous articles, it’s probably no surprise to see my home is filled with deep reds, dusky pinks and warm neutral tones, because ultimately, I like to feel cosy and cocooned in my surroundings.

So, it might come as a surprise when I tell you that I have fallen for blue, light blue to be precise. A colour that doesn’t naturally sit within my go to palette, but one that surprisingly works so well alongside the rest of our home.

It all started when it was time to decorate our guest bedroom, a room that had once been the girls’ pink bedroom before they opted to move into the smaller room across the hallway. With the space now free to design, I felt the guest bedroom gave me more free rein and permission to loosen the reins on the colours I have used throughout the rest of the house. Kind of my very own design playground, an opportunity to explore something a little different, but still in keeping with everywhere else.

It all started with a red bed

So, I did what I always do when I need inspiration to get started, I explore. I looked at interior products in shops that I was naturally drawn to, colour combinations that caught my eye and furniture I would love to include, before popping everything into a design document just as I would with one of our clients.

I also added a sprinkle of Pinterest inspiration too (of course!), although I prefer not to dig too deeply into Pinterest as I feel it’s all too easy to get led down a rabbit hole of trends, rather than discovering what you genuinely love.

While I was exploring and developing the idea, I fell in love… in love with a bed, to be precise, and that became my starting point.

Now, in previous articles I talked about visiting Margate House, and how I took inspiration from there to create my master bed. With that room I didn’t want to fall into a trap of copying the style directly, so initially I left a wavy headboard out of the equation… however this is not to say that I don’t totally love a headboard with curves in all the right places (because I TOTALLY DO!!).

So when I spotted the Lani velvet bed in plum from Danetti, I knew I needed it in the spare room. And what was even better than the gorgeous style of the bed was that it is an ottoman, meaning that in a room seriously lacking in storage, it would also serve as a brilliant solution for hiding away all the extra clutter we seem to accumulate as a family.

Adding the base colour

Going back to my previous comments about colour palettes, the plum bed sits firmly within my comfort zone for all the right reasons. So I looked at contrasting colours that would work alongside it. I went back through my inspiration and explored the colours that ‘sparked joy’, and that’s where dusky blue is starting to come into play.

I loved the idea of using the blue as a backdrop, colour drenching the walls, ceiling and woodwork in a tone I haven’t used anywhere else in the house (or in any of our past homes for that matter!) and then complimenting this with the rich, warm plum and red tones that already feature heavily across our other rooms. It felt like the perfect blend of something different, while still connecting the guest bedroom to the rest of our home, and once I had that vision down on paper I was ready to get to work.

Finding the perfect blue, however, is a tricky task… especially as this is a north facing room, although thankfully it does get a lot of natural light so I knew I could push the boundaries a bit. That being said, I still wanted to make sure the tone of the blue sat comfortably alongside with the rest of the house and didn’t feel too modern or out of place.

So I opted for a dusky but calming shade of blue with V&CO’s Blue Shade 2, which felt like just the right balance without being overpowering. What I really like about V&CO’s paints are that they are multipurpose, so you can use the same dead matt finish across your walls, ceilings, woodwork and even radiators, which makes the process a lot less fussy when you are wanting to colour drench an entire space!

Adding the rest of the furniture to compliment

Once I had my base tone colour painted across the room, it was time to bring in the furniture that would work alongside the bed, adding warmth and character while also making sure the space was practical. After all, as much as I want our spare room to look lovely, it has to work hard as an additional storage space for us as a family.

High gloss is having a bit of a moment in interiors right now, but being cautious of falling into another trend trap, I wanted to introduce just a sprinkling of it rather than going all in. So, I opted for the Carmela Gloss Side Table in Plum, which compliments the bed beautifully, while adding another texture and finish into the mix.

I have a chair in every room (what can I say… I have a thing with chairs), so naturally this is where my attention turned to next. I really liked the idea of playing around with the different tones of blue, so I wanted to find a chair that has a similar tone to the walls without being the exact match, creating a little contrast but still feeling cohesive. The Frances Swivel Chair turned out to be the perfect addition and the kids absolutely love spinning around on it, while Tufty the cat has gained yet another bedroom chair to lounge on. Everyone’s a winner!

Finally, we needed to tackle a bit more storage space, because while the ottoman bed would give us a brilliant place to hide bits and bobs, we still needed something practical for the girls' clothes and toys to overflow. I did this in two areas, firstly I used the nook that is built into the walls to create a hidden storage shelving space, adding a curtain I made and hanging on a tension rod to hide the clutter. And secondly I decided to go with a sideboard style chest of drawers with the Odele Black Ash Chest of Drawers, something slightly smaller than what we had in the room previously so that the space still felt spacious and inviting with balance instead of overwhelming it.

To finish I brought in an elongated mirror and an old Swoon dressing table that I’ve had for the best part of 10 years, because I do love to move the furniture around in our home… much to Tom’s delight I can assure you!

The finishing touches

I wanted to keep this room smart but still quirky, making sure the blue and plum tones remained the stars of the show, so I opted for fewer styling items than I would normally use and let the furniture and colours do the talking.

I have a huge picture of a flamingo that Tom bought me years ago, but despite absolutely loving it I’d never really found quite the right space for it… until now. I hung it above the radiator, where the pink tones beautifully work with the blue walls, and popped some quirky artwork to the adjoining wall, mixing frames in different shapes and sizes to keep things interesting.

I also found a very fitting picture frame in Oliver Bonas, that brings my beloved stripes into the mix (because who doesn’t need stripes somewhere in every room?!), before finishing everything off with some faux branches and hanging planters to tie the look together.

The end result

I’ve ended up with a room that feels fresh and calm, while still feeling very much like us. The dusky blue works so well alongside the familiar warm tones that run throughout our home, giving the guest bedroom its own personality without feeling out of place. And, more importantly, it works as the perfect partner to the new red wavy bed! Not only do we now have a lovely space for guests (Mum, you must be very excited to stay!!), but we’ve also gained some much needed extra storage, so it’s a win all round.

So, will I be using this kind of blue again? ABSOLUTELY! While I’ll always be a warm palette lover at heart, this room has reminded me that sometimes the best design decisions come from stepping outside your comfort zone and exploring something a little different. Who knew I’d fall so in love with blue!

Home decorator and content creator Leah Hodson is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on overhauling a home with clever DIY and decorating tricks. See the rest of her articles here.

For a very long time, I’ve been a firm believer in decorating for resale, or more bluntly, decorating for the next owner. Since we bought our first home 6 years ago, I’ve stuck exclusively to off-whites and beige.

Decorating neutrally gets a bad rep sometimes, almost as if choosing a lighter colour palette instantly means creating a boring home. However, I’ve learnt that a neutral home doesn’t have to be boring, and there are other ways to insert personality in your house to make it reflect you!

1. A little hand painted detail

If you know me, you’ll know I love a little hand painted detail! Recently I’ve been very much into painting murals in the rooms I decorate. There’s just something about being able to add your own stamp on the space that makes it quite your own.

If you’re not too sure about hand painting, try stencils – that’s what got me started! I created a custom wallpaper in my children’s room using stencils. It took much longer to measure out the placement and then go about stenciling compared to buying wallpaper – however, by doing this I made my own personalised wallpaper, unique to my home!

A less permanent way of adding small personalised detail to your home is to paint or stencil furniture. It is also a cost effective way of making a boring piece of furniture your own! It doesn’t have to cost much either, Amazon has a range of affordable stencils and with a little pot of sample paint, you can create anything!

2. Souvenirs tell a story

One way of telling our story in our home is through the souvenirs we buy on our trips. It’s a memory of a wonderful time spent exploring someplace new.

However, if the souvenir you bought is now safely stored away at the back of a cabinet, it doesn’t serve any purpose and could be seen as a waste of money. Keeping mementos from places you’ve visited doesn’t have to be confined to a fridge. Often, it’s less about what you collect and more about where you display it. Give it a space in your home, and it becomes a meaningful part of your decor.

Think outside the box when it comes to displaying souvenirs. Magnets don’t have to be displayed on a fridge. Frame it up and it now turns into a piece of art – a piece that showcases the places you’ve been too!

3. Flowers

Flowers and plants are an easy and affordable way to make your house instantly chic. There’s something about having fresh flowers in your home, the sweet scent, colour and connection to nature signals your brain to release happy chemicals and puts you in a much better mood.

However, having to replace fresh flowers regularly can quickly add up. Faux flowers are a really great alternative. They don’t give off sweet scents but the colours and organic shape will stimulate feelings of happiness too.

I have a combination of faux and real flowers in my house. In the winter months when fresh flower options are more limited, the faux flowers I have on my bedside table makes waking up and going to bed a lot more joyful. You can’t go wrong with a selection of affordable options from The Range or Dunelm. Alternatively, if you’re looking to invest in some stems, Neptune and The Faux Flower Company have very real looking options.

How you fill your house is as important as what you fill it with. Displaying and using items that bring you joy is the most important! With these simple changes, you’ll be able to make your house feel more like you than the picture perfect version that you see online.

Amanda Jones is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on sustainable living and decorating a home in way that is good for the environment. See the rest of her articles here.

I live with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), an auto immune disease which is progressive, and incurable. I always chose to say, ‘live with’, rather than ‘suffer from’, a mindset decision I made very early on, after diagnosis. MS affects the brain and the spinal cord, literally any part of your body can be affected, making the disease unpredictable. Over the years, I’ve learnt to see my MS as a mentor and guide, showing me what to prioritise, advising me on how best to live my life.

I remember clearly the day my body told me to slow down. It is literally etched on my brain, (there will be a corresponding scar to mark the occasion). It was the school holidays, and I had taken a day off work to look after our two young daughters. I was walking out of my kitchen when my body stopped. I could not move the right side of my body. Slumping into a nearby chair, I didn’t panic. I secretly knew I had MS, but hadn’t allowed myself to acknowledge it, until now.

I knew because six years earlier, after giving birth, I had gone blind. The consultant examining me mentioned MS, and gave me a list of symptoms, all of which I had. I told the doctor, I didn’t have any of the symptoms, eager to get back home to my newborn. I was too busy to be ill, so swept everything under the carpet, and got on with life. My eyesight returned, and I got on with being a mother, wife, daughter, and career woman.

Gradually, over the course of that afternoon, my arm and leg began to function again, but instead of having time off work, I returned the next day, masking my difficulties, as best I could. I’m writing this, to give you an insight into how little I valued my health back then. I had just taken on a new project at work and was loving the challenge. I had two young children, and caring for my mum, who had Alzheimer’s. I was literally fuelled on adrenaline and stress. Maybe this was the only way my body could get me to slow down?

When I look back, I hardly recognise myself. Since my diagnosis I have worked hard, to simplify those things in my life, that I can. To work on my health, my routines, my home. There’s still lots of complexities in my life that I can’t change. However, there’s a lot I have been able to change, to achieve a better balance in my life. I think there are so many of you out there wanting to do the same, and the good news is, you don’t need a live changing condition to do it.

Listening to my body

I’ve learnt to really tune in and listen to my body, to prioritise physical rest, to maintain my equilibrium. To do this, I had to decide to say no to my very stressful career. Initially that was very difficult, financially, but also because my identity was very closely linked to my career.

I now have a real deep appreciation for my body, I no longer treat it carelessly. I’ve learnt to accept when it won’t do as I ask, and really love those times, when it does. It’s not until you can no longer go for that long walk, that you understand how much you took your legs for granted.

Since finishing work, I have regularly challenged myself with personal goals, all of which have been life enhancing and beneficial. I still however struggle with mental rest. I have a very busy mind, but I am putting better habits in place, to aid sleep and mindfulness, its still a work in process.

Less is more

For several years I lived as a minimalist. This was liberating for me. We carry so much ‘stuff’ around with us through life, and this stuff does have a physical and mental impact on us, whether we recognise it or not.

When I lived with less, I gained a freedom I never realised I needed, a ‘lightness’ that’s hard to describe. Through this process I learnt what was truly important to me. I’m now much more selective about what I add into my life, my home and my mind. In recent years, I’ve intentionally added a little more into my home, but it’s been done carefully and considerately, not impulsively and rashly, like I would have before. I’m mindful of my home, and how it aids my health, physically and mentally.

Goodbye multitasking

I always say I’m ‘time rich, but energy poor.’ My body moves slowly, and it can take me much, much longer to complete tasks. I’ve had to work through a lot of frustration during this adjustment. I now accept that slower pace, and focus on the task in hand, almost like a meditation.

I try wherever possible not to multitask, which I had always wore as some kind of medal before. I keep to simple, time efficient routines, simplicity is key. I have a gentle rhythm to my day, which supports my wellbeing. I can no longer rush, and that (most of the time), is a blessing.

Learning frugality

I have always been good at budgeting, but when I gave up work, I really understood what frugality meant. We live on much less that we did before, so I’ve had to learn new skills at making every penny stretch. We have a budget, and we stick to it. No impulse buys, no unused subscriptions. I’ve realised how much we had wasted over the years, but living this way means we can still live well, for a lot less than we did before. It’s just our ‘well’ may look very different to yours.

I may no longer be able to walk for miles in the countryside like I did before, and I can’t work the hard, long hours I did, but I’ve learnt so much about life over the years, living with MS. I accept this slower pace of life and see the value in it. I’ve learnt that multi-tasking, isn’t good for me, (I’m not sure it’s good for anyone).

Through living with less, and being frugal, I’ve learnt I can not only just live, but live well, with a richness and rhythm I didn’t have before.

Home decorator and content creator Grace H is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on colourful home design, mixing vintage pieces with new and making personality-filled spaces. See the rest of her articles here.

As a child of the ’80s, it was instilled in me by my lovely mum that everything should match.

Once you'd committed to a colour scheme, let’s say peach and green (it was the ’80s, after all) every cushion, lampshade and decorative vase had to be purchased in the exact same shade.

Bonus points if you could find everything under one roof, from the same shop. The more matching, the better.

Thankfully, times have changed.

If you're even lucky enough to be able to afford a house these days, how we choose to furnish them has changed too. We now hear words like whimsical, and eclectic bandied around on social media, while every other post seems to be telling us we need this or that to achieve a Nancy Meyers-style home. And honestly? It can all get a little confusing.

One minute you're being told to mix everything, the next you're being given a very specific list of things you apparently must buy. It's contradictory, overwhelming and can leave you wondering whether you've accidentally done your entire living room wrong.

So, let's break it down and try to get ourselves out of the ‘match-match' trap.

Ditch the furniture sets

If all of your furniture has come from the same shop, in the same finish, this is probably the first place I'd start. I'm not suggesting you throw everything out or immediately get it listed on Vinted. Please don't. We're trying to make things easier, be more environmentally conscious and not create a full-time job for ourselves. Instead, try moving pieces into different rooms to break up the matching sets.

A farmhouse dining table can look brilliant with more modern chairs. A chest of drawers in a different material or finish to your bedside tables can instantly make a bedroom feel more collected and lived in. And please, mix your metals.

Brass and chrome? Fine. Bronze and nickel? Also, fine.

Introducing different materials, finishes and textures is one of the easiest ways to stop a room feeling as though you walked into a showroom and pointed at everything and said, “yes please!”.

A room needs more than two colours

Let's go back to our peach and green example.

If peach and green are your starting point, don't be afraid to introduce a little pale blue, a deeper green, pink, butter yellow… or whatever else catches your eye. You don’t need every colour to match perfectly.

Take my peach and mint green office, for example. I’ve added yellow blinds, a red sofa and a pink frame filled with colourful artwork. None of these colours match exactly, and that’s the point. Together, they create a room that feels playful, layered and full of personality.

A room doesn't need to stick rigidly to two colours. In fact, adding different shades and tones is often what makes a space feel interesting. If you're not sure where to start, the colour wheel is your friend.

Colour confidence

You could choose three colours that sit next to one another on the wheel - for example, red, orange and yellow – to create a harmonious scheme.

Or, if you fancy a little more contrast, try colours that sit opposite each other on the colour wheel, such as green and red.

You can also play with different tones within the same colour family. Think pale pink with raspberry or fuchsia. Baby blue with a deeper, inky blue.

Another option is to choose three colours that form a triangle on the colour wheel – red, blue and yellow, for example. These way of combining colours is tried and tested, which is helpful when you're building your confidence.

But once you have the basics right, don't be afraid to break the rules. In fact, I think rooms often look their best when there's something in them that doesn't quite go. Something a little unexpected.

The whole unexpected red theory is proof of this. Sometimes a small pop of a colour that seemingly has no business being there is exactly what makes a room feel interesting.

I tend to have a little touch of red and yellow in almost every room because they’re my favourites, even though my room wall colours range from green, pink, yellow, blue and mint.

Does it all technically match? Probably not.

Does that matter? Absolutely not.

If in doubt, start with a cushion

This is probably my favourite starting point if you're feeling completely overwhelmed by colour.

Find a cushion you absolutely love – one with lots of different colours in it – and use that as your starting point (you could do the same with a favourite piece of artwork or a rug).

Let's take my most recent cushion as an example. It has green (three different shades) as well as yellow, pink (two different tones), rust and blue.

There's your colour palette.

Then, I like to look for the colour that's featured the least and pull that out first. In this case, I could choose the raspberry, dark green or yellow and use one of those as my wall colour. In my living room I went for green.

Then, choose another shade (again, ideally not the most dominant one) and use that somewhere else in the room. For me, that was a raspberry sofa. Then keep adding.

Add different shades and tones throughout the space, using the colours in your original cushion as your guide. Suddenly, everything starts to speak to one another because you've created a thread that runs through the room.

Your walls don't need to be the same colour as your sofa. Your sofa doesn't need to match your cushions. Your cushions don't need to match your curtains. They simply need to have something that connects them. Use the cushion fabric as your anchor to keep returning to.

Don't be afraid of a little red

And then, because apparently, I can't help myself, I like to add a touch of red (or yellow).

In this particular space, that would be through the side tables and a few decorative pieces. It doesn't have to be a lot. A tiny flash can be enough.

Red is one of those colours that can make a room feel more intentional, more interesting and, a little less like you've played it safe.

Start small

It really doesn't take much to break the spell of the match-match trap. You don't need to redecorate your entire house. Start small.

Introduce one piece at a time. Try a different coloured lamp, a cushion that brings a new shade into the room or a chair in a contrasting finish. Give yourself time to live with things.

The most interesting homes aren't created overnight – they’re layered slowly over time; with pieces you genuinely love.

And Pinterest can be a brilliant resource when you're trying to build your colour confidence. Type in two colours you're thinking of using together and you'll find plenty of examples, mood boards and colour combinations to get you started.

Of course, we don't want exact replicas of somebody else's home. But there's absolutely nothing wrong with using other people's spaces as inspiration while you figure out what you like.

Mix your metals. Clash your colours. Put the weird lamp next to the beautiful chest of drawers. Add the red. Buy the cushion.

And if someone tells you it doesn't go? Tell them it wasn't supposed to.

Strategist and content creator Francesca Swan is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on the concept of 'Everything' and what makes a home special to you. See the rest of her articles here.

I often wonder if I’ll wake up and realise that for the past three and a half years, we’ve unwittingly been involved in an experimental fly-on-the-wall episode of Grand Designs.

You know the story well; “When Francesca and her partner bought this beautiful Victorian apartment, it involved not only a complete renovation of the existing footprint, but a complex extension and summerhouse build to add an additional 40m2, as well as a fully landscaped garden. They’re project managing it themselves, learning on the job to create the home of their dreams. But will their six-month timeline and budget be stretched to breaking point, along with their spirits and occasionally sanity?’.

Well, Kevin, you would have had a field day with this one but thankfully, the builders are finally packing up their tools and inch by inch our home is slowly coming to life.

Through it all, one thing has become glaringly obvious. When living with destruction and general uncertainty on all fronts (six months on the market, six months of conveyancing, followed by two years of stop-start building, planning delays and never-ending health issues), an outdoor space becomes more than a nice-to-have. It’s a necessity.

Fortunately for us, we have a huge outdoor space; the new kitchen extension now opens directly out onto a pleasingly balanced southwest facing 100m2 pocket of nature, surrounded by established trees and lined with charming original red brick walls. A beautiful blank canvas to say the least and, also now home to our summerhouse, with its gym, office and guest-suite.

Unfortunately, for us our garden was one of the biggest aspects of our project and hence the last to be done. Two heavenly sun-soaked summers came and went in the blink of an eye and our garden remained tantalisingly out of bounds.

Designing the dream

First came the clearing of the veritable jungle we inherited, complex ground and drainage works for the summerhouse, followed by a six-month build.

Next the challenge of designing a rich, layered garden that leans into the beautiful surroundings and established natural handwriting, whilst seamlessly connecting the handsome period building and new-build summerhouse.

Gardens and nature are always a guaranteed place to instantly discover my sought-after Everything feeling; joy, being present and completely connected to my surroundings at the exclusion of all else. Gentle sunshine and warm light, the cooing of woodpigeons (a sound always guaranteed to soothe), the smell of roses and soft rustling of leaves in the breeze. Pure paradise catnip to me.

We dreamt of a considered, design-led garden: modern and intentional, lush, layered and immersive, with a strong sense of form and flow. As far as possible, we also wanted to swerve anything that felt too cut and paste (no obvious symmetry and neat borders here), use what was already in situ and create an overflowing, considered and grown-in wilderness that would move immediately with the light and seasons.

The summerhouse needed special consideration to make it blend harmoniously with the period building, garden and curated landscape beyond. It’s a calm, quietly confident structure that integrates architectural precision with nature; black timber repurposed cladding of varied widths creates gentle material rhythm and texture with a subtle, yet deliberate imperfection. Planting would wrap around and up to the building, blending it into the wider landscape creating contrast that feels intentional, cohesive and considered.

Our dream holidays revolve around secluded villas and indoor/outdoor living; lazy, langoruous days followed by slow, relaxing evenings, spent barefoot in lush outdoor surroundings. This became our goal, whilst also creating a space we could make the most of all year round.

The garden

We’re not experienced gardeners, so it was time to call in the experts. The fates aligned when we were introduced to the wonderful garden designer Tony Sherring and his philosophy centred on the importance of natural surroundings to our holistic wellbeing – mentally, emotionally and physically. We bonded over this shared feeling, and he was completely on board for creating an Everything garden with us.

After a gruelling three years, we were ready for some outdoor therapy and light relief, so gladly embraced Tony’s collaborative, yet relaxed approach. Over six very enjoyable months, he guided us with his easy-going touch of fun and patience, and a dash of firm perfectionism.

We worked together on every stage of creating our garden, literally getting our hands dirty with everything from planning and design to nursery trips, soil preparation and planting. Tony firstly highlighted key considerations that informed the design. To combat the new-build feel, he was inspired by the plentiful character of our Victorian seaside-town, along with a consideration for focal-point views from the property, borrowed landscape and neighbouring gardens.

The garden is fairly open and southwest-facing. Plants were chosen for clay tolerance and positioned according to Beth Chatto’s “Right Plant Right Place” philosophy. With extensive local knowledge of what works in the area he leant into established local planting and genus loci. Lastly, practical considerations included lower maintenance plants, water harvesting, composting and plants that provide food sources for birds and insects, all blending to form an urban wilderness for daily life we could enjoy and watch grow over the years.

A relaxed and naturalistic planting palette of predominantly green emerged, highlighted with purples, whites and seasonal colours. Rhythmic repetition of plants creates our much sought after cohesion, form and flow, whilst the summerhouse exterior also provides a perfect backdrop for planting.

Accents of seasonal colour create year-round interest with a mixture of deciduous and evergreen plants, including winter-flowering hellebores, autumn-flowering anemones and late-spring digitalis, a self-seeding native biennial with a rosette of soft furry, oval leaves and tall spires of pendant, tubular, bright flowers, providing an early-summer nectar source for bumblebees.

