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

3 of the best reclaimed wood tables and how to style them

Barclay Reclaimed Wood Dining Table with dining chairs

A reclaimed wood dining table is perfect for any home for its high-quality wood which will bring you years of enjoyment, and the beautiful character of wood in its natural form. A reclaimed wood table will bring a beautiful look in your home, whether it is paired with other reclaimed furniture to create a glamorous countryside appearance, or with modern design elements like steel and glass to add some personality.

Eat in style with the gorgeous Chelwood Large Reclaimed Wood Dining Table. The wood dining table is a fantastic choice to add some colour into a kitchen or dining room to bring it to life and is perfect for family life. A perfect addition to both city homes and as a stylish farmhouse table.

To create the dining room of dreams, pair the dining table with other dining room furniture like one of our reclaimed wooden sideboards. The matching Chelwood Nordic Sideboard would look great for a coordinated look, and the addition of colour running through the wood means you can keep the rest of your room light on decoration for an uncluttered, contemporary space you’ll love entertaining in.

Finish the look with one or two simple accessories like a potted plant on your sideboard, and for dining table chairs, go for metal cafe chairs or modern leather chairs, a style which has been hugely popular in home decor the last couple of years.

If you are looking for a stylish and sophisticated style, look no further than the Derby Reclaimed Wood Extendable Dining Table. The table features a beautiful natural texture and is finished with sleek wooden black painted legs for a contemporary look. This truly stunning wooden dining table will grace any dining room.

To finish the room, add the matching Derby Reclaimed Wood Console Table for the perfect combination of elegant and rustic style and choose a couple of statement accessories, like a large wall clock and an elegant candle holder.

From one of our extremely popular collections, the Standford Large Reclaimed Wood Extending Dining Table will add glamorous style and practicality to any room. It is the perfect blend of classic styling with contemporary elements with the reclaimed table and bold black legs. As for seating, the Standford Industrial Reclaimed Wood Bench or the Standford Reclaimed Wood Cushioned Chair is perfect with this style of table.

To get the look, pair the table with the matching Standford Large Reclaimed Wood Industrial Sideboard for plenty of extra storage which blends practicality with beauty, and for dining room accessories, hang a statement wall clock above and choose some beautiful flowers to add some colour when you are entertaining.

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

How to fit more seating in your living room

From large families to parties, there is always one issue that causes family arguments and discomfort for your guests: lack of seating.

Get it right, and your living room is the epitome of style, comfort and ample seating. Get it wrong, and it will either look like a waiting room or a case of musical chairs at every sitting.

Modern furniture offers fantastic solutions but just as important is making sure that you have the right seating, in the right shape and form.

Size and Dimension

Firstly, take note of your room, its shape and size. Think about what would look great in that space. For example, a longer, leaner, narrower room would look fantastic with a longer, leaner sofa.

Contemporary furniture offers many solutions, such as the L-shaped sofa that looks fantastic across the corner of a living room.

Don’t forget ad hoc seating solutions for short term seating – armchair and footstool combinations provide two seats at a party, with someone perched on the footstool being the perfect solution.

Placement, Placement, Placement

To stop the ‘waiting room’ feeling you need to think outside of the box and not just assumed that the only rightful place for a sofa is against the wall.

If your living room has a view or a large bay window, for example, make the best of that. Place a sofa opposite the window with a garden view so that when people lounge of the Italian leather sofa, the vista is framed perfectly.

Armchairs provide much needed extra seating and because they are easier to re-position that a large sofa, they can be moved as and when needed. But keep the placement of the sofa in mind and make sure that they don’t block the view.

Mix Colours, Materials and Finishes

We are often taught that to get cohesion in a room so that the brown leather sofa connects with the armchairs and the footstool is to stick with one colour, one material choice and one colour.

However, you can mix and match – and you can certainly do this within the confines of any style.

For example, a ‘traditional’ appeal of a brown leather sofa such as a Chesterfield works well with the grandeur of a winged armchair. Or mix fabric armchairs with a leather sofa.

Or, get super-creative and bold with a sofa and armchair that incorporates both leather and fabric in their design, such as Harris tweed and Italian leather sofa or leather and wool seating.

