Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Making Our House a Home: Our Latest Homeware Purchases


It's been seven weeks (!) since we moved into our new home and I love it more each day. We finally had some time last weekend to explore the local area, which I highlighted in this post.

Today, I thought I'd share with you a little glimpse of what we've been doing to the house and the kinds of pieces I've been collecting to make our house into a home.

A few weeks ago, builders came and restored the original wood floors on the first floor (that's the second floor for all you Americans out there) by sanding and varnishing the existing floorboards, which you can see in the bottom left corner. They're nicer than I had expected and add a lovely, Scandinavian feel to the bedrooms and study.

We also rented a van and raided The Futon Company, which we've discovered to be the biggest and best wild card in the adventures of furniture shopping! The shop name is totally misleading, as they sell a lot of beautifully designed oak furniture, aside from futons. We picked up this leaning ladder shelf, a wonderfully narrow mirror, and a couple of these versatile bamboo stools in white and grey - all for very reasonable prices in the sales.

Although we've been avoiding buying too much from IKEA, it seems to be the real winner when it comes to lampshades. We found the pretty one above, which has a cut-out star pattern that casts dozens of star-shaped shadows on the guest bedroom wall for £14.

Also, a word of advice? Buy all your art frames at IKEA. Seriously. Their wooden A4 frames (with mount) are beautiful and start at £7. I bought three without even knowing what I'd put in them! Perfect for gallery walls and bigger prints.

But another terrific place to shop for frames is Paperchase. I found the beautiful copper one above to display a vintage photo of my mom. The copper hexagonal tray is from H&M Home, which has been another one of my favorites for textiles and decorative accessories.

For bed linen, I've been obsessed with The White Company. They have really luxurious thread counts and classic, elegant styles for reasonable prices - again, in the sales (I'm a total bargain hunter!).

Moving on to the kitchen, I've wanted a Glugglejug (the fish-shaped jug that "gluggles" as you pour!) ever since I used one at a restaurant in Islington. SCP in Shoreditch was having a major sale and I picked this one up for £28.

Finally, our newest finds have been an antique games table and antique French rug from an antique dealer near us called Maison & Mirrors (who are sadly moving to Dalston soon!). We've re-purposed the games table into a coffee table; it has some stunning, exquisite details, as well as panels that pull out from the sides so that you can hide remote controls and place glasses on them! We got it at a steal: £65. The runner rug is sitting in the narrow entryway and, at first, I wasn't completely convinced by it, but the more I look at it, the more it seems to really suit the house.

What personal touches have you added to make your flat or house your own? Where do you like to find interior design inspiration? (I've become a bit of an interiors magazine hoarder! I'm also addicted to Design Sponge like whoa.)
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20 comments

  1. I find it so difficullt to make my place look nice as I'm renting. Although we do currently have a massive world map that my boyfriend made and we're getting ltos of pictures printing off from our adventures to add to the map :)

    Looks like everything with your house is going to look lovely! Are you having fun doing it? and not too muchstress hopefully!

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    1. Thank you, Hannah! I know what you mean about the renting aspect ... also, some landlords are stricter than others (my friends can practically do whatever they want, whereas we had a really difficult time in our last rental property). The map sounds like a terrific idea - I'd love to see that when you've finished it!

      It has been a lot of fun, but I am just eager to get everything "done" straightaway, which is totally not what it's all about. We still have things like carpet to rip up and replace (which is in progress, phew!) and bathrooms to re-design, which seems more daunting. It's challenging to work full time and want to do all this work because it's all I can think about at the moment! :D

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  2. You're such a great bargain hunter, Jaime! You really can't beat a good sale. It looks like you've picked up some really gorgeous pieces for your house. The glugglejug sounds like so much fun! I really can't wait to get my first home so I can decorate it.

    Lauren xx | The Lifestyle Diaries

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    1. Thanks, Lauren! It's a particular skill of mine, being an obsessive shopper! Hoping that these little finds will also apply to flat rentals too! Maybe not the floor sanding bit, though ... it's pretty noisy ;) xx

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  3. You really did find beautiful pieces for your house (esp. that coffee table and French rug... wowowow!). Looks like you've found your calling in interior design :D And holy frick, that wood flooring looks fantastic. Thank you for the frame tips! I brought a bunch of prints with me when I moved, and bought more when I got here, so I've been on the lookout for good frames at good prices.

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    1. Thank you, Gianni! HAHA - I am SO NOT an interior designer. I have ZILCH confidence and need to be led re: color schemes, etc. I think I just end up copying what I see on Pinterest and in magazines, ha! Totally unoriginal. IKEA and Paperchase are your best places for frames! I think you can even order the IKEA ones online.

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  4. Ahh Jaime it sounds like it's all coming together so nicely, so happy for you! :) Also appreciating all the top tips as Michael and I will be moving in 3 weeks and will need a bit of a spruce up I am sure! Lots of love, Andrea xxx

    Andrea's Passions

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    1. Thank you so much! I remembered you mentioning your move - that's exciting! Where are you heading to? xxx

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  5. Love those wooden floors! I didn't realise that the Futon Company did other things than futons, good to know. I like Barker & Stonehouse for unusual home accessories

    Suze | LuxuryColumnist

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    1. Thank you, Suze! And thanks for the recommendation - I'll go check them out now! xx

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  6. I love following your "new home" journey!

    I've always bought my frames at IKEA. You're right, they're cheap yet beautiful.
    I love the copper frame you chose. I've been eyeing the ones they sell on Decorator's Notebook (I know, AGAIN!), and I think I will pick a few one day (when I will have saved enough to buy one or two of their beautiful Honeycomb and Lambswool blankets... Ahem!).

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    1. Thank you so much, Charlotte! That means a lot to me because I think you have INCREDIBLE taste in homeware and design!

      Can't wait to see what you decide on from Decorator's Notebook ... :) As you know, I'm eyeing those lambswool throws for our living room!

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  7. Those floors are stunning! Good idea to get someone in to do them. I remember my mum lovingly restored ours when I was about 4 (so close to 30 years ago) with a hand sander and a lot of elbow grease!

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    1. Thanks so much for saying so, Amy! I CANNOT imagine doing that myself - eeks!!! Kudos to your mum.

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  8. I have actually read a lot of your blog posts in the last hour. I really enjoy what you are doing here. (And as a writer of fantasy novels, I'm enjoying looking at different aspects of that when you go through them in blog post). And truly, I love world-culture building

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  9. Congratulations! You did a really good job with your house. It looks so beautiful now. I'm doing some research on decorating the home. I need to decorate something in my house. But I have no idea.

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  10. Your house is looking great! It's a warm living space. There are lot of tips in the article.Thanks

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  11. Impressive! Cannot wait for the next idea. Given a free hand, no telling what you will create! The law of diminishing returns is at work here – new technology equates to startling new creations – old technology equates to few new creations.

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  12. Creative! I feel interesting on your post. It is very nice. Please share with me if you have new posts. Thanks!

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  13. Love those wooden floors! My tips is buy materials that age well, materials like wood, leather, enamel, metal.

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