Other stars of the show include the hydrangea petiolaris (climbing hydrangea), a self-clinging deciduous climber suited to darker walls/spaces, with showy flowers and oval leaves that turning yellow in autumn. The Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii (Mediterranean spurge) is an evergreen perennial providing winter and early-spring interest, when its stems dome with huge clusters of unusual waxy yellow blossoms with plume-like blue-green foliage that spirals around the stems, resembling bottle brushes.

Height and contrast create perimeter privacy, terrace shading and visual depth, with planting onto the extension to blend it into the landscape. The Betula nigra (multi-stem birch) has a light canopy providing shade and privacy for the terrace, while softening the buildings from the terrace sightline. It’s also useful for wildlife and creates strong winter interest from the contrasting white trunks against the soft black summerhouse.

Existing planting retained includes a mature ceanothus (Californian lilac) for evergreen structure and its impressive late-spring blue blossom. A sturdy rose bush, a smaller rambler and a vine along the Victorian wrought-iron fence have also been pruned to help bring them back to life after years of neglect.

Last but not least came the introduction of planters. Timeless in design and built to last, the Borge Large Grey Terracotta Pot was my pick from the wide planter collection of my new favourite, Gardenesque (more on them in a moment). They bring a calm, understated elegance to the space, whilst the weathered grey finish speaks perfectly to the architectural tones of the red brick wall and handsome period building. Handmade by artisans using premium grey-washed terracotta, this durable and frost-proof planter is designed to complement a variety of plants, from small trees to large floral arrangements.

These pots create height and depth on the terrace and can be moved seasonally; planting of greens and whites complements the grey, including the muehlenbeckia complexa (Necklace Vine): a semi-evergreen climber suited to planters, where it can cascade joyfully over the sides.

As the garden begins to take beautiful shape, we are now fully educated and equipped, not to mention inspired and invested, to nurture everything, as it slowly evolves and grows around and with us for years to come. If you need us on a weekend, you’ll most likely find us tending our garden. Not a sentence I ever thought I’d type!

Building beautiful bones

Next up, premium natural paving to define the zones for dining and relaxing, along with pathways and steps to guide the flow between areas.

Having already found perfect solutions for the bathroom and guest en-suite within the huge, varied shelves of Mandarin Stone, we started our search there and were instantly rewarded with the discovery of the newly launched Dijon Heritage limestone.

This offered a sublime soft tumbled and sandblasted finish with a lightly textured surface and characterful pits where shells once were. Pale cream, soft grey and terracotta tones create a time-worn appearance that works effortlessly alongside the original brick walls and period building. Together they create a pleasing organic tactility and richness under bare feet, whilst adding a layer of gentle beauty that softly unites the space.

Year-round indoor-outdoor living

Whilst the other stages of the garden project had needed expert guidance, choosing the furniture was very much my wheelhouse and a particularly fun task on my lengthy to-do list. As always, my starting point was finding an Everything business who shared my values of beautiful design, anchored with sustainable quality and craft.

Gardenesque began with founder Ali’s belief that gardens should be furnished with the same care and intention as rooms inside the home: spaces that feel calm, considered and inviting and a natural extension of the home. That philosophy continues through its approach to design, material selection and craftsmanship, with timeless, comfortable pieces intended to settle naturally into the garden and invite outdoor dining, planting and gathering over many seasons.

The palette is drawn from the garden itself – soft greys of weathered limestone, muted greens, warm clay tones and chalky neutrals – chosen to complement rather than compete with the landscape. Materials are selected for durability, low maintenance and the realities of the British climate, with sustainably sourced material choices prioritised.

To define the three separate social zones for dining, lounging and relaxing, I chose three distinctive colours to work in contrast with their surroundings. The furniture and materials complement the design ethos already established in the apartment.

The Hoxton Lounge in Stone seats four people with a small coffee table and has clean architectural lines, low-profile weather-resistant cushions and compact proportions. A powder-coated steel frame and FSC-certified eucalyptus armrests create subtle, yet striking contrast continuing the quality material language that flows throughout.

The matching Hoxton Dining in Green adds a six-seat dining set at the foot of the kitchen steps and brings a delightful dash of sage green against the soft cream pavers. Stackable chairs and slim cushioned seating also make it easily storable when not in use.

Last but definitely not least, the Stanley Conversation Set in Earthy Red: this deep armchair and footstool set features tactile UV-resistant all-weather rope seats (no cushions required) and an FSC-certified rounded acacia frame bringing a supportive seat angle and generous depth, with the hand-woven rope creating a gently responsive seat that adapts as you sit. The matching ottoman extends the line naturally, allowing you to recline and relax. The natural beauty of the high, solid acacia side table completes the arrangement, keeping books and drinks within easy reach without disturbing the overall sense of calm.

We also added the Hoole cast iron fire pit: a strikingly stylish cast iron and steel wide bowl that retains heat and provides even distribution, with a removable log grate and metal poker making it super easy to use. It will develop natural rust and texture as it ages and creates the perfect solution for keeping our garden fully in use during colder months. I’m already dreaming of mulled wine and toasting marshmallows on frosty winter evenings.

Lighting for all seasons

Lighting was key to extend how the garden is experienced beyond daylight, both practically and aesthetically. In our coastal setting it needed to be robust as well as considered; different sources highlight the summerhouse and planting, add depth and movement, defining zones and supporting both function and atmosphere.

To illuminate the summerhouse, the Pooky Portreath IP65 Up and Down Pillar Light in bronze is a simple cylindrical design giving a gentle wash of ambient light without glare, perfect for highlighting foliage. In solid brass with a bronze finish, it’s particularly suitable for coastal environments where corrosion can be a problem, so the finish naturally mellows and darkens over time.

A pair of two Pooky Hayle IP44 Exterior Wall Lights in bronze provides a statement flourish completing our extension terrace. These Art Deco-influenced exterior wall lanterns have a distinctively modern feel and work perfectly with the summerhouse lights to create a seamless design language across the whole space.

A garden for now and forever

As the last of the rubble is cleared and we complete the planting, our dream garden is slowly and miraculously emerging, like a magnificent butterfly from its dusty chrysalisis.

Even though the autumn leaves are starting to fall and the temperature creeps downwards, we find ourselves constantly drawn to our new space, whether secateurs in hand for a gentle potter, or a book and cup of coffee for a relaxing hour in the sunshine. Our first outdoor lunch party is planned, blankets at the ready to combat any chilliness.

Our vision of year-round indoor-outdoor living is now a reality and we have an instant Everything reset on hand whenever we need it. Mission accomplished.

Home decorator Ammarah Hasham is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts infusing her rental house with plenty of personality. See the rest of her articles here.

Before I became the proud owner of my rather magnificent Anthropologie waterfall coffee table, with its bone-inlay details and brass-capped feet, my coffee table history included some questionable decisions.

The one I remember most fondly has to be the pair of five-pound wooden pallets, procured from Facebook Marketplace, stacked one upon the other and declared, with total conviction, to be our ‘coffee table’. I was deep in my industrial-interiors era at the time, and part of it was due to the fact that my rented home came semi-furnished. Among its interesting offerings were a bulky black sofa and a coffee table that resembled a newly landed UFO. I despised its legs so intensely that an upgrade needed to happen with immediate effect.

Those wooden palettes felt just right. They were dirt cheap and brought that organic feel the room needed.What I hadn’t anticipated was that two wooden pallets in the middle of the living room would hold zero industrial charm whatsoever for my children, who took them instead for indoor soft play. Nor had I reckoned with the gaps between the planks, which were a constant struggle to live with. Mugs had to be placed with a certain precision, for at the slightest wrong angle the contents would shamelessly grace the carpet. I drink roughly about five cups of tea a day, and you can imagine the rest. I finally admitted defeat and bought a proper coffee table, and with it came the sheer joys of coffee table styling.

Having survived the pallet years, here are my firm opinions on what a coffee table actually needs.

1. Start with something oversized

Give me a chunky vase any day. Oversized, wonky, textured or even slightly irregular. Anything goes. Just let it be the focal point of the table. I truly believe that objects which are a little ridiculous in shape or scale often make the space far more interesting. You can leave one completely empty and it would still add visual weight.

Add a few unruly stems from your garden, and it turns into an artistic floral display. It can also help pull together colours already dotted around the room, or do the exact opposite and inject a contrasting shade that offsets the rest of the scheme. One of my favourites is this shell pot from Ferm Living from Ferm Living because of its elegant structural details.

2. Then add some coffee table books

Coffee table books are such an easy way to bring your interests and hobbies into the room where you entertain guests. Photography, interiors, gardening, art, sport or whatever you’re into, they can reveal a little of your personality in the most subtle way and, very conveniently, do half the work of starting a conversation.

My go-to styling trick is to always look underneath the dust jackets before dismissing a book. Some of my nicest hardcovers were found hidden behind the most unappealing outer sleeves. Get rid of the jackets and you’d be surprised to find some beautiful cloth-bound books.

You can use one chunky hardcover as your base to showcase a smaller object, or stack a few together to give your table a bit more dimension. Basically, use them as building blocks for your displays.

3. Give the remote control somewhere to live

Your coffee table should facilitate the life happening around it, which is why I think remote-control storage really needs to be given some thought when it comes to styling. Like it or not, the universal truth is that almost every living room has them, and at the same time almost everyone wants to hide them.

Good styling has to be practical too, and I am speaking from experience with three children. Someone always needs the remote, so pretending it doesn’t exist isn’t the solution. I use an old jewellery box to give ours a dedicated spot. It is easier to access and quite pleasant to look at and, because it is covered, no one knows what’s hiding inside.

You can use an old tin, a wooden box or even a rattan container to give yours a home. The remote stays accessible, the table looks tidier and peace is maintained.

4. Add an organic element

The aim here is to step away from making the styling look too polished or overly arranged. Adding something organic brings the texture and life to the whole arrangement. Nature has a way of softening things, so why not use it to our advantage?

It also makes the styling uniquely personal. Display your favourite flowers, a shell you brought back from Cornwall, a handcrafted bowl passed down from your grandparents, or even some dried fruits in your trinket dish. You really don’t need to think too hard here.

Those slightly imperfect natural additions make the whole table feel relaxed and lived in.

5. Leave some room for real life

This is the part I care most about. A coffee table should never become SO beautifully styled that everybody is frightened to touch it.

Leave enough empty space for the table to actually function.My children are constantly moving things around to make room for takeaways, board games or dumping their PS5 controllers on it. I know there will always be negotiations around those things, but I would never want the coffee table to become a shrine to a life nobody is actually living.

The best of coffee tables are the ones that get to witness passionate arguments over a board game. In our case, it’s Risk, with all the phony alliances and teary accusations of betrayal. I may have upgraded significantly from the pallet years, but I still want my coffee table to carry that sense of ease and fun memories gathered along the way.

Home decorator Lara Winter is one of Ideal Home's Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on revamping a 200 year old cottage to make it right for modern family life. See the rest of her articles here.

The 5-minute ‘closing shift’ that gives us our evenings backI love coming downstairs to a tidy house in the morning. Unfortunately, I don’t particularly enjoy the part where you actually have to tidy it.

Which is probably why most of the routines that stick in our house involve a timer. If I know something is only going to take five minutes, I can cope with pretty much anything. At this point, I already know my boys will each be getting a timer as a moving-out present one day. They’ll thank me eventually.

So, before the kids go upstairs for bed, we put some loud music on, set a five-minute timer and everyone gets to work.

Five minutes. That’s it.

We concentrate on our shared living spaces. Anything the boys have brought downstairs goes back up to their rooms, shoes get put away, cushions go back on the sofa and everyone takes their own cups and plates to the dishwasher.

That doesn’t mean everything has to disappear. We live here, after all. Drying artwork gets moved to one side and half-built Lego models are absolutely allowed to stay. I’ve learnt not to mess with those.

Everything has a home

The biggest thing that helps is that pretty much everything has a home. Nobody needs to spend half the five minutes wondering where something goes. Well, most of the time.

I also have a few very specific things that make a room feel messy to me. The TV cupboard doors being left open is one of them. I have no idea why it bothers me quite as much as it does, but it does. Add three remotes scattered around, a couple of mugs and a blanket half on the floor and suddenly the whole room feels untidy.

So, cupboard doors shut. Remotes away. Cups in the dishwasher. Cushions vaguely where they’re supposed to be.Boom. Living room reset.

And honestly, it’s quite impressive how much four people can tidy in five minutes when there’s a countdown involved. It turns out children can move remarkably quickly when loud music and a ticking clock are involved.

Once the timer goes off, though, the kids are finished. I think that bit is important. If five minutes mysteriously turned into twenty every evening, they’d quite rightly stop believing me.

Divide and conquer

Then my husband and I divide and conquer. Which of the two jobs is easier depends entirely on the day and, crucially, the tiredness levels of the children. One of us heads upstairs for bedtime and stories while the other tackles the kitchen. Last dishes in the dishwasher, worktops wiped down and all the random things that somehow accumulate in a kitchen during the day put back where they belong. Usually, by the time bedtime is finished, the kitchen is too.

Boom. Done. Relax.

A free evening

And that’s probably my favourite part of the whole thing. Once the kids are in bed, we’re actually free. There’s no spending the first half an hour of our evening cleaning up before we can sit down. Cup of tea. Sofa. Maybe something good on TV. Perfect.

If we’re feeling particularly organised, one of us will quickly make overnight oats and stick them in the fridge too. It takes a couple of minutes, but opening the fridge the next morning and discovering breakfast is already made always makes me feel like I’ve got my life together far more than I actually have.

Does this happen perfectly every single night? Absolutely not.

Sometimes we’re late home. Sometimes everyone is tired. Sometimes we just can’t be bothered. This is a family home, not a military operation.But that’s also why it works for us. It isn’t a big evening cleaning routine and the house certainly isn’t spotless afterwards. It’s five minutes. Everyone pitches in. Then we stop.

I don’t need to wake up to a perfect house. I just really like waking up without yesterday’s mess still waiting for me.

Committed home renovators David and Andrew Harrison-Colley (better known on Instagram as The Home Boys) are part of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing their thoughts on making a home together and living through the tricky parts. See the rest of their articles here.

There's a particular kind of restraint required to walk past a clearance section without checking what's on it, and we don't have it. Which is how we came home with a wool-and-cotton-blend runner from Dunelm, measuring 60cm wide by eight metres long.

It had been reduced from £129.50 to £77.70 because the line had been discontinued. We hadn't been looking for a stair runner that week – and initially weren't entirely sure what we would do with eight metres of it – but we couldn't quite bring ourselves to leave it there.

The runner was suitable for both floors and stairs and, as it turned out, was ideal for covering the eight straight treads on the lower section of our staircase, with a generous length left over for another project.

Why we skipped the underlay

Because the runner was designed to work on either floors or stairs, it had the same finish on both sides and no separate latex-style backing to grip against the surface.

It wasn't constructed like a conventional fitted stair carpet, so we decided against the usual gripper-and-underlay approach and fitted it directly onto the bare treads and risers instead.

This was simply the method we chose for our particular runner and staircase – not a one-size-fits-all approach.

How we fitted it

We began at the bottom of the staircase so that the runner's neat, factory-finished edge could sit along the bottom riser. From there, we worked our way upwards one tread at a time, regularly checking that the runner was sitting straight and centrally on the stairs.

We used spray contact adhesive to help position the runner and prevent it from shifting while we worked. The main fixing came from stapling the runner where each tread meets the riser, using a ROKTOR 32mm electric nail gun and stapler.

Rather than using the staples supplied with the tool, we fitted it with Tacwise 91 Series 18-gauge, 15mm staples, which were better suited to this particular job. The entire straight section took us around an hour to complete, and that includes the time we spent double-checking measurements and arguing over whether it was straight.

Our staircase is fairly straightforward, so this approach won't suit every installation. Ours is a simple run of eight straight treads, and this is what worked for us. Different stair shapes, runner constructions and surfaces may require a completely different approach.

Where we stopped – and why

Our staircase changes direction above the straight section, so we decided not to try to continue the runner around the turn or across the landing.

We briefly considered taking it round the corner, but decided against it. It looked much neater ending after the straight section. The landing will eventually be carpeted separately in a coordinating neutral carpet. We're not attempting to match the two exactly; we'd rather choose something that complements the colour and texture of the runner.

The fixing line we're not loving yet

If you look closely, you can see the staples along the line where each tread meets the riser. It isn't a dealbreaker, but they aren't completely invisible either – and it's the one part of the installation we'd still describe as unfinished.

Our plan is to add decorative brass stair rods along the same line. They won't be needed to hold the runner in place, but they should help disguise the staples while giving the staircase a more finished and considered look. That's very much a future job rather than something we've already completed – the rods, like the offcut in the garage, are next on the list.

What we're doing with the leftover runner

Eight metres was considerably more than we needed for eight treads, so there's now a substantial offcut sitting in the garage with the potential to become a separate floor runner elsewhere in the house.

The cut edge will need to be professionally whipped or bound to prevent it from fraying. That isn't something we feel confident attempting ourselves, so we're planning to find someone who can finish it properly rather than risk ruining the remaining length with an enthusiastic DIY experiment.

More on that once it actually makes it out of the garage.

A few things we'd do again

• Check how the runner is constructed before deciding how to fit it. A reversible runner without a separate backing may behave differently from a conventional fitted stair carpet.
• Plan where the finished edges will sit. Starting at the bottom allowed us to place the runner's neat factory edge against the bottom riser before working upwards.
• Use adhesive carefully. For our installation, it helped keep the runner straight and stopped it shifting while we added the staples.
• Check that your staples are suitable for both the tool and the job. The staples supplied with our nail gun weren't the ones we ultimately used.
• Know where to stop. We were much happier finishing the runner neatly after the straight section than trying to force it around a turn.
• Consider the final details before beginning. We knew the staples might remain slightly visible, so decorative stair rods were always part of the longer-term plan.

Would we do it again?

Yes – although we'd phrase that as, "We'd do this again on stairs like ours."

The runner itself cost less than £80, the installation was relatively quick and it hasn't shifted since we fitted it. But the method worked because we adapted it to the construction of the runner and the straightforward shape of this section of staircase.

It isn't completely finished, but it has made an enormous difference to what was previously a very plain, unfinished, flight of stairs.

The clearance bargain got us started. The staple gun got us most of the way there. The brass rods will be what finally lets us call it finished.

Screen printer Hannah Carvell is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on colourful home design for a creative family to live in. See the rest of her articles here.

These days I TRY not to buy too many things for my home. Or perhaps I should say I’m not very good at buying new things for my home. Money is tight, and even if it wasn’t, I’m not sure I’d suddenly find myself wanting a matching set of six chairs, a brand-new dinner service and cushions in this season’s colour (well ok I will admit as I typed that I am always tempted by a cushion).

I’d much rather spend £5 in a charity shop and come home with one enormous vintage serving plate that I absolutely do not need. I’m more of a collector I guess, I like finding things slowly and letting them find their way into our Somerset cottage, one piece of treasure/(clutter) at a time.

There are, however, a few things I’m prepared to spend my limited budget on.

A good frame

I make and collect art, including my own screen prints, and I’ve learned that the frame can be almost as important as what’s inside it. A beautiful frame can completely transform a piece of art.

Don’t get me wrong over the years I have bought many a cheaper frame and sometimes an Ikea frame can be the perfect quick solution BUT I can also see that when I have spent the money on a custom made frame for a special piece they really do stand the test of time in both quality and how they look on my walls. I think if my budget allows it framing is worth the investment, every time.

Making the house smell good

There is something about walking through the front door and being greeted by a lovely smell that makes a house feel instantly more inviting. I am also very aware I am a house full of MANY pets and wouldn’t be surprised if people were to walk in and think it smells of dog/chicken/cat so I do like to find products that might help to mask this.

I was lucky enough to be gifted a Jo Malone candle last year, which I love the smell of but would only light on special occasions trying to make it last. Now I know I am late to the party here but I just discovered the Aldi dupes recently doing my weekly food shop, and they are so so similar! I have stocked up on the candles, hand soaps and reed diffusers in the Aldi Hotel Collection that smell near identical to my dwindling Jo Malone one and now have no issue with using them on a daily basis.

(Old) crockery and jugs

Absolutely not an essential, but a weakness of mine and I’m very easily tempted by old crockery. I have a particular weakness for a large vintage serving plate and jugs. I have far too many. I know this. My family know this. I also know that if I see another lovely old jug in a charity shop, I will probably buy it.

I tell myself that I need them for the flowers I grow, which is at least partly true. There is something I love about cutting flowers from the garden and putting them into an old jug that was made decades before I was born. It feels much more special than buying a brand-new vase simply because it matches the room.

I love old ceramics because they make a table feel collected rather than coordinated. Nothing matches in our house. Plates don't match I have all my nans old blue and white china, collected over years, chipped but so familiar and loved by her and now by me. Our cups don't match, bowls and glasses certainly don't match each other. I like just it that way. There is something much more relaxed about putting together a table from things you've found or made over the years rather than opening a box containing twelve identical pieces.

And then there are the things I will save for

At the moment, that might be some really beautiful tiles for our fireplace. On the whole these days my budget for spending is very limited, but there are certain things I think are worth waiting for. If I’m going to put tiles somewhere that I’ll look at every day for years, I don’t want to choose something simply because it’s the cheapest option available. I want something I’ll still love when the current decorating trends have completely disappeared.

Which brings me neatly to the things I absolutely refuse to spend money on.

Matching sets

I just can’t do them. A matching dinner service makes me feel slightly anxious. Six identical plates? Eight matching mugs? A whole collection of crockery bought in one afternoon? No, not for me, inevitably a dog with its head in the dishwasher would break one, too much pressure and just too neat for my vibe. I want the slightly wonky plate. The cup with a pattern I’ve never seen before. The bowl I made in pottery class and the serving dish that has clearly had a previous life and cost me £2.50 from my favourite RSPCA charity shop.

If I can paint it, repair it, re-cover it, move it somewhere else or make it work in a different way, I will.

Living in an old cottage has probably made me feel this way even more. Nothing is perfectly straight, nothing is pristine and very little looks as though it was all bought at the same time.

Why would I want to change that? I don't want my home to look like a catalogue. I want it to look like us. (My 14 year old son however longs lot live in a modern house with lovely new and neat belongings, haha I have clearly not rubbed off on all family members)

And perhaps that's why, despite having very little money to spend on decorating, I don't feel as though I'm missing out. I'm not interested in buying lots of things. I'm interested in finding the right things. A beautiful old jug. A huge serving plate. A blanket that the whole family fights over. A frame that makes a screen print sing. A candle that makes the house smell lovely. And, one day, some tiles that I hope will still look beautiful when someone else is living here.

I think my rule is becoming quite simple: I don't want a home full of expensive things. I want a home full of things I love and if I can find most of those things second-hand, even better.

Content creator Lucy Kalice is one of Ideal Home's Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on cleaning, home decor and making the most of small spaces. See the rest of her articles here.

Interior designer Natalie Jahangiry is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on decorating a home to suit a busy family life while sticking to your aesthetic values, too. See the rest of her articles here.

I don’t stick to many rules. A big opening statement I know… but generally speaking I try to follow my gut and go with my instincts when it comes to my decisions. And nowhere is this more true than in my own home. I’ve written about why I don’t follow traditional interior design rules and I stand by the idea that your home should be led by what you love, rather than what you’ve been told to do. That said, it turns out there are a handful of principles I do pay attention to. They aren’t rules to follow blindly, but useful guides that can help make a room feel more considered.

So, here’s my opinion on the rules I think are worth knowing about. The little tips and tricks that I actually like to use when creating a home.

1. The 60-30-10 rule

There’s a colour rule that, in theory, helps create a balanced and cohesive scheme, this is the 60-30-10 theory. And I have to admit, I really think this one works, particularly when layering different styles and introducing bolder colour palettes.

