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Archive for the ‘Interior ideas’ Category
Tuesday, October 15th, 2013
As part of their new Autumn / Winter 2013 range, the Linea collection at House of Fraser includes some lovely graphical and geometric themed interior ideas which work brilliantly in modern or contemporary homes.
For a bedroom uplift, we love the bright and cheery design of the Shard duvet set, which certainly makes a statement on the bed. It’s seen here paired with the wooden Sydney king bedstead.
Blues, such as teal or turquoise, can be uplifting colours for living room walls. Your wall colour can provide inspiration for accessories and furnishings. Here, for example, it’s picked up in the knitted graphical print cushion and teal angular vase.
The graphical and geometric theme runs throughout the room, in the mirror, picture frame and even in the parquet style flooring.
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Monday, October 7th, 2013
As I love searching for affordable home decor products and like to highlight high street buys, as well as designer interior brands, I was pleased to be asked to take part in another High Street Hunter challenge, for VoucherCodes Most Wanted online magazine. This time it’s all about autumn.
The autumn 2013 products have well and truly hit the high street and the shops are full of new ideas. One of the product trends that I’m loving at the moment is that of metallic accents – particularly burnished gold and shiny copper.
These metallics are perfect for the season, especially as they evoke the rich colours of crunchy autumn leaves. In addition, it’s a trend that effectively works alongside many other décor schemes, so you don’t have to worry about completely re-decorating or changing too much, which is ideal if you have limited funds. In fact, to avoid over blinging your home, it’s a trend best used in moderation.
A few choice accessories, such as a gold or copper lamp base, vase, light, mirror, cushions or candle holders are all you need to bring the metallic trend into your home.
Gold and copper accents mix well with other colours, patterns, natural shades or black and white, and add a touch of luxe to interiors.
Lots of designer home pieces make use of copper and gold materials and come with rather hefty price tags, but metallic home accents are widely available on the high street too. Why pay a fortune, when you could adopt this trend for a fraction of the price?
All of the items I’ve featured cost under £80 each, with many of them available to snap up for a lot less than that, so take a look at these beauties and get shopping!
My top metallic accent high street buys
1. This Nova copper ball table lamp from John Lewis is my favourite piece. It definitely looks like it should cost more than £50 and looks brilliant when lit up.
2. These gold tealight candle holders are really pretty. They’re super affordable too, at only £3 each from Asda, and are crying out to be grouped together in multiples.
3. Bhs is a firm favourite for stylish lighting, and this contemporary metallic Haddon table lamp doesn’t disappoint. It’s £56.
4. You can never have enough storage boxes and baskets and this gold basket, with its contrasting black lining, offers heaps of storage possibilities. It’s priced at £19.99.
5. Another lamp base that I couldn’t resist, as it’s a gorgeous hammered copper. The Squoval is the most expensive item, coming in at exactly £80, but it adds a wonderful touch of luxury.
6. I love the decorative open weave of this gold basket, which would be perfect to use as a fruit bowl. It’s £25.99.
7. The most blingy item of them all is this copper sequin cushion. I’d mix it with solid colour and patterned cushions, in turquoise or teal blue, to add contrast and texture to a sofa. The cushion is cover is £9.99 from H&M.
8. It’s amazing how much furniture can be changed simply by altering the knobs or handles. These decorative gold handles are only £4.99 per pair from Zara Home.
9. A modern alternative to the traditional copper kettle, this Morphy Richards version is stylish and functional. It’s £34.99 from John Lewis.
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Tags: High Street Hunter, trend
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Thursday, October 3rd, 2013
Asda isn’t normally somewhere that instantly springs to mind as a must-visit store for home interior ideas, but this season they’ve come up trumps – especially if you want to create a new room look on a budget.
One of their five key trend looks for the Autumn /Winter 2013 season is Modern Memories. It’s based on the popular mid-century modern 1950s retro style of interior design, but with a contemporary take and fresh colours.
The colours are bright and inviting, there are plenty of motifs to choose from and good old animals are back too, in the form of decorative accessories, ceramics and cushions.