Or Opt for One Colour

You can sink back into a comfy sofa with a same colour comfortable armchair. This works well in a smaller room where you need plenty of seating options. Break the monotony with a throw or two in different colours, and don’t forget the power of the scatter cushion for adding a zing of colour or an interesting pop of a pattern.

Top tip – creating cohesion with many separate pieces of contemporary furniture such as footstools, armchairs and sofas can be rough, even for experienced interior designers. That’s why designers always say to match in pairs – so, think sofa with two contrasting armchairs.

No longer will family members have to have first dibs on the comfy sofa now that there is plenty of choice of comfy seating.

5 ways hallway storage furniture can keep your home clean

Luxe Kensington Reclaimed Wood Console Table

The hallway is an important space in any home and that’s why good hallway storage furniture is a must. It is a space through which you pass several times a day, the immediate space you – and your guests – walk into as they enter your home, and the last space they see as they leave.

A clean and clutter-free hallway is all about practicality, as much as it is about creating the right impression. Here are five tips to make it the space that you want it to be…

1. Hallway storage furniture that fits…

… your hallway and your needs.

All too often, storage solutions are about making do but a storage bench or box such as the Beam Slim Reclaimed Wood Blanket Box is ideal for tidying away bags and shoes. It also provides a handy bench for seating when putting on and taking off shoes, as well as a convenient spot for a handbag or two.

It is also stylish and works well with all kinds of interior design styles from rustic to farmhouse.

2. Drawer space

Car keys, house keys and other small items all need a home. Although you can invest in a pretty bowl or a rack of hooks, the best place to hide away these small things that can become clutter is in a drawer.

The hallway is also traditionally the place where the telephone point is, and this means in the modern home not so much a telephone, but a broadband router, which is not always the most stylish things to look at.

There are variations of a hallway table from a glass console table to a modern console table with drawers, which are ideal for making the hallway not only stylish, but clutter-free. For small hallways, consider a narrow console table such as the Raffles Reclaimed Wood Industrial Console Table that offers the right amount of storage without swamping the space.

3. Make use of under the stairs

Again, this is traditionally used to house things that are not meant to be seen – from the mop and bucket to the vacuum. But find somewhere else to keep these, as the under-the-stairs space offers valuable storage in any home.

There are many ways to make this a usable space with accessible hallway storage furniture. The simplest solution is an array of wooden shelving. Similarly, bookcases and shelves are ideal. Don’t forget, if you don’t have the height, some bookcases will work just great laid horizontally too.

4. Shoe storage

One of the biggest issues in the hallway is keeping shoes together so that they can be found quickly. In winter, you need a shoe rack more than ever, and one that can be wiped clean.

There are various solutions but we like mixing style and function which is why a reclaimed wood bench or a dining bench works great in the hallway. Pop a few baskets underneath to hide away the shoes and make use of the bench to put them on and take a moment when you walk in the door.

5. Don’t forget stylish accessories

And finally, the hallway should not be devoid of stylish additions. We love adding mirrors to hallways – the more ornate, the better we think – and a stylish, practical rug to protect the floor and stop detritus and grime travelling through the rest of the house is also a great way of adding colour and pattern to an otherwise ‘bland’ space.

With only a few changes and additions, your hallway can be clean and appealing, as well as clutter-free and stylish.

Whatever size your hallway, you can’t go wrong with the right hallway storage furniture to keep it neat, tidy and stylish.

How to prepare your home for a worry free holiday

The anticipation of your summer holiday is a fantastic feeling. The moment you leave work knowing you are waving goodbye to your desk for a week or two is often one of elation – no matter how much you may enjoy your job.

You have a great few weeks but your return from holiday is a return to reality. In most cases, it comes with an all mighty crash with 101 things to get done between the time you arrive back home and the time you need to be back at your desk.

Knowing you are returning to hard work can cause a dark cloud to hover over the holiday. But we have the solutions to not only a worry-free holiday but to you gliding back into your routine so that the relaxing effect of your holiday lasts for weeks to come yet.

Keys to a Worry Free Holiday

1) Preparation

Preparing your home for an extended vacation, or any holiday can feel like a military-styled operation to get everything ready. But we tend to make this all about clothes shopping and bag-packing.

Although they are obviously essential holiday-planning activities, there are other preparation activities that will serve you well when preparing your home for holidays;

Top tip – if nothing else, empty ALL the bin in your home so that unpleasant smells are eliminated.