That said, I don’t follow this rigidly. For example, if I want to colour drench a space in different tones of the same colour, the rule doesn’t really fit, but I do like to incorporate this way of thinking in some spaces, and in particular in clients' homes.

The idea itself is quite simple – the most dominant colour is your 60%, think walls, large pieces of furniture or anything that creates the backdrop of the space. Then 30% is given to a secondary colour that complements the base colour, introduced through things like upholstery, rugs, curtains or furniture pieces. The final 10% is an opportunity to have a little fun with a bold pop of an accent colour. This can be through artwork, cushions, styling accessories or smaller details. I particularly like to throw in a chair, cushion or pouffe in something a little surprising.

As someone who has become increasingly more confident with colour over the years (my millennial grey era is well and truly buried at this stage of life!), I can see why this rule works… it gives a clear starting point to create a palette without feeling too flat or overwhelming.

Would I sit with my floor planning tool and calculate the exact percentages… absolutely not. For me the real takeaway with this rule is the balance. Use the 60-30-10 as a loose guide to build the foundations of the room, but trust your eye rather than the maths.

2. The unexpected red theory

This is one I can, and if you have seen my house, definitely have, got behind! In early 2024 Brooklyn based interior designer Taylor Migliazzo Simon posted on TikTok with the idea that adding a small, unexpected pop of red to a space can instantly make it feel more considered, even when red has nothing to do with the rest of the colour scheme.

It could be a small change, in a lamp, chair, piece of artwork, or something like a vase. It can also be a more dramatic change, a sofa, bed, ceiling, cabinet or rug. For me, it’s less about the colour red itself and more specifically about introducing something that is fun and unexpected… that little bit of contrast can actually end up bringing the whole room together and it’s surprising how red seems to compliment everything!

3. The rule of three

When styling, I often find myself clustering objects in groups of three. There’s something about an odd number that naturally feels more balanced to the eye, without looking too symmetrical or overly styled.

I tend to use this mostly with accessories on say a coffee table, shelf or sideboard, especially playing with different heights, shapes and textures to keep things interesting and balanced.

Although this theory isn’t exclusive to three (it can work with any odd number really) the principle holds true overall.

4. The rules of proportions

This one is a rule that I pretty much always follow. More often than not, when something feels a bit off about a space, it’s because the items within the room are out of proportion, leaving it feeling unbalanced and with a feeling that something isn’t quite right.

So, let’s start with rugs… In a living room in particular, your rug should be large enough to sit underneath at least the front legs of your sofa and any surrounding chair, rather than floating somewhere in the middle of the room looking sad and lost. A rug, in theory, should act as an anchor, helping to pull the whole seating area together. If it’s too small, it can feel disconnected and like an afterthought. In a weird way it can also make the room itself look smaller if it’s the wrong size.

The same thing applies to artwork. A tini tiny piece of art floating above a 3 seater sofa, for example, can feel totally lost. I would tend to go with a larger scale piece or collection in areas such as these, to make more of a statement while also feeling in proportion with the furniture below.

And this art rule can be applied to almost everything in a room. There’s no exact formula with this, but do pay attention to how the scale of each piece relates to what’s around and below it. Sometimes, when a room feels wrong, it’s simply a case of getting the proportions back in balance and it will bring balance to the space.

So, do I follow the rules?

Well… it turns out I do follow a few rules after all! But for me, they act more as guides rather than a rule book. Take the bits that work for you, ignore the ones that don’t and most importantly, trust your gut. Don’t forget… rules are useful until they get in the way of creating a home that feels like you.

Home decorator and content creator Leah Hodson is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on overhauling a home with clever DIY and decorating tricks. See the rest of her articles here.

Living in a 1960s house means things are built well. A little too well, sometimes. Even the simple task of removing skirting boards that should take a few minutes, stretches into far longer! Previously, when I (read my husband) had to remove the original skirting boards in other rooms, they were not only hard to remove, but often left large nails sticking out of the walls. These nails proved quite hard to remove and I ended up hammering most of them against the wall instead!

Therefore, when we finally got round to decorating our master bedroom, I knew that removing the skirting boards wasn’t a job we were ready to tackle. The thought of prising them off and dealing with the weird nails sticking out of the walls after, felt like more work than I was ready to take on. Enter: the skirting board cover.

If you have never heard of a skirting board cover, it’s exactly what the name suggests – a rebated skirting board to go over your old ones. It’s perfect for rental homes or the lazy DIYer (me!). Theoretically, it’s as easy as cutting it to the desired length and installing with nails or liquid nails (like No More Nails).

Sockets

In reality, it’s not as simple as that! Sockets are one of the trickier parts, as the cover often needs to be cut around them to sit flush. The first mistake I made was marking the space that needed cutting and going on to use a multitool – in hindsight, I think it can be done easier with a handsaw too. Whilst it wasn’t too hard to cut around the sockets, whether it was functional to use was a separate issue.

Not all the plugs fit into these sockets now as the skirting board’s thickness prevents some plugs from sitting flush. Thankfully, it didn’t stay a big issue once I figured out which plugs fit or not – extension lead plugs are generally quite small and will fit, so that now functions as my new socket.

However, if I were to do it again, I would mitre it and wrap the skirting around the sockets instead of simply cutting a hole to fit the sockets. This would mean the skirting board actually sits below the sockets, rather than around it.

Internal corners

If you’ve heard that the internal corners of skirting boards need to be scribed, that’s the correct way tradesmen and carpenters would follow. However, I’m neither, doing DIY with little experience, so I took the easy way out and mitred instead of scribing. I tried scribing but after failing twice, I lacked the patience to try again!

Scribing will give a more professional look to the skirting boards – a skill that’s on my list of things to master one day. But to my guests, they won’t be able to tell, as most people don’t know the difference!

Door finish

One question I get asked all the time about these skirting board covers is how they butt up against the architrave. Mine don’t look quite flush, but I don’t see a problem with it! Previously, when I had a difference in thickness of architrave and skirting, I used a plinth as a transitional piece – however, that requires removing the architrave too! To get a carpenter’s finish, mitre the edge where it overhangs – a little task that I’ll get around to another day.

Whilst I love how the taller skirting board looks, I’ve learnt that a little more attention to detail when installing it goes a long way into the functionality of everyday life. Skirting board covers are a creative little hack to give your skirting board an upgrade without the mess of ripping everything out. It’s not just renter friendly but also a low effort way to transform a room – two years later and I’d still say they’re worth installing!

Amanda Jones is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on sustainable living and decorating a home in way that is good for the environment. See the rest of her articles here.

My husband and I are in a growing number of households here in the UK, living with our adult children. We certainly hadn’t thought when we had our first daughter in 2001, followed by a second a few years later, that their lives would be harder than ours. Weren’t things supposed to get easier for each generation?

It’s not that we hadn’t understood hard times, we both grew up in relatively poor families. Living in a mining town, we also saw the economic difficulties experienced by our community, when in the 1980’s the Thatcher Government, closed all the local mines.

However, in 2001, we had not yet had the 2008 financial crash, and the years of austerity that followed. We both had relatively stable jobs, we had manged to buy our own home and took it for granted our girls would be able to do the same.

We had not envisaged the house prices would shoot up so dramatically, or the cost-of-living crisis would mean, that even for us, we would have to decide whether to ‘eat, or heat’. We certainly hadn’t seen a future where our children would still be living with us well into their twenties.

I bought my first home, with my husband at the grand age of twenty-one. I can remember feeling so ready to ‘fly-the-nest’, make my own decisions, and start to live my own life. I didn’t move far from my childhood home, but it was enough of a separation, to feel very grown up.

My daughters, now much older that I was, are ready for that separation, I can see it in them, it’s only natural after all. They want their own home, their own space, and to live their lives the way they want. However, for now, they can’t move out, one is saving to buy a home, one is building up her own business. Both things would be impossible, if they had rent and bills to pay.

That is not to say they live at home without contributing to the bills, since my daughter’s returned from university, they have been expected to contribute towards the grocery bill, and some utility bills. It does not fully cover the costs, but its good enough for us. This contribution is expected, even when they have had part-time minimum wage jobs, or even when they’ve had no income that week, because they are self-employed. This at times, has been a difficult concept for them (and us). Between them they don’t have a single friend who was expected to contribute to the household bills, and of all my own friends, I’m the only one who expects this.

Does this make us bad parents? If it’s not ‘normal’ amongst your peers, (our peers, as well as theirs) it’s no wonder that there is some resistance to it. As parents, we’ve questioned the fairness of this, are we doing the right thing? However, we don’t think adult children, should live at home for free. We all must pay our way in life, and learning to budget, is a good skill to acquire.

I have to say, I’m very, very proud of both my daughters, and how they have learnt to manage their income and expenditures. They are both saving hard for their futures and learning how to priorities their spending.

My husband and I live well below the median income in the UK, most of our friends, and our daughter’s friends, are on a much higher income bracket. Would we still expect our daughters to contribute even if we were in that same higher income bracket? After giving this much thought, we would have to say yes, and for the reasons mentioned, it teaches good budgeting skills. However, we would perhaps do things a little differently, and instead of using the money towards bills as we do now, put the money into a high interest account, to be returned to them, once they moved out.

I’m very aware, there are many, many families out there who can’t afford to let their children live indefinitely with them, without contributing something towards the household bills. I’m also aware there are some parents out there, who may feel some resentment, having not actually asked for a financial contribution. There will also be some parents who feel guilty, because they have had to ask. Having clear financial boundaries, and expectations, is one way to help deal with these feelings.

So, what do you think, are we mean, scrooge-like parents, ‘demanding’ money from our daughter’s? Or are we sensible, caring parents, enabling them to acquire good life skills? Or did we just not have any other choice? More importantly though, if you are a parent whose adult children still live at home, but you didn’t ask them to contribute to the household budget, do you wish you had?

Home decorator and content creator Grace H is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on colourful home design, mixing vintage pieces with new and making personality-filled spaces. See the rest of her articles here.

Now that summer is over and the sun has officially taken his hat off, we inevitably start seeing Halloween and Christmas popping up left, right and centre.

One minute you're buying a bunch of flowers and pretending summer might last forever, and the next you're being greeted by velvet pumpkins, skeletons and enough glittery Christmas decorations to sink a small ship.

Then, of course, the Instagram reels begin. Mariah starts calling. Mini pumpkins take over the feed. Everyone suddenly seems to have transformed their homes into an autumnal wonderland overnight. And honestly? I’m not here for it.

Bah humbug? Maybe.

But I’d much rather invest in my home slowly, filling it with quality pieces I genuinely love and will use for years, rather than buying things that will probably be deemed so last season by next autumn.

I don't want to feel like my home needs a complete personality change every three months. That said, I do love marking the change of seasons.

As autumn comes knocking, there are a few simple tweaks I make every year to help our home feel warmer, cosier and ready for the darker evenings ahead. Nothing dramatic. Nothing that needs storing in the loft for eleven months of the year. Just a few little rituals and additions that can be wheeled out year after year.

1. Scent

The first thing I do is start leaning into heavier, woodier fragrances. Think candles, diffusers and incense if that's your thing.

There's something about lighting a candle after work that signals to your brain that the day is done. It's time to slow down, relax and hunker down for the evening.

During summer, I tend to gravitate towards fresher scents, but come autumn, give me all the woody, spices and smoky notes. Tobacco as a scent base is a firm favourite and my Autumnal candle of choice will always be the 3-wick candle Rubus from Charles Farris or Diptyque’s Baies. So boujee but so worth it.

Think about adding in diffusers too – I’m still undecided on my favourite for Autumn so let me know if anyone has any recommendations.

It’s such a small thing, but scent can completely change how a room feels.

2. Layers

My cushions stay the same all year round as I try to invest in quality pieces, and I want to get my money’s worth out of them.

What does come out every autumn, though, are the blankets and heavier patchwork quilts. I add them to our bed, the guest bedroom and, of course, the sofa.

There's something incredibly comforting about the weight of a heavier blanket when you're tucked up in bed or catching up on your favourite box set.

I also drape blankets over the back of the sofa so they're there for the taking as soon as Jack Frost comes nipping at your toes.

No perfectly styled autumn cushion collection required. Just good blankets.

3. Layered lighting

Now is when lighting really gets its moment.

As the evenings get darker, I become slightly obsessed with lamps.

Adding lamps at different heights throughout the same space can completely transform a room and make it feel instantly warmer. We have most of ours on smart plugs, so they come on automatically as the sun goes down. There is something lovely about coming home in the evening and being greeted by soft lamp light.

Pay particular attention to hallways and kitchens, too. There's nothing quite like carefully creating a lovely cosy atmosphere and then ruining it by flicking on the big light.

A lamp tucked away in the corner can give you just enough glow to move from room to room without breaking the ambience.

4. Crockery

Dust off those casserole dishes because comfort food season is upon us and, personally, stodge is my favourite food group.

If, like me, you spend even more time at home during the winter months, why not make the everyday feel a little more special? Lay the table with gorgeous textured linens. Use your favourite crockery. Make a moment of an ordinary Tuesday evening.

Romanticise your life a little. Light the tapered candles. Because really, why are we saving all the nice things for a special occasion?

Let's make the occasion feel special instead.

5. Umbrella stands

A very simple one, but I love the idea of adding a stylish umbrella stand to an entranceway during the winter. It's one of those everyday practical things that can actually look really lovely.

And I'm always looking for ways to make the practical stuff prettier. Veere Grenney for The Lacquer Company’s Round Umbrella Stand in Dark Olive will forever be top of my wish list. Effortless, chic and it would work across many different interior design styles.

Wet umbrellas need somewhere to live, after all. They may as well live somewhere beautiful.

6. The door curtain

If, like me, you live in an old house that seems determined to steal every last bit of heat, can I introduce you to the humble door curtain? Honestly, it’s a no-brainer.

We had ours custom-made with thermal lining, and I would definitely recommend allowing it to pool slightly at the bottom to help trap the heat in. I cannot impress upon you just how much of a difference it makes.

Our once-draughty hallway now feels genuinely cosy, and it was such a simple fix.

Not necessarily the most glamorous addition to a home, perhaps - but warmth is glamorous when your energy bills are involved.

If you’re looking for something ready-made and beautiful, Tori Murphy has the most gorgeous options. I particularly love the flop-over frill – it adds a lovely softness to a space, proving that practical doesn’t have to mean boring.

7. The dehumidifier

Not the prettiest or chicest recommendation, I'll admit but since introducing a dehumidifier into our lives, it has become one of those household things I wouldn't want to be without.

As soon as the weather gets colder, our washing seems to take over the entire house. And for those of us not blessed with a utility room (one day!), drying clothes can take forever.

I swear our dehumidifier halves the drying time. We've tried heated airers. Rubbish. We've tried drying pods. Too faffy. But the humble dehumidifier? It outperforms them all. Sometimes the least glamorous things are the ones that make the biggest difference.

And I suppose that's exactly how I feel about seasonal decorating in general. You don't need to completely reinvent your home every time the calendar changes. You don't need to buy a new collection of cushions, pumpkins, or ornaments just because Instagram says it's autumn.

For me, it's about making small changes that help your home work with the season you're in. A heavier blanket.

A warmer scent.

Soft lighting.

Comfort food bubbling away in the oven.

The things that make you want to stay home a little longer.

And the best part? You can enjoy them all again next year.

Strategist and content creator Francesca Swan is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on the concept of 'Everything' and what makes a home special to you. See the rest of her articles here.

Greetings and welcome to your fortnightly missive from Your Home is Everything and rather excitingly, part two of Testing the Everything Test.

Whoa, hold on a second, you may be asking; what is the Everything Test and why should I spend five minutes of my life reading this? Allow me to explain…

It’s 7am as I write this, sitting at my desk. A gleam of early morning light has just crept quietly into the room, transforming the sprawling rubber plant in the bay window into an illuminated abstract sculpture. My gorgeous soft sage walls are cast with a warm golden-tinged hue, instantly bringing the room to gentle life, and me with it.

I take a deep breath, smile and stop typing, instead letting myself notice and appreciate the beauty. I feel a deep love and gratitude for my home. No mean feat given the ever-present renovation mess and the impending arrival of contractors, yet somehow it all floats away and I feel a sense of calm, connection and pure joy.

For those precious few moments, this is all that exists. It’s a feeling of Everything; the antithesis of nothing.

At the risk of sounding like a M&S ad, I think this shows these aren’t just interiors; they are resonant glimmers of beauty that are everywhere and remind us of what is important in this often chaotic, overwhelming and emotionally flattening world.

Yet this magic moment didn’t happen purely by chance. It’s taken a long time and many mistakes to find the right paint, the right plant, the right curation of things that hold meaning and love for me. Which brings me neatly onto the topic in hand; The Everything Test.

I developed the Test as a hack to help me finally define why I love the things I do and nail down the shape-shifting design of my interiors. Now, I have a forever guide to what truly belongs in the story of my home, which in turn helps me avoid the things that don’t.

The Test worked for me, but that’s not helpful if it ties you all in knots. So, I’m putting it through its paces: eight talented creators, eight very different homes and styles, one test.

Part one uncovered some fascinating and encouraging gems, so let’s dive straight into part two. This time, welcome and huge thanks to the inimitable Glen, Alana, Olive and Natalie.

1. Glen

Glen is a full-time creator residing in the East Midlands with his beloved dogs, Rita and Margot. As an interiors and style obsessive, he is a big believer in little things that make life feel good, and boy does he have an innate talent for making them look good too.

'What really struck me was that my Everything choices are emotional, before aesthetic; I’m very intentional and particular about colour, shape, and pattern, because they affect how I feel in a space. I like things that make me stop, look twice or smile. I’m repeatedly drawn to curves, irregular shapes, strong colours, playful patterns – things with character and movement that don’t take themselves too seriously, even in something as important as designing my home.

'My slightly unexpected Flamingo wall art has a sense of humour and playfulness. The joyful colour and pattern of my Harlequin platter also immediately appealed to me; it’s a little imperfect, rather than manufactured or polished. The slightly exaggerated quality, form and colour of my red wavy mirror feel like art and the shape of my wavy blue rug is as important as the colour. These objects have movement that isn’t rigid or predictable, and they can instantly change how a space feels; an organic shape makes a room come alive for me.

'I’m also happiest when something doesn’t make complete sense at first glance but somehow works. A little bit of contrast and unpredictability; traditional alongside contemporary, sophistication alongside the slightly ridiculous. I love the slight futuristic weirdness of my chrome lamp and the almost glamourous contrast against the warmth and softness elsewhere.

'I‘m surprised by how much my personality comes through. I’m quite expressive and not interested in playing it safe but hadn’t realised how consistently I choose things with a sense of humour or something slightly unexpected about them that makes me laugh. There’s a strong element of joy. I want my home to lift my mood.

'Character is also much more interesting to me than perfection. I can appreciate something beautifully made and considered, but if it’s too safe or anonymous, I probably won’t connect with it in the same way. I value individuality and creativity, but also warmth. I want my home to feel stimulating and interesting without ever becoming cold or intimidating. Before this, I’d probably have called my style colourful, eclectic, and contemporary, but now I think playful, expressive, considered, and characterful are closer.

'My design choices were quite instinctive but now I realise there is also a consistency underneath them; I’m probably right to trust my instincts more than I give myself credit for and be even more instinctive in future design decisions. My first reaction to something I love is usually quite immediate. I might not be able to explain it straightaway, but something about it speaks to me. I’m then very intentional about how I use it, but without being rigid (I’m quite intentional in other areas of my life too!).

'Perhaps most importantly, I don’t want my home to feel like a performance. I want it to feel lived,p ersonal and real. I’m not trying to create a particular “look” or just fill a space. I’m trying to create a feeling and environment that is unique to me, using the pieces I chose as my tools. These things don’t necessarily tell you what style I like. They tell you what I like to feel. And I think that’s the real story of my home.'

For Glen, the Test did exactly what it’s meant to – uncovered how his personality lives and breathes in every inch of his home, inspiring him to lean in even more to what he instinctively loves.

2. Alana

Alana is the founder of Delve Interiors, a Hertfordshire-based interior design studio. She and her husband have spent several years renovating their 1910 Arts and Crafts Edwardian home, (a project of special interest to the Heritage Trust, no less!), and she chronicles the project, along with styling and design advice on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube.

'Looking across everything, I might be slightly obsessed with vintage! I also don’t always go for practical choices, as I am very led by my heart when it comes to my home.

My grandma’s candlesticks mean a lot to me because I inherited them, and I use them every day to create a bit of mood lighting. Reading is a huge part of my life, and I just adore how books look and smell on the shelf. The more tattered the better! My oversized wooden lamp is just beautiful and, despite the fact it is far too large for my house, I love it. Then there are my vintage rugs. I love them and cannot stop buying them. The patterns, the colours and the skill that goes into making a hand-knotted rug… love it all.

'I wasn’t too surprised by my findings. I’m pretty secure in my style and taste, although it is definitely interesting to see how much it echoes my personality. All the items I picked are either nostalgic or show craftsmanship, which is something I really appreciate and always have. I’ve explored a number of different styles over the years and vintage pieces have always been a big part of them, so it’s definitely a core part of my style.

'I dislike throwing anything away and hate waste, so I always try to find ways of making use of something that might be broken or unwanted. I have strong morals when it comes to the environment and waste, but I’ve also always loved history and stories.

'The Test actually made me think about how I can approach future clients to help them find their own design style. With so much inspiration out there via social media, I think people find it very difficult not to follow trends or copy someone else’s personal style. To truly explore and find your own takes more work and soul-searching than some people would think!'

For Alana, the Test offered more reaffirmation than revelation, but rather wonderfully gave her another tool to help her clients cut through the noise and uncover what is uniquely theirs.

3. Olive

Olive lives for the chaos of the full, noisy south London home she shares with her husband, two kids and two dachshunds. Renovating and decorating this ex-council house one room at a time, she has transformed it into a beautiful home full of character and stories.

'This has definitely made me think differently about my home and how I make design decisions; it’s not about collecting beautiful things for the sake of having them. I’m drawn to things that hold a memory, tell a story or create a feeling.

'Quite literally everyone comments on the Flensted Mobiles cloud mobile when they walk in the living room. You don't often see mobiles outside of children's bedrooms and I think that should change. It’s constantly moving, bringing a real sense of peace and calm to the room. We all adore it – even the dogs are fascinated by it. It's one of those pieces I can genuinely imagine having for the rest of my life.

'There was never a question about the zellige tile backsplash in my kitchen, and it was the first thing I ordered for the house. I became accustomed to zellige tiles during our numerous trips to Marrakech; a place full of happy memories for us that holds a very special place in my heart. I love their irregularity, texture and the fact that no two tiles feel or look exactly the same. Not a day goes by that I don't come downstairs and admire those tiles.

'I’m sentimental and proud about the kitchen shelves made by my father, a man of many talents. I went to him with some very rough sketches, and he somehow built them in less than five days. Rather than hiding my favourite plates and vases away in closed cupboards, I can see and enjoy them every day.

'I love the enormous pop of green of the Monstera that completely transformed the bathroom. It’s almost as big as the room, and, I'll admit, the most unpractical thing in the world – but that's part of its charm.

'The Mucha poster is a real nostalgia-filled statement, bought in 2018 when I first took my now husband back to my home city, Paris. Five years later, on our honeymoon in Japan, we stumbled across another Mucha exhibition – and that exact piece was the star of the show. I love it so much and it’s somehow followed us through different chapters and places in our lives.

'The vintage pendulum toy brings a smile to everyone who touches it. My favourite thing is watching my daughter push the pendulum and seeing her face as she watches it move.

'Maybe these reveal I'm quite sentimental, curious and probably a little bit playful. Of course, I love how they look, but when I really thought about why I chose them, the stories, memories and the feelings behind them were often the most important connection. I was surprised by how much movement came up. The mobile, the pendulum, the Monstera that seems to have a life of its own. I hadn't consciously realised that I clearly love things that make you stop, look and notice them. I also see that I love pieces with irregularity. Nothing has to be perfect, precious or even particularly practical. It’s really important to me that things are actually lived with and enjoyed.

