Simple tricks

Morning, tomorrow we fling open the doors of our home for Design School, yay hay. I love Design School days - tomorrow's class is large, we're be bursting at the seams but it will be fun. We're not finished with the revamp so just to warn anybody who is coming along when you  tour the house quite a few spaces are looking in a state  but we are getting there. BUT the rooms that are done are beautiful if I am allowed to say such things! This morning I thought I might focus on simple tricks to turn a space around. Whether you're renting or you've brought whether you've lived somewhere for 10 years or just a few months we all want our spaces to fill welcoming, cocooning, intriguing and tantalising right? First up have patience. I generally don't have patience so this bit of advice is hard to take. Pulling together an eclectic interior takes time, you can't shop for the room in a weekend it needs to have stuff in it that you've kind of collected along the way. However if you buy only what you love as I do you're find that rather than getting rid of stuff continually it just evolves and moves from room to room when you change things up. Add art. You don't necessary need a gallery wall (oddly enough I've just got rid of mine in the hallway) but little groupings of art whatever kind it may be - magazine tears, flea market finds, DIY art, art from galleries has the effect of transforming areas. My art wall bugged me for a while in the hallway because I did what I just told you guys not to do I pulled it together one afternoon because I was so impatient to have something. Now I've broken it up, its mostly been transported to my studio it now looks way cooler, more cohesive really  as for the wall in the hall, well I've gotten round that by putting a funny little cheapo console thing there and while I'm still figuring out the art it does the job. Add flowers or plants. Want to bring a shelf, mantle, kitchen island, window sill alive then there is only one way to go and that is with plants and flowers. I'm obsessed! Other little cosyifiers include bar carts (how many times do I talk about those), stacks of books on little side tables, the odd rug skimming the floor. Funnily enough I found the cutest rug in a little second hand store the other day for £30, quick clean later and it skims the floor under my desk chair beautifully! It's not about money as I say time and time again! We are right in the middle of working on January's journal which I have to say is looking fabulous. There are tips on decorating mantles, decorating secrets, decorating bookcases lots and lots of speedy tips. Sneak peak of one of the spreads below, have a lovely weekend.