House Style - Home Décor

Have you looked through Rightmove (or similar) lately? If so, you will surely have noticed a theme in interior decorating choices. White is predominant for walls, laminate for flooring, kitchens often have white or grey cupboards. Everything is "futuristic" minimalist. Some might say it's a blank canvas.

We moved into our house, a new-build, four years ago. All walls were white, floors are light-coloured wooden laminate boards and the fitted kitchen cupboards are, of course, grey slab. None of this changed from day one until recently when our son announced "This is a nice house but it's not a home." 

It's a risk to break away from the accepted standard but people must surely be bored of the personality by-pass of minimalism by now. Everyone likes different things, though. I like rooms with natural light and a driftwood, almost bohemian style - which is great for summer but maybe not so cosy in dull, cold months. Another member of the family prefers darker, old-fashioned, cosy rooms which suit evenings, autumn and winter.

How to strike a balance? Without spending a fortune, the wall colour can be changed, as can accessories such as wall art, cushions, plants and other items on display. Lighting can be important, too. Bright or mellow? Ceiling lights can be obtrusive so consider soft options, such as floor/table lamps or fairy lights.

Lounge. This is a room that's a great place for most family things. In the evenings, it's where TV-watching usually takes place. It may also be the main room for relaxing, socialising or entertaining friends after dinner, year round.

Our lounge has triple aspect windows, so is bright during the day. We chose subtle neutrals for the walls (a milky tea colour on three walls and a fourth wall contrast wall of a warm, creamy tint). The rug is currently a light beige-cream berber on a light wood floor but it will be replaced sometime to add some contrast to the room. The only bright colours are courtesy of cushions on the pale blue-grey seating and some wall paintings. Even the window blinds are cream. It still needs more work!

We have several plants dotted around plus some shelves with books, DVDs and CDs (yes, really, because that's the kind of family we are). 

Kitchen/Diner. This is vaguely L-shaped and is also triple-aspect. It was bland with white walls and grey cupboards - you can see many kitchens like it on the internet. But it is a place where coffee is made, baking is done, dinner is cooked and eating takes place, therefore a vibrant feel wouldn't be out of place.

We have painted some of the 'cold' white walls with 'warm' magnolia and two end-walls (one in the diner and one in the kitchen) are now a deep yellow. We even added some non-white, glass-fronted wall cupboards to break up the grey. The bare walls now have a few themed posters to draw the eye from the blocks of grey slab doors. Some of these are our favourite recipes which we typed into the computer, added photographs of our cakes and cookies, added a complementary background colour then we printed them, popped them in some A4 frames... et voila!

Finally, we are currently considering a contrasting wall of texture. Whether this is a fascia of stone, brick, tile or other material is yet to be decided.

Kitchen Photographs!

The original installation is slab grey with no handles, 
a white quartz worktop and off-white walls.

Below the cupboards on the right, we've painted the wall with a bold colour
and added 'clutter' in the form of recipes, spice jars and baking utensils.
On the left is the dining area with contrasting cupboards.

Other rooms. These will be a later phase.

Our bath/shower rooms are actually OK, maybe just a hint of a light pastel paint would freshen them up.

There are three bedrooms; each will be a design project in its own right.

Finally, the landing and hallway. The hallway needs to be welcoming. On entry, there's a grey mat to wipe your feet and the walls are white. We have a cupboard for shoes (the top of which is cluttered with keys, sunglasses, mail, etc.) and a couple of other items that just look a mess. There is an interesting painting on one wall and three visible doors. The hallway leads to the stairs, which are currently a light softwood that isn't wearing well - so should we consider carpet treads? The walls either side of the stairs are, of course, white and we plan to hang more art, once the walls are painted (but painting stairwells is tricky). 

The landing is bright with a west-facing window to enjoy the sunset, so this will also be a mini-project when the time comes.