Best of all, in true Asda style, all the pieces are very affordable. The Chelsea compact sofa in teal is £495, with a coordinating armchair available at £295. The cushions are mostly just £12 each and accessories such as the pear are only £6. Rugs can often be a costly purchase, but the teal, blue and grey geometric rug is a great buy at £40.
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Monday, July 1st, 2013
We’re always on the lookout for ways to save money, so can’t resist the summer sale at Funktionalley.
Running until the end of July, there’s the opportunity to save up to 30% on a range of original designer products.
Amongst the discounted products on offer, we particularly like the look of:
The Snakkes wall lamp, created by Barcelona graphic designer, Daniel Benito Cortázar. It’s shaped like a speech bubble and the surface acts as a white board. It comes with a white board marker, so you can light up your room and illuminate your thoughts at the same time! Genius.
The City Sunday wall mounted magazine rack, with its outlining of skyscrapers on the horizon. Great for getting your newspapers and magazines tidy and organised and a bonus that they can be stored in a rack that won’t take up room on your floor.
The six pack of stylish Pappelina monochrome cushions, designed and printed in Sweden. Monochrome home accessories are big again at the moment and these designs are all simple, yet highly effective.
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Wednesday, May 22nd, 2013
Taking inspiration from the Chelsea Flower Show, here are some colourful product ideas that can bring the power of contemporary floral designs into your home.
Bluebellgray Chelsea Flower Show mug, £8 from John Lewis
Denby set of four watercolour flower placemats, with a white background and subtle bird cage design. Was £16, now £12.80 from Debenhams.
Orla Kiely geranium and myrrh mini candle and fragrance diffuser set, £25 from Amara
Essenza spring violet floral duvet set, £50 from Idea Home Co
Harlequin Giverny indigo and pistachio cushion, £50 from Heal’s
Summer flowers large scented candle, with up to 50 hours burning time, £33 from Designers Guild
Bluebellgray Fi chair, £799 from John Lewis
Large porcelain rose design bowls by Pip Studio, £29.99 each from Rigby & Mac
Textured honesty flower design Keka iPad case, £40 from Rachael Taylor
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Wednesday, May 15th, 2013
Lounge, living room, sitting room, family room, front room – whatever you call it, it serves the same purpose. This area of the home is usually the first room that your visitors see and the one that they spend all their time in.
It’s also the room that we tend to redecorate the most in order to reflect our style and the season. Whilst heavy throws, chunky pillows and dark curtains might be ideal for those dark evenings throughout winter, they’ll probably look a bit gloomy at the height of summer.
Redecorating and swapping the furniture will certainly create a new look, but that’s not something we can do regularly. If you want to update your front room, but you’re working to a tight budget, here are some small changes that you can make to create a whole new look this summer.
Change the cushions
Your sofa and armchairs are big purchases that are designed to last for years, but they can quickly look outdated or tired. Freshen them up by changing the cushion covers – it’s not just colour that can have an impact, but you could even go from a modern look with a solid bold colour to vintage, with a floral design.
Take down the curtains
Thick and heavy curtains will make the entire room seem darker than it really is, so take them down and replace them with a lighter voile curtain or a roller blind. If you don’t have any nosy neighbours, you could even leave your window open, allowing all the natural light to flood in.
Create a feature wall
Redecorating every time we move from winter to spring would be a waste of our time and money. However, if you really want to change the look of your front room, you could add a feature wall. A bold wallpaper pattern will make a huge difference.
De-clutter
Homes up and down the country have far too much clutter, whether it’s a shelf of DVDs that are never watched, books that are no longer read, or ornaments that are never dusted. Simply putting your stuff out of sight will create a clean living space, which is perfect for summer.
Change your tableware
In the winter, you might have some candles in the centre of the coffee table. Switching them with a bowl of fresh fruit will give a fresh and summery feel – you can even match it to your colour scheme. Also, if you have dark wood, lighten up the furniture with some lightly coloured mats and coasters.
Add a house plant
By adding a splash of greenery to the front room, you will immediately fresh up the place and make it feel more summery. This tip should not go unnoticed by those that aren’t particularly green-fingered, as you could always add a fake plant for the same effect.
