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It’s at this time of year I start feeling our home needs a lift. It’s sunny outside and I’m out of hibernation mode. I no longer want the house to be a cozy cocoon. I want to give it a fresh injection of life and energy. Of course, I can’t do a complete refurb every season but there are a few tricks for making the house more vibrant without spending a fortune. They involve making a few select purchases, rather than repainting or making any permanent changes. I have a few days’ vacation next week and I’m going to use the time to breath some new life into our house. Here’s my plan.
Liven up with plants
The obvious first step: bringing the outside in instantly livens things up. I’m planning on a large plant for the living room and some spring bulbs for the kitchen. I also spotted this great idea for the bathroom on Remodelista. I’ve never been that into succulents but am starting to gain an appreciation for their many varied forms and funny shapes. I was thinking of introducing a few in containers on our patio but I love this look for indoors.
Change the rhythm
Multiple small photos and prints in mismatching frames creates a much more lively rhythm than a single piece of art. It’s also a way to introduce more personality to a home. I spotted this pic on SFgirlbybay and it’s a perfect example.
I’m planning to make a gallery of family photos up the stairs and on the wall in the dining room. I also have quite a few shots taken on past vacations – sunsets in Maui, beaches in Mexico – which we can dust off and display now the weather is better.
Experiment with seasonal wallpaper panels
There are so many stunning designs that would be perfect for spring and summer. But they might feel too floral for winter. So I’m contemplating a single panel of wallpaper that can be propped up against the wall and taken away again if I change my mind. It will be much cheaper than covering a whole wall or room, not to mention miles easier. I love this Celadon Vase wallpaper by Designer’s Guild.
Throw some shapes
Adding a few curves into a space breaks things up and changes the energy. An arc lamp over a boxy sofa, a round mirror on the wall, an unusually-shaped rug – they all make a fairly ordinary scheme more lively. This house, designed by Mirka McNeill Farmer and featured in April’s British Homes and Gardens shows exactly what a few curves can do. I love pretty much everything about this house, but I particularly like the way she has used different shapes to make the place both quirky and restful.
I’ve seen this chair used a million times, but always in vast loft spaces. I never thought it would work in a London townhouse but this pic proves me wrong.
This rug looks like it’s real animal skin, which I wouldn’t use. But the shape offsets the the rectangular table, bench and fireplace beautifully. There are plenty of fake animal skin rugs that would do the job just as well.
These shelves, made of cardboard tubes, are a brainwave. They make a tiny bedroom really stand out.
Starburst and sunbursts
Nothing imparts energy more than these gorgeous mirrors. Replacing a rectangular mirror with one of these would add instant movement to a scheme. Look at the impact it has on this room, featured in Living Etc.
So that’s the plan. After all this energetic decorating though, I’ll need somewhere peaceful to rest…
Today the sky is a particularly luminous shade of blue. Nothing is more likely to put me in a good mood than a bright blue summer sky (even if it is only April). Who said blue was sad? And to prove the point, I scoured the Internet (while sitting outside on the patio, of course) for examples of the perfect, fresh, happy blue.
This is decorator Dawn Falli’s dining room. It first appeared in Domino and then on Apartment Therapy. The blue chairs are a jolt of summer color and look stunning against the gold and white.
What better example of a ‘happy’ blue than the one used in Carrie Bradshaw’s apartment makeover in the Sex and the City movie? Production designer Jeremy Conway combined a particularly uplifting blue (close to Benjamin Moore’s Electric Blue, according to Casa Sugar’s great interview with Conway) with airy white drapes, vibrant rugs and that delightful collection of pictures above Carrie’s bed to come up with a space that simply oozes positive thinking.
With the pale blue wallpaper in this bedroom, you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d stepped into a garden on a summer’s day. While the style is a little ornate for my taste, this is an undeniably ‘feel-good’ blue.
So, how to inject some of that happy blue into your own home? Graham and Green has the most amazing sapphire-blue bone inlay furniture. It’s an unconventional way to get that clean, crisp blue and white effect, without resorting to blue toile or wedgewood.
The crazy pattern of this blue ‘Squiggle’ rug, by Vivienne Westwood at The Rug Company, is certain to induce a good mood – if you can get over the shock of spending big bucks on something you’re going to walk all over, that is.
Or mix it up with orange and lime in a statement piece like these armoires by Argentinian artist, Lucas Rise, again courtesy of Casa Sugar.
I have loved this Cole chair from Room and Board for ages. It’s simple, inviting and perfect for a scheme inspired by spring skies…
Painting a staircase blue might not be for the fainthearted, but the tropical blue in this Scandinavian house is surprisingly effective. It turns a narrow staircase into a sunny spot you might actually want to linger in. See the full house story on Remodelista and Materialicious.
