Interior Design Trends That Work in Every Home

If you’re buying a home of a particular kind, then you might have to carefully consider your plans for redecoration before you put them into motion. The character of a period property, like a Georgian townhouse, might be ruined by the installation of the wrong modern features. 

On the other hand, there are certain styles and principles that work across every kind of home. These dependable go-to methods might help to elevate a specific space in a way that isn’t dependent on the qualities of the surrounding building. 

Reasons why vinyl flooring is a great choice for busy households

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When designing or renovating a home there are many design aspects that need to be considered such as the lighting, the style and colour of walls including whether you opt for paint or wallpaper or a mixture of both, and furniture and accessories. Another important feature of a room that needs to be thought of when designing a new home or giving an existing home a complete redesign is flooring.

Walls, light fixtures and furniture are often prioritised with lots of thought put into getting the right design choice for the space whilst flooring is often overlooked. But don’t overlook flooring. Not only should you consider the best flooring for your practical needs but flooring is important in interior design as the type and colour/style can completely change the look and feel of a room. Plus as flooring is not something you change very often you want to ensure you get the right flooring for your home style and practical needs.

Whilst there are a wide variety of different flooring types available, all of which have their own pros and cons, when it comes to a busy household especially a household with kids vinyl flooring can be a great option. Here we look at a few of the reasons why vinyl flooring is a great option for a busy household.

The beauty of striped wallpaper

Stripes are a versatile and classic pattern. In fact stripes are a staple, reliable pattern that are extraordinarily versatile and attractive. As stripes are one of the most iconic patterns, they have weathered changing styles and trends over the decades and been used in different settings. Familiar stripes have been predominant in the fashion world, showcased in architecture, seen in modern advertising and incorporated into interior design.

Not only do stripes adapt beautifully to soft furnishings such as bedspreads, curtains, cushions and settees they are also a wonderful pattern to decorate walls with.

Striped wallpaper is a great wallpaper design to adorn walls. Decorating with striped wallpaper is an easy way to get a crisp and pleasant ‘decorator’ look, being ideal for home improvements. In fact striped wallpaper can help achieve a fresh, captivating room.  It is a popular design choice as stripes can either provide a subtle look or be attention grabbing. 

The beauty of brick tiles

Over the years the trend for exposed brickwork within the home has gained popularity. Exposed bricks are beautiful and make a strong visual impact. Bare brickwork creates a raw contemporary look that perfectly suits an industrial, loft or rustic style.

Achieving exposed brickwork can be tricky. You could remove the plaster on your walls and hope that behind it is a treasure of beautiful bricks. Whilst many older homes boast gems of beautiful bricks behind plaster, the reality is that most homes have breeze blocks or timber frame rather than a solid wall of beautiful bricks. Another downside of renovating your home and exposing brickwork is that it is hard work, messy and time consuming!

Thankfully there is a way to get the exposed brickwork look another way. Brick tiles can be installed on walls to achieve a faux exposed brick wall.

Wallpaper murals from Wallsauce - children’s bedroom decoration ideas

Over the years we have decorated the children’s rooms in various designs to suit their age and interest. We have had themed rooms, hand painted murals, rooms adorned with their favourite characters, rooms with splashes of colour and rooms decorated with removable stickers.

But inevitably even though each design has been loved the children have outgrown them. Favourite characters from films and TV shows have been knocked from the favourite characters list and been replaced by other character. The children have grown quickly bored of rooms decorated in a simple fashion with painted walls of colour. Removable stickers have never been a great success, whilst they have added a touch of character and colour to a room we have found they usually end up peeling off the walls which looks cheap and tacky.

Magical Disney bedroom ideas

We currently live in a 2 bedroom house. To help make it feel not so cramped the dining room is a dining room and toy room combined. Thankfully the dining room is big enough to accommodate both uses.

With our home only having 2 bedrooms the boys have to share a bedroom. The bedroom is a large room so both of their beds fit in with ease along with bedroom furniture for their clothing and a few toy boxes. Even with all the bedroom furniture they also have plenty of room to play, snuggle up to read a book or watch a show on the tablet.

One of the downsides of the boys sharing a bedroom especially as they have an age gap of 4 years is that they want their bedroom decorated differently. Until now we have decorated their section of the bedroom to their likes so the room is split with 2 different decors.