'Usually, I’d probably describe my style as eclectic, but this test has shown me it's much more about feeling than aesthetics. I want my home to feel personal, interesting and full of life. Maybe that's what eclectic means to me now: a home full of things that don't necessarily match but somehow belong together because they all tell part of our story. In future, I don't need to worry too much about whether something makes perfect sense. If it makes me stop, smile and remember a moment, for me that's probably a good enough reason to bring it home.'

Olive’s findings beautifully demonstrate how the Test can reveal something hiding in plain sight, reinforcing her confidence to trust those unexpected instincts and lean into them even more.

4. Natalie

A fellow Open House creator, London-based Natalie is a multi-disciplinary designer and the co founder of Design & Refine Interiors, as well as the brand consultancy, Nat’s Design Studio. You can also find her dancing with a paintbrush and good cocktail to retro house music, or chasing around her two creative young girls.

'I feel most comfortable in a space full of personality and core memories. That’s really key to our values as a couple and the feeling of our home. The first piece of art I ever purchased was commissioned from George Harding, who is also one of my husband’s best friends. I wanted a completely unique wedding gift for him, so asked George to create this piece that I gave him the night before we got married. It now hangs proudly in our living room. It’s colourful, beautiful and full of love. Every time I look at it, it makes me smile.

'Another piece of art for my husband was for Father’s Day, from our oldest daughter; she wrote a little note to him, which Paper & Wool stitched onto canvas. It’s a really special keepsake that now sits on his bedside table. The girls made handprints on canvas when they were younger, and every time I spot them it takes me right back to the moment we created them – both covered in paint and giggling away. It’s also a constant reminder of just how much they’ve grown since then! Aahh.

'Can I say my kitchen as a whole? I spent hours and hours and HOURS carefully planning every detail – from the warm colours, beautiful brass hardware and marble-effect worktops to the layered lighting and how the room would feel at different times of day. I thought about how the girls would use it, how we would cook in it, as well as entertaining, dinner parties and time with friends. We’ve already made so many memories in there…it truly is the heart of our home.

'And can I choose colour? Having been fully immersed in the once-popular Millennial Grey trend, I’m now thankful colour plays such a huge role in our home. It shapes not only the look of each room, but also the feeling and emotion within it. I love warm, cocooning tones that bring comfort: earthy pinks, burgundy, dusky blues and mauve, complemented by soft neutrals and warm metals.

'Looking at what I’ve chosen, the theme is our family’s personalities and the things that hold sentimental value for us. To me, that is what really makes a home. Alongside that, colour, texture and fun are a common thread throughout. I wasn’t particularly surprised. As an interior designer, I always advise my clients that the best inspiration for decorating your home is you: your personality, likes and dislikes, the colours that make you feel happy, loved and comfortable and, ultimately, how you want your home to make you feel.

'The Test confirms that I’m most comfortable and at peace in an environment filled with memories, love and colour. If anything, it’s made me think I should add MORE sentimental pieces and introduce even more colour… if that’s even possible, haha!'

Natalie already knows her design language inside out, but the Test reaffirmed exactly what sits at its heart – family, memories and colour – and gave her permission to turn the dial up even further.

So, did the Everything Test actually work?

The results are in and now to discover whether I have just inadvertently wasted all our time. I wanted the Test to be a fun, accessible starting point to understand your own style, trust your instincts and help future-proof design decisions. Across eight very different homes, it has definitely done that.

Firstly, it was enjoyable, interesting and useful – so much so that Helen actually did it twice!

Encouragingly, it also got the professional seal of approval by inspiring Alana to think about how she could use it with future clients to help them find their own design style. She agrees that the plethora of inspiration out there can sometimes be overwhelming and it can be difficult to forge your own path. 'To truly explore and find your own takes more work and soul-searching than some people would think.'

Another beautiful and slightly unexpected consequence emerged; the experience of picking their Everything pieces and thinking about why they loved them prompted them to revisit the memories behind these treasures and provided an opportunity to reconnect with themselves and their homes. So even just doing the Test itself can be a brilliant way to ground yourself, be more present and shut out the chaos.

Cue a huge sigh of relief from me – the Test worked! Hmmm, maybe I should get this baby trademarked?!

It can reaffirm, reveal and give us permission

More importantly, every single person finished with a clearer insight into their style. It either reaffirmed what they already knew or revealed something they hadn’t consciously recognised before.

For the three interior designers, Natasha, Alana and Natalie, it was largely a reaffirmation. With professional experience and a wider set of tools, they were already clearer about what their style is, what underpins it and how that informs the design decisions they make. But even reaffirmation can give us permission to lean in further – Natalie will keep adding more colour and sentimental pieces.

For others, their findings illuminated a core thread they had subtly woven through their homes without realising it, giving them clearer focus and permission to embrace it even more. Tess discovered the importance of madness and fun; Helen realised how fundamental vintage is to her; Glen recognised how much his personality informs his choices and that he should trust his instincts more; Olive uncovered her unexpected attraction to movement and irregularity.

Different homes, same meaning

Across all eight homes, the most important similarity was meaning: memories, stories, sentimentality, nostalgia and the relationship we have with the things around us. Every home looks completely different, yet again and again it was these beautiful personal connections that made their homes feel uniquely true to them.

Character also won over perfection – no showrooms or catalogue homes welcome here, instead spaces that feel comfortable, lived-in and full of personality. Vintage, craftsmanship, quality, sustainability and durability repeatedly appeared, alongside simply taking time to find the right things.

Let the right piece find you, shop your own home and choose things that feel like they belong rather than simply filling a space. This is how we create homes that grow with us and last.

Our Everything can be our anchor

Perhaps we don’t need to give our style a neat label? We just need to understand what is inherently and indelibly personal and important to us.

With endless inspiration and mindless content constantly pulling us in different directions, that clarity gives us an anchor. Something real, true and tested to return to if we feel a bit lost or indecisive. It gives us permission and confidence to experiment more freely, trust what we instinctively love and hopefully make choices that last a lifetime.

It also reminds us not to take it all so seriously and to find the fun and joy in creating our homes.

As Olive so perfectly puts it: 'I don't need to worry too much about whether something makes perfect sense. If it makes me stop, smile and remember a moment, for me that's probably a good enough reason to bring it home.'

Interior designer and content creator Rebecca Constable is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on demystifying the process of designing and decorating a home, and helping people work out where to spend and where to save.

The colour chartreuse seems to be appearing everywhere I look in the fashion world. It first started to make an appearance on the catwalks a few years ago and it has now firmly made its way onto the high street. Although its name is quite obscure (it’s not a colour we’re taught in primary school), the colour itself is a very distinct greeny/yellowy, vibrant yet rich, enabling it to work brilliantly in both the summer and winter. It’s a colour I am particularly drawn to when it comes to my wardrobe but lately I have been thinking about how I can use it around my home.

It has also led me to think more about the relationship between the fashion world and the interiors world. How much crossover is there when it comes to trends? Does one inevitably influence the other? And if so, is it always in one direction (I would assume the fashion world often leads the way).

And so as the colour chartreuse comes to take its place in my wardrobe I am trying to work out where it might work best in my home.

1. With paint

My first thought was to colour drench a space in it. Its rich vibrant tone would work brilliantly across the walls and ceiling of a small room, something like a downstairs loo, an office or even the inside of a pantry. I would use a high gloss paint, inevitably a little trickier to work with compared to its matt counterparts, but I think the effort would be very much rewarded by the end result. The light bouncing across glossy zesty walls would create an otherworldly, jewel-like space.

There are quite a few paint options, each with their own take on what chartreuse actually is. Dulux has a paint called Chartreuse Charm which strikes the perfect balance between yellow and green depending on the light. And Paint and Paper Library’s Euphorbia, which takes its name from the garden plant, perfectly captures the zingy (and poisonous) coloured flowers you find on it.

2. As furniture

Secondly I’d love to add an upholstered piece of furniture in chartreuse. I think the colour looks particularly great in a mohair or a velvet fabric. The texture and depth of colour that you get from these fabric compositions are perfect for capturing the multidimensional aspect of this shade, which is neither truly green nor yellow. I think a chartreuse velvet armchair would add an understated decadent feel to a room, the perfect balance between masculine and feminine.

Schumacher has a performance velvet in the colour chartreuse that would look brilliant on an armchair, ottoman or headboard. The performance element also means it’s robust enough to handle family life, unlike a lot of velvets. Dunelm have a tub armchair in a chenille they call olive, but the lustre of the fabric definitely gives it a yellow undertone straying towards chartreuse. And the Cotswold Company do a highback velvet armchair in a fabric that perfectly captures the colour. Finally I love Loaf’s Curvella footstool in honey pot yellow. There is a distinct green undertone to it that makes me place it in the chartreuse category.

3. With soft furnishings

Finally I’m thinking about how I can add it in smaller ways around the house through soft furnishings. It will be a slightly more cost effective way to introduce the colour to our home and is less likely to require the financial sign off from my husband. Cushions are such an easy update to a sofa or bed, I love this one from Anthropologie which lets the colour do all the talking. I’d add it to an occasional chair in the living room or even a child’s bed.

A rug like this from West Elm would instantly transform a space. The pattern adds a bit of fun but is also brilliant at disguising any spills or marks. I’d even go as far as to say that you could try it under a dining table. And finally I adore this lampshade from Pooky. It would be perfect for transforming one of our old lamps into something quite decadent and sophisticated due to the slubby silk.

For me it feels as though the colour chartreuse has truly crossed over into the interiors world. And I suppose it’s not surprising as aren’t we all influenced by what we see around us, whether that is on the catwalk, on our commute or as we scroll instagram.

I think there will always be an intrinsic link between the different aesthetic worlds and I love seeing how a trend in one sphere can be interpreted in another. And for me part of the fun of it is working out what you may want to take from that trend (as well as what you don’t) and how you make it your own.

Home decorator Ammarah Hasham is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts infusing her rental house with plenty of personality. See the rest of her articles here.

Bedrooms were strictly shoe-free zones in our house. That was one rule nobody questioned. There were no exceptions and certainly no, ‘I’ll only be a second.’

I think part of it was due to the fact that our bedrooms were often covered in wall-to-wall carpet, with sumptuous rugs layered on top, and bringing outside shoes onto all that soft flooring felt like a hygienic threat. In fact, carpets were such a feature in our home that we sometimes identified bedrooms by them without even realising. “Put it in the green room,” or “Who left the light on in the beige room?”.

It was quite a normal part of growing up that even now, seeing someone walk into a carpeted bedroom wearing outdoor shoes feels slightly wrong to me.

You get the picture

Naturally, the strict no-shoes-in-the-bedroom policy followed me into my own home.

As an adult, and particularly as a renter, I appreciate rugs and carpets even more. I happily spend a considerable amount of time maintaining them with much the same diligence, partly because I like them clean and partly because the thought of my feet meeting the icy floor first thing in the morning is enough motivation on its own.

And thus, over the years, I have picked up a handful of carpet-care tricks.

Blot the spill

I’d be fibbing if I said I had never dropped anything on my landlord’s carpet. Accidents happen and real life, usually in the form of an open can of soft drink left in the dodgiest possible place, can humble you.

Deal with the spill straightaway. The longer something sits in the carpet fibres, the harder it usually becomes to remove. My first port of call is a few sheets of absorbent kitchen roll. I gently blot the liquid and avoid rubbing the spill as it pushes it further into the fibres and spreads it around.

Invest in a good carpet cleaner

Some domestic disasters need a heavier helping hand. If your budget allows, I would definitely recommend investing in a good carpet cleaner. It makes the job far easier and, if you use it as regularly as I do, the cost per use starts to feel very justified.

Before buying mine, I often rented a Rug Doctor, but with a family, spills, and the general level of cleanliness I like to maintain, buying my own machine has been a decision I have not regretted.

I became a true convert the day I accidentally dropped a can of paint on my landlord’s carpet. It felt like a scene from a horror movie, but the carpet cleaner did such a brilliant job that there was barely any trace of the accident left.

When things get sticky

Finding chewing gum stuck to the carpet is enough to send shivers down your spine especially when you can’t identify the culprit. But the quicker you deal with it, the better. I use Blu Tack quite regularly too and, if a tiny piece gets left behind unnoticed, I sometimes find it firmly squashed into the carpet fibres.

For sticky situations like these, ice cubes are brilliant. Put a few cubes into a zip-lock bag and hold it over the gum or Blu Tack until it becomes firm. Once it hardens, gently lift it away.

Rotate the rug

Whatever the shoe etiquette is in your home, a rug, unlike fitted carpet, is fairly easy to move around for maintenance. I often count on rugs to disguise tired carpets in my rented homes, but over time they inevitably start to show signs of daily life.

Where possible, I take smaller rugs outside, hang them up and give them a thorough shake to loosen any dust, grit or crumbs embedded in them. Since some areas get exposed to footsteps, furniture and sunlight more than others, I also rotate my rugs every few months. It helps spread the wear and fading more evenly.

Salt to the rescue

With years of tea-spilling experience behind me, I can confirm that this is one of the tricks my family has always reached for. In my mother’s opinion, it is an excellent emergency solution for accidental tea spills.

Blot up as much of the excess liquid as possible with a kitchen roll, then sprinkle a generous amount of salt over the damp area and let it sit for some time. When sprinkled, salt starts pulling moisture from the carpet and stops it from spreading any further. I have seen it in action many times, and it is oddly fascinating to watch.

Home decorator Lara Winter is one of Ideal Home's Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on revamping a 200 year old cottage to make it right for modern family life. See the rest of her articles here.

I recently cleared out my wardrobe. And when I say cleared out, I mean everything came out. Clothes I’d forgotten I owned, things I’d been keeping for reasons I couldn’t quite explain, and an impressive number of items that apparently belonged to a completely different version of me.

It made an enormous mess, but once it was done I had an idea. Instead of attempting one huge, soul-destroying whole-house declutter, I’m tackling one problem area a month.

The wardrobe was first. Next is the cupboard under the stairs. Then the shed. After that, there’s certainly no shortage of candidates.

The aim isn’t to become a minimalist. If you’ve seen my house, you’ll know there’s very little danger of that happening. I like books, art, cushions and all the little things we’ve collected over the years. I just want less of the stuff we don’t need getting in the way of the things we do.

One hour at a time

“Declutter the house” is the sort of job I can happily put off until 2034. Even “sort the entire wardrobe” feels pretty unappealing when you’ve got a free Saturday.

So I’ve started setting a one-hour timer on my phone. For that hour, I properly focus on the job rather than wandering off halfway through because I’ve found an old photo or suddenly decided the dishwasher needs emptying.

When the timer goes off, I stop and carry on the next day. Unless I’m properly in the flow – in which case nobody is stopping me.

It takes the pressure off. I don’t need to finish an entire space in one heroic session. I just need to give it an hour.

I’m also trying not to immediately buy lots of lovely matching storage boxes. This is difficult for me. But there’s no point beautifully organising things we don’t actually need.

Declutter first. Work out what needs a home second. Then I’m allowed the baskets.

Make what you keep easier to use

The wardrobe clear-out had an unexpected benefit. I found loads of clothes I genuinely liked. I’d just completely forgotten about them. And I hate to admit that there were probably one or two things I’d never actually worn.

While everything was out, I started putting outfits together and taking photos of combinations that worked. I now have an inspiration folder on my phone filled with outfits made from my own clothes.

Basically, I’ve started shopping my own wardrobe. Annoyingly, it turns out I already own quite a lot of nice things.

And I think that’s something I want to carry through the rest of the house. The point isn’t just to own less. It’s to actually see and use what we choose to keep.

Make tidy easy to repeat

My bigger challenge isn’t getting a cupboard tidy. It’s whether it still looks like that three weeks later when the whole family has been using it.

So when I tackle spaces like the under-sink cabinet or cupboard under the stairs, I’m going to take a photo once everything has its place. I might even print it and stick it inside the door.

Then everyone can see exactly where things belong. No excuses.

I’m also keeping systems simple. If putting something away involves opening three boxes, removing a lid and rearranging six other things, we’re not going to do it.

I’m only one month into my grand plan, so ask me again when I reach the shed. But one properly sorted problem area a month feels infinitely more achievable than trying to transform the whole house at once.

And if, twelve months from now, I can open the cupboard under the stairs without something falling on me, I’ll consider it a success.

Committed home renovators David and Andrew Harrison-Colley (better known on Instagram as The Home Boys) are part of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing their thoughts on making a home together and living through the tricky parts. See the rest of their articles here.

There’s a particular smear along the staircase wall at roughly nephew-height that gets there every visit. Sticky hands, used like a handrail, wiped along the plaster as small feet negotiate the stairs. It used to worry us. Now it doesn’t, because a damp cloth and thirty seconds sorts it, and the wall looks exactly as it did before. That’s not an accident. It’s the paint.

It’s easy to fall for a finish at the sample stage – a tile square propped against the wall, a paint swatch held up in whatever light’s coming through the window that afternoon. What’s harder to picture in that moment is what the finish will actually ask of you once it’s living in your house full-time.

Some of ours have turned out to be genuinely low-effort. Others have simply traded one kind of upkeep for another. A year or so into some of our biggest calls, and a few months into others, here’s the honest version.

Terracotta: light day-to-day, with its own rules

We’ve told the full story of laying our terracotta floor earlier in this column – the knee pads, the linseed oil, the grouting saga – so we won’t repeat it here. What’s worth adding now is what it’s asked of us since. Day to day, it’s been genuinely easy: a regular vacuum, an occasional mop with a Wax Wash solution made specifically for the finish. That’s the whole routine.

But it does come with restrictions we didn’t fully clock at the time. We can’t reach for an ordinary floor cleaner, because anything not designed for a wax-finished tile risks stripping it. And we’re conscious of it as we look at robot vacuums – any wet-mopping function would be a hard no on this floor, so it’s shaping what we buy before we’ve even bought it.

We also expect the beeswax finish to need refreshing every couple of years, though we haven’t hit that point yet. Low daily maintenance, in other words, isn’t the same as no maintenance – it’s just maintenance on the floor’s terms rather than ours.

The island paint: matt, until small hands find the edges

The whole kitchen island – doors and drawer fronts included - was painted in a Valspar furniture paint, colour-matched to Dulux Heritage Brushed Gold, chosen for its flat matt finish and the fact it comes with primer and top coat already built in.

A year on, the finish itself has held up exactly as promised. What hasn’t entirely escaped is wear at the edges: a little scuffing around the integrated fridge and freezer door covers and, unsurprisingly, right where the fridge handle gets used several times a day.

The fix has been genuinely simple – a light sand back and a touch-up with paint we’d kept from the original tin – but it’s not nothing. It’s a maintenance task with a season attached, the kind of small job that turns up once the paint’s had enough hands on it, rather than a one-and-done finish. Worth knowing before you commit a matt furniture paint to the busiest door in the kitchen.

GoodHome durable emulsion: the wipe-down test we didn’t plan for

We used B&Q’s GoodHome durable emulsion on walls throughout the cottage, kitchen and bathrooms included, mostly for the finish and the coverage. What we didn’t plan for was the staircase becoming its own unofficial trial.

Nieces and nephews treat that wall like a handrail, sticky hands and all, and a durable, wipeable emulsion turns that into a quick job with a damp cloth rather than a repaint. It wasn’t why we chose it. It’s turned into the best argument for it.

Milano Elizabeth fittings: choosing consistency over evolution

We genuinely love the look of unlacquered brass – the way it darkens and marks and develops a patina that feels earned rather than faked. If we lived somewhere with soft water and an unlimited budget, we might well have gone there. But we’re in Suffolk, which means hard water, which means limescale is a real and constant threat to any brass finish near a tap or shower.

Unlacquered brass in a hard water area can mark unevenly rather than age gracefully, and keeping on top of that felt like more commitment than we wanted. Brushed brass on the Milano Elizabeth fittings also came in kinder on the budget.

So the decision was less about taste and more about being honest with ourselves: the patina we love in photos isn’t necessarily the patina we’d love dealing with every day, in our water, on our budget. A year on, ours have asked very little of us beyond gentle wiping, and still look close to new.

What “small print” actually means

The more finishes we live with, the more we realise maintenance isn’t one thing. Sometimes it’s a specialist product you now have to keep in the cupboard. Sometimes it’s a restriction – a cleaner you can’t use, a robot vacuum feature you’ll have to switch off. Sometimes it’s a light sand and a touch-up you didn’t know was coming. And sometimes, as with the brass, it’s admitting that the finish you love aesthetically isn’t always the one that suits your budget, your water or your patience.

The other thing worth separating out is the difference between what a finish needs every week and what it needs every year or two. Wiping a wall is nothing. Resealing a floor, or touching up a well-used door edge, is a smaller but real commitment – and it’s worth knowing which one you’re signing up for before the sample leaves the shop.

Choosing with our eyes open

We still love the moment when the samples come out and a room starts to take shape. We’ve just learned to turn them over and read the care instructions too.

The best finish isn’t necessarily the one that asks the least of you – it’s the one whose small print you’re genuinely happy to live with.

Screen printer Hannah Carvell is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on colourful home design for a creative family to live in. See the rest of her articles here.

There is a particular moment I look forward to every year when Autumn begins. It isn't necessarily the first turning leaf or the first chilly morning, although I love those too. For me, it is the day the Aga gets switched back on. I will also say that I am still not over the pure joy and novelty of being an Aga owner. It is all part of my living-in-the-country dream, and I was thrilled that the cottage we bought came complete with a lovely old Aga in the kitchen. You might think I'm slightly mad to be so excited about an oven, but there is something about having that warmth back in the kitchen that makes the whole house feel different.

The pets certainly agree with me. Suddenly everyone migrates towards the Aga, squabbling over the best warm patch and settling down as though they've been waiting for it all summer too. And it isn't just an oven. It heats a large portion of our home during the winter months and is brilliant for drying wet clothes and sodden school shoes in an emergency which, in our house, is not an infrequent occurrence.

Inevitably, once it's on, I'm cooking. The Aga seems to encourage it. There is something wonderfully comforting about having something bubbling away on the hob or slowly cooking in the oven. At this time of year there might be apples stewing down from the trees at the end of the garden, a pan of bone broth simmering away, vegetables roasting for dinner or a big pot of soup made from whatever we've managed to harvest. Roasting a whole pumpkin slowly and scooping out the flesh for creamy soups has been a game changer for easy, cheap and warming lunches through the winter months. And cooking my favourite homemade granola makes the whole house smell heavenly. I think that's one of the things I love most about autumn cosiness: it isn't just something you see, it's something you smell, hear and feel.

In summer, our kitchen tends to be a place we pass through. We eat outside, throw together quick meals or BBQ and make the most of the lighter evenings. But once autumn arrives, cooking becomes part of the rhythm of the house again. The kitchen becomes somewhere to linger, hot chocolates get made for homework at the kitchen table and everyone seems to feel a little bit hungrier again.

Our harvest seems to find its way inside too. There are always pumpkins and squashes appearing in corners, baskets of vegetables waiting to be used and whatever else we've picked from the garden that day. I don't particularly want to hide all of it away in cupboards. I like seeing it. A bowl of apples on the kitchen table is both useful and decorative. A pile of pumpkins looks beautiful without any styling whatsoever. A bunch of flowers from the garden can make a room feel instantly happier even when the room itself is in desperate need of a good hoover.

This is probably why I don't feel the need to buy lots of specifically 'autumnal' decorations. Nature has already done a pretty good job.

The colours arriving outside are also inspiration for me: rusty oranges, deep greens, muddy pinks, faded yellows and those slightly unexpected combinations that I love so much when I'm screen printing. I find myself bringing those colours indoors without really thinking about it, through vegetables, flowers, pottery, textiles and the things that are simply being used every day.

