The Christmas lights are on!

This month I thought I would take a look at lighting now we seem to be switching our lights on earlier and earlier each day. The Christmas lights are being switched on too in most major towns and the Christmassy feeling is creeping up all around us.

As you arrive home on a winters evening it is nice to have the outside of your house lit up, for safety reasons first but also to make it feel welcoming after a long day at work or shopping.

I feel it is important to create a harmonious feeling in a room, the relationship between the furniture and the room can often be effected by the lighting that surrounds it. To create that connection and make a room feel warm and cosy have a light on in the hallway and in the main living room too as you arrive home after dark.


Here are some of my favourite designs:

Autumn inspiration

Now we are starting to spend a little more time indoors again, I thought this month I would take a look at some quick inspirational ideas for the home.

When we arrive home in the evenings and the nights have become darker and colder the house can at first feel a little chilly, lifeless and sometimes even lonely. The first thing we often do is turn on the main lights, flick the kettle on and switch on the television, all of a sudden the house is bright and noisey.

To ensure we are welcomed into our homes feeling relaxed and warm here are a few instant tips that can make all the difference to a comfortable evening ahead.

1. Place a few light timers around the house, these are easily adjustable so as the evenings draw in further the lights will automatically switch on as needed.

2. Place soft low wattage light bulbs in table lamps and adjust the heating so it comes on low an hour or so before you arrive home. You can now even have an app on your phone called hive active heating (hivehome.com) which will allow you to adjust the house temperature whilst commuting home as the weather changes. There is also an app for adjusting the lighting in your home, you will need to replace the light bulbs with hive active bulbs, these will allow you to have similar control as the heating. They come in a range of choices so there is something for everyone.

3. Create a warm and welcoming entrance. The hallway will set the scene for the rest of the home so if it's untidy at the door, what will it be like in the other rooms that people can't necessarily see when they pop by. It is important here to create flow, welcome you in to see more; you can create flow by using complimentary colours that will lead you through to other rooms off the hallway. Choose striking tiles, or a striped carpet or if you love a wood floor create impact with a colourful rug. The entrance hall is often seen as somewhere to pass through and not a place to sit and relax, a place that will see a lot of "people traffic". Flow can be created by using complimentary colours, for example use lighter colours in rooms to create a feeling of space, light and openness, whereas the hallway can be darker, not only creating warmth but being practical as we rush through the house, it is an area that may experience regular bumps and scrapes. So, try using strong, saturated colours, like dark grey, mulberry or teal; go on be brave!

4. The lounge often leads straight from the hallway, here use warm neutrals,which will create a cosy aura in the evenings. The ambience of a room can be easily adjusted by the amount of lights that are switched on, the colour and pattern of curtains or blinds, rugs, the style of fireplace and accessories like cushions, throws and wall art.

Here are a few ideas:

The hallway - 

The lounge - 

Colour this Autumn

Autumn brings so many colourful changes in the garden after the summer; as the flowers fade, new vibrant colours emerge, bright reds, burnt orange and strong yellows dominate the trees and shrubs around the garden and parkland. It is a time when we start to spend more time once more indoors as the temperatures are noticeably cooler. It is a time when we start to think about the home again and how we can make it feel warm and welcoming. Our attention moves towards adding colour and comfort to our homes. 

There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to choosing colour, the most important rule is that you must feel at ease with the colours you have chosen, it is more than just choosing a colour you like. You must consider a number of things before you start to add colour to each room. 

The age & style of the property.

What is the main functionality of the room.

Ambience of the room being created.

Who uses the room.

How much light comes into a room.

It is important to make the house "flow" and by this I mean you can walk from one room to another without the feeling of stop-start, a jarring feeling that as one room abruptly ends another begins; you should try to create a home that as you move from one room to another there is a natural visual progression.

As tempting as colour charts can be, don't spend too long on choosing colours from them. The chart can often be a photographic image of the paint and will not be true to the colour of the paint. Although sometimes expensive, always buy a few paint samples and try them in your home. A large warehouse store will have a very different light to your own home so it will not offer a true reflection of how the paint will look in your home.

Be careful not to add too many colours into the room, for example painting a feature wall one colour, then the doors and woodwork another, and then a cornice or ceiling rose another. It will create a look that will be too fussy and cause conflict to the eye detracting the natural style of any architectural features.

The paint finish is equally important to the colour choice. Today many paint manufacturers offer different finishes, here are some of the most popular:

Gloss - A high sheen finish for interior and exterior woodwork and metal.

Estate Eggshell - Mid-sheen finish -Interior woodwork and metal including radiators, washable and robust.

Estate Emulsion -Chalky matt finish - Interior woodwork and metal including radiators.

Modern Emulsion - Washable matt finish - Walls and ceilings, including kitchens and bathrooms, hallways, children’s bedrooms and areas of high usage. 

Dead Flat - A very matt finish-  Interior woodwork, plaster and metal, including radiators.

Hot summer days - Cool calm interiors

We are all enjoying the warmth of the August sun but there is nothing nicer than coming in from out of the heat into a cool and breezy home. I am loving the soft patinas, the cool, calm interiors of French country living right now, so I wanted to share with you some of my favourite styles for various rooms around the house.

White washed floors, pale patinas on the walls, natural rugs, white, crisp cotton bed linen, painted furniture, candles, glass lanterns, voiles, shutters and chandeliers are all that will inspire you to create the look of a French Chateaux. 

Here are a few of my favourite looks:

Creating the Wow factor!

I think we have all said "wow" recently when the suddenly the temperature rose to over 30 degrees and we saw the sun for more than just a few hours. Well let's hope Summer stays a little longer and we can enjoy the garden and the out doors for a few more weeks.

People often ask when they are refurbishing their homes or just decorating a single room that they would like to create the 'wow" factor. So how is this created? Well first of all you must accept you need to change your ways about colour and how you live. Move out of your comfort zone and try something different. 

People often are attracted to colour or shape but very often creep back to something neutral and safe, they are often too nervous to try colour in their own homes. A good exercise is to flick through 2 or 3 magazines and cut out a few pictures that catch your eye. Do this with a friend and then discuss what you like about the picture, it could be the colour, the item itself, it's shape or it maybe the scene or the material the item is made from. Start to list a few key words associated with the pictures and then apply them to your decorating board to help you identify a colour scheme or a pattern for a fabric. This will start your ideas flowing about how you may want to decorate and furnish a room.

Always try to make each room stand out from the next but don't go over board. What I mean by this is that each room should have it's own identity but the next room must have a connection with the last, this way the house will flow more easily, feel relaxed and calm. A place that is stress free and feels like home and not just a place you live in. 

For example, rather than painting one room red and another blue and another green etc choose one colour for the whole house and alter the tone /shade lighter or darker from one room to the next. The house will flow instantly and moving from one room to the next will feel effortless. Add the colour in the room by altering the way you light a room, experiment with a floor lamp instead of a ceiling light, create moods with lighting, soft furnishings and window treatments, blinds, curtains or shutters for example. Add strong colours that contrast with the wall colour by using lamp bases, art work, vases, clocks or cushions. Think carefully about the flooring, make sure a room does not blend as a whole by choosing the same colour from floor to ceiling. Use a contrasting colour on the floor to the walls, add some wallpaper as a feature or add a vibrant rug or grand fireplace that makes a statement to the room. Go bold on texture and mix different materials together creating a tactile environment.

If you like a piece of fabric or item of furniture, even if it is just one cushion, use this as your starting point for colour and build the wow factor into your room from here.

Here are a few examples of how rooms can have the wow factor with just a few simple items of furniture or by adding a bit of colour which can be carried through out the whole house.