katie.lacy@letsgetcoffee.co.uk, Author at Modish Living

The best living room shelving ideas

living room oak ladder shelving for living room

Adding some sort of shelving unit to your living room is really underrated. Not only will a wooden shelving unit add lots of extra storage, they often also provide a perfect opportunity for adding a personal touch to your home with souvenirs from your travels, quirky decor pieces and photos.

Industrial furniture has remained a huge trend in home decor, but its no mystery why. The blend of old and new with reclaimed wood and subtle metal touches makes for truly eye-catching furniture that works in most contemporary homes. If you are looking for industrial shelving for your living room, the clean lines and the slim frame of the Hudson Living Brooklyn Bookcase is perfect. With a combination of the slatted design and concrete surfaces, the Brooklyn Bookcase is a statement in itself, even before it is dressed to impress.

With the ever expanding range of TV units, you no longer need to worry about making your TV look stylish. A white TV unit is perfect in any living room as the white helps to create the illusion of more space, and create a more tranquil environment you’ll love relaxing in. The stunning Nottingham White TV Cabinet adds luxury to your lounge, and will provide a charming focal point. With cupboard and shelving space, you can store all of your media players and tuck away those unsightly wires and controllers for a clutter-free, peaceful space.

If you are looking for something unique in a wooden bookshelf, a shelf ladder may be the perfect option. The understated, Scandinavian styling of the Light Raw Oak Small Shelf Ladder is perfect for any living room with the light oak wood and enchanting design. Perfect as a bookcase or display unit or even as a standalone style statement in both contemporary and traditional rooms.

Turn it into a feature

Once you’ve found the perfect piece for your living room, think about how you can turn it into a feature, rather than something purely practical. Here are a few tips for creating the most stylish shelves around.

Mix shapes and textures

When it comes to arrangement, a display will always be more aesthetically pleasing when you mix shapes, textures, colours and sizes to create balance. For example, place a larger frame at the back of the shelf and add two or three objects like a shorter vase or candles in front to create depth. This also helps to avoid your shelf looking too cluttered.

Colour code books

If you have a lot of books, why not make a feature of them. Colourful bookshelves look beautiful in bright white homes as a fun pop of colour. You could even colour code your books to create a rainbow.

Go minimalist

Alternatively, a minimalist look can look just as beautiful. With one or two items on your shelves like a pot plant with a flash of green, a beautiful coffee table book or two and an odd accessory in a colour of your preference, you can really let the shelves themselves do the talking. This will create a stunning Scandinavian inspired space.

For more shelving options for your living room, browse our living room storage collection or get in touch with one of our team members for a bespoke piece.

How to decorate a grand bedroom

savannah reclaimed wood bedroom furniture

Do you look on with envy at the grand looking master bedrooms of others featured in magazines and on websites? Do you wish that your bedroom, supposedly a place of retreat and tranquility, could look a little more adult, stylish and a lot less ‘young’ or ‘mish mashed’?

We tend to leave the decorating and styling of the master bedroom until the rest of the home is done. But no longer. Now is the time to get the grand look to your bedroom – and we show you how!

Decide on Your Style

‘Grand’ is a generic term that could apply to a range styles from the minimalist to the modern, to the traditional.

When you think grand, what is it that you think of? Whatever style you opt for, think big, think luxury, think bold statements, think calm colours. Everything should be chosen with care and placed with care too.

Now you have decided on the style of your grand bedroom, let’s start putting the look together.

Colour

Of all the grand bedrooms you see, there is a commonality when it comes to colour. They all use neutral tones for a fantastic, luxurious backdrop.

Wave goodbye to heavily patterned papers and welcome understated patterns, or better still, matte, painted walls. Keep the ceiling white too.

Flooring

Opt for neutral flooring too and whether you choose hard or carpeted flooring, choose the very best your budget will stretch too. Once you have the major items of furniture in place, you could consider adding a wool rug to add texture to the floor and warmth with a sheepskin rug.

