8 Tips For Decorating Your Rented Flat

So, I'm moving to London in 3 weeks! And once we'd had our flat reserved it got me thinking about how I'm going to decorate this thing (along with all the other boring adult stuff like bills, council tax and if your washing machine is going to explode!). So I've compiled a short list of tips you can get away with in a rented property to make it your home, and which I'll be doing to my own little flat.

1. Use Removable Hooks

Often, putting up anything on your wall is an issue unless you ask your landlord first and they're not a complete dick about it. Removable hooks like these from Amazon may be the answer! Promising no marks when you have to take down your pretty art work or family photos.

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2. Bring the Outdoors In

Plants look great indoors and also breathe out lovely oxygen which is an obvious plus point! you can get some great pots to match whatever colour scheme, my fave are simple black, white and pastel shades and maybe some metallic gold or copper.

       

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Ikea have some great catus plants if you've no idea what to get from your local garden centre and I love these gold planters from Urban Outfitters, where they also sell these gorgeous terrariums from Urban Grow

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3. Paint Part of Your Cheap Furniture

Painting the legs of a stool, the drawers in a chest or the top of a side table are all quick ways to update that piece of cheap furniture you bought at a car boot or charity shop. You should be able to do it with 1 or 2 tester pots, I'd pick this dusky pink or chalky white.

If you want more quick painting ideas check out Dulux's 4 Projects You Can Do With a Tester Pot.

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4. Get a Nice Big Rug

There are so many lovely rugs out there, this is my pick of larger rugs for not too much dollar, that will cover that boring floor and add interest and warmth to your home.

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Also if you have a hallway, adding a bit of colour with a runner, like this one from Made.com makes your entrance much more inviting!

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5. Lean Large Frames

Like these from Ikea. And if you're wondering what to put in them, Paperchase have some great sheets of wrapping paper in their stores for just a couple of pounds! 

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6. Paint a Small Section of Wall

This works best if you have white walls to start as you could paint any colour you like! If you have magnolia it's a bit trickier, why not try a rich chocolate brown, duck egg blue or turquoise? And it won't take long for you to paint over when you're moving out!

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7. Big Scarves 

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Tacking or taping a large patterned scarf to your wall is a way to cover big sections of wall, without making huge screw holes that you'll have to fill in later, because they're so light weight! Best place to get them is your fave high street store or a good old charity shop!

8. If in Doubt - Fairy Lights!

Adding warmth and twinkles, fairy lights look great anywhere and festoon lighting can look even better!

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Interior Trends for 2016: Indigo

My use of indigo at home

Indigo is one of the new trends for 2016, I have loved this colour for a couple of years now and have a few lovely things in my life which are this colour. Indigo is a deep blue with perhaps a hint of purple, many would say dark blue or navy. It's a beautiful colour that reminds me of the night sky, one of my favourite things that I'm in awe of, it's probably why I love it so much.

I've collected some pieces together to make a stunning room filled with this rich, deep blue. I hope you like it and end up buying at least one thing in Indigo this year!

Furia Odyssey Medium Sofa, John Lewis

Loaf Marmalade Sofa in midnight plush velvet

 These two sofas are both in a plush indigo fabric, the John Lewis sofa is a perfect choice to have velvet but in a bold slightly masculine style or for a cute look go for the marmalade sofa from Loaf which is also available in many other fabrics.

Seattle Armchair, Oxford Blue Premium Leather, made.com

To add another texture you your room this leather chair from made is a beautiful accompaniment to many a living room or perhaps a bedroom?

Bobboli Table Lamp, Pooky

Pooky do a great range of lighting options, this particular lamp has a lovely, detailed glass body.

Second Star to the Right Rug, comes in 3 sizes, Society6

Loaf ACE "Clever Concrete" Coffee Table

I thought this coffee table and rug would go great together and the table brings in another trend for 2016, concrete, while the rug has its starry details to contrast the strong lines of the chunky coffee table. 

To set off your indigo collection, why not order one of these bespoke luna lamps which will add that touch of ambience and romance to your space… 

Luna: Bring the moon along with you

…comes in these various sizes, I personally would love to have one of the larger moons.

Light Up Your Life

Lighting is a simple and quick way to update your space, and as this time of year is all about change and improvement it's a great time to choose a new look! Here's my pick:

Metallics

Marteau, Habitat

Asymmetric Pendant Shade, notonthehighstreet.com

Aston Brass Plated Pendant, notonthehighstreet.com 

Vintage

Italian Gold Globe Ceiling Pendant, notonthehighstreet.com

For a vintage look, this gold globe is perfect with its rough exterior it looks like its just been pulled out of a shipwreck!