I've realised that my favourite things in the kitchen at this time of year are the things that feel as though they have a story. Handmade bowls, slightly imperfect mugs, old serving dishes and pieces I've picked up over the years all suddenly come into their own when there is something warm and comforting to put in them.

I love displaying all the different-shaped tomatoes I have grown in colourful bowls before they get cooked. They become part of the kitchen for a few days before disappearing into a sauce or a salad. A big bowl of soup doesn't need much styling. Put it on the table in a beautiful, slightly wonky bowl with some good bread beside it and you've already created something that feels inviting.

When something is bubbling away on the Aga, there is a reason to wander in and check it. Someone will come looking for a taste. The pets are underfoot. The windows steam up. There might be a pile of vegetables waiting to be chopped and flowers from the garden taking up more space than they probably should on the table. It is lived in, rather than perfect.

Perhaps because we're all becoming increasingly conscious of how much everything costs, I am certainly feeling it every time I do a food shop and I do try and buy food thats in Season and on offer. There is something very satisfying about making a meal from things you've grown, turning a bag of apples into something that will last for several days, or making broth from bones that might otherwise have been thrown away. None of it feels like a compromise. In fact, it feels like quite the opposite.

The same goes for making the house feel cosy. I would much rather make it warmer with food, flowers, blankets, lamps and the things I already own than buy a whole new set of autumn accessories every September. Sometimes the cheapest way to make your home feel different is simply to use it differently.

Cook something slowly. Put flowers on the table. Bring the vegetables you've grown inside. Get out the pottery you've made or simply love. Light a candle.

I find once my children go back at school and the days start getting darker and chillier, I find myself wanting to bake more. I love knowing there is something warm and homemade waiting for them when they get home from school. It doesn't have to be anything complicated – apple, cinnamon and oat cookies (make the house smell so good), a quick and easy loaf cake, if I can sneak a vegetable into it, even better.

Beetroot brownies have been a particular success. I'm currently experimenting with courgette cake, although I should probably admit that this one has not gone down quite so well. Apparently there are limits to how many vegetables my children are prepared to accept in cake form. I'm not giving up yet.

Perhaps that's why I love this time of year so much. Autumn makes me want to cook, bake, grow, harvest and make the most of what we already have.

It makes me look at the things I've grown in the garden, the pottery I've collected or made, the colours outside and the slightly battered kitchen I'm lucky enough to have, and see them all a little differently and maybe that is what makes a home feel cosy in the first place.

Not having everything perfect, or buying something new every time the seasons change, but having a house that smells of something good cooking, flowers on the table, muddy vegetables waiting to be eaten, pets asleep by the Aga and children coming home hungry from school. For me, autumn is when our house really starts to feel like home as we settle into the longer darker evenings.

Content creator Lucy Kalice is one of Ideal Home's Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on cleaning, home decor and making the most of small spaces. See the rest of her articles here.

The secret to a clean home that no one tells you…but I will

Cleaning your home doesn’t have to take hours with these small and simple tips

I’ll admit it…keeping on top of the cleaning in a home is hard. Or at least I find it hard! It’s funny how it takes 2 seconds to make a home dirty but hours to clean it again. And finding the time to clean when you have a job, want to socialise, be a good partner or even just binge a TV programme can be tough.

So as someone that does find keeping on top of the cleaning hard, I’ve had to find ways to make it much more manageable. I now have systems in place that make it so easy to clean, I don’t feel like I spend much time cleaning at all. Which is perfect because it means I can spend more time doing things I enjoy (like reading a Sarah J Mass book with my red light face mask on – my dream evening!)

Without further ado, here are the little tips that will transform your home and your cleaning routine...

Cleaning caddies

My pet peeve used to be when I saw that my bedroom windows needed a clean but all the cleaning products were downstairs. Or when I noticed the landing light needed dusting but my duster was downstairs. Or when I saw the sink had toothpaste stuck on it and needed to be wiped. Because what would happen would be one of two things:

1) I’d go downstairs to get the necessary cleaning item, get distracted, forget why I was downstairs and then never get round to cleaning said thing.

2) Not be bothered to go downstairs to get the cleaning item in the first place so never get round to cleaning said thing. Either way, it wouldn’t get cleaned!

So the solution I found to fix this problem was to keep a cleaning caddie upstairs. I still have a fully stocked cleaning cupboard downstairs which is my go-to when I need to clean something there. But the upstairs cleaning caddie is a small basket with all the essentials - some anti bacterial wipes, a cloth, a duster, some white vinegar and a cleaning spray. That way whenever I see something upstairs that needs cleaning, I can clean it straight away because I have the tools to hand…genius I know.

I’d really recommend this to anyone because it does help you keep on top of the house. Convenience is key so by having easy access to the necessary cleaning tools you will clean more. We keep our cleaning caddie in our en-suite bathroom. You could also leave it in a wardrobe or a bathroom cupboard, whatever works for you!

Little and often

I used to do a big Sunday deep clean every week…a Sunday Reset as the internet likes to call it. Every single room would get cleaned from top to bottom and to be honest I thought that was normal. Especially because I grew up in a household where my mum was always cleaning. I assumed that’s what everyone did.

Maybe it is the norm for some people but if I’m honest, spending a whole day cleaning absolutely exhausts me and I don’t enjoy it at all. So when I used to force myself to do it every weekend I would absolutely dread it. A whole day of my weekend wasted cleaning the house? No thank you. So now I’ve stopped. I don’t do a big Sunday reset. I actually don’t spend more than an hour at a time cleaning my home.

Instead I’ve switched to a little and often approach that makes it all feel a lot more manageable. If I see something needs cleaning then I clean it there and then. If I see marks on the kitchen cupboards I wipe them off. If I see a shelf is looking dusty, I clean it. I know this sounds obvious but I think it can be so easy to let things build up until the big cleaning day because you think there’s no point doing it now, i’ll do it when I clean the house on Sunday. Then by the time Sunday rolls around you’ve got the longest list of jobs to do, it’ll take you hours and you’ll hate it.

Little and often fixes this issue and means a clean home is manageable.

Convenience is king after all and putting these two systems in place has changed the cleaning game for me. So simple yet so effective. Just like the Occams Razor theory – sometimes the simplest solutions are the answer.

Interior designer Natalie Jahangiry is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on decorating a home to suit a busy family life while sticking to your aesthetic values, too. See the rest of her articles here.

If you'd asked me a few years ago what type of carpet I'd choose for our home, I'd have answered 'wool' without even thinking about it.

I have always loved the texture and warmth that wool carpets bring to a space. Yes… they're more of an investment, but with bigger purchases like flooring it’s sometimes better to save and wait (I know, that’s hard to hear isn’t it?!) to get the right choice, rather than rush and end up having to replace it in the future. I never really imagined I'd be persuaded otherwise.

However, renovating a busy family home (with a 6 and 4 year old) has a funny way of making you rethink your priorities. Once you've lived through muddy footprints, split drinks, little hands covered in paint heading straight for the walls (eeek) and two cats treating the stairs like their own personal racetrack, practicality suddenly becomes just as important as the look! And I've been happy to discover that in recent years there have been some fantastic alternatives released to the market that give you the same cosy, considered feel, while being much kinder on the budget, all without feeling like you've compromised on style.

The funny thing is, I'm always encouraging our clients to make practical choices that suit the way they live, rather than getting too caught up in having the 'perfect' finish. I learnt this lesson in our kitchen reno, make it pretty but also practical… so, this time I decided it was about time I took my own advice.

When it came to replacing the carpets in our bedroom, landing and hallway, I found myself looking into materials that worked harder for what we needed. That’s when I found the Firefly carpet from Tapi and, if I'm honest, it completely changed my perception of what modern man-made carpets can be.

I never thought I'd choose a man-made carpet

The very chirpy Tapi floorologist (aka flooring expert) from our local branch came to visit our home and brought samples along with him. The first thing that surprised me about the range of man-made options available were how natural they looked. I think many of us still see synthetic carpets as shiny, hard and overly uniform, but that really isn't the case anymore.

I really liked the look of the Firefly carpet, so I went for this in the beige chevron option. It has a lovely textured loop pile that feels really soft on bare toes, while still feeling sturdy enough to withstand the mayhem in our household. It's made from 100% polypropylene, which makes it incredibly easy to look after (absolute winner!), and because it's designed for everyday family life, I don't find myself worrying every time the children linger on the stairs with a ‘quick snack’ or one of the cats decides to scratch around on the landing after breakfast.

This has probably been the biggest shift in my thinking, I used to believe choosing something practical carpet wise meant compromising on the look and feel, but this proved the opposite. The carpet feels warm and luxurious, yet it also gives me confidence that it can cope with the reality of family life. It’s only been down for a few weeks and has already been put to the test and passed with flying colours… believe me, it’s realllly been tested to the limits!!

Carpets that are fully man-made or a blend is something we've actually started recommending to our clients too, particularly for busy family homes and higher traffic areas. So many people assume they need to choose between a beautiful carpet and one that's practical, but thankfully that's no longer the case.

If you have children, pets or simply don't want to spend your time worrying about every single tiny mark, choosing a durable, stain resistant and easy-clean carpet that still has plenty of texture and softness makes so much sense.

The design decisions we often overlook

One thing I've learnt, both renovating our own home and working as an interior designer, is that carpet is often one of the most overlooked design decisions. We spend so many weeks agonising over other details like paint colours, lighting, tiles, furniture and accessories, yet the floor is one of the largest surfaces in a room and has such a huge impact on how the finished space feels.

Simply replacing our tired old carpet (which we hadn’t done since moving in!) instantly made our bedroom, landing and hallway feel so much fresher, brighter and more polished… and that’s before I'd even started adding all the finishing touches and styling the space.

Just like paint colours, carpet will look different in different lights, so if you're choosing a new carpet I'd always recommend ordering samples and looking at them in different positions throughout the day.

Think about who uses the room, how much traffic it gets and whether you want something that's going to be low maintenance in the long term. It's easy to be swayed by colour alone, but texture, durability and how the carpet feels underfoot are just as important.

Details that pulled everything together

We also decided to update the staircase at the same time, finishing it with a runner and black stair rods from Tapi. I have always been obsessed with stair rods, they are one of those details that elevates any hallway space without feeling overly fussy. I also really love how it plays into the character of our Victorian home, they work wonderfully to bring it all together.

Fresh carpet has completely transformed these spaces. The hallway and landing now have that lovely "just renovated" feeling, the bedroom feels warmer and ties in beautifully with the rest of the redesign I have been working on. These spaces finally feel finished.

Would I still choose a wool carpet everywhere? Probably not. This project has reminded me that firstly I should always take the advice I give my clients and secondly, it's always worth keeping an open mind when you're making these decisions.

The options you least expect often end up surprising you the most, and for a busy family home, finding something that's both beautiful and practical really is the best of both worlds.

Home decorator and content creator Leah Hodson is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on overhauling a home with clever DIY and decorating tricks. See the rest of her articles here.

My parents recently downsized to a modest 2 bedroom flat that they turned into a spacious 1 bedroom for them to enjoy in their retirement. They have spent the last 5 years reducing their possessions and actively working towards moving into their new home with only the essentials. Shockingly, storage is still an issue despite all they have done to prepare for living in a smaller flat – did I mention their new flat is also only half the size of the one that they raised me in?!

Therefore, whilst I’m in Singapore, they tasked me with helping find a solution to their storage dilemma. Of course, I’ve turned to IKEA furniture to increase their storage. Unfortunately I don’t have my normal tools with me and I have no idea where to go to buy building supplies so this hack has to be power tool free!

Problem 1: An Instagram hack might not suit your needs

Initially they were very drawn to the IKEA BILLY bookcase hack I made for my husband’s home office. But after figuring their needs and what they intend to use the extra storage for, storing books wasn’t something they were looking for.

BILLY bookcases are only 28cm deep so it really limits the type of things that can be stored in it – this made a wall to wall BILLY hack out of the question. However, BILLY bookcases are so versatile that I did not completely rule them out…

Problem 2: Working to tight measurement requirements

Looking around the room, I realised that adding storage to the opposite side would be the best way to hide the clutter. But that came with its own challenge: there was 120cm of available wall space on either side of the doorway. Essentially, I needed to create an IKEA hack that would make the best use of space without looking too bulky flanking both sides of the doorway.

Another measurement that is often limiting is the ceiling height. Oftentimes, IKEA units don’t stand very tall and often stop before the ceiling. However with a clever mix of 2 IKEA units or extenders you will be able to bring the storage units as close to the ceiling as possible. For my IKEA BILLY hack, I used BILLY bookcase extenders to bring the units as close to the ceiling as possible.

Problem 3: Cabinets vs drawers

Everyone assumes having cabinets means more storage. That’s not often the case – how often do we have things at the back of the cabinet that we have not thought about in the last couple years? I know I have one of those cabinets at home!

So I asked my parents the most important question: “Can you be bothered to rummage at the back of the cabinets for things you need?” Their answer was a resounding no and this helped me with the decision of cabinets or drawers.

The solution

After hours of researching and trawling through IKEA’s website, I finally found the perfect combination for their needs – GULLABERG drawers as a base and BILLY bookcases for the top. What I’m really proud of is that this mix of units is only a couple millimetres short of the ceiling!

I'm really proud of thinking of turning the BILLY bookcase upside down and using the kickboard that was meant to be at the bottom as a feature on the top! I also managed to get some scallop trims online which will be a nice feature at the top – I’m still patiently waiting for them to arrive. The best part of this IKEA hack is that it was all done without any power tools!

Sometimes when you see an IKEA hack online, it might not always work for your home. This is when you need to step in and do your own research.

With a sprinkling of creativity and after remembering to measure (twice!), you will be able to easily create your own bespoke storage without the hefty carpentry price tag!

Amanda Jones is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on sustainable living and decorating a home in way that is good for the environment. See the rest of her articles here.

As a passionate gardener, the autumn has always been a time for me to reflect on the growing year. To look at what has worked well and implement any changes in the following year. I garden following permaculture methods. One of the principles of permaculture, is ‘observe and interact’. Observation causes us to pause, which I feel, ensures we make the best decisions.

This summer has been brutal. The relentless heat and drought have taken its toll on garden, and gardener. This year has been the hottest, driest I’ve ever known, and that is said from a child who played through the summer of 1976. This summer has also taught me about what our future summers could be like, as the climate crisis unfolds.

Scientists are telling us that the growing ‘El Nino’ is the most significant one in recorded history and warning us that next year could potentially be hotter, and drier than this. Autumn and winter could also be wetter than usual, if that is the case, then I’m going to have to make some changes in how I garden. My observations from this year, need to inform future years.

1. Water harvesting

What I thought to be a ‘good enough’ rainwater supply, ran out far too quickly. I have 3 large water butts, and 4 large bins I store rainwater in. Usually these keep me ticking over, however by mid-July, they had all run dry, except for the one I use to top up my little pond. I believe there will be an increasing pressure, to learn to how to harvest more rainwater. We live a country that has a lot of rainfall, we really should not be in drought over the summer.

As a nation, with our changing climate, our winters are more likely to be wetter than before, we need to learn to adapt, and quickly. Rainwater capture also helps prevent flooding and provides resilience towards future droughts. Whilst I can’t change what governments do, I can try and increase my own water supply, I just need to work out the best way to do this.

2. More polycultures

Like so many of us, I lost some crops, some plants really struggled, whilst some thrived. I have 12 raised beds in my garden, and most of them are now polycultures, a mixed way of growing food and flowers, that is beneficial environment for them.

The larger plants shaded and protected the smaller plants. There was a kind of symbiosis going on, the plants were helping each other in ways I couldn’t see.

3. More shade

Several crops fried, especially those with tender leaves. I really need to introduce more shade, through intercropping plants, like in polycultures, but also by introducing some shade cloth too.

This winter I’ll be looking into what type of shading is best, what is the most effective way to use it in the garden and making sure I’ve bought some before the heat of next summer.

4. More food forest

One area that coped surprisingly well was my small food forest. I have 4 fruit trees, surrounded by a guild of supporting plants, some edible, some beneficial to pollinators, some good for soil health. The plants have supported one another, and the trees have offered much needed shade.

I will be looking at introducing more edible crops into these guilds over this next year. The shading of the trees also cooled that part of the garden too, which was lovely.

5. More mulch

Providing any bare soil with a good layer of mulch is essential in dry, hot weather. It stops the soil heating up, eroding away, and retains what precious moisture the soil already has.

I use homemade compost, leaves and bark as mulch, but one of my favourite methods is ‘chop and drop’. This is a permaculture practice that essentially mimics nature. When you prune a plant, or deadhead a flower, instead of removing the detritus to the compost bin, you simply chop it up and put it directly onto the ground surrounding the plant. So much easier, and time effective than normal composting methods.

6. More diversity

Wildlife and biodiversity are at the heart of how I garden. This summer, I’ve been even more mindful of the creatures and plants that share my garden with me. I’ve ensured that there are plenty of watering stations around the garden for insects, birds and the mammals that need them, topping up daily. Our small pond has been vital to the frogs and toads.

Earlier in the year I stopped feeding the birds, on the advice of the RSPB, as viruses are often transmitted through birdfeeders. This makes it even more important we cultivate plants, (and insects) that feed our birds. Autumn has come very early this year; due to the stress the plants have experienced by the drought. I’m concerned the fruits and berries, that usually sustain them over winter won’t be available when the birds need them most in the depth of winter. I need to ensure I put more plants in the garden that are a natural food for birds, so they rely less on birdfeeders.

The climate is changing, and it’s destabilising our weather, patterns that we have relied on for millennia are no longer guaranteed. The old methods of gardening may not be fit for purpose, in our new unpredictable future. We are all going to need to adapt, and quickly.

Imagine a world where EVERY garden, supports wildlife, encourages biodiversity. Imagine a world where EVERY garden, had rich life-giving soil, that that locks in carbon. Imagine a world where EVERY garden has trees to absorb the heat, provide shade, and cools the environment. Just imagine how different things could be.

Home decorator and content creator Grace H is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on colourful home design, mixing vintage pieces with new and making personality-filled spaces. See the rest of her articles here.

When we think about adding those finishing touches to a room, our minds tend to go to the usual suspects: cushions, curtains, maybe a lampshade or two. And while I’m certainly not about to suggest we abandon a good patterned cushion (I wouldn’t dream of it!), there are so many other, often overlooked, ways to bring pattern into a room.

One of my favourite things to do is have a quick scroll through an interior designer’s Instagram page (something I do far too regularly) and look at the less obvious ways they’ve introduced colour, pattern and texture. Sometimes the most effective way to use pattern is to put it somewhere you wouldn’t normally think to look.

1. The trusty upholstered stool

We have two upholstered stools in our house and they’re some of the hardest-working pieces of furniture we own. There’s one by the front door for putting shoes on and another in the bedroom which is primarily a very expensive dumping ground for my other half’s gym wear.

I’m planning to add more and am currently on the hunt for the perfect fabric so I can have two more made for our living room to sit behind our ottoman. I love that they’ll help to close in the space and create more of a defined seating area, rather than having the TV be the focal point of the room.

The other great thing about an upholstered stool is that it can be moved around. Need extra seating when guests come over? Easy. Pull up a pew!

They’re also a brilliant opportunity to use a fabric that might feel like too much of an investment for a larger piece of furniture. You only need around a metre of fabric, so this is one place where I’d say push the boat out by splurging on the fabric you have been lusting over!

2. Draft excluders and door stops

I appreciate that a draft excluder is not the first thing that springs to mind when you think about decorating with pattern but hear me out…

They may be small, but I honestly think adding pattern in any form is worth considering, particularly when it’s something you use every day. We have two draft excluders downstairs where there’s often a bit of a chill in the air, and I love that they’re such an easy win. They introduce pattern and texture in a complementary colour but they’re also genuinely useful when winter rolls around. That’s something I always look for when decorating: can the pretty thing also earn its keep?

A patterned door stop works in exactly the same way. It’s tiny, but it’s another opportunity to introduce a fabric, colour or print without having to commit to an entire piece of furniture.

3. Wall hangings

I love seeing textiles used in unexpected ways and putting them on a wall is one of my favourite ways to add pattern. Large-scale artwork can be expensive, whereas a beautiful textile can often create just as much impact for less. It also brings something that a framed print can’t always offer: texture.

Take the beautiful wall hanging in the cover image from Tess, aka @tessfwa.home, as the perfect example. It immediately draws your eye and adds pattern without making the room feel overloaded. Shout out to this excellent wallpaper choice too!

Clearly a fan of a wall hanging (I can see why!), Tess also introduced pattern and texture to her previous landing in one fell swoop. I love that unexpected pop of red against the blue stairs.

And you don’t necessarily need to go out and buy something specifically labelled a “wall hanging”. Vintage flatweave rugs, scarves, tapestries and even beautiful pieces of fabric can all work beautifully.

4. Furniture

Who says sofas, ottomans and chairs have to be plain? Often with an investment piece it can be tempting to play it safe and opt for a neutral but there are other options. Patterned furniture can be a little harder to find off the shelf, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Going bespoke means you can be more considered about the piece you introduce and if you’re going to make a statement, you may as well make it a good one.

Having my ottoman made in a bespoke fabric is honestly one of my favourite investment purchases (there's not a day that passes where someone on Instagram doesn’t ask where it’s from). I often refer to it as the hero piece in our room and choosing a fabric I absolutely love has made it feel much more special than an off-the shelf number ever could.

So why not commission a piece of furniture in a standout fabric? Take the new Amelia trundle storage ottoman from The House Upstairs as an example. This new design is practical, but there’s nothing boring about it. Can we also take a moment for all the delicious use of pattern in this room.

If going totally bespoke takes up too much headspace, there are plenty of brands that are getting in on the action when it comes to patterned sofas now. I’m still lusting after a patterned sofa myself and stumbled on a gorgeous vintage-inspired floral number from Sofas & Stuff that is pretty much perfection.

The trick with a big, patterned piece is not to make everything else compete with it. Mix it with some quieter, plain fabrics (OK, and maybe a beloved stripe) and let the hero piece do the talking.

5. The fireplace fender

Possibly my favourite, and certainly one of the most overlooked, ways to introduce pattern is a club fender – the upholstered seating that sits around the base of a fireplace.

I’ve been scouring eBay for YEARS to no avail, but I find them so chic and timeless and will happily wait for the right one to appear. It’s all just a matter of time...

I romanticise the idea of perching on one, with a glass of wine in hand while hosting friends, although realistically we all know it would probably become reserved for her MAGesty – Maggie, our ginger cat who rules the roost around here.

The image that lives rent-free in my mind when it comes to fireplace fenders is this contemporary version by interior designer Georgie Wykeham. It’s a brilliant alternative to the traditional brass versions you often see, with a painted bobbin frame paired with the most perfect pink and white fabric.

If you’re wanting the ease of buying online, the Gaia Chindi Fender from Graham & Green is a great contender. Patterned enough to create impact but subtle enough that it will go with many other patterns in a space.

Rather than introducing yet another cushion or curtain, the fender brings pattern in at a completely different level.

Look beyond the obvious

I’m certainly not suggesting that cushions and curtains are off the table. They’re classics for a reason but if you feel as though you’ve exhausted the obvious places to introduce pattern, look down, look up and look at the things you might normally overlook.

A stool. A draft excluder. A piece of fabric on the wall. A sofa. Even the furniture around your fireplace. Pattern doesn’t have to be everywhere to make an impact. Sometimes unexpected hits of it are enough to make an otherwise ordinary room feel much more interesting.

And, perhaps most importantly, you don’t need to match everything. In fact, please don’t. The best patterned rooms, in my opinion, are the ones where you can’t quite work out how everything goes together – it just does. That’s the fun of it.

Strategist and content creator Francesca Swan is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on the concept of 'Everything' and what makes a home special to you. See the rest of her articles here.