The bed

The most important item of furniture is the statement that the bed makes. This is down to not only the colours, patterns and quality of the bed linen but the bed frame itself. Some people prefer no frame on show and so it looks like the mattress and base are floating in the space.

If you want a frame on show – it can help define the space – then you have plenty of choices. We love a rustic bed, the frame made from solid wood that works well against cool, neutral colours.

The bedroom furniture

Now you need to dress the rest of the space, opting for furniture that offer function as well as style. The Winchester Collection is ideal. Items are available in the darker wood to add drama to a space or keep the feeling lighter with the lighter wood.

Either way, you will need a bedroom chest of drawers, a pair of bed side tables and a mirror to add wall feature, as well as help to bounce light around.

If you need additional storage space, a wooden blanket box, one of the many reclaimed furniture items we source to bring only the best for our customers.

You could add a sense of the quirky too, without compromising on the grand appearance with a reclaimed wood dressing table.

Adding detail

Now add the detail without cluttering the space. How about, for example, an armchair to dress the room, like this neutral grey, button-backed chair with exquisite stud work? Or bedside table lamps that illuminate the tranquil space with a soft glow, like the elegant Martino table lamp?

A grand bedroom means neutral but warm walls and floor. Elegant pieces that frame the bed, with carefully chosen accessories that bring the final look together. How will you style yours?

Give your bedroom a new look with these bedside lamps

It’s amazing how changing a small but important accessory in a room can give it a completely different feel. And this is no truer than in the bedroom.

The bedside lamps are important in a bedroom – they provide an extra layer of light, adding softness and warmth to a space too. But because they are ‘not on show’ to guests, we perhaps tend to ‘settle’ for the ordinary.

Banish mediocre bedside lamps to the recycling bin and opt for these stylish lamps instead.

Add texture in neutral tones

If your bedroom is a haven of peace and tranquillity, you won’t want to be introducing a bold light with a bold colour. But, adding texture is a great way of adding detail to a room. Stick with neutral shades but consider the finish and final look.

The Miranese table lamp is the ideal choice with a great shape and texture to its base, as does the raindrop table lamp.

Hang low

We often think of table lamps as being exactly that – table lamps that can sit on bedside tables. But if you want to save table top space, using a hanging pendant light is the ideal solution. Keep the wattage of the bulb low so that it casts a soft glow.

Enjoy the industrial pendant hanging light hanging low next to the bed or the Arlington pendant light casts a gorgeous golden-copper tone. Works especially well with a modern look to the bedroom, including the clean lines of modern furniture.

Less is more

You want a de-cluttered space in which to end a busy day and start the next feeling refreshed and invigorated. But this can sometimes leave us feeling that the room is a little stark.

Adding a table lamp is ideal but with such a minimal backdrop, it is hard to introduce shape and form without it dominating the feel of contemporary furniture and detracting from the contemporary bed too.

When less is more, turn to the coolness of metal and barely-there designs such as the Kingsport table lamp. For a superb minimal look, opt for a floor lamp with the sleek design similar to that offered by the Rainbow Vallen range.

Metallic heaven!

Following on from using metals, there is a growing trend for not only metallic bases to lamps but metallic shades too. Reminiscent of Moroccan design and shapes, adding a metallic table lamp complements modern bedroom furniture perfectly.

The tear drop shape of this table lamp, for example, is ideal for any bedroom style.

Function

There are times when you need function and adjustability in a table lamp, especially welcomed by those of us who enjoy a good book far too late into the night!

The Wire Weave Fairy Light has an appeal all of its own, and we think works well where white bedroom furniture shows it off.

Warmth of wood

If you prefer a traditional style and want the warmth that wood offers, the Mollo Table Lamp is the ideal choice. It suits reclaimed furniture but looks great with any backdrop.

Which of these table lamps will add a fresh appeal to your bedroom?

How to customise a sofa you will love forever

bretby grey harris tweed and black leather sofa

On one hand, it sounds a great idea – create your own contemporary sofa in your choice of style, colour and fabric. But on the other, overdone customisation leads to an item looking dated and out of place in a blink of an eye as interior design trends change.

