Interior tips for time spent at home
Great to be included in a favourite local magazine Living North recently and be able to offer some inspiration at a time when we are in the strange situation of being asked to Stay Home. The right thing to do to help save lives, hopefully we will be seeing an ease in this soon. Here I share some tips for lifting your spirits and your interiors as featured in Living North.
Your home is an extension of you and your personality, it acts as a sanctuary from the outside world, now more than ever when we are limited to time outside. This can be an opportunity to use your creativity updating and renewing your interiors. There are benefits to your mental wellbeing when your home surroundings are given a lift, these don’t have to cost the earth or take many resources, if you have some time on our hands this could be a great thing to do right now. Here are some suggestions on creating a brighter happier feeling home,
Make your bed, may sound simple but it is a good morning routine that immediately makes you feel you have accomplished something and instantly makes the room look neater.
Declutter and get on top of any piles of stuff that have been lying about for ages, you may want to box things up ready to go to the tip at a later date.
Get creative why not have ago at making some wall art, the children will love this one too, it could be abstract painting if you have some paints in the house or put together a collage, you will need paper, scissors and glue. Use magazines, newspapers, old books, cut out images you love and see how you can mix them up, search college art on Pinterest or Artfinder.com for inspiration. Wasi tape can be fine for a makeshift frame or repurpose an old frame.
Mood boarding or creative visualisation- now is the time to nail your ideas for the room you have dreamt of doing up for years, tear out pages from magazines, unearth any swatches or paint chips you have been saving, if you have ink and a printer print off your favourite Pinterest images and start to edit down what you really love. Consider colour combinations, fabrics, pattern, texture, accessories, furniture and layouts. Use a piece of board to arrange your images or blue tack onto the inside of a cupboard door for now! Need further help with this I run workshops and 1:1 sessions from my studio which can be booked at a time to suit.
Mood board by Astrid Blake
Enjoy reacquainting with your books and cover designs, rearrange and dust your shelves and try colour coding into Instagram worthy rainbow colour blocks. You can also apply this to your wardrobe, hang your favourite dress or display gorgeous shoes as pieces of art, it’s a great time to decide what you what to clear out too!
Accessorising a Surface, time to become a stylist and enjoy playing and having fun rearranging mantel pieces, dressing tables, side boards, dressers, coffee tables and bookshelves, consider each piece, does it hold a special memory of where or when you bought it, who made or gave it to you, create meaningful vignettes of beautiful objects and special meaning.
Create a Hyggekrog, a Scandinavian word which roughly translates as ‘a nook’, a place in a room where you can snuggle up with a your favourite cup, a hot drink and a good book, fill with cosy cushions and soft comforting blankets, natural fibres such as wool, sheep, alpaca or cashmere are both warm and better for the environment. If you have an old jumper that you accidentally shrunk in the wash, instead of throwing it out, reuse it to make a simple yet stylish cushion, there are plenty of You tube tips on line for upcycling projects.
Astrid's HyggeKrog, Nightshirt/Dayshirt - available to buy at Alice & Astrid, crafted in England from pure cotton.
Bring the light in, consider rooms and how to enhance the natural light, Spring clean windows, small windows maybe better with less dark fabric around them. Heavy dark furniture can saturate light, think about how you could rearrange your existing furniture for a lighter feel, mirrors help reflect light and the outdoors into the room, are yours in the best place for this? Do take care in moving anything heavy.
I look forward to opening a copy of Living North, it's a real treat to read, the magazine is available to pick up in supermarkets and local stores but if you can't get hold of one you can browse online here.
Do you need any inspiration or design advice? Email me, I'd love to have a chat about your project.
Image refs: Pinterest unless otherwise stated.
