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Will this year be the year you finally get the house of your dreams? How would you feel if I told you that you might already be living in it? With the high cost of moving house simply making it unrealistic for many, why not make 2019 the year you fall back in love with your OWN home! By making some simple changes you can truly transform how you live and how you feel about your house. Here are my 7 quick makeover tips which you can try yourselves at home. They are simple, accessible and genuinely budget-friendly. 1: Focus on Layout Make an immediate impact by rearranging your existing furniture. Position sofas to face each other, or your bed to face the entrance of the room to make the most of your space and enhance focal points. 2: Wallpaper Add pattern, texture and colour by wallpapering a single wall of your room. Go on trend Botanical like this self-adhesive paper from Dunelm, or try modern geometric, such as this Kaleidoscope pattern by Harlequin. Or maybe simple stripes are more your thing!  3: Bring in some colour Paint – this is a simple and easy way to bring in some colour, warmth and depth. Go bold with Pantone’s 2019 Colour of the Year ‘Living Coral’, or alternatively a deep midnight blue for a feature wall, or pick a pretty pastel for all-over-colour. 4: Accessorise! Update your bedroom with adding accessories in an accent colour. A new throw and matching cushions on your bed, or some sofa cushions and a coordinating rug for the living room. Simple, but it will transform the room. This cushion and throw from John Lewis would add a sophisticated touch to any room. 5: Lighten Up Switch to a ‘dimmer’ to create instant evening lighting, upgrade lamp shades and combine with new table lamps or a ceiling light for both practicality and versatility. 6: Upcycle & Recycle Give an old chest or table a new lease of life. Paint old wood with easy-to-use chalk paint and add new handles, wallpaper drawer fronts or a table top and add an acrylic sheet to protect it. These chests of drawers have been transformed doing just that! (more on painting furniture and upcycling coming soon!)    7: Artwork Hang some artwork on the walls – this could be as simple as framing family photos in a grouped collage on one wall, or hang a couple of big posters side by side. Smaller pictures can be hung with sticky strips, or use picture ledges, so no need for holes! This arrangement from IKEA is ready to hang and is under £30.  These ideas really don't need to cost the earth. In fact, they are so budget-friendly that they were recently published in a weekly property column in the national press ...
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Here is my latest advertisement in the current edition of Darling magazine!
Why should it matter what the inside of our house looks like? Take a living room for example. Each of ours probably share a lot in common – 4 walls, a floor, a sofa and probably a TV. However, good design goes beyond aesthetics, how a room makes us FEEL is where the difference lies. Here, I explore why good design matters, really matters, to the way you feel in your own home.
To Improve Your Mental Wellbeing Research has shown that our moods, emotions and even behaviours can be significantly impacted by the places where we live and work. It’s surely no surprise that dark, gloomy rooms can make you feel low and suppress your mood. Conversely, light, airy and well-arranged rooms can lift your mood and harness positivity. Since your immediate surroundings can have such power over your thoughts and feelings, surely it makes sense that you make the best use of every room you own to fulfil it’s potential? With the average house in the Kingston area costing over twice the national average (Source: plumpot.co.uk), can you really afford to give over a whole room to the ‘dumping ground’? To Reflect Your Own Style Personality Never underestimate the importance of living in a home which represents you and your family. It’s invaluable that you surround yourself with colours, furniture and other items which have real meaning to you personally and which make you happy. It is very rare that you move into a home which is already decorated exactly as you would have chosen yourself. So often you inherit the taste and décor of a previous home-owner and just put up with it. But this isn’t reflecting your own true style or taste. Filling your home with items you’ve collected over the years, all of which have meaning to you personally and which evoke happy memories and emotions – now that’s what I’m talking about. To Make It Work for You The way you interact with your environment and others within your home can all affect your quality of life. Making the space you have work for you by thinking about layout, furniture position and flow between the rooms is key to ensuring that each space serves its purpose well for YOU. Thinking about the functionality and purpose of each space, will shape the way you use each room. Seemingly small changes can make a surprisingly big difference to your home. For example, switching a sofa to face the entrance of a room will draw you into the room and encourage interaction. Your daily life and family relationships can all benefit from a well thought out floorplan. The Danes believe so strongly that good interior design can improve people’s lives, they have a word for it - Hygge – I believe it too!  Myth-Busting Interior Design..
Read more about me, my concept and why Lucy J is different to other designers. Out now in Time & Leisure magazine - Kingston and Teddington edition. Well, this is my first ever Blog post and I have to admit to feeling slightly nervy about it! I’ve never considered myself a ‘writer’, but I do have a head buzzing full of thoughts and ideas, plus I had a change of heart. So here I am, and I hope you enjoy reading it.
This post is all about Me and how I came to find myself where I am, starting a new business and doing something which I really genuinely enjoy. Back in the day…. Rewinding a few years (ok, a lot of years!), I was always one to enjoy those Blue Peter challenges with the sticky back plastic, making models, painting and generally making stuff. I’m quite creative and I’ve always been able to visualise things in my mind’s eye. I always knew what my finished model was going to look like. I could LOOK at an empty box, but SEE a doll’s house. In the genes…. I also loved to sew and that’s something which has stayed with me ever since. I think it runs in the family somehow. My Grandfather was a tailor, making suits on Jermyn Street in London and my Mum is a whizz on her old Singer sewing machine which she got for her 21st. She made all her own clothes in the 60’s. Making my mark…. As a student, I was desperate to make my room my own, even experimenting with templating which was very in vogue at the time – honestly! But my first actual home with my husband, was a real chance to put all my ideas into practice. One weekend, when my husband was working, I revamped our bedroom. I emptied it, painted, changed the layout, bought new bed linen, a lightshade and hung new curtains. I worked like a demon but it gave me such a sense of satisfaction, achievement and fun……I knew I was hooked. Finding my stride…. Since then, we have moved house twice more, both to houses which needed modernising. We knocked down walls, moved windows, extended up and out, fitting kitchens and bathrooms all from scratch. I loved it. Dust and all! Moving on…. It was never my full-time job, but when I finally tired of the commute to where I did spend my days, I decided it was time. I enrolled on a course in Interior Design, gaining a Distinction and enjoying every moment. I’ve always loved to work but the best bit about setting up Lucy J is that it doesn’t even feel like work! I know it’s not for everyone, and you might think I’m bonkers, but I genuinely enjoy rummaging through fabrics and searching for wallpapers. I really do! These days, I still have that vision of being able to see beyond what I’m looking at. Can you? |
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