Hence, customers tend to stick with the ‘tried and tested’. But we think people are missing out on creating something not only unique to them but with careful consideration when it comes to what and how to customise the new sofa, an item they will love forever.

With this guide, your sofa will not look out of place either.

The Shape

When it comes to sofa shape, there are various styles to choose from. From the ultra-modern to the iconic shape of the Chesterfield, choose the shape that is comfortable to use and will generally sit well with your wider interior design tastes.

HINT The more iconic the shape of the sofa, the less likely it is to look dated as trends change.

The Colour

The real issue for many people is choosing a colour that will be subsumed across the year into the new colour schemes and changes you will make to the room in which it sits.

You want a sofa that stands out for all the right reasons but choosing a strong accent colour for the sofa can mean that you are restricted to using certain colours on the walls and soft furnishings.

You may think sticking with a brown leather sofa is not quite at the upper end of customising a sofa, but just look at the different shades and unique appearances you can create using natural fabrics, such as leather.

It can be the detail that adds the extra sense of it being different, such as the magnificence of the stud work that makes a luxury sofa to behold.

Lighter brown work well too, for adding a sense of luxury to a space, but choose the best like this uncorrected Italian leather sofa. In effect, you are allowing nature to customise your sofa as using leather means embracing the difference in one hide when compared to another.

The Materials

So far, we have discussed leather. Cool to the touch but with an exquisite look and a sense of luxury, it is also a practical addition to any home.

You may, however, hanker after the soft luxury and warmth of fabric but keenly aware that spilt drinks, stains and sticky fingers are not great bedfellows with fabric.

As you would expect, we have a solution across our fantastic sofa range. The ‘leather and wool’ sofa is the solution but is in no way a compromise. The batted wool exterior frames the piece perfectly and the seating benefits from all that leather offers.

Or, if fabric is your ‘thing’, this Bretby sofa comes in a range of finishes and fabrics. Again, look at the exquisite detail that frames this marvellous piece. Can you see the look of this beautiful sofa being out of date and fashion any time soon?

A mix of the new and the old, reclaimed furniture and luxury sofas are worth every penny of the investment you make. Why not take a closer look at what a customised sofa could do for your home! Browse the Sofas and Armchairs collection and choose your perfect one to customise.

How to position a rug in the bedroom

Louis de Poortere Atlantic Ocean Blue Waves Rug

A rug is a great way to bring any room to life. This is especially true in a room which should feel homely and welcoming, like your living room or bedroom.

In a room with wooden floors and reclaimed furniture, a rug will create a feeling of warmth and break up the wood. But not only that, a rug will add a touch of colour and personality to a neutral space or beautifully tie together a colour scheme.

Determine the Size

The first thing to think about when purchasing a rug is the size. This generally comes down to personal preference and balance. If you have a very large bedroom, a small rug may be swallowed up and loose its impact.

In smaller bedrooms, don’t assume you need an equally small rug – the choice is yours. You could either go for a smaller rug, which may be better if you are going for something very bright, or alternatively, when choosing a larger rug, try and find one which will work at the centre of the room.

For the best look, try and follow a few general rules with regards to positioning. In any room, a rug shouldn’t be touching the walls. Try and leave at least 5 inches around the edge of the rug, more if your room is larger. You may want to find a rug which just about the edge of the furniture around the walls of your room for an easy guide. Just be careful to ensure it either sits underneath or just short of – you don’t want it pushed up against the furniture!

And what about positioning around the bed?

There are several different options, depending on the size of your room.

If you want a large rug, for the best look, either ensure the bed (and the bedside tables) sit entirely on the rug, or, the lower two-thirds of the bed sits on the rug and the bedside tables and the top part of your bed are on the bare floor. This will create a more balanced look.

Alternatively, if you have beautiful wooden floors you wish to showcase, you could put a smaller rug beside your bed to sink your toes in on cold mornings. Put a rug on both sides if you share with a partner, you have a large bedrooms or you want symmetry.