In the bedroom – if you get a chance, changing your bed so that you clean sheets await your return is the ideal first night home from your holiday. The smell of clean bed linen also helps to keep the modern bedroom smelling pleasant.
In the dining room – this is the room where items for holiday tend to gather in the weeks and days leading up to a vacation – especially on dining room table sets. Once you have everything packed, make sure the dining room is clean and clear, so that the first meal at home is an effortless affair. Wipe down dining rooms sets and wipe over dining room furniture such as dining room display cabinets to create a pleasant space for your return.
In the kitchen – the kitchen will harbour all kinds of nasty smells if food is left out, uncovered etc. Donate perishable food to food banks or ask your neighbours if they can make use of it. Wipe around the fridge and don’t leave any food out. Even fruit in a bowl on the countertop or other kitchen furniture, such as your chic white display cabinet, will soon attract fruit flies, even with doors and windows shut.
In the lounge – the space where everyone relaxes, you want this to be a haven on your return. Plump the cushions, wipe down the leather sofa with wipes and make sure that all your carpeting, hard floor, wool rugs etc, are well vacuumed before you leave.

Top tip – let a trusted neighbour know you are away and ask them to keep an eye on your property. Make sure they have emergency numbers to contact you if necessary.

On your return

The whole point of any holiday, from a fortnight in the sun to a weekend away is to break the monotony of routine and refresh mind, body and soul. Plunging straight back into routine means you quickly lose the sense of well-being.

Make it last longer by planning your first few days home. You may need to ‘catch up on the washing’ but how about a quick trip to your favourite supermarket or local grocer for local produce, ideal for a lazy, late brunch?

Why allow your dog at the writing desk for Bring Your Dog to Work Day

bring your dog to office day - man working

June 23^rd is ‘Bring your Dog to Work Day’, a fantastic opportunity to introduce Fido to the office. Even if you work from home, having a dog loitering by your home desk bring many benefits alongside an ergonomic and stylish home office.

But if you think that taking your four-legged canine pal to work is just about being trendy, you need to know that there is evidence to suggest that pets in the work place make people happier and healthier.

So how do dogs take the edge off a stressful day at work?

1 They’re stress-reducing

Studies over the years have shown that humans interacting with animals reduce stress. By petting Whiskers the cat or walking Fido, the stress-reducing hormone oxytocin is produced which can cancel out the stress inducing effects of cortisol.

Frankly, spending just a few minutes in between tasks making a fuss of your pet is a great way to lift your mood too.

2 They increase productivity

The modern workplace, including the home office, can mean several hours a day of screen time.

You may be comfy in the best office chair at your modern desk, but health experts warn that breaks away from the screen and varying your physical position is important to maintain physical and emotional health.

A five to 10-minute break every 50 minutes of screen time is not a bad rule to follow, and is likely to be better for you than a 15-minute break every two hours.

With a puppy in the office, you could take a quick spin of the grounds to stretch their legs and your own too – the perfect working partner!

3 They improve bonding

A workplace can be a stressful place, fuelled by tension and unease. Working together with a unified spirit is essential for the culture of your workplace to be attractive to both customers, partners and, when you need it most, new talent to fill vacancies.

There are many thinks you can do to pull people together, from team building exercises to designing the office, complete with reclaimed wood desks and funky comfortable chairs.

But sometimes, you need something more – and that is where your pet dog comes in! There is nothing like a cute pet in the workplace to get people talking. Why not try it?

“What about health and safety?!”

There are of course, health and safety issues to bear in mind. So before you take Fido and hide him away under your contemporary desk at work, you need to consider the following;

Allergies – not everyone can tolerate pet fur, leading to sneezes, swollen eyes and other uncomfortable allergic reactions.
Fear – not everyone loves Fido. As hurtful as this may be, not everyone finds the eyes of your dog soppy or the dribbling cute. Some work colleagues could be scared witless of your daft puppy.
Dog-friendly amenities – it sounds great but, it may just not be feasible to have your dog running in and out of your small office desk and chair.

But with a few basic things taken care of, and agreement from colleagues, your dog could soon be enjoying your work too!

Make the most of a one wall kitchen layout

Single wall kitchen layout with white kitchen furniture

A one wall kitchen layout is great if you are looking to save space or if you want to create a kitchen diner in a small or narrow space. Not only this, they are practical and cheap to install. Here a few of our ideas to make the most of this kitchen style.