Now that Jelly Bean is 2 he is outgrowing his nursery style jungle animals decor so we have been thinking about redecorating. With that in mind I have been trying to think of a theme that would suit both of the boys so that the room is no longer split with 2 opposing themes.

Disney to the rescue!!

Brilliant bedroom for happy kids with Dulux

When we found out we were expecting our first child one of the things we were most excited about was decorating the nursery for our little bundle of love. As both Lee and I are artistic we let our creative juices flow and designed and decorated a jungle theme nursery with the walls adorned with a hand-painted mural.

Bug loved his jungle bedroom and was sad to say goodbye to it when we moved. For a long time in our new home his bedroom was dull and very magnolia! When we found out we were expecting our second child we decided to help Bug get used to the idea of a new baby in the house and make him feel like the big boy he has beautifully grown into by decorating and revamping his room to be a fun and colourful room fit for a big brother.

Shower goals

Showers; the area of the house where we have imaginary arguments, solve all the world’s problems, sing like a superstar, cool down after a hot day and, of course, wash ourselves in!

There’s nothing worse than staying at a hotel or apartment that has a lacklustre shower; with little more than a trickle of water coming out of the shower head (in this case, it’s likely that they haven’t installed a decent grundfos shower pump) or mouldy tiles on display as you try to relax.

So we wanted to pay homage to four of the most luxurious showers from around the world that will have you wanting to upgrade your own bathroom to compete!

Home Improvements

Whilst I often dream about winning the lottery and being able to buy or build from scratch the perfect house for us, the reality is that until the day that my numbers come in (I live in hope) we are stuck with our lot and have to make do with the home that we have.

There are many reasons why I love our house. It is in a great location for us, is a great size, has character with rustic slanted beams in the bedrooms and quaint farmhouse style doors with beautiful latches.

However there are a few things that I don't love about our house. The issues I have with our house are for the most part cosmetic and have not really bothered me too much since we have lived here as I am grateful that we have a roof over our head and the benefits and other lovely things about the house outweigh the bad. Whilst they do not make me hate the house or make daily life difficult, I would love to change a few things about our house.

Is Your Bedroom Feeling A Little Outdated? Here's How to Update It Fast.

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When it comes to decorating our home, I feel that the bedroom can be a little forgotten. We don’t mean to of course, but it happens to be the room that not many people see. So it heads further down your priority list. But your bedroom can be updated quickly and easily, with minimum fuss. You won’t believe the difference it could make to your mood. Sleeping in a fresh, clean and tidy space will help you relax more in an evening. So what are you waiting for? Here are a few tips to get your bedroom updated fast.

Our home, our story - #MyHomeStories

I believe a house becomes a home through the memories and experiences you have there. As you live your life and put your stamp on your house, the house you live in becomes intertwined in the memories of your life.

As I look around our home memories of events and milestones achieved are sparked. Our home is the backdrop to our life, as well as being a roof over our heads it is a safe, special place that we can make memories, enjoy family life and express our characters through DIY and home décor.

As the saying goes ‘if these walls could talk’ it would have a lot to say.

Our home has our story.

Dream kitchen.

I love spending time in the kitchen baking and cooking especially as I have fond memories of watching my Mamgu and Mum bake in our family kitchen when I was a child. Thanks to my childhood spent helping my loved ones bake in the farm house kitchen where everyone gathered for meals and family chats I consider the kitchen as the heart of the home.

Over the years I have lived in many houses where I would spend a lot of my time in the kitchen. Whilst my kitchens have always been adequately practical they have been far from lovely either being tiny, old fashioned or very worn around the ages.

As I often fantasise about having my dream kitchen I was interested to see whether my idea of a dream kitchen is similar or dissimilar to other people’s dream kitchens.

Premier producers of granite worktops in the UK Mayfair Granite recently conducted a survey about dream kitchens. They asked 1,000 UK residents if money was no issue what their dream kitchen would be like, asking them to pick their favourite items and features from 5 key categories – worktops, flooring, lighting, appliances and kitchen style.

PK Green Shop - LED Cube Lamp review.

As I’ve mentioned before we have slowly been revamping Bug’s bedroom and as lighting can really change the atmosphere within a room we jumped at the chance of getting a lamp for him from PK Green Shop.