You could even put a rug at the foot of the bed. This works particularly well if you have a blanket chest and a large chest of drawers opposite each other as it breaks up what may otherwise be a fairly plain space.

Next comes style

If the bedding and furniture in your bedroom is upholstered in a solid colour, a gorgeous pattern would work well. But then again, don’t be afraid to mix and match patterns and create a wonderfully unique finish.

Wool rugs add a feeling of luxury and warmth to any space. The understated, sumptuous design of the Grey Twist New Zealand Wood Rug will look beautiful in any bedroom to give a genuine Scandinavian ambiance. Not only this, if you have gone for a slightly more intricate design when it comes to furniture, such as the blanket chest featured above, the simple styling of this rug will work wonders to create a luxurious space.

Alternatively, the Louis De Poortere Mad Men Soho Copper Rug will really make a statement. The flecks of copper will bring nothing but delight and would work beautifully in a neutral colour scheme with some warmth to them.

If you have a fairly clean, contemporary look to your bedroom, modern rugs with vibrant patterns are sure to look fantastic. Modern style is all about adding personality to your space.

White-on-white has been a popular style choice in homes for many years. In a bedroom, this looks great to provide the ultimate tranquil space to relax in. However, a rug is the perfect opportunity to add a pop of colour and really make a statement if you want to add something with more personality or if the all-white look is a little too clinical for your tastes. Go for a bright colour or pattern for the best effect like the Louis De Poortere Atlantic Ocean Blue Waves Rug.

Alternatively, the Louis De Poortere Fading World Rug in Beige Sky is perfect for a more neutral look if you have colour in your bedding or want to make a statement elsewhere. Mix in metal elements for a stylish blend of contemporary, industrial and elegant vintage design.

To find the perfect rug for your home browse the Louis de Poortere collection or get in touch with one of our team members for any enquiries.

How to bring the coffee shop look to your breakfast bar

For any busy home, the breakfast bar is an ideal addition to the kitchen.

It can be a small piece of informal eating and socialising space that can develop ‘by chance’ with the addition of a stool and a small amount of worktop space. Or, as in most cases, the breakfast bar is a planned addition to the kitchen.

As functional as it is, as you would expect this form of seating is not devoid of style. From the industrial style furniture found in loft-living type spaces to the farmhouse kitchen, there is a style, look and appeal of the breakfast bar that will suit your kitchen.

So how do you turn your breakfast bar into something with a little more elegance and finesse?

Decide on Your Style

The breakfast bar complete with stools or high-backed chair needs to sit well within your current kitchen set up.

The aspect of any breakfast bar that turns it from the ordinary to the extraordinary are the stools that accompany it.

The Industrial Style

Industrial furniture is best suited to the industrial styled kitchen. Defined as where metals meet exposed brick with a hint of rough wood, the industrial look is a great choice. Clean and minimal in appearance, it doesn’t lack warmth.

For the industrial breakfast bar look, consider bar stools with metal legs but opt for upholstered seating. The industrial look barstool, for example, is the ideal choice with the neutral upholstery ‘fitting’ with any kitchen design.

The Farmhouse Look

Characterised by the use of wood, usually in its raw form for the rustic appeal or more refined for the farmhouse look, a pair of tall light oak bar stools fit the bill.

With a myriad of uses, these stools will be in the family home for years.

The Modern Look

The sleekness of the modern kitchen is to be admired, which is why you don’t want the breakfast bar stools to detract from the overall appearance of your kitchen.

These white breakfast bar stools are ideal, with the colour adding freshness to a kitchen as well as being practical to wipe clean sticky finger marks.

Stool or Chair?

You may have always stayed away from installing a breakfast bar assuming that perching for any length of time on a stool would be uncomfortable.

If you don’t want stools, there are a range of high-backed chairs that work well with many breakfast bar styles and user needs.