With a one wall kitchen layout, it is a great idea to separate your room out with flooring or a rug, to create some separation between your cooking and eating areas, and also to ensure your floor doesn’t look too blocky. Depending on the shape of your room, you may be able to use different flooring to create kitchen and dining areas. However if you have a narrow space and the kitchen along one of the longer walls, this is unlikely to work so well. In that case, add a rug underneath a small kitchen table.

Dining tables for a one wall kitchen layout

With dining tables in a smaller kitchen, the trick is not to go for something too large or with a chunky design. Slimmer designs will create the illusion of more space and will suit a smaller or narrower kitchen.

Something like the Worcester Large Reclaimed Wood Extendable Dining Table would be perfect. The farmhouse kitchen table offers a neat, clean design making it perfect for smaller spaces.

One of our oval kitchen tables would be a great option. The Holborn Oak Oval Dining Table is stunning, and is perfect for adding simple elegance to a traditional or an ultra contemporary kitchen.

Instead of one of our rustic kitchen tables, you could also create extra storage space and potentially extra worktop space in your one wall kitchen layout with an island. A reclaimed wooden island will not only section out different areas of your room if this is what you are looking to do, it will keep a smaller kitchen area clutter free and will give you space for bulky items you may not otherwise have a home for.

Storage space for a one wall kitchen layout

If you don’t want extra worktop space and are just looking for storage, a reclaimed sideboard would make a perfect accompaniment to your kitchen furniture.

The sleek design of the Eastwood Rustic Oak Large Sideboard would be great in a sleek, contemporary one wall kitchen layout with its clean lines and minimalist look. Behind each cupboard is a shelf so there is plenty of storage for dinnerware, or even for putting baskets with store cupboard ingredients or vegetables and potatoes.

If you love to entertain, a one wall kitchen layout is great for creating an easier space to move around. You could even create a bar area with a space for serving and making drinks for all your guests, or even just for use as a breakfast bar. Pair with a couple of oak bar stools to complete the look. Not only is this perfect for entertaining, a bar area tends to take up less space than a dining table.

The Raw Light Oak Tall Stools are perfect for this. The Scandinavian kitchen stools perfectly blend timeless design and the beauty of natural wood for a look which will look great in any room.

For more inspiration, or to find the perfect kitchen furniture for your space, take a look at the Modish Living website or get in touch with one of our team members.

Industrial shelving & Italian leather for an avid explorer

Louis de Poortere Mad Men Coppertone Luxurious Rug in living room

The traveller sees things, hears things, experiencing cultures, sounds and sights that live forever in the memory. But this travelling instinct, this thirst for knowledge of other lands can be translated into a home interior style, ready to welcome you back from your next adventures. A mix of natural materials, it is a deceptively simple style, the sharpness of angles dulled by memorabilia gathered from across the world, beautifully displayed.

So how do you get the effortless chic and elegance of the ‘avid explorer’ style?

The key is finding balance in everything from the floor through to industrial shelving, below we’ll take a look at each one and how they all fit together.

The Floor

The mantra is ‘simplicity, but with warmth, form and character’ and this means starting with the floor.

Everything in this interior design has its place and a purpose. On a hard floor surface, choose from modern rugs, with modern colours and designs but without a striking, grabbing-attention patterning, such as large rugs from our Louis De Poortere collection.

The Living Room Furniture

With muted walls, hard floor and rug in place, you can begin to add the details:

Sofas and Armchairs

Planning your next journey, you will need places to sit and this means opting for the clean look of either a brown leather sofa or this modern black Chesterfield sofa that adds detail and depth to a space.

Team the Triumph brown leather sofa with its matching brown leather armchair. The Italian leather sofa is exquisite to touch with the criss-cross pattern adding a pleasant detail, the matching brown leather armchair offering extra seating with the same level of detail.

Coffee Tables and Side Tables

Now you have your leather sofas in situ, you will need to add functional, yet contemporary furniture items to begin adding form to the space. These items, coupled with industrial shelving (more on that later) are the pieces that bring everything together.

The Avid Explorer style is gender-neutral with unique furniture and pieces being the order of the day. What could be more exquisite for your glass of Italian red wine of an evening than this Aviator coffee table?