We chose a 10cm rechargeable LED cube lamp to sit on Bug’s bedside table to be a night light for him during the night.

The cube lamp has a rechargeable battery built in to power the cube, which lasts up to 10 hours when fully charged depending on which light setting is used.

To charge the lamp you can either use the provided mains adapter or connect it your PC using the provided USB cable. To fully charge it takes 3-5 hours.

To turn the lamp on and off you simply press the hidden button on the base of the lamp. The cube shines a variety of colours – red, blue, green, purple, pink, white and yellow. You can either have the light shining as a fixed colour or have it continuously changing colour. To change the colour mode from either a fixed colour of your choice or automatic changing colour you simply press the button on the base.

The cube lamp is extremely well made; it feels durable and looks to be of a premium build quality. As they are confident in the quality of the lamp, PK Green Shop provide a lifetime guarantee.

Bug loves his cube light and insists on having on each night as he settles down to sleep in bed.

He loves choosing what colour to have it on, having a different colour each night or having it change colours continuously. 

The gradually colour changing LED sequence is very relaxing and I have often admired Bug lying in bed gazing at the lamp as the light slowly blends from one colour to another which seems to have a calming effect on him as he dozes off to sleep.

The cube lamp’s light gives off a lovely and surprisingly bright glow.

I love that thanks to its built-in rechargeable battery there are no messy or hazardous wires so it can be put anywhere.

As we are using the cube lamp in our child’s bedroom I appreciate is that is built with soft contours.

I also love the fact that as it is a heatless LED lamp it is completely safe and cool to touch which is a reassuring safety measure with it being used in a child’s bedroom.

The PK Green cube lamp is great as a night light and would also be great for creating an atmosphere elsewhere in the house or during parties.

The 10cm cube lamp is available on the PK Green Cube website for the great price of £24.99.

The cube lamp is also available in other sizes – 10cm, 20cm and 40cm.

PK Green Cube have a vast range of other lights available including heart and star shaped lights and cat, dog and bear night lights.

Flooring that can handle the childhood years.

Children = mess

Whilst most of us would love to live in a world where mess is miraculously tided up for us or not seen ever at all and where spills, sticky stains, food fun, dirt and paint explosions are unheard of unfortunately for the majority of parents our little ones usually come hand in hand with mess of some sort.

When decorating and furnishing the home as parents to children who create mess and mayhem on a daily basis it can be a wise move to think hard about what furniture, paint and flooring you have so that they can withstand everything your little bundles of joy and mess can throw at them.

With flooring taking a particularly hard beating, being used again and again as we all stomp our feet back and forth on it along with children playing on it, picking the right flooring is vital.

Whilst soft, warm and cosy on the toes carpet does have its downsides. If you have a muddy footprint, accident prone, knocking over drinks, paint splashing creative and stain-creating kind of child like I do carpets simply cannot withstand the abuse which takes its toll leaving the carpet looking stained and old fast!

A nursery created with love.

Whilst Jelly Bean is currently in our bedroom, snoozing snugly next to our bed in his SnuzPod the time will come when he leaves our room to his own little space in the house.

Designing and creating a nursery for our little bundle of love, a beautiful space created with love, allows me to browse a vast range of nursery and baby products to find the perfect ones for us.

Thanks to the inspirational Homify I have found a number of gorgeous items that would create a unique and beautiful space for our little Jelly Bean once the time comes for him to fly the nest and leave the safety of our bedroom.

As I want to create a unique space made with love I want a stunning and unusual cotbed as the centrepiece of the room. The Elephant Cotbed by Adorable Tots most definitely fits the bill! The striking cotbed suits our eclectic style and our love of animals, especially elephants.

 Adorable Tots/Homify

Christmas decorations - decorative delights available exclusively at Asda.

Next month will see us all get into the Christmas spirit and adorn our homes with Christmas decorations and trees. Asda have a great range of Christmas decorations perfect for embellishing Christmas trees and our homes. 

Let your home sparkle this Christmas with the range of decorative delights available exclusively at Asda.

Asda have a large range of Christmas decorations available in a choice of different styles and budgets to suit everyone. With five beautiful trends available including Traditional, Retro Ski and Hidden Treasures, Asda has a decoration to suit every style.

Asda’s range of Christmas decorations are available in Asda stores and online now.