These rattan bar stools are ideal for morning, lunch and dinner at your coffee bar. Likewise, these upholstered breakfast bar chairs also have a winged side to them that makes them far more supportive to the lower back.

These upholstered bar chairs, complete with neutral shades of fabric, will look great in any kitchen or informal dining area but if you are concerned about the wear and tear in upholstery, then why not add the practicality and the luxury of leather breakfast stools?

A breakfast coffee bar as an informal space is perfect in any home. How will you dress yours?

A stylish desk that will make you love your job

Oldman Reclaimed Wood Orange Desk and Black Chair

Your office, be it at a workplace or at home, should be a reflection of your personality, just as the rest of your home is.

You will no doubt spend just as much time sitting at your desk, creating and innovating, as you do enjoy family and social time, whether it’s a small office desk or a larger piece you choose. So why settle for the ordinary?

Before we begin…

Clearly, when choosing a desk there are several factors you will need to consider. Some desks for home are work platforms suited to some tasks, but not others. You will also need to bear in mind not only function but dimensions too.

If you need a big desk – go for it! – but if the room is small, it will simply swamp it, making moving around your workspace a little difficult.

With function and dimension in mind, take a look at these stylish desks…

Simple and Customisable

Do you thrive on a tidy desk? Do you covet minimalism and no clutter? If so, this fully customisable reclaimed wood desk is THE choice. Stick with the white legs or choose from 52 colours to create a fantastic piece of reclaimed wood furniture, unique to you and your office.

Dual Workspace

Maybe you can spend time on a PC, followed by several hours poring over printed documents and the like.

This means you need a ‘dual action’ desk, and this L-shaped steel framed reclaimed wood desk is the ideal choice if you want a versatile working platform – a corner office desk you can truly spread out on. Still a lover of form, order and minimal clutter, this piece of reclaimed furniture will suit your love of the industrial look too.

A Lover of Detail

Elegant. Graceful. But still, with plenty of versatility and practicality about it, the Barclay reclaimed wood desk is easy on the eye. Great for when your working area is on display to others, there is an understated simplicity about this writing desk that makes her a firm favourite with many of our customers.

With three drawers with three handles on each, she is still a practical addition to your office.

Minimal with Detail

The Trondheim desk is a piece of rustic furniture that has an appeal all of its own. Take note of the gently sloping curves, the slender beauty of the corner legs and the sheer delight of the wood beneath your fingertips.

The cube shelf on the wooden desk is an ideal space to store small items, keeping your working platform clutter free, the basis for unfettered creativity at your desk.

If you like minimalism, with a hint of the modern and a nod to the past, then this is the ideal office desk.

Loft Living Magic

There is something refreshing and youthful about the Urban desk. With it faded painted finish, the drawer space and the expanse of the desk opening to reveal a handy storage space for papers and documents, this desk is ideal for those of us that want to work clutter-free but somehow always seem to accumulate papers and the like…

Romantic Industrial

This stunning black desk appeals to those with a heightened sense of creativity who enjoy the smooth touch of metal and the appeal of the industrial design. The Black Iron office desk is appealing in any workspace.

Make a Statement

Do you enjoy making a style statement? If you enjoy breaking away from the ‘norm’ and love beautiful things, then you will instantly understand the appeal of the Aviator desk… need we say more?

5 of the best dining benches for your urban modern dining

In any functional contemporary home, it is all about striking the right balance between style and practicality. Now with shrinking room sizes, in a room like the dining room, where a lot of us want to fit as many people around the table as possible, it is about finding nifty ways to do this.

The benefits of having a dining table with bench really does come down to the amount of people you can fit around the table. It is easier to squeeze an extra person around the table if you don’t need to contend with so many legs. Also, if you have lots of smaller children in your family, at times like Christmas, a dining bench is great as you may even be able to fit them all on one bench.

But not only are they practical, but a dining bench also looks really luxurious. If you choose a dining bench with a back, it is almost as if you have a sofa in your dining room and will certainly bring some comfort to dinner parties. Alternatively, if you go for simple wooden designs, they will tuck into your table and will create a sleek finish in your space.