If you regularly frequent this little corner of the internet (thank you and welcome back!), you will already be well versed in my Everything design philosophy. If you’re new here, you’re also very welcome – in fact, you’ve arrived at a very good time.

I am passionate about creating moments of beautiful connection in our homes that submerge us richly and deeply. For a second, that feeling is Everything, all that exists – the antithesis of nothing. These moments matter, because our noisy world becomes still and we feel present and grounded.

I devised the Everything Test to help me join the dots between this ephemeral holy grail and how I design my home. I’m relatively new to interiors and often struggle to define my style. I hoped that by properly investigating why I repeatedly choose and love certain things, some clear guiding principles would emerge. In turn, this might make my ever-flighty creative muse more reliable, reducing costly, time-consuming mistakes in the long run.

The question 'Do I like this?' (often a changeable answer on any given day) is replaced by something simpler and easier; "Does this belong in my story?".

Having ventured down this rabbit hole, I then began to wonder how the Everything Test actually worked in real life. It’s all well and good doing it myself, but would it hold up and deliver under the scrutiny of others?

I embarked upon some highly scientific (ahem) research and inveigled a crack team of wonderful creators whose diverse homes I hugely admire, to complete the Test and share their findings with me.

A huge thank you to these infinitely generous and talented creatives who contributed to bring this to life. So much life in fact, this is Part One of Two!

Stepping up to bat this week: Helen, Natasha, Tess and Laurie.

The 'Everything Test' in a nutshell

Firstly and very importantly, several commented how much they enjoyed doing it. Which, in truth, made my day, because this shouldn’t feel like homework – it should be fun!

Doing the Test is simple. You can find the full version here, but in a nutshell: walk slowly around your home and consciously use all your senses to pick five to eight special pieces that instinctively spark your Everything feeling.

Ask of each piece: What does it make me feel? Why do I own this? What story does it tell? Would I choose it again? What does it reveal about me?

Look for the themes: stories, memories, colours, shapes, materials, texture, provenance, craft, humour, nostalgia, practicality, people, places, values.

Then ask what they reveal about your personality, experiences, how you want your home to feel and the decisions you make. The answers begin to form your Everything design language.

One test, four very different homes

The homes featured could not look more different. Natasha’s graphic, eclectic and colour-confident; Tess’s period home punctuated by marble and art; Laurie’s restoration warm and quietly considered; Helen’s layered with vintage, pattern and colour.

So, what happened when they stopped describing their style and started digging to find what lay beneath it?

1. Helen Somers

Helen describes herself as 'a lover of colour, pattern, vintage and heritage. Decor can be slightly excessive but absolutely no beige'. Her experience with the Test gave me some very positive early news:

'This has been very enlightening – goodness, you’ve got me thinking. So much so, I actually did it twice!

'I always say my style is lots of colour and pattern. I still think that’s true, but I’m also shocked at just how much vintage and natural wood I have.

'I love the idea that homes and furnishings have history, which also explains my love of one-off pieces that feel unmistakably ours. My living room display cabinet and its handcrafted detailing. The touch and smell of an Edwardian sideboard in the hall. My brassy and sassy cinema chairs living their best life. All these pieces have a unique story and character.

'Red is everywhere – it’s so joyful and lifts my mood.

'Texture and natural materials are important – silk, wool, cotton, glass, marble and wood. I’m very tactile and far more interested in how a home feels, than creating a showroom. I want my home and guests to feel comfortable, so a slightly scuffed velvet cushion is most welcome.

'After my first take on the Test, I later also realised how happy my marble fireplace makes me. It was reclaimed from a stately home being demolished and we have given it a new home, so it lives to fight another day. I love touching and appreciating the chips, wondering who else has done the same over the years. It’s definitely part of my Everything; made from a natural material, pattern in the marble AND a pop of red with the William de Morgan tiles I adore.

'I’m very drawn to pattern; I find it soothing and joyful. I was initially surprised that some of my choices were “plain” wood, however I’ve re-examined them and each piece has pattern – inlay on the glass cabinet, the shape and form of my classic Ercol table.

'Then I realised how little "new" mass-produced stuff I have. I bitterly regret our built-in wardrobes. We do have modern kitchen cabinets, as a compromise with my husband who likes a more contemporary look, however I then added a vintage display cabinet to soften and age the space.

'I’m also more aligned to durability than I initially thought. I grew up in a make-do-and-mend family; we never threw things out if they still had purpose and I’ve inherited these values. I’d rather source crockery and cutlery from vintage outlets than the high street.

'Now knowing how fundamental the vintage/mismatched/layered approach is for me, I don’t think I’ll rush decisions like fitted furniture again. I love the idea of repurposing and giving furniture new life. Perhaps that’s why I’m enjoying my upholstery course so much?!”'

For Helen, taking the time to let her findings settle, then revealed something deeper and more meaningful she hadn’t consciously realised before.

I admire how she applies her wonderful eye for design by using vintage to balance her husband's taste for modern. A useful practical example of two styles living harmoniously together under one roof.

2. Natasha Landers

Natasha wears many hats (literally!): interior designer, gallery owner, curator and location homeowner. Her favourite phrases are 'there is never too much art' and 'shop from home'. She’s a big fan of slow renos, which she’s applied to her home of 26 years.

Natasha's response was short and confident – she is an experienced interiors and creative professional, and it shows.

'My home is highly curated and everything has been picked with a curator’s eye. Each piece is intentional and has attached meaning, as if its own story. As much as aesthetics are important to me, the stories I associate with these things are what makes it feel like my home.

'A piece of art called “don’t touch my hair”, because as a black woman I navigate a world where I have to stop white people seeing my hair as a curiosity that they can touch without permission.

'My mid-century coffee table bought from a house clearance sale. The woman selling it used to play cards and do jigsaws with her brother as a child.

'The yellow wall organiser in my kitchen, which is the perfect balance of design and practicality. My green velvet sofa in my living room, designed to my specification and reflecting my personality (also my favourite colour).

'I wasn’t surprised by the findings, as I create my home wearing my interior design hat. This means I consciously think about the stories my pieces tell, along with their curation and how they align with my values.

'This is a great test for anyone trying to find the important elements that create a unique home. It simply reaffirmed how much my home reflects me and my design style: colour, upcycling, eclectic and rebellious.'

That point matters. Natasha naturally has a wider design vocabulary and an established way of interrogating taste, because it's literally her job. For many of us – faced with too much choice, too many tabs open, too much Pinterest – the real question is often just: where on earth do I even start?

3. Tess Atkinson

Tess is a recent London leaver, now renovating her Georgian home in the countryside whilst raising her two girls. She pens a Substack called The Lost & Found Club and her findings were a particularly delightful read.

'It’s nice to notice an element of madness and fun. My chosen things literally do spark joy, trigger memories and make me happy.

'A chrome crown fruit bowl – a total bonkers piece that everyone should have. My “Jane Fonda Workout” book makes me smile so much. I love her and this book is so stunningly of its time, reminding me of simple pleasures. The Beata Heuman bow handles on my wardrobe drawers are also very pleasing to me; they feel special to use and their shape is a fun way to elevate the room.

'A Ren Condry painting of very glitzy ladies in our living room, which we first fell for in a gallery when I’d tagged along with my husband’s work trip. Unbeknownst to me, he then bought it for my birthday, hiding it under our bed for weeks before he gave it to me.

'The gorgeously bright Alicante Rosso marble in our en-suite and the detail on the vanity turned the room from a beige box into a beautiful jewel.

'My number one vintage find: a Constance Spry vase from Fulham Pottery. When we viewed our home, I pictured this exact vase on the living room mantlepiece, so when I found one for an embarrassingly low price, it felt like I’d struck gold. My heart was racing and I was sweating a little, as you do only when you find amazing vintage. I remember that every time I look at it.

'I am surprised that my favourites were the mad pieces – perhaps my style is a little more eccentric than I’d given myself credit for? I was trying to be chic and pick classics, but if I’m being true to myself, it is the silly things that draw me in. I’m encouraged to lean more into the fun elements of design, which then sit alongside practicalities.

'Perhaps they also reveal a commitment to quality products, good materials and to not take things too seriously, which is exactly how I want people to read my home. It’s a grand space, with gorgeous original features, but we are a young family who like to live life fully, which you can see in these pieces and their meaning.

'Some of my items are decades old, whereas others are newer, but importantly, all of them will now stay with me for life. I don't want a home that lasts just one season – I want it to work and evolve over a lifetime. My pieces also aren't space-specific; they could, and likely will, move around and that's exciting. I love shopping my own home!

'It’s also reminded me that Rome wasn’t built in a day and it’s more fun to slowly find pieces with meaning than buy something because ‘we need a rug in that spot’. Sometimes we should let the right piece find us and make a home for it.

'It proves to me there just isn’t a one-size-fits-all interior design ethos. A home simply must have pieces with stories and nuance, or you’re entering catalogue territory.'

Interesting…slow considered shopping, fun and not taking it too seriously, not to mention more stories and meaning. Also, top marks to Tess’s husband for such a marvellous birthday present.

4. Laurie Morgan

Laurie is the creator of Bricks & Boughs, documenting the restoration of her Victorian country home in the Surrey countryside. With a background in home and interiors, she takes a considered, instinctive approach to creating spaces that feel lived in, layered and full of character.

'I adore my old farmhouse kitchen table. I wish I could say it’s been in our family for generations, but it was a Facebook Marketplace find. It carries the marks of a long life, and I love to think about all the people who have sat and shared meals around it, making memories over the years. There’s something special about giving a piece with so much history a new chapter.

'I fell in love with the George Nelson Apple Bubble Light whilst working at Heal’s during university and thought how wonderful it would be to eventually own one. Years later, when we bought our first home, it was one of the first pieces I invested in and it’s been with me ever since. It’s a design classic, but to me it represents the beginning of my interiors career and those early days on the shop floor, where much of my love for design started.

'I thought my least favourite colour was probably yellow. But some colours simply speak to you and I could instantly picture Butter BH by Mylands London in our family bathroom. The way the light moved and the warmth of the yellow against the raw terracotta floor just felt right.

'A collage artwork my mum made for my daughter’s first birthday is incredibly special to me and the story behind it makes it even more meaningful. My mum suffers from rheumatoid arthritis in her hands and can barely hold a coffee cup, yet over a year she painstakingly cut out hundreds of tiny pictures and assembled the most beautiful and thoughtful piece of art I will ever own.

'When selecting fixtures and fittings for our restoration, it was important to create a sense of continuity, so I’ve used Corston Architectural throughout. From kitchen handles and light switches to wardrobe hardware, the consistent narrative of these subtle yet thoughtful details quietly brings the whole house together.

'I’ve noticed that what I choose to surround myself with hasn’t appeared overnight and is a considered blend of the new, the old and the storied. In the end, I’m drawn to things that feel they belong rather than simply fill a space.

'As much as I love perfect homes in magazines, I want our family and friends to feel they can relax here and for our home to be lived in and enjoyed. If a glass of red wine leaves a stain on the kitchen table, then so be it. We’ll always remember the good time we had.

'I would now describe my interior style less through aesthetics; what drives my design process is actually creating experiences and, ultimately, memories. Of course I care about how things look, but I’m more interested in how a space makes you feel and what you touch, hear and smell. You might not consciously notice these small sensory details, but they make a house feel like home.

'It’s reconfirmed for me that to create a space that works for you, you should always trust your instincts.'

Laurie’s findings are different, but also the same in many ways. It’s clear that slow design, even more stories and memories, are recurring themes alongside the importance of comfort and experience.

So, did the test actually work?

Encouragingly (and much to my relief!), everyone discovered something useful, whether new or simply reaffirming something they already knew. The Test helped to both confirm and uncover. It clarified something unconscious or half-formed, with either a lightning-bolt realisation or a slow revelation.

Ultimately, it’s not just about the very different things in these homes – the main takeaway is the stories they hold and our relationship with them. Values, memory, identity, sensory experience, instinct, humour and plain old joy all matter equally. Things that stand the test of time, small yet vital details, along with unique vintage and personal treasures, also get the seal of approval.

What is your 'Everything' made of?

My hope is simply that the Everything Test gives you a fun starting point to understand your own style, trust your instincts and help future-proof your design decisions against the algorithm.

Perhaps you can then experiment more freely and confidently, knowing you’re more likely to make lasting choices and create a cohesive, meaningful and personal home that grows slowly with you?

Maybe try it as a couple or family to discover the shared ground uniting your design languages under one roof, rather than shoehorning everybody into one?

As I write this, I’ve also been reflecting on whether my own Everything Test findings were too broad. I'm relatively new to interiors and often overly conscious of what people think of me and my home. Did I perhaps unconsciously lean to what I thought people wanted to hear rather than the truest possible answer?

It's very easy to drift towards what's deemed tasteful, rather than what may be unglamorously true. This Test is intended to be an antidote to exactly that. The answers may be funny. Odd. Universally tasteless, even. None of that matters. What’s important is it’s true to you, and you alone.

But we are only halfway through. Do the same threads of story, memory and attachment show up in the next chapter? Does the professional versus non-professional gap hold? Or does the second group complicate everything I think I've just learned? And what happens if I sit down and redo my own Test?

In the meantime, have at it! Pick your five to eight pieces and ask yourself why. What's your Everything actually made of? Tag me with your findings – I’m fascinated to see what you discover.

Part Two is coming… stay tuned!

Home decorator Ammarah Hasham is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts infusing her rental house with plenty of personality. See the rest of her articles here.

The past few weeks have mostly been spent refilling ice trays on repeat and hunting for birthday presents for an offspring who, by the way, has reached the stage where birthday lists come with very precise links. These days, I am far more aware of hair products, skincare launches, and mascara prices than I ever expected to be. I was also recently told that it would be a really good idea to have a bathroom mirror with a built-in Bluetooth speaker. I am in alien territory here. I am not that cool.

I do, however, feel pretty smug when I come up with ideas such as using self-adhesive floor tiles on the walls (yes, you read that right), a trick I previously shared in my family bathroom makeover. I think that is probably more my area of expertise. I remember promising to share how I attached the wall sconces beside the mirror without drilling a single hole. So here we are.

The makeover dates back to 2021 and, rather reassuringly, both the tiles and the light fixtures are still in place. But before we get into the lights, you can hop over to my original bathroom makeover and see the full before-and-after here, which will make the next part easier to follow.

Finding the lights

I found these LILLHOLMEN wall sconces in IKEA’s As-Is section, which is somewhere I always check before wandering around the rest of the store.

These lights were actually discounted display items and I was lucky enough to find two for around £7.50 each. I had been looking for something sleek and timeless for the bathroom, and I also liked the fact that they came with easy-to-clean glass globes.

Creating a no-drill mount

First, I dismantled each light fitting.

Next, I cut a small piece of wood to fit inside the recessed area at the back of each light. It needed to be thick enough to fill the space and sturdy enough to take the screws. The idea was for the screws to pass through the existing holes in the fitting (the gold part) and into the wooden block, creating a solid mounting point.

However, as luck would have it, somewhere between all our enthusiasm and improvisation, we managed to lose the screws. To this day, I remain fully convinced that I had nothing to do with it. Anyway, I found our stash of regular screws that looked fit for the job. The only problem was, they were silver.

The wooden blocks were screwed into place and the mounts were ready. Don’t worry, that silver didn’t stay silver for long.

Attaching the wall sconces

This part needed patience…I applied a generous amount of No More Nails to the back of the wooden block, following the instructions, and pressed the light fitting into position beside the mirror. I taped them firmly in place using a heavy-duty duct tape.

I was still slightly nervous about the whole assembly staying put, so I added Gorilla Glue around the areas where the fittings met the vinyl tiles to give everything a firmer hold. Gorilla Glue expands slightly as it cures, which actually worked in my favour and helped secure the light fittings more tightly in place.

A small prayer was sent and everything was left alone for the next 24 hours or so. Looking back, I probably could’ve used Gorilla Glue from the beginning. But DIY projects are often a bit of trial and error.

Turning them into cordless lights

Once everything had fully cured, I carefully removed the duct tape. Since wiring them wasn’t an option, I added self-adhesive, battery-operated puck lights inside the globes. They are basically small wireless LED lights that run on batteries and can be switched on with a tap or remote, so no electrical wiring is needed.

This meant I could still get that soft ambient light effect without drilling into the tiles or touching the electrics. For a rented bathroom, where drilling into the tiles was a complete no-go, this felt like a pretty good solution.

What would I do differently

If you’re thinking about trying something similar, I would keep the light fixtures as lightweight as possible. I would also choose a light fitting that made changing the puck lights easier. Although the glass globes looked lovely, they proved a little fiddly to remove, so over time the sconces became more of an ambient feature than a practical everyday light. In hindsight, rattan or fabric shades might have been a better option.

I would also keep a more vigilant eye on the screws. Having to colour my replacements with a Sharpie to vaguely match the gold fitting was not exactly part of my plan, but in the end it worked just fine.

Considering I was half expecting one of the sconces to make a dramatic descent into the sink at some point, the fact that they are both still here five years later feels like quite the result. For a completely improvised DIY experiment, happy to call this one an aesthetic success.

A quick note

Although this little hack has worked well in my bathroom, please always check the manufacturer's guidance on weight limits and suitable surfaces before trying something similar, especially with glass fittings.

Adhesive performance can vary depending on the surface, the weight of the fittings and the conditions of the room. And just to be clear, I applied the adhesive only to the removable tiles, not directly to the original tiles in my rental.

As you were.

Home decorator Lara Winter is one of Ideal Home's Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on revamping a 200 year old cottage to make it right for modern family life. See the rest of her articles here.

I used to think decorating meant tackling a whole room. Choose the paint, find the furniture, hang the art, sort the lighting and somehow make everything work together. Easy.

Except sometimes it really isn’t. The more I looked at a room as one big project, the more overwhelmed I felt by everything that wasn’t quite working. So, almost accidentally, I started doing the opposite: ignoring most of the room and concentrating on one corner at a time.

And weirdly, that’s when everything started falling into place.

Start with a corner you’ll actually use

One of my favourite spots in our living room is ridiculously simple: an armchair, a small marble-topped table and our green drinks cabinet. That’s basically it. But the chair swivels around to look straight out into the garden, which makes it somewhere I genuinely want to sit, rather than just furniture arranged to look nice.

That’s probably my first rule for a good corner: think about what you’ll actually do there. Where will your cup of tea go? Is there somewhere for a book? What will you look at when you sit down? Sometimes moving a chair by half a metre does more for a room than buying anything new.

Don’t overlook the really tiny corners

Not every corner needs an armchair and a perfectly positioned lamp. One of the smallest areas I’ve deliberately decorated is our kettle corner.

Our thrifted kitchen cabinet holds all our mugs and glasses, so the kettle naturally lives beside it. I hung a tiny piece of art by Lucy from Kitchen Corner Gallery on the side of the cabinet, just above the kettle, and added a little hen-shaped teaspoon holder. That’s it. Cute and practical.

I make tea approximately 700 times a week, so why shouldn’t that tiny bit of kitchen make me happy? We tend to focus our decorating energy on the big views of a room, but sometimes it’s the little places you use every single day that deserve it most.

If a whole room overwhelms you, shrink the job

Our dining room is a walk-through room and the first room you enter when you come into our home. For ages it bothered me. There are lots of doorways, people constantly walk through it and whenever I thought about “doing the dining room”, I couldn’t work out where to start.

So I stopped trying to solve the whole room and focused on the dining nook instead. We built the DIY banquette, added a good table, put down a beautiful Neptune rug and painted the shelf above in Firebrick Red, one of my favourite colours. Done.

And somehow, once that area felt intentional, the rest of the room stopped bothering me. My eye had somewhere to land and the whole space suddenly made more sense. Now it’s one of my favourite rooms in the house.

Shop your house before you shop the shops

Before buying anything for a corner, I always think it’s worth moving things around. Steal the lamp from upstairs. Try the little table that isn’t doing much in another room. Move some art. You’d be surprised how different something can look simply because you’ve stopped seeing it in the same place every day.

Corners are brilliant for this because you’re not committing to an entire new scheme. A chair, lamp, table and picture you already own might be all you need.

Know when to stop

This might be the hardest bit. Once one corner looks good, you don’t immediately have to “finish” everything around it.

Rooms can evolve slowly. In fact, I think mine usually end up better that way. Make one bit work, live with it and then see what starts bothering you next.

The internet would have us believe rooms are transformed over a weekend. Mine tend to improve one little corner and one inexplicably long DIY project at a time.

Turns out, looking at less of a room has helped me like the whole thing a lot more.

Committed home renovators David and Andrew Harrison-Colley (better known on Instagram as The Home Boys) are part of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing their thoughts on making a home together and living through the tricky parts. See the rest of their articles here.

Every breakage, delay and awkward layout at Owls Cottage has taught us something about our own home – because a house that has to work for strangers can't hide behind good intentions.

Changeover day at Owls Cottage always starts with the same walk-through: strip the beds, check the bins, count the wine glasses. Last month we got to six out of eight and stopped counting. We didn't need to see the pieces in the recycling to know what had happened. We just walked to the garage, opened a box, and put out two more.

Owls Cottage sits next door to our own cottage, and for the last few years it's paid its way as a holiday-let while we've worked on the house we actually live in. Same postcode, same taste, completely different brief. Our own home only has to survive us. Owls Cottage has to survive whoever's booked it that week – and unlike us, they've never been told which floorboard creaks or which tap needs a firm hand.

That's the real difference, and it's taught us more than we expected. A well-designed room shouldn't need its quirks explained to you. Every choice we've made at Owls Cottage has had to hold up without us standing next to it, translating.

Lesson one: replaceable doesn't have to mean disposable

The wine glasses that came with the cottage originally were a fairly delicate, matching set – the kind you'd choose for your own dinner table without thinking twice. They didn't last. After replacing a few, we gave up on matching altogether and switched to vintage cut-glass instead.

It turns out our local charity shops are full of the stuff – heavy, faceted, no two quite the same, usually 50p to £1 a glass. We pick up little hauls whenever we spot a good one and keep the spares in the garage, which now contains what is probably an unnecessarily well-stocked emergency wine-glass department. When one breaks, we swap in a replacement from the box, and nobody notices it wasn't part of the original set – because there never really was an "original set" worth being precious about.

The glasses look better than the ones they replaced. They also cost less than a pound to replace instead of a tenner and a wait for delivery. We hadn't expected those two things to line up quite so neatly.

Lesson two: the least disruptive option can still be the durable one

The cottage bathroom came with grey patterned wall tiles that had dated badly, though they were still stuck fast to the wall. Pulling them off would have meant a much bigger job than we could risk – tiles that well-attached tend to take plaster with them on the way out, and we didn't have an open-ended timeline to deal with it if they did.

We considered painting over them, but weren't convinced a painted finish would hold up to daily use in a bathroom we wouldn't be keeping a constant eye on. Because the existing tiles were sound and firmly bonded, we used Kerakoll Keragrip Eco, a primer that rolls onto suitable existing tiles and creates a key for the new adhesive to bond to. It only works over a stable base – you're not skipping the prep, you're skipping the demolition. That meant no risk to the plaster underneath, and a job we could finish in the gap between bookings. We found green zellige tiles heavily reduced at the Topps Tiles Outlet and tiled straight over the old grey ones.

It's not really a holiday-cottage problem. Anyone with a bathroom they can't take out of action for a fortnight – which is most people, most of the time - is weighing the same thing: the most correct fix against the one that actually gets finished on time. We liked the result so much that when it came to our own main bathroom, we used the same zellige tiles again.

Having already lived with them at the cottage, we knew exactly what we were getting into our own home, instead of guessing from a sample tile.

Lesson three: build in flexibility before you need it

The second bedroom at the cottage has two single beds that get reconfigured most weeks – twins for one booking, pushed together into a super-king for the next, depending on who's staying. Two separate headboards would never have read as one piece once the beds were joined, and unless they were fixed to the beds themselves, they'd have been genuinely clunky to shift every changeover.

