Choosing Invictus Vinyl Flooring

In getting the right look and feel for your home, you want assurance that whatever you implement will be a long-term investment that will not require excessive care every few weeks.

Whilst many flooring specialists present themselves as the best, one product brings many manufactured features destined to last a lifetime. That option is luxury vinyl flooring.

10 Ways To Personalize Your Home Decor

#AD

Personalizing your home decor makes the difference between your home looking like a space that belongs to you as a unique individual, and one that belongs in a magazine. Homes in magazines look nice, but they don’t often look lived in - or have a whole lot of personality. Even if they did, you wouldn’t want to simply copy your decor straight out of a magazine, would you? You want your home to have its own unique look that matches your tastes and preferences. You spend a lot of time there and it’s likely one of the most expensive things you’ve ever bought, so why wouldn’t you take the time to do this? 

Read on for 10 ways to personalize your home decor! 

1. Figure Out What Styles You’re Most Drawn To

Start by figuring out which styles you’re most drawn to by making a vision board for your place. It’s all too easy to pick a style you think is nice, without thinking of whether this is something you’re going to like and want to keep in the long run. You need a style that really matches your personality and tastes that you know you’re going to want to keep for years to come. This is why you should avoid trends and instead consider what you like as an individual. 

Creating a home office

Like most people across the country I am continually trying to find the perfect work life balance. Working from home can offer many positive benefits that can help achieve a harmonious work life balance - no commute, home comforts and flexible hours around family life.

Whilst there are many positive benefits to working from home and it complements my family life and works well for me and my family, there are downsides to working from home.

Hotly Tipped Conservatory Designs for 2018

Just like the rest of your home, your conservatory is ready and waiting for you to add a dash of colour and style. And in doing so, you can create a dream space. But what design and trends are tipped for the hothouse this year? Here we look at all things conservatory from interiors to roof conversion and conservatory designs.

Home interior design styles

When Lee and I moved in with each other after a long distance relationship it soon became apparent that whilst we shared many interests and a love for each other, our home styles and decor tastes differed greatly.

Over the years it has been a struggle to combine our differing styles and often there has been a lot of compromise when decorating our home and making home improvements.

Home improvements that can’t wait

Whether you’ve just moved into a new property or have been living in the home for several years, you’ll know that the process of upgrading the home never ends. By the time you’ve finished one decorating and improvement cycle, it’s time to start the next. Thankfully, most projects are focused solely on the outcomes rather than the timings. However, there are some that simply cannot afford to wait.

If any of the five issues below need sorting in your home, it’s vital that you so with immediate effect. You’ll be thankful in the long run.

How to transform your kitchen into a modern space

For those of you who spend most of their time in the kitchen, when they begin to look a little dated, it’s only natural that you want to bring it back to life with some modern touches. A streamlined, contemporary modern kitchen design, combined with integrated appliances, thoughtful lighting and a mix of levels that helps to keep your room clutter free whilst leaving you more space to relax and entertain might sound like a dream – but it can be a reality.

2017 Lighting trends

Every new year sees a new set of trends. As the year rolls on and seasons come and go, styles and popular trends also come and go. From fashion to interiors to gadgets, trends can have a huge impact on what we see in the shops and the way we style ourselves and our homes along with the purchases we make.

Lighting is no exception. As we welcome in a new year, we also see new lighting trends that inspire to transform lighting and the style of our homes. As with most trends there are a few classic styles that never seem to go out of fashion, styles that are so brand new and innovative they are a breath of fresh air, and trends that come and go every few years.

When it comes to any trends it is worthwhile bearing in mind personal taste and whether the style works well in your home and if it fits in comfortably with the rest of your home style. There is no point keeping up with the Jones’ if you go all out on all the must-have trends and overshadow your own sense of style and taste.

Incorporating current trends into your home can work well when you combine styles whilst keeping in mind your own tastes. For example when looking at lighting the trend of Industrial lighting it works well with a rustic or minimalist home decor style. Likewise Vintage and Ornate lighting pairs well with a Shabby Chic or Luxury home decor style.

Shabby chic home decor style

Shabby chic is described as being a style of interior decor that embraces furniture, accessories and soft furnishing that are or look pleasingly old or slightly worn. This style often features mismatched furniture and accessories that look beautiful together. As well as old or slightly worn furniture shabby chic style often also incorporates natural colours and subtle tones, textures, fabrics, antique items and statement pieces that a strong visual impact.

Shabby chic is warm, friendly and homely. It is often described as farmhouse or cottage style and as it bears an uncanny similarity to French country shabby chic style and decor pieces work well with French style furniture and accessories.

Why underfloor heating is not just for modern home owners

There is an irony in the belief that underfloor heating is only suitable for the modern or new build home. We assume that as a ‘new’ technology, retro-fitting the system to an existing property or an older property will lead to inefficiency.