If you love modern furniture, the understated style of the Cleo Grey Leather Dining Bench makes it the perfect addition to your home. The bench is designed to accommodate three people with ease and is finished with elegant wooden legs that would pair beautifully with a simple oak dining table. The best thing about this dining bench is that the mix of leather and wood means you can easily blend it with this classic dining chair style for the best of both worlds. The leather dining bench can also be ordered in other leather-like brown to really match your decor scheme.

Leather furniture looks great in any room for a more classic look. The Cleo Grey Faux Leather Corner Dining Table Bench would work to bring a little vintage glamour into an otherwise contemporary room and will bring comfort to the dining table too so you dinner parties can go on for hours.

The simply stunning Cleo Grey Faux Leather Corner Dining Bench offers luxurious dining room seating for midweek meals but is bound to be the centre of attention at any family gathering. The style of the dining bench would look great paired with any modern dining room furniture, with the understated style of curved edges as opposed to arms offering a neater finish.

The Newton Dining Bench is a perfect option for any contemporary home. The shape of the chair is ultra modern, contemporary style and bring a little more personality. The bench would look great with any reclaimed wooden dining table, especially with one with a unique or vintage inspired table leg. Because the bench will span across the entire length of most tables, a trestle style table with just the legs in the middle will work well.

To find the perfect dining bench for your home, take a look at the Modish Living website or get in touch with one of our team members.

Get creative with your side table

hudson living nest of side tables with white top

A side table is an underutilised piece of furniture in the modern home. If you are contemplating adding one to your rustic styled living room or Scandinavian furniture to your living room, you have a number of options from which to choose.

When choosing a side table, you need to decide whether you are adding it to show off the interior design scheme or whether you are adding it to maximise the space available.

You may be thinking that it will add a touch of interest or that you are in need of extra surface space.

If this is the case, consider the material carefully. A modern living room would enjoy the addition of a Perspex side table but for either the rustic or Scandinavian inspired living room, there is no doubt that a wooden side table or two would be the ideal choice.

So, what are the options?

Cubed Side Tables

Pleasing in both a rustic and Scandinavian interior design scheme, the cube side table is a practical and stylish addition. Rustic furniture works so well in many homes and rustic design isn’t just for larger items of furniture.

In addition, our oak nest of tables offers two options – either nestle the tables in one or when you need an extra surface, simply pull out the smaller cube.

Split the coffee table

A coffee table is an essential platform in any living room. But as one solid piece, its versatility can be limited. Rather than investing in a coffee table and side table, why not spilt the coffee table?

When you need one larger surface, simply push the two pieces together. When you need a smaller table, simply pull the sections apart.

Trolley or Table?

You may think that the tea trolley is a relic of an age gone by but we love the idea of a delicate tea trolley, complete with wheel.

For a rustic or Scandinavian look, opt for a wooden tea trolley, complete with wheels for ease of use.

Consider a nest of tables

Again, a nest of tables could be a sign of an era long gone but actually, in the modern age – and certainly in the rustic or Scandinavian designed living room – the nest of tables is ideal as a side table.

We have two great solutions:

The white-topped Bergen nest of tables is ideal for the Scandinavian design. Combining light wood with the white top means this Scandinavian side table fits effortlessly into your living room.
For a rustic appeal, our Hudson oak nest of tables are two, triangular shaped tables that have a delightful appeal in any living room.

Consider the Appeal of Reclaimed Wood

A reclaimed wood side table is the ideal addition to a rustic living and makes the perfect platform for a table top lamp. The chunkiness of its finish is particularly appealing. Available as part of the Farringdon range too.

A rustic wood side table makes for a great additional surface to a living room but sometimes, the chunkiness is not what the scheme needs. When floor space is lacking, consider a narrow side table that will easily fit the space but still give you useable surface.

This cube side table, for example, could be used lengthways to frame your sofa or armchair.

How will you use side tables in your living space?