For more ideas on how to change the look and feel of any room, visit Betta Living, the UK’s favourite home improvement specialist.
***This is a guest post from Betta Living***
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Tags: guest post
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Wednesday, March 20th, 2013
At Fresh Design Blog, we’re suckers for dream homes and grand properties with modern interiors, so we can’t help but love the look of the Roehampton Gate property currently for sale through Savills.
This huge home located close to Richmond Park in London is the ultimate detached family home, that manages to straddle that tricky tightrope between modern and classical.
This double-fronted property makes a strong first impression, with room for several cars to park. Upon entering, the spacious hallway draws the eye towards the gorgeous feature staircase, with the skylight above sending a shard of light to only accentuate it further.
Either stained oak or limestone flooring are used throughout, ensuring the whole building has that feel of luxury.
The Richard Baker kitchen has been finished to the highest specification, and the large island space ensures it is an absolute dream to cook in. This is without even mentioning the generously-proportioned walk-in pantry.
Other than the seven spacious bedrooms – including a huge, plush master suite with two separate dressing rooms and its own private balcony – the centrepiece of the property is undeniably the huge swimming pool complex, complete with large pool, leisure and gym areas, in addition to plant rooms and a temperature-controlled wine cellar.
If you considered having staff living on the grounds, this would be a definite possibility too, as the lower ground floor includes an open-plan kitchen/living room, bathroom and bedroom which combined with its own separate access means independence and privacy are secured.
The west-facing garden has been designed and landscaped by the acclaimed Lizzie Taylor, and includes some beautiful stone steps and a myriad of terraces. For those who prefer to stay indoors, the huge, high-tech media room should tick all the boxes.
The property is available through Savills. One can but dream!
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Tags: modern home, Savills
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Tuesday, March 5th, 2013
Following on from taking part in the winter High Street Hunter challenge for VoucherCodes online magazine Most Wanted, I’ve recently put together some ideas for spring.
The challenge was to provide ideas for updating a home for spring, focusing on a particular trend or colour, with all products costing £80 or less.
It was the geometric trend in home interiors that jumped out at me this time, and particularly the uplifting, zingy and cheerful colours being used in spring 2013 ranges, moving away from the monochrome blacks and whites of winter.
Home interior trends are often inspired and influenced by designs seen on the fashion catwalks, and it’s no exception with the latest geometric trend.
A wide range of geometric themed products are available from stores, with designs incorporating triangles, cubes and hexagons proving particularly popular. They certainly help create some interesting products, with the geometric trend working well as a repeat pattern on products such as cushions, wallpaper and even lighting.
As far as prices go, a quick saunter along the high street reveals a brilliant selection of geometric homeware designs with many at very affordable prices, so updating your home needn’t cause your wallet too much trauma!
Here are some of my favourite spring geometric product picks:
1. Prism print, by Dig The Earth, £23 from Not On The High Street
2. Rush tomato red geometric design cushion, £12 from Habitat
3. White Hope table lamp, £40 from Bhs
4. Tress tea towel by Sian Elin, £12 from Not On The High Street (the design is also available as a cushion, for £55)
5. Karlsson DIY cubic wall clock, £36.99 from I Want One of Those
6. Green geometric jacquard cushion, £8 from Matalan
7. Green engraved candle with wooden plate, £6 from Matalan
8. Triangular meshed bowl in yellow, £48 from Bouf
9. Logan woven bread basket, £8 from Habitat
10. Pastel pop triangular print bath mat, £10 from Matalan
Geometric wall design ideas
If you want to update your decor too, there are some fab wallpaper ideas featuring geometric patterns.
I love the Trellis design wallpaper by Harlequin, which is available in a lovely choice of colours ideal for spring, but it’s top of the budget at £79 a roll…it could be okay if you’ve only got one wall to paper, but not so great otherwise.
A more affordable option is the Ling design wallpaper by Steve Leung, which also features a trellis design, and is only £26 a roll from Graham and Brown.
 Steve Leung Ling wallpaper What do you think of the spring geometrics trend, will you be using it in your home?
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Tags: geometric, High Street Hunter, trend
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