So we built one padded headboard that spans the full width of the wall instead. MDF panels cut to size at our local B&Q, upholstered in fabric from a local fabric shop, foam and spray adhesive bought online to keep the cost down – nowhere near what a custom-built version would have cost. It's hung on a French cleat, so in theory it lifts straight off if it ever needs recovering or repairing. We haven't had to test that part yet, but with beds changing over weekly, it was never going to be a headboard we could afford to make fiddly.

Whichever way the beds are arranged, the wall itself effectively becomes the headboard. It's a small bit of joinery, but it's changed how we think about our own bedroom too – we're planning something similar there once we finally get round to finishing it, useful for any room that has to earn its keep two different ways, not just a guest room booked by strangers.

Designing for the unfamiliar

None of this came from working only on our own house. When it's just the two of us living somewhere, a mistake is an inconvenience – an ugly tile, a job we'll get round to eventually.

At the cottage, the same mistake shows up on someone else's holiday. That's forced us to design for people who don't know the house's quirks, which turns out to be a genuinely different skill from designing for people who do.

It's changed what we're willing to risk closer to home, too - though not in the way you might expect. Owls Cottage hasn't taught us to buy worse things for it; it's taught us to tell the difference between irreplaceable and hard-working. The irreplaceable pieces tend to stay at home. The cottage gets things that can take everyday use, be replaced without fuss, and still feel like they belong there.

If you ever come round for dinner and your glass looks a little more interesting than ours, there's a reasonable chance it's on secondment from Owls Cottage. It may also be nicer than ours – which is perhaps the clearest proof that practical doesn't have to look practical.

Screen printer Hannah Carvell is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on colourful home design for a creative family to live in. See the rest of her articles here.

People often assume that because I spend my days screen printing, I must have some secret formula for putting colours together or an instinct for knowing exactly what works.

The truth is far less glamorous. My studio floor is usually littered with test prints, colour swatches and sheets of paper covered in scribbled notes. I spend an awful lot of time simply trying things to see what happens.

That's probably the greatest lesson screen printing has taught me, and it has very little to do with making art. It's taught me to trust my own eye.

When I first started screen printing, I'd often second guess myself. I'd hold two colours together and wonder whether they were supposed to work. Was that shade of pink too bright? Did mustard really belong next to lilac? Should I be choosing something a little safer?

But the more I printed, the more I realised there wasn't a rule book hidden away somewhere. Sometimes the combinations I was least certain about became my favourites, while the sensible, predictable choices felt rather flat.

I often think my test sheets are the best sheets. They're the ones where I stop trying to get everything right and simply start playing. I'll layer colours I'd never have consciously put together, combinations that, on paper, probably shouldn't work. Yet they're often the ones I love the most. It's taught me that some of the most interesting colour palettes come from letting go of the rules and trusting your instincts instead.

Now I rarely ask whether colours "go" together. Instead, I ask whether they spark some joy (Marie Kondo eat your heart out). If a combination makes me stop in my tracks in the studio, chances are it'll find its way into my home sooner or later too.

I think we can all become a little overwhelmed by trends, paint charts, instagram and all the endless advice telling us what colours we're supposed to have this year. There always seems to be another list explaining what works with what, or which shade has suddenly become outdated. Somewhere along the way it becomes surprisingly easy to stop listening to your own instincts.

My home has never really worked like that. It's a collection of things gathered over time: colourful screen prints leaning on shelves, vintage finds, family photographs, flowers from the garden and treasures found in charity shops and car boot sales. None of it was bought because it matched perfectly. It simply found its place because I loved it.

Working as a printmaker has also taught me that layering is often where the magic happens. In screen printing, each colour is printed one at a time. What looks rather ordinary after the first layer slowly comes to life as the next colours are added. Occasionally I'll peel back the paper after the final print and discover the image is even better than I'd imagined. Other times, I've added one colour too many and realise it was stronger before.

Homes are much the same. The rooms I love the most aren't the ones that were finished in a weekend. They're the ones that have evolved slowly. A chair moved from one room to another. Prints swapped between walls until they find their rightful home. A lamp bought from the local car boot sale. Layers added over months and years rather than days.

Screen printing has also made me much braver about editing. That might sound strange coming from someone who clearly likes collecting things, but editing isn't always about having less. It's about making space for the things you really love.

In the studio I'll often spend hours creating a design only to remove a tiny detail at the very end because the print is stronger without it. I'm forever starting again as a print evolves and I realise I want to take it in a different direction. It's also exactly how the drawers for my twice-yearly sample sale seem to fill up so quickly.

I've learnt to do the same at home. Every now and then I move things around, take a picture down, swap a cushion or quietly admit that something no longer belongs. It isn't because I'm chasing perfection. Quite the opposite. I'm simply making room for the pieces that still make me pause as I walk past.

However much I plan and sketch a print beforehand, it always evolves once I begin printing. Colours change, inks overlap in unexpected ways and new ideas appear halfway through. Perhaps that's why screen printing has taught me to become comfortable with uncertainty.

No matter how carefully I mix my inks, there's always a moment of anticipation when I lift the screen. Sometimes there are happy accidents that are far better than what I'd planned. Occasionally things don't work at all. Either way, I've learnt that creativity is rarely about getting everything right the first time.

Maybe that's why I've stopped worrying whether my home is ever truly finished. For years I thought one day I'd finally arrive at that perfectly decorated house where every picture was hung, every corner complete and every room exactly as I'd imagined. Now I'm not so sure I'd want to.

A home, much like a print, is always evolving. There will always be another season, another idea, another bunch of flowers picked from the garden or another slightly wonky pot to bring home from pottery class. And I rather like that. After all, the most interesting homes aren't the ones that follow every decorating rule. They're the ones that tell the story of the people who live there.

If screen printing has taught me anything, it's that the only opinion that really matters when you're creating a home is your own.

Content creator Lucy Kalice is one of Ideal Home's Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on cleaning, home decor and making the most of small spaces. See the rest of her articles here.

Hello from Canada! The land of maple syrup, bears and ice hockey. And the place I have the pleasure of writing this weeks article from. It’s actually the place I wrote my first ever Ideal Home article over a year ago (whose been a reader since day 1?).

Now I love holidays as much as the next person. I’d go as far as saying that going on holiday and staying in lovely places is my favourite hobby...annoyingly not the cheapest of hobbies but alas it it’s a hobby nonetheless!

There’s the obvious things to look forward to on holiday - trying new delicious food, exploring amazing different cultures, sunbathing whilst getting lost in a book (I’m a real sun-lover and bookworm). Oh and how could I forget, not having to do any washing up or laundry!

But another thing that I really look forward to is the interiors. I love looking at all the furniture in hotels, noticing the different textures and patterns used which create the mood. I notice all the scents used in hotel rooms, what candles they’ve got which add to the ambience and how it makes the place feel. I love using all the different tableware in restaurants (especially the wine glasses) and I even love browsing in homeware shops.

I get so much inspiration from these spaces because it’s not what I’m used to seeing. On a day to day basis we wake up in our own home with our own home comforts. But when you’re away you’re thrust into an entirely different world. So I’m always looking to see if there’s anything I can bring back home with me or a design feature that would work in my house. And it’s just so different from just scrolling past something on Instagram or Pinterest, you actually get to touch it, feel it and use it.

The best part about getting this inspiration whilst your on holiday is that the touches that you do take back home with you, will also remind you of the holidays or places you’ve visited! I mean why wouldn’t you want a home curated from all your favourite places?!

So I thought I’d share with you some of my favourite finds and how I’d love to one day incorporate them into my home.

Bahamas

My husband and I went on our honeymoon to the Bahamas in May and I quickly fell in love with the place, especially the Caribbean interiors.

This is the restaurant in Coral Sands hotel. The attention to detail was second to none - from the painted ceilings, to the checkered tile flooring. There were shells everywhere and pink everywhere…my absolute dream!

It was the kind of interior that scratched an itch in my brain and I simply fell in love. Now I want to incorporate as many shells in my own home so that it’ll remind me of this special island.

I love love LOVED these shell bar stools. The pink interiors were so fun and it’s taught me to not be afraid of colour. I’ve been so inspired that we are actually planning to redecorate our downstairs toilet and the theme is pink and shells!

Paris

If you’ve been to Paris you will have absolutely seen the bistro chairs they have there. They are everywhere and they are iconic. I think they have so much character and look so chic.

In the future I’d love to have a patio table surrounded by these chairs in orange. How fun would that be! And it’ll always remind me of my trips to Paris.

Naples

The hotel that we stayed in when we visited Naples had this huge mirror attached to the inside of the window frame. In my home we don’t have space in our bathroom for a mirror on the wall, so instead we have one of those tiny freestanding mirrors on the windowsill.

After a few days of using the hotel mirror I knew it would work perfectly in our bathroom. Not only that but it looks gorgeous too, so we plan to install one in our bathroom.

So I urge you, next time your on holiday, a staycation or a night away, if you like something take a picture! If it’s a vase, a chest of drawers or a bathroom tile, it’s the perfect time to get inspiration for your own home. And slowly but surely you’ll create a home that’s filled with such special memories and is completely personal to you!

Interior designer Natalie Jahangiry is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on decorating a home to suit a busy family life while sticking to your aesthetic values, too. See the rest of her articles here.

I’ve just returned from a summer holiday in Mallorca with my family. We had a wonderful time escaping the busy day-to-day London life (alongside the current heatwaves!) in Portocolom, a traditional and picturesque fishing village on the eastern coast of the island.

And while this might shock some of you (when I show you the interiors) I fell in love with the Spanish interior style.

Now by the above statement I mean that Spanish style is very different from my own style. If you’ve seen any of my previous articles, which include my new bedroom and kitchen renovations, you’ll know that at this stage of my life I am into colourful, playful spaces, with a warmer look and feel overall. There’s less of a play on pattern, but I do love texture. Heritage style and vintage furnishings also play a role in my home. Spanish interiors, on the other hand, feel much more stripped back. Natural, earthy, contemporary and almost quiet in comparison to my own home. And although this is very far from my own style, I absolutely love it.

This isn’t my only visit to the Spanish islands recently either, last year we stayed in Ibiza Old Town and I had a similar love affair with the style. So here comes my Jekyll and Hyde moment…The moment I tell you that yes, I love my current style, but I also feel like I am having an interior love affair because I just can’t get enough of the clean and natural feel of Spanish Style.

The warm whites, stone mixed with marble, raw finishes and slightly imperfect, but perfect feel to everything. And although I know I can’t replicate this soothing Spanish look and feel in my own home currently, one day I’d love to use this combination to shape my imaginary holiday home, or perhaps a client’s home if they were looking for this relaxed Mediterranean look and feel.

So here are my takes on how to create a little slice of Spain at home, and the elements that stood out to me the most on my travels.

Minimal, but still warm

One of the things I really love about Spanish interiors is the sheer amount of natural stone, it’s everywhere. Across floors, walls, sinks, worktops, furniture, decor. In homes, hotels, bars, shops, the outside of buildings…you name it, it will be there! And it’s that beautifully pale, almost sun-kissed kind of stone that feels so warm and natural, especially under the Spanish sun.

And I think this is where I am drawn in, the part that has somewhat swayed my view on minimalism. As I mentioned, I wouldn’t exactly describe my home as minimal, I’d say I sit in the midimalist/lived-in category. It’s very colourful, my walls are heavily dressed with styling and there’s not a white wall or ceiling in sight.

To me, minimalism can look (not always) a little bare and uninviting, but these spaces never felt cold or empty to me. Yes, there may be less colour, styling and furniture, but where it lacks in colour and well stuff, the stone is complimented by natural woods, texture, linen, rattan, marble and imperfect finishes.

This considered combination not only looks beautiful, it brings warmth and cosiness, just through a different lens. I think what Spanish interiors really nail is that ability to be minimal but not stark, letting the natural materials do the work…and I think that’s one of the parts I’ve really fallen for.

Woven textures

Wicker and rattan consistently appear in Spanish style, from baskets to lampshades, chairs and accessories, they bring warmth and character to what could be considered quite pared back spaces.

Our hotel in particular had a great display of this in action. The ceilings showcased an array of rattan lightshades, set against stone walls and marble floors. I loved how something as simple and rustic as rattan brought a softer more considered feel without taking away from how refined and stylish the space looked overall.

Pottery and ceramics

Then there’s the ceramics…oh my love. Anyone who knows me knows I have a ‘thing’ for kitchenware and glasses so this for me was an utter highlight.

Handmade and slightly imperfect pieces appear everywhere. Oversized pots, decorative bowls, hand-blown glasses and patterned crockery that all feel like they have been collected over time rather than bought brand new. I think it’s this mix of quite minimalistic overall decor, then bringing in pieces full of texture, pops of colour and character, that really brings the spaces to life without them ever feeling stark and overly styled.

It’s safe to say my suitcase was rather heavy after we went to visit the local market!

Traditional meets contemporary

One thing that really stood out was how transitional the style can feel, mixing traditional Mediterranean materials such as raw stone, wood and ceramics with much cleaner, contemporary details such as black steel-framed doors and windows.

Well…technically Crittall-style steel doors are a heritage feature, dating back to the 20’s, but with their slim frames and large panes of glass they take on a much more contemporary feel. In Mallorca, I really loved how this industrial black steel sat against white rendered walls and marble to create clean, crisp lines.

It’s not all about the inside

The buildings and architecture in Spain have me swooning, to the point where the kids kept telling me off for stopping every 5 minutes to take a picture. Pastel hued buildings, the details on doors, colourful exterior shutters and that mix of warm wood with stone. The outside of these buildings really set a tone for what you may find inside.

Common colour palettes include soft pinks, earthy tones, warm whites, putty shades, butter yellow and the occasional pop of a richer red. So you can imagine how this plays into my current colour palette obsession. It’s also fascinating that the outside of the buildings is sometimes where you see the most colour, in contrast to the much more modern and minimal interiors set within. But somehow the two don’t feel disconnected and the blend works perfectly, almost giving you the best of both worlds at the same time.

Plants, plants and more plants

And finally, plants. Lots and LOTS of plants. And I think this is where our worlds come together with a common factor. I love plants, the bigger the better. I love the way they look and the feeling of bringing outside in, and did you know plants are good for your health? That’s another article for another day, but it’s safe to say they are an all round necessity in a home.

So against all the beauty and wonder of natural Spanish tones, the greenery really stands out to create a big statement. Huge pots and trailing plants adorned so many spaces we visited, so for me, it was easy to fall in love.

I particularly liked the huge banana leaf plants, popped in oversized terracotta pots against stone walls. They add colour, but in such an organic way, bringing that inside-outside look and feel that makes a space feel calm and welcoming. Plants add so much texture and character to a room too, and it’s probably one of the easiest elements to steal and replicate at home.

So while I won’t be swapping out my colourful, lived-in home style for the calming minimalism of Spanish style anytime soon, there are certainly elements I’ll be stealing and incorporating with my own little sprinkling of Natty personality. And as for that imaginary Spanish holiday home I will be dreaming of for months…well, does anyone want to lend me one? In the meantime, a girl can dream!

Home decorator and content creator Leah Hodson is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on overhauling a home with clever DIY and decorating tricks. See the rest of her articles here.

My husband’s first reaction when I told him I wanted a pink pantry was delight (surprisingly)! “Finally some colour!”, he said. That’s because I chose a grey kitchen and a cream utility room, which to him is devoid of colour – rude, as he knows that I introduce colour through styling!

However, I didn’t want the pantry to be overly pink or to be completely different to the other rooms. Here’s how I ensured that I had the pink pantry I wanted, that still flows with the rest of the house!

A colour theme

In my utility room, I have a blue ticking stripe wallpaper from Dunelm covering one wall. This is to add depth and acts as a patterned contrast to the cream floor to ceiling cabinets. Moving onto the kitchen, I painted the window Laurel Green by Rustoleum to bring the outside in, to add warmth to my grey kitchen and make it feel less sterile.

So when it came to designing my pantry and deciding on colours to complement pink, I utilised blue coloured paints (‘Teacup’ & ‘Avery's Sky’ from Earthborn Paints) alongside green paints (‘Poppet’ & ‘Little Sprout’, also from Earthborn Paints), to create a hydrangea mural that covered the whole wall.

I love the mix of colours I used as they are tonal in shade and work well in adding depth and shading next to each other.

One statement piece

No pantry is complete without base units! I searched for a long time to find units that fit the depth and length that I needed – it wasn’t an easy task! I was about to purchase the kitchen base units when I did another search and found these wavy edged Drammen cabinets on vidaXL, and they’re perfect!

I normally prime the furniture I’m painting with Zinsser’s BIN so that the paint adheres to it easily after. This time, I tried a different primer, Earthborn’s multi purpose primer. It was my first time using it and I was pleasantly surprised at how hardwearing it was! It passed the scratch test and even when I used the cabinets as a temporary worktop, there were no scratches. I might have a new favourite primer for laminate furniture!

Onto the pink – I chose to paint the cabinets in Earthborn’s ‘Thimble Lane’, a gorgeous bright pink. I went a little bold with the cabinet knowing that I wanted to keep the rest of the room rather pared back. The cabinet is the star of the show!

You can never have too much storage

Base units alone are not enough storage for the amount of dried foods we have on constant rotation, so storage needs to be extended onto the walls. This left me with a little dilemma, to paint it Thimble Lane like the cabinets or stick with the same pinkish off white as the walls, Piglet. After a little swatch on the shelf brackets I felt that Thimble Lane on the shelves and the cabinets would be too much for me.

Painting the shelves ‘Piglet’ by Earthborn also allowed the hydrangea mural that I painted to pop against the pink rather than making it feel like an after thought. One thing I didn’t realise was how colourful and varied food packaging is before this project. I’m really glad that I went for a subtle shelf instead and it doesn’t look too overwhelming when the shelves are stacked full of different products.

One thing this experience has taught me is that colour doesn’t have to be overwhelming. I used to play it safe, sticking almost exclusively to beige and grey, worried that introducing bolder colours would make a space feel chaotic. But as my style has evolved, I’ve realised that colour often brings out the best in my favourite neutrals rather than competing with them. The trick is using it with intention.

If you love the idea of colour but don’t know where to start, try borrowing one or two statement shades from another room and using them as complementary accents around your main feature. It creates a sense of cohesion throughout the home, allowing colour to feel considered rather than overpowering. Sometimes, all it takes is one confident pop of colour to make a neutral space come to life.

Amanda Jones is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on sustainable living and decorating a home in way that is good for the environment. See the rest of her articles here.

This article is a follow on from my last article, about why I wish there were no interior design trends, you can read it here. I want to explore why developing your own personal style is preferable, than relying heavily on trend-based style. There are many different types of interior design, and there are many different types of personality. In theory, we should all have very different homes, but that’s not always the case. So why do so many homes, look so similar?

There are way too many different styles of interior design, to mention in one article. From an ultra-modern style, full of the latest tech, to the other end of the scale, interiors that are very ‘twee’ and cottagey, full of ‘knick-knacks’ and sentimentality.

There’s minimalist interiors, very pared back, with crisp clean lines. Then the maximalist ones, full to the brim with colour, pattern and shape, all competing for attention. You may have a home that reflects your love of mid-century furniture, or you may have been inspired by a visit to a French chateau, and so have a home full of French flair. There is an interior style, to suit everyone’s tastes and desires.

I have always preferred a personal style-based approach to interior design. I find it more interesting and inspiring, whether that’s my own home, or someone else’s. Developing your own style usually takes a little bit of time, and it’s not entirely faultless, you can still make mistakes along the way.

It takes time, it takes patience, but slowly and surely you will learn what you love, what makes you happy. Someone for example, just acquiring their own home, may find they are heavily drawn to trends. They are still trying out different ideas and discovering who they are, and what their personal style looks like.

Trend-based interiors are just that, based on what you are seeing a lot of, whether that is online, Instagram for example, or written in a magazine, like Ideal home. These trends can usually be seen in articles that start, ‘What’s Hot in 2026’, I always find these articles interesting, even if it’s just to see what we are being told we should be putting in our homes.

Trend-based interior design is a much faster paced approach to our homes. It can change rapidly. The trends can also change from season to season. This can easily leave you feeling bored, and it’s not long before you feel the need to move onto the ‘next big thing’. That could be the latest trending colour, or the fact that the bedding you have, no longer feels ‘relevant’.

And because the trends are so fast paced, there’s a need from manufacturers to churn out a lot of homewares, very quickly. Invariably this can mean you buy things that are mass-produced, and of poor-quality. Afterall, it feels much easier for us to swap out a table that ‘only’ cost £100, as opposed to one that may have cost £1000, because it has been made by traditional methods

If you aren’t confident with your own sense of style, it can be very easy to be swayed with what’s trending. When you develop your own, individual style, you will create a look you’re happy with, one that ‘feels’ like you, suits your family, rather than a ‘copy and paste’ edition of something you’ve seen online.

That’s not to say, even if you HAVE developed your own individual style, that you can’t be inspired by trends. I remember falling in love with a particular shade of chartreuse in the ‘90s by Designer’s Guild, and that colour, in some form or another, has been in my home ever since. It’s a colour that brings me real joy, whether it’s in trend or not.

There’s a real joy in creating a home that’s individual to me. I love that my home has longevity, there’s an element of permanence to it. If I want a change, then usually, that just means moving a piece of art around, or a piece of furniture. There’s no big scale redecoration or furniture buying involved. When my home gets repainted, it’s because the walls are beginning to look a little worn, not because I’ve decided that I want the latest shade of green that’s trending right now.

My home reflects me and my family, perfectly. It’s perfectly, imperfect. It reflects my love of older pieces of furniture, from different eras, my discovery of second-hand treasures, as well as my love of travel. And whilst I love colour, I also know that the colour drenching we are seeing everywhere now, is too much for me. I prefer neutral walls, with the colours being found in objects, textiles and art. That’s because I’ve established my own style.

I was so happy to see the trend for millennial grey homes fade away, it seemed to have been around for so long. Over the last few years there’s been a growth in more colourful and collected interiors, starting with the cottage core vibe that struck social media.

As someone who loves colour, I’m happy people are embracing more of it. However, the more I see of these colourful homes, with their pink walls, and the mass-produced prints, in scalloped edge frames, the more one home feels like it’s literally blending into another. Is this cottage, ‘collected’ look, the new millennial grey I wonder? What will these homes look like a few years from now? Will they have abandoned the cottagey vibes, because it’s not really ‘them’, and adopted the next ‘latest’ look?

You can make your home look different from everyone else’s, be more unique and individual. Not however, by being the first to jump on the next latest trend, but by developing your own unique style. You’ll achieve this by understanding what you truly love and being confident in those choices. If you love colour, then embrace it, but please, put your own stamp on it. Make it your own individual style, and not just a copy and paste, of the latest trend you’re seeing on Instagram. Do this, and your home really will, stand out from the crowd.

Home decorator and content creator Grace H is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on colourful home design, mixing vintage pieces with new and making personality-filled spaces. See the rest of her articles here.

I’m asked for advice all the time about why a room isn’t working. I can’t, for the life of me, use an electric saw (yet!), but to borrow the words of Liam Neeson, what I do have is a particular set of skills. Skills I’ve acquired over a very long career. And that particular skill is being able to walk into a room and, usually within five minutes, work out why it isn’t quite working.

It’s not a superpower, and I don’t think there’s one magic formula for a good room (I wish there was). I just start looking at the things that are competing for my attention: the light, the proportions, the furniture, the empty spaces and, perhaps most importantly, whether the room actually feels like the person who lives there.

We’re all bombarded with dreamy homes online and gorgeous colour pairings that make us want to immediately reach for the paintbrush. But a copy-and-paste approach rarely feels authentic. A room can look beautiful and still feel completely wrong for you.