Tristan Ceiling Light, John Lewis 

Or add a little French class to your room with this pendant light.

Modern

For those of you who like to keep up to date with contemporary style, these pendant lights can fit in to most settings because of their clean simplicity. 

Original BTC Hatton 2 Medium Pendant, John Lewis 

The pendant is made of fine bone china and is sculpturally beautiful and up to date with its geometric shape.

Parry Concrete Pendant, John Lewis 

Would look brilliant in a new kitchen or industrial space.

Case Study: Dining Room Part 2

Now on to the fun part! Finding pieces to work together is my favourite bit of decorating, we already had a few pieces of furniture that needed to go back in the room; the important table which we repainted in Moles Breath by Farrow & Ball. 

My dad is quite the handy man and created this from a previous table top from my grandparents, cut it to make the leaves at the ends and bought new legs, which are actually dressing table legs (thinner than farmhouse table legs) that make the table a more delicate object. 

 

And this grey cabinet, included in my last post, we had previously restored and it houses some of our China and glassware. Seen with the old guitar and Fleetwood Mac record I bought into the room originally too see if the warm colours worked.

For the new style of the room I wanted to bring in accents of yellow and grey as this is a fab combination and also adds a Scandinavian feel. Metallics are introduced with brass stars and our bronzed stag head, which we've named Brad! So when we buy new pieces we can add upon these colour choices. 

(FYI In the following images the house is decorated for Christmas!)

Chair: Parker Knoll, Cushion: Low woods, Lamp: Gloss Interiors, Film Poster: Antiques Fair, Mirror: Custom design originally from a dressing table, Rug: Ikea

Stag Head: Low Woods

Curtains: Ikea (MATILDA), Vase: Low Woods

We're still missing a new light fitting, some more art work and perhaps a plant to bring in a nice dark green, but we are so pleased with the room and it's lovely to have somewhere official to dine! 

 

Case Study: Dining Room Part 1

Our now dining room has been many things in the past, a living room, craft room and office. It is the second of our front rooms and as we use the other for sitting, we wanted a proper dining area ready for if we wanted to invite friends and family around for dinner on a whim, as it's usually a task to sort out the kitchen table to sit more than 4. The room hadn't been decorated in quite some years, since I was a child, and so a revamp was definitely in order.

We started with the usual clearing of the room, stripping wallpaper and getting the room ready. This included a little more prep than the usual room as it is an old house and the layers of paint underneath meant that the previous paper was not sticking to the wall in places. We scraped off what we could and decided to paint the walls in a watered down PVA glue mixture to seal it all. We could then begin papering and painting all the woodwork. 

The walls underneath the old paper

While the prep was going on I was looking for inspiration on what style we wanted the room to be. I had a white room in mind as the space gets lots of light and has high ceilings but is not amazingly big, so I thought the white would help open up the space and also give a great backdrop for all our trinkets that we collect - I wanted our possessions to be the focal point and not a patterned wallpaper. We decided on Wevet by Farrow & Ball for its chalky, Matt finish and it has a grey tone which I found much more appealing than a standard white emulsion which was slightly too "white", almost like someone who's teeth have been overly whitened!

We were keeping the original black fireplace, which has patterned tiles within it, but I wanted to paint the surround. I was unsure whether white would look right next to the fire and so I looked for confirmation and other options on Pinterest. Here are a few images I loved:

http://www.sfgirlbybay.com/2015/03/03/bedtime-in-brunswick/

http://residencestyle.com/contemporary-living-room-designs-ideas/2/

http://ao.com/life/home/inspiration/alcove-ideas-and-inspiration/

So with my ideas confirmed we painted the surround in Wevet too, but chose the satin finish for a little more durability. It was at this stage, when the room was a sparse blank canvas I became worried that it wouldn't be the end product I'd imagined. The fireplace was partly to play as the tiles are a cream which I thought looked odd against the greyish tint of its surroundings. But I kept my faith and started to bring in objects to warm the room up. An old film poster I'd bought at an antiques fair, a record of my dads and an old guitar we'd had for years which is an orangey wood. These few things bought that needed colour, texture and life the room needed. 

See Part 2 for the finished article!