6 Exciting Ways to Improve Your Home Décor

Photo by Spacejoy on Unsplash

{This is a collaborative post}

Home renovations don’t have to require enormous changes to make a difference to yoru everyday lifestyle and you certainly don’t need to break the bank to craft the space of your dreams.

It’s natural to tire of the same old design choices after a while, and wanting to mix things up is the next step. Have a read of these six simple design tips if you want a home straight from the pages of a luxury magazine -

1)     Polish Up Your Paint Job

 A fresh coat of paint can make a world of difference. A new colour will leave your rooms looking fresh and revitalised.

Light, neutral tones are a classic design move that never goes out of style and light colours limit the number of hard lines that will divide your spaces. On the other hand, if you’re feeling bold, bright colours can go a long way to liven up the room.

Something as simple as painting might seem like a small change, but it can really help to make a room look much larger and more modern.

 

2)     Fun Feature Walls

Feature walls are a great way to add a splash of colour to brighten up a room, and it’s far less effort and commitment than painting a whole room.

However, if you don’t feel like painting, then Rebel Walls are an excellent source for wallpaper murals to create the perfect feature wall to suit any aesthetic! All the look without the elbow grease.

Updating our Lounge - Dreaming of a Brighter Future!

Photo by Guillermo Nolasco on Unsplash

{This is a collaborative post}

We moved into our house nearly seven years ago now and it's a truly beautiful home. Built-in the 1700's, it was originally a stable block for a large manor house and now I refer to it as the tardis, as on the outside it looks tiny, but when you come in, you realise it is very spacious. We really are very lucky to live here as part of my husband's job.

As the house isn't actually ours, we haven't done too much with it, it had all been cleaned up before we moved in, so we have magnolia walls and beige carpets, but they really are a bit boring and the furniture and soft furnishings we bought with us from our old home are not the most stylish. I've therefore decided it is time for an upgrade and I'm dreaming/ planning how we want it to look.

How is our lounge used?

I've never been one for following trends, I'm all about making the space work for our family and the way we use it. For us, the lounge is a sanctuary, it's where we come together to snuggle up and watch a film, it's where the cat gets played with, where we craft and make cards and often where my husband and I both work. In short, it is probably the most used room in the house and we spend well over 50% of our time in it.

Somewhere amazing to relax

I had a chat with all the family and asked them what they wanted from our lounge and the top answer was an amazing sofa. When we holidayed in an airbnb last year we had two of those sofas where you can raise up the footrest and relax back and everyone loved those, but I do worry about the durability of them, with kids keep flipping them up and down! With that in mind, I think we'll go for a massive corner sofa with deep seats and beautiful, soft cushions. As well as a couple of footstalls, so even when all five of us are together watching something we can still all have our feet up if we fancy.

Have you considered Engineered Wood Flooring?

The images are all of the newly installed engineered wood floors at Ashburnham Place where I live

{This is a collaborative post}

Growing up as a child in the seventies and eighties everyone I knew had a carpeted house, in fact, most had a shagpile in at least one room. As I grew older trends started to change, carpets got cheaper but the quality also seriously declined and it seems that due to that, and the worries about keeping them clean, as well as the rise of allergies that many people moved to a hardwood floor, more in line with what our European and American brothers were doing.

Vinyl flooring or lino was a cost-effective and easy choice for quite a while, especially in bathrooms and kitchens were traditional wood flooring was unsuitable due to the amount of moisture and potential water spills. However, as home design moved on and houses became more slick and modern, a vinyl-covered floor didn't really cut it. Thankfully we've seen the rise of the engineered wood floor over the last few decades and today it is accepted as a really good choice for flooring that looks fantastic and just like real wood (as of course, it is real wood) and is long-lasting and durable.

What is engineered wood flooring?

It is a number of layers of veneers, which are thin slices of different real woods put together and sandwiched under pressure with a high-quality glue. The top layer is the highest quality wood, giving the beautiful final appearance. Make sure you do your homework when choosing your engineered wood floor as not all engineered wood flooring is the same, it can come in a range of thicknesses from 14mm - 20mm and depending on the footfall and where the floor is placed will help you decide what is best. Ask for boards that have at least a 4-6mm top layer, to help protect from damage over time.