So, before you redecorate, buy a new sofa or convince yourself that the answer is another cushion, here are the six things I’d check first.

1. The room feels flat → check the lighting

As much as I love an excuse to buy a new lamp, I’m not suggesting you simply add more and hope for the best. Instead, look at where the light is coming from. Is everything illuminated by one ceiling light? Are there dark corners? Is the bulb so cold that it feels vaguely reminiscent of a spacecraft? Could moving a lamp completely change the atmosphere?

Think about layering your lighting so that it comes from different levels. A big light and one lamp in the corner isn’t going to cut the mustard. Wall lights, lamps on shelves, lamps on side tables flanking a sofa, small lamps on a coffee table - you catch my drift.

I also feel like I don’t see enough floor lamps in homes (including my own). A comfy chair with a floor lamp beside it instantly creates a little cosy moment and makes a room feel more considered. Add a small side table to perch a drink on and the space is given purpose and is instantly inviting

And I’m not a fan of a floor lamp being one texture from top to bottom either. Mix a gorgeous wooden base with an oversized pleated shade in a fun print and I’d be surprised if it didn’t look ten times better.

The point is, lighting should create pockets of atmosphere, not simply make sure you can see.

2. Everything feels a bit… disconnected → look at the scale

I’ve spoken about my disdain for a tiny rug floating underneath a large sofa before, but scale is one of the easiest things to overlook when a room doesn’t feel quite right.

The same applies to tiny artwork above a substantial piece of furniture, or furniture where everything is roughly the same height. It can make a room feel oddly flat and disjointed.

Think about what you see at eye level and then play around with different heights and proportions. Add a taller side table, a lower coffee table, an oversized lamp next to a smaller piece of furniture or a large piece of art above your sofa. You want the eye to move around the room rather than everything sitting on the same visual plane.

I know things like lampshades, rugs and artwork get more expensive as you size up, and it can be tempting to think, is it really worth paying extra for the bigger one?

In my honest opinion: yes. Yes, it is. A rug in the right size will out trump even the most beautifully crafted smaller rug.

3. It looks nice, but feels soulless → there’s probably nothing personal

A room can have beautiful furniture, interesting colours and all the right accessories, but if everything looks as though it could have been bought from the same shop on the same afternoon, it can still feel strangely soulless.

My favourite eclectic homes tell a story so add books that are well-loved, photographs that capture a moment in time, odd objects that you simply had to have even though you don’t really know why, artwork that you kept coming back to before finally buying it, holiday finds and second-hand pieces.

In other words, things that tell you who lives there.

I get plenty of messages from people online who like to tell me that they don’t like something in my home. Good. That’s the point. My home is for me and we don’t all have to like the same things. In fact, I’d much rather walk into a home and wonder “What on earth is that?” than walk into one where everything is perfectly coordinated.

4. There’s too much going on → find the visual resting place

This may come as a surprise to colour lovers everywhere, but the solution isn’t necessarily adding more and more colour and pattern (I know. Who even am I?).

The eye needs somewhere to rest. That might be a plain wall, a quieter piece of furniture, empty floor space or simply a bit of editing when it comes to accessories.

For example, I often use plain white bedding, which surprises people, but I love that it feels calming and provides a brilliant backdrop for patterned cushions and throws. I also have walls where I could, in theory, add more art, but I deliberately leave them alone. I want my home to feel considered rather than chaotic.

Having something empty isn’t the same as having something unfinished. Sometimes the space you leave alone is what makes everything around it work harder.

5. It feels smaller than it should → look at the floor

This one comes down to rugs, furniture placement and negative space.

I will always stand by the fact that a rug that’s too small can actually make a room feel smaller. When it’s floating in the middle of the room, the furniture can look as though it belongs to several separate zones rather than one cohesive space.

I also often see sofas pushed right up against the wall. Presumably, the thinking is that if you can see more floor, the room will appear bigger? Incorrect. Having a little space to walk around furniture can actually give the illusion of more space. It allows the room to breathe rather than making everything feel squeezed around the perimeter.

Because of the door placement in our living room, we annoyingly can’t move our sofas in as much as I’d like. What we have done is add a slim console behind one of the sofas, giving us another surface for lamps, photographs, flowers and other bits and pieces. And I swear it makes the space feel bigger.

Sometimes you don’t need more floor space. You just need to make better use of the floor you have.

6. Something feels “off” but you can’t work out what → photograph it

This sounds silly but take a photograph of the room rather than relying solely on your eye.

Ideally, I want to create little vignettes throughout a room - moments that look good individually but also work together as a whole. So, stand back, get your phone out and take a snap. Suddenly, you might notice that the artwork is too high, one side of the room is visually heavier, the curtains aren’t quite right, or the furniture arrangement feels awkward.

Yes, I take pictures of my home for a living, but it still amazes me how much difference a tiny tweak in placement can make when you see a room as a photograph rather than standing inside it.

It’s worth a try and it’s considerably cheaper than buying a new sofa!

The five-minute room test

So, before you start shopping, painting or moving every piece of furniture you own, spend five minutes looking at the room and ask yourself the following questions…

• What is the first thing my eye lands on?
• Where does my eye go next?
• Is there enough light at different levels?
• Does the furniture actually work for the way we use the room?
• Is everything the same visual volume?
• Is there anything personal or unexpected here?
• What feels too busy?
• What feels too empty?
• And finally: Is the problem actually the room – or is it just one thing in it?

More often than not, a room that doesn’t feel quite right doesn’t need a complete overhaul. It just needs you to stop, have a proper look and work out what’s actually bothering you.

So, diagnose before you decorate. You might find it doesn’t need changing at all – it just needs looking at differently, or perhaps just a quick switch around.

Strategist and content creator Francesca Swan is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on the concept of 'Everything' and what makes a home special to you. See the rest of her articles here.

About halfway through the renovation, I found myself drinking from a chipped cup, whilst using a half-melted spatula to stir a pan with a very dubious, and frankly dangerous handle.

We were living with a random collection of items that had been either salvaged from any box we could lay our hands on in our over-stuffed storage or battered during the utter chaos and demolition of the build.

This unnecessary shabbiness had stealthily crept up on us without us even realising it. We had allowed ourselves to become victims to temporary circumstances and the Chinese water torture effect of our two-year project.

Unsurprisingly, I was overcome by very strong reverse Everything feeling – I wasn’t content, there was zero joy and the whole sorry situation made me want to be a million miles away.

I couldn’t do much about the building dust and dirt, but I realised I could control the controllables to make each tiny single moment as special and meaningful as possible.

I took a much-needed step back and thought about how we live day to day, the things we touch all the time and the mood and ambience of every space.

My mission was to identify small, useful everyday objects that would subtly, yet hopefully immeasurably improve our disastrously low quality of life and bring back some beauty and intentional design.

I immediately knew that this was not going to be solved by hours trawling the internet and an expensive shopping trip. Both time and money were in very short supply.

Instead, I shopped my own home (read: temporary storage units), raided my trusted retailers, and got on with investing in the quality pieces we had planned to wait for.

Thankfully, I had my Everything design-language to steer me – an anchor to keep me focussed and make sure that what I bought truly earned its place in our home and would stand the test of time, whilst restoring that much needed joy and connection.

So, here you have not only a renovation survival kit of sorts, but also my Everything daily essentials go-to shopping guide. No gatekeeping here…

Creature comforts

First things first – the bedroom. For over six months this room, and bed in particular, multi-tasked as our mission control for working, eating, relaxing and sleeping. The comfort, style and practicality of our most grounding daily ritual had slowly been eroded by overuse and malaise.

It was time for a bedlinen upgrade, which neatly coincided with my discovering Rise and Fall. Founded with the intention to enhance the quality of everyday life, their products are created to last by some of the world’s finest manufacturers, with a focus on ethical sustainability across the board with less waste, considered production and commitment to making every aspect of the business better for people and planet. A true Everything brand to me, bringing much needed, yet accessible luxury to my life.

Their heaven-sent Soft and Smooth range is, without exception, the best bedding I have ever had the good fortune to have wrapped around me. Combining timeless design with exceptional natural materials, it’s silky-smooth, softly luminous and ridiculously comfortable. A subtle nature-inspired palette of buttermilk, pebble and deep clay softly blends perfectly with the powdery tones of our bedroom.

The bedroom has finally been completed by the very welcome addition of the Cornish Beds Porthilly Bed. The bespoke pewter metal frame and softly whimsical wave edge headboard brings subtle and strikingly individual character to the room, balancing our Victorian period features with a delicately contemporary touch.

Hand-crafted to order in their Cornish foundry using traditional Victorian casting techniques, our headboard was personalised using Kirkby Design linen, its hand-spun organic depth creating interesting contrast against the softly glowing pewter frame.

There’s a wonderfully reassuring comfort going to bed every night in something not only beautiful to look at, but that also feels innately strong and properly made with expertise and love. A true Forever Bed.

Beautiful everyday essentials

Next up; the everyday heroes, both big and small, that can easily upgrade routine experiences.

I gave our mismatched and somewhat shabby cookware, serveware and tableware a much needed refresh with the wonderful Our Place. I’m fully obsessed with this brand and have been slowly collecting it over the past few years.

Not only do their gorgeous terracottas, soft pinks and warm blues helpfully pair perfectly with our new kitchen palette, the range is super intuitive and versatile, brilliantly uniting form and function.

My new blue salt bakeware set and terracotta serving set make the most of our new kitchen appliances and my ever-ambitious hosting plans, as well as bringing another considered accent of colour.

Other unexpected joys came from a Skandi London red marble wine cooler, perfectly matched to the Rosso Levanto and doubling up as a lovely ornament when not in use.

Bedside table chaos was stylishly solved thanks to pillar pressed glass plates with a subtle ridged detail that catches both the light and the eye, helpfully picked up for a song in Habitat at Sainsbury’s.

Gorgeously unique Archivist Sunray matches make lighting the fire feel a little more considered and special, as well as looking rather nice on the coffee table.

And slightly less glamorous, but highly essential, the Ferm Living Sama toilet brush that is not only easy on the eye, but also does the job of keeping our brand new WC looking brand new.

Forever flowers

Without doubt, flowers are one of the easiest and most joyful ways to brighten up a space. However, bringing beautiful blooms into a constantly dirty and changeable space can considerably reduce their shelf life, and whilst I have Elton John taste in flowers, I do not have his budget for constant refreshes.

Then, on a recent detour into our local Habitat in Sainsbury’s I chanced upon some lovely faux blooms and decided to take a chance and try my hand on an arrangement for the kitchen.

I was aware of the possibility that I’d been blinded by the apparent ease, simplicity and affordability of this wonderful solution, so left it to the guest test. Without exception, every single person asked where I’d bought those beautiful flowers from and was gobsmacked by the answer.

I’m now fully converted and bought some for the living room too.

The selection in our local store is much better than online, plus in this case, it’s always better to see them in person to weed out the good from the bad – not all of them are a sure thing and some shapes and colours are a clear giveaway.

Judge for yourself but check them out if you’re in a similar boat. Dunelm also have a solid collection.

Decorative objects with personality

Styling also has huge power to bring a space together and in our constantly shape-shifting state, that means objet d’art. The interesting, meaningful and considered vases, ornaments and other beautiful small pieces that are easy to move around and quickly bring a dead corner to delightful life with character and nuance.

However, I know myself too well. If I start scrolling for these too widely, I will fall into a very deep and expensive internet hole. So, I’ve learnt to be laser-focused and when time and budget are against me, I’ve found Serax to be indispensable.

When the flat is finished and I've got more time and brain space, I'll widen the net and be able to browse more at leisure. But in the meantime, I know I can head there and it's an effective and efficient way for me to shop.

Their website is so well and widely curated, I am guaranteed to find heavenly Everything pieces, whilst also discovering new and interesting designers.

I also bought several pieces for the old apartment from there, so I’ve shopped my own home to complement the new additions.

The Serax edit (old and new) that finally made the styling of our new kitchen make sense:

• Bob Verhelst blue Bebop vase
• Antonino Sciortino Metal Basket Bowl
• Bela Silva green Eternal Snow Stem Glass
• Ligne Roset Les Oiseaux vase

Not to forget of course, the wonderful eBay for a longer burn search. I recently picked up an incredible hammered chrome/soft-gold mirror for my office by independent maker, Kerry David Whittle.

I also have this divine vintage onyx fruit and egg bowl in my basket. Quite why I think it’s a good idea to share this with you is beyond me, but as I said, no gatekeeping. Just please don’t buy them before me.

Let there be light (and fragrance)

We all know there is no faster or easier way to transform the ambience and mood of a room than with lighting and scent. Sade is also a fail-safe for me, but that is a more personal preference.

A scarcity of both plugs and ever-changing available space in which to place a lamp, meant we were constantly at the mercy and horrors of the big light.

I was new to the wonders of cordless lights, but now don’t know how I ever lived without them. Being able to control our lighting set up, no matter what chaos has emerged within any given room at any point is something of a magical wonder to me.

Fast forward to a nearly completed home, and they remain indispensable for creating the perfect ambience for any occasion.

It’s no secret I have an obsession with statement lights and since falling in love with the elegant glass domes that have graced both our hallways, I know I’m not alone in having a real thing for Pooky lights. They’ve snuck into nearly every room, not to mention adding a stylish accent to our summerhouse and terrace outdoor spaces.

Two Pooky lights emerged as must-haves for this particular situation: the Dennis is a beautifully crafted cordless lamp with a wonderfully tactile combination of smooth brass and finely knurled bronze, sitting back effortlessly to the material language of the apartment.

The Bronte is also now a permanent favourite; a perfect little library light, designed to clip neatly on shelves, mantelpieces, and bookcases, where an unsightly cord would get in the way. It brings a warm pool of light exactly where it's needed, whether illuminating a cosy reading spot or simply making my shelves look even more inviting. An essential for our double-walled library in the living room. I might have more than one and could not live without them.

Scent is always also a non-negotiable, but especially when constantly surrounded by the joyous bouquet of eau d’renovation.

Enter Droplet, the Modern British House of Scent, with their Scent Amplifier: an immersive surround scent system, built to fill a space with long-lasting fragrance in an elegant and minimal way.

For starters, it’s a rather heart-stoppingly beautiful addition to any room; a portable walnut-toned wooden base topped with a hand-blown crystal glass vessel and a warming light that softly illuminates when scent is in motion.

But equally importantly, it delivers up to 15 hours of diffusion on a single charge. The result is a slow, simmering stream of scent, rather than a single burst that fades, allowing you to control fragrance in the same way we control our music or lighting. A game-changer for turning any dusty and fume-filled room into a luxurious and relaxing haven.

This was not just a renovation life-saver – it’s become an essential for our entire home and reduced my expensive candle habit and obsessive (and often messy) mission to stop the ongoing frustration of tunnelled candles.

Everyday 'Everything' essentials

So, there you have it, my Everything everyday essentials that did a spanking job of brightening up both our lives and space.

Important for renovation survival, yes, however I’m also pleased to say they are all smart, serviceable and stylish buys that have earned a permanent place in our home.

Beyond renovation life, the lesson remains the same.

Do not deny yourself small comforts simply because wider circumstances may be temporarily imperfect – you do not need to compromise or suffer unnecessarily.

Both our homes and lives should be well lived in and enjoyed; we deserve nice things and special daily experiences.

Is there a knotty daily moment you can improve by adding a dash of comfort, beauty, character, ease or joy? There are many simple ways to make our homes and daily life feel that little bit nicer without much budget or time.

Always remember, your Everything feeling can be lost or found in the most unexpected and mundane places. When you know where to look, it’s not only easy to find but often ridiculously easy to fix.

Home decorator Ammarah Hasham is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts infusing her rental house with plenty of personality. See the rest of her articles here.

The money I spend collecting trinkets could probably add up to a terrifying amount, but the borderline maximalist in me has a GIANT weak spot for them. I mean, they do feel like a harmless little guilt-free treat.

Not proudly admitting this, but I kind of have an inability to leave an antique shop empty-handed. The china plates need a home, and I am always happy to adopt any silver or brassware I find, usually with absolutely no idea where to put it and completely ignoring the family’s raised eyebrows as I bring yet another piece home. That’s why I love a glass cloche.

They are basically a safe space for all my knick-knacks and a very convincing way of making my random finds look like they had a purpose all along. Think of it as an upside-down bowl. Anything you would pile into a decorative bowl can probably go underneath a cloche, except under a glass it suddenly feels more like a miniature museum display.

So where can you buy them from?

There was a time where I would wishfully look at magazine photographs of these beautiful glass domes and hope to own one without spending a ridiculous amount of money.

Depending on your taste and budget, you can now easily find them in shops in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Personally, though, I still prefer hunting for them second-hand.

Older glass just feels so much better to me. I love the weight and thickness you often get with vintage pieces, and a good one feels totally worth the money.

Bootsales, antique shops, eBay and my recent favourite, Facebook Marketplace, will surely generate some fruitful searches. And don’t worry if your cloche comes without a proper base. A decorative plate, your old wooden breadboard or even a stack of books can work beautifully underneath one.

How to clean them

Once you have secured the goods, vintage or new, give them a good, but gentle, clean.

Your display would look a hundred times better when a cloche is cleaned properly before displaying any items. Make sure to avoid anything abrasive, and go easy with the kitchen sponge too. If it needs a proper wash, gentle lukewarm water with a little washing up liquid is enough.

Dry it with a lint-free, microfibre cloth. I use the good old newspaper and window cleaner trick for a streak-free finish. All prepped and peppy.

And now comes the fun bit.

What can you actually put underneath?

Everything except the kitchen sink. Historically, these glass cloches were practical objects with a purpose. Garden cloches protected young plants from cold weather, while glass covers were used to protect delicate objects especially specimens collected by naturalists. But as they found their way into our interiors, their elegant appeal and timeless charm became quite hard to ignore.

If you are creating a display, I would suggest using different heights. A group of cloches in varying heights can look beautiful together, but equally, you can dot a couple around your home. And because they are so versatile, you can keep changing what sits underneath to match the colour, theme or the mood of your space. Which, for someone like me who is always switching things around, is rather alluring.

Display your apothecary collection

We all love an apothecary moment, don’t we?I have been collecting these vintage earthenware medicine and apothecary bottles for a while and putting them under a cloche has created this little vignette.

It is almost like a 360-degree frame, drawing your eye in and giving each item its own spotlight. The bell shape allows me to be creative and lets my collectibles become the main character.

What do you think?

Add a touch of greenery

As cloches were originally designed to protect plants, adding greenery underneath them feels almost naturally correct. Display a plant and notice how instantly elevated it would feel.

Tiny ferns, mosses and humidity-loving plants look beautiful under a cloche and, if you’re feeling particularly creative, you can even create a small terrarium. Since my skills at keeping plants alive are fairly basic, I am happy giving one solo plant all the spotlight.

Display your matchbox collection

I am currently on a mission to collect vintage matchboxes and I have no sensible explanation for that. Probably it's their nostalgic charm that I love, but putting them underneath the cloche gives it all a touch of sophistication.

Even my slow growing collection actually feels thoughtfully accentuated under the glass.

Give your shell collection a home

My family loves collecting shells and we have this mix of beach and second-hand finds. For quite some time, I kept it all in a bowl, but their unique shapes were hidden underneath one another.

Filling my cloche with these shells has literally brought each piece into the centre stage. And I can actually admire their colours and savour an unobstructed view of the whole display and, I must say, it looks incredibly chic.

The possibilities really are endless here. I am actually curious to know, what small finds would you put sous cloche?

Interior designer and content creator Rebecca Constable is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on demystifying the process of designing and decorating a home, and helping people work out where to spend and where to save.

Despite having left formal education over 20 years ago, I still get that excited back to school feeling as September approaches. And although it seems picking out stationary in WH Smith no longer carries the allure it once did, for those preparing for university there is an even more exciting piece of admin to be done.

University accommodation, at least in the UK, is without fail uninspiring and slightly grotty but it is often the first opportunity we have to create our own piece of home. I’m not quite there yet with my children but if they were heading off to uni there are a few things I would heavily encourage them to buy in order to turn a generic room into a space that works well and actually feels like them.

First of all it has to be a rug. You’re never quite sure how many occupants the room has had before but any carpet in a dorm room is likely to be grey (for practical reasons), stained and not very soft. Therefore my approach would be to buy a rug that fills most of the room acting more like a carpet. You can introduce as much or as little colour and pattern as you like but most importantly you want it to be soft.

A Ruggable rug would be a brilliant solution as you can pop it in the wash at the end of the year, perfect for a teenager who is having their first foray into independent living (I’m under no illusion that they would actually do this themselves).

I also love this rug from Next as the slubby texture looks quite forgiving when it comes to stains. And this rug from Ikea would add some nice pops of colour and pattern into a room.

Then I’d move onto bed linen. With the bed likely taking up a lot of the room, a nice set of bedsheets will have a big impact, and although I am usually an advocate for sticking with a classic all white set, here I would take a different approach.

Bed linen is likely going to be one of the few places you can inject some colour, pattern and personality so I would go for something that’s fun and adds interest. And of course a minimum of two sets so you know they’re able to change their sheets at least once in a term…

I love this set from M&S, the lattice pattern is very cool and the blue and burgundy colour combination is perfect. At the other end of the aesthetic spectrum is this wonderfully whimsical set by the Historic Royal Palaces which almost looks like a beautiful wallpaper on your sheets.

And finally you can’t beat a bold stripe and no one does them better than TBCO when it comes to bed linen. The ruffle trim instantly makes a bed look more put together than it actually is.

Then it's on to lighting, because if there’s one thing you can guarantee about university accommodation, it’s that it won’t be beautifully lit. We want a layered lighting scheme rather than a single strip light so I’d go armed with three lamps, two table lamps and one floor lamp. The two table lamps will be for the desk and the bedside table, whilst the floor lamp will go in another corner of the room or at the end of the bed.

For the floor lamps you could either go for something striking like this marble look lamp from H&M or down the classic route like this reading lamp from Dunelm.

For the table lamps it’s again another opportunity to introduce colour, pattern and texture. I love this fabric lamp from M&S as it makes a space feel cosy even when it’s off. This metal table lamp from H&M comes in every colour imaginable so there really is something for everyone, but I love the dusty blue shade.

And finally this lamp from Oliver Bonas combines beautiful textures whilst being elegant and fun.

Of course I’d encourage them to think about artwork as I don’t think any space feels complete without something on the walls. But also you may want to cover as much wall as possible depending on the state of them. I would get one large landscape piece or a pair of portrait prints to cover one main bit of wall. And then I would supplement them with two smaller pieces to dot around the room. You ideally want to pick pieces that are light so you can use command strips to put them up if you’re not allowed to put nails in the wall.

Desenio has a great selection of reasonable art and even their framed prints are still super light so perfect for hanging. I love how fun this Chilling Leopard print is and the Abstract Poster Pack provides an instant injection of colour, as well as covering a lot of wall. PSTR studio also has a brilliant selection of prints like this Flowers and Check piece, again the blue and burgundy combination works so well.

And finally I always love to look in museum shops for brilliant affordable artwork. As a black Londoner who spent my teenage years at Notting Hill carnival I would have loved to take this Spirit of Carnival print by Tam Joseph with me to uni as a reminder of home.

Finally I’d urge my young student to get a pinboard in the hope that they might stay relatively on track with their studies. I love a pinboard because it does a number of things; it covers more wall, provides a place to keep important/useful information and also creates a space where they can curate and collate what matters to them.

This classic pinboard from Hudson Home feels very chic and elegant. I also love the array of colours the Wonderwall noticeboards come in adding a major dose of colour, personally I would go for orange. And at the other end of the spectrum is this preppy noticeboard from Etsy which has Ralph Lauren vibes.

Picking out the pieces for a university room should feel very exciting. For many people, it’s the first opportunity to create a little piece of home that’s entirely their own. And it’s likely to be the starting point for the many homes they’ll create in the years to come.