And yet underfloor heating is one of the oldest heating systems around. To match this, modern versions of underfloor heating systems are streamlined so that they can be added to existing properties without too much renovation work or hassle.

Underfloor Heating and New Homes – The Preferred Choice?

The drive for maximum energy efficiency in properties has led to exciting new innovations in insulation technologies and in heating systems too.

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!

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

Image

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.

Kitchen Design Inspiration - key kitchen trends of 2016.

As I consider the kitchen as the hub of the home I like to make sure I decorate and update it when needed to keep it looking its best and being a welcoming place to spend time in. Whilst not the grandest of kitchens our kitchen is the heart of our home; it is where meals are created, cakes are baked with the kids, first tastes are experienced as Jelly Bean weans and where I chat with friends and family over a cup of tea.

Even though we are a little limited on how we can update and decorate our existing kitchen due to renting as we plan on finding our forever home in the near future I am always keeping an eye out for ideas to help me design my dream kitchen. During a recent splurge of browsing the internet and sites such as Pinterest for kitchen design inspiration I came across a post by Better Decorating Bible highlighting the hottest kitchen trends for 2016.

Showcasing Mayfair Granite’s predictions of what kitchen trends will be popular this year the post has given me some fab ideas of how I would like my dream kitchen in our forever home to look like and what key features I would like in it.

A new bedroom for a new big brother.

Whilst Bug is not moving rooms since we moved to this house we have not done much to his bedroom, partly due to being restricted decorating wise as we rent as well as not needing to buy new furniture and bedroom accessories as he was happy with what he already had.

But with the impending arrival of Jelly Bean and the fact that Bug is growing up so fast, being unwavering with his tastes and likes we have decided to revive his bedroom and make it into a new bedroom perfect for a new big brother.

It may not be a 60-minute makeover, instead being a slow burner of a makeover thanks to the hecticness of family and getting ready for Jelly Bean’s arrival but below is my wishlist of furniture and bedroom accessories that I would love to get to transform Bug’s bedroom into the big boy bedroom he deserves.

Bed

As Bug is going through yet another growth spurt and is a tall boy the time has come for him to move from his cot bed to a big boy bed.

Top of our bed wishlist for Bug is the Malibu Cabin Bed Frame in Pine available from Homebase or Argos. With a plush and comfortable mattress I am sure this bed would help give Bug a peaceful night’s sleep. Plus a big bonus of the bed is the storage space underneath.

Bookworm reading corner

As Bug is a little bookworm I would love to have a lovely bookcase in his bedroom so his extensive book collection could be showcased. I would love to create a bookworm reading corner with a gorgeous Tidy Book bookcase.

I would also love an uber comfy chair from Worlds Apart such as the Ultimate Spider-Man Flocked Chair (perfect for superhero mad Bug) or a Ninja Turtles Flip Out Sofa to be in his bookworm reading corner.

Lighting

Whilst we are restricted on changing the ceiling lights I would love to add some fun and funky lighting to Bug’s new bedroom. Satisfying Bug’s admiration of Superheroes I would love to get a few Superhero themed night lights from The Glow Company such as their amazing 3D FX Marvel Lights.

Bedding

As we are restricted on decorating as well as adding colour and character to the room with furniture, lighting and posters/wall stickers I want to add a splash of colour to the room with some Superhero themed bedding. I hope to get a couple of different Superhero bedding sets to bring Bug’s new big boy bed to life, with this marvellous Marvel Avengers Duvet Cover Bedding Set with 3D Glasses from Universal Textiles.

Now all I need is some superhero powers to transform Bug’s bedroom to a superhero themed big boy bedroom perfect for the new big brother he will soon be.

If sofa’s could talk.

I am sure if your sofa could talk it would say a thousand words. The amount of stories your sofa could tell would be vast after all it would have witnessed over years of loyal service in your home.

With sofas being central in many homes, being at the heart of family life they would have witnessed so much throughout its lifetime. If you think about it your sofa will have witnessed so many events in your life.

It has been there offering you a comforting seat as you have watched countless hours of TV shows and films, and been there with you as you have been on the edge of your seat watching a crucial match or been passionately playing a game on your console. It will have offered open arms and been a temporary bed as you have had forty winks. It will have witnessed kisses, cuddles, arguments, tears and so much more!

I know our sofa will have witnessed so much over the years and have so many stories to tell if it could talk.

Our tatty old but much loved sofa has seen and been through so much. It was the first sofa that Lee and I bought together. It offered up it comfy seats for me to snuggle on as I had cuddles with Lee watching films before inevitably falling asleep half way through the film when pregnant with Bug.

It has been at the heart of our family since we bought home our first child from the hospital. Our snug sofa was where I set up a breastfeeding nest and enjoyed so many cwtches with my little baby. It has witnessed many of Bug’s milestones such as his first words, his first steps and the first time he built a tower out of blocks.