Who knew blue could be so upbeat?
To some, a home is just four walls and a roof. To others, it’s a showcase for a lifetime’s achievements. To a few, it’s a canvas for artistic expression. To me, it’s a refuge and a source of comfort. It’s also a lab for design experiments, some of which go well, many of which don’t.
That’s the real reason I started this blog: to record the changes in our home, capture the things that inspire those changes; and document the disasters so I never repeat them!
To some people, I suppose our home looks finished. Or maybe it looks like we’ve barely started. But to me, it’s a work in progress. So here are the first photos of our home – finished or otherwise.
We live in a San Francisco Edwardian. There are three stories, including the basement garage. The living room is at the front and is open to the hallway via a double-width arch. We’re lucky to have tons of natural light, with windows on two sides – although that does make it chilly on winter evenings. The sofas are from IKEA (when we moved to the US seven years ago, we had to furnish an entire apartment in a weekend so most of our basic items are from IKEA – and still going strong, I might add). The ottoman is from Pottery Barn and has been absolutely invaluable – there’s nothing better than kicking back in front of a movie with this as a footrest. Good for extra seating too when we entertain. The shades are raw silk from the Shade Store (excellent for reasonably-priced custom shades). The mirror and lamp are from Pier 1 and the apothecary chest is from Gingko, a little store in Soma that makes items to order for a great price – mostly from reclaimed wood. I also have a beautiful Louis chair (out of shot) covered in cream velvet, with silver gilt arms. It’s rather ornate but balances out the two boxy IKEA sofas. The challenge here is keeping the effect modern while indulging my preference for vintage, gilt and shiny things. Seems I’m constantly teetering between the two.
Ok, this shot is taken from the sofa under the bay window, looking through to the hallway and then dining room. Here’s the Louis chair. The painting is by Chris Hankey. We asked for contributions to an art gallery for our wedding gifts, and this was one of the pieces we eventually purchased. If there’s one thing in our home that helps me relax, it’s this.
The dining room wall color was a major change for us – it’s quite a cool blue/green/gray. It’s Iced Marble by Benjamin Moore and seems to change color depending on what you put next to it. But it looks great as a backdrop to the wave painting. The table is (of course) IKEA, but the chairs are from a, now closed, store on Fillmore Street. I loved the leather but couldn’t justify buying six of them so two are in a charcoal fabric instead. The sideboard, just seen, is from Gingko again. I had trouble deciding what to do with the front door, which is glass. I didn’t want to block out the light completely, but also didn’t want passersby peering in while we ate our dinner in the evening. The laser-cut paper screen by Tord Boontje seemed to be a good solution – and, somehow, we’ve managed to prevent our toddler from tearing it to shreds.
Just off the dining room is a tiny sitting area, which we use as a playroom. I’ve already shared my excitement about the West Elm zigzag rug in an earlier post: I’m loving how it contrasts with the more somber dining room.
This is the master bedroom. It’s above the living room so we get the same great light. But we had to invest in extremely well-lined drapes and shades to keep the warmth in in winter. The bed is IKEA again, as are the lamps. I feel like we should replace the lamps with something more visible against the light-colored drapes. But the light they give is so warm it’s perfect for a bedroom so I can’t bear to part with them. The pomegranate painting was another wedding gift and was the inspiration for the colors in this room.
Ok, I’m no stylist. But I like to see this little collection of things on our dresser in the mornings. The photos are of my father as a child, the handheld silver mirror (lying flat) was an 18th birthday present, the mother-of-pearl inlaid mirror is from Wisteria and was a source of much soul-searching (should we really spend the money?) but it was the best price I’d found for this type of mirror and I absolutely love it. The domino box is also from Wisteria and was a present from my sister (with some strong hints…). The large paper flower was made by my two-year-old at his daycare and is, quite frankly, the best thing about this collection (in my humble, doting-parent, opinion!)
Last but not least, the guest room. The photograph isn’t great, but the room itself is really relaxing to be in. The wall color is Morning Dew by Benjamin Moore – a really pale, creamy green. The drapes are white linen and from the Shade Store again. The bedside tables were an absolute find for $140 each in a local antiques store (Past Perfect on Union Street – same place I got the Louis chair). Somehow they work with the IKEA bed and lamps. The rug is from South Africa, a gift from my parents.
In another post, I’ll try to show some pics of the nursery, office and kitchen. The latter is definitely a work in progress – we’re contemplating a renovation.
So, that’s our home. I hope it provides some ideas – even if only what not to do!
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