For a cohesive look, this Aviator sideboard offers a truly unique look to a space that is modern and practical, with minimum fuss but plenty of character.

Industrial Shelving

With so much memorabilia, photos of places you’ve been and people you’ve met, along with delightful pieces of artwork, you need something as delightful to show them off.

The industrial shelving is the ideal partner in the avid explorer look. The steel frame of this shelving unit or the reclaimed wood shelves of this bookcase are great partners in the explorer style. The key to industrial shelving is to decorate the shelves with minimalistic, personal, and tonally similar pieces of art, ornaments and pictures.

Now Add Atmosphere…

And that means adding lighting.

This desk lamp is the ideal shape – curvaceous and practical – for pouring over the travel guides for your next far-flung adventures.

Floor lamps also add to the ambience and atmosphere of the living room. Plenty of light without it being overly-luminescent is a tough call. Cluster the Arc floor lamps in various corners of the living room for maximum effect.

Is it the look for you?

If you are looking for an interior design that is unique, with minimal fuss but with a depth of warmth and character, then the avid explorer style with its industrial shelving, striking rugs and leather armchairs, could be a style that fits you perfectly.

How to choose the perfect wooden dining table

Your dining table and chairs are substantial pieces of furniture. You should choose your wooden dining table with care, thinking about how it will need to adapt in the future, but you’ll also know only too well what you like the look of – so it’s essential to strike a balance between great design and versatile functionality. Here we bring you some tips on what to consider when purchasing your dining table.

The Shape of your wooden dining table

A round dining table or a rectangular table are the two most favored options, but which will work best for you? A small round dining table works well when space is limited as with a little squeezing, you can seat a fair few diners around your table without encroaching on too much space. This rectangular oak wooden dining table and chairs is also ideal for when you want a streamlined, minimal look but without compromising on quality.

Which comes first, the table or the chairs?

Some people prefer to purchase wooden dining room table sets, whereby the table and chairs match perfectly. But, if you want to make a statement, choosing chairs and a dining table separately could be the answer.

Making the wooden dining table the centrepiece of your dining room

There is nothing quite as attractive as a grandiose dining table. No matter what your style, a fantastic dining table really packs a punch. This exquisite example of a reclaimed wood dining table is the perfect example. The distressed look of the wood, full of history and character, works well with the modern gloss of the metal frame. Even the sumptuous upholstered dining chairs cannot detract from its beauty.

Making the chairs the stars of the show

Dining chairs can really add va-va-voom to a dining room. There are almost unlimited options when it comes to upholstered dining chairs, with all shades of colours, as well as a choice between fabric and leather.

Of course, fabric dining chairs don’t work for everybody. A great option are wooden dining chairs. Equally as elegant, wooden chairs are easy to keep clean and suit a range of styles, from farmhouse to rustic

Most of our dining chairs are customisable too, so you can create something truly unique for your home that diners will admire.

Choose your style

Of course, a large factor in your choice of wooden dining table and chairs is your style.

This oak farmhouse table works well in a dining room or kitchen space where you want the pleasing feel of the farmhouse style.

Likewise, opting for the rustic dining table or the industrial dining table style is ideal in a busy home where you don’t want to compromise practicality and function for style.

Adding details

The ‘how and why’ of your wooden dining table are also important considerations.

For example, if you regularly host family dinners and extensive gatherings, an extending dining table with chairs make perfect sense.

But we think that dining furniture is a great way of adding detail without overpowering the space. The legs of the dining table are often forgotten in terms of design which is why we have added details to ours…This reclaimed wood round dining table with the circular, art deco-esque leg adds a wow factor to any dining space. If you want detail but without too much fuss, this rectangular dining table with robust legs is one choice. The circular elements add the right level of detail. And there is something pleasingly ‘chunky’ and firm about the end-of-table column legs on this farmhouse table.

Many pieces in our dining furniture ranges can be customised to suit, giving you even more scope on creating a wooden dining table and chairs that you will love for a long, long time to come.

Complete your modern living room furniture with a luxurious rug

There are many benefits to using a rug in any room. No matter what style you go for, from the uber-modern minimalist look to the farmhouse living room, there is a rug for every style.
But why bother with a rug? Will it really help your room look better and does it really ‘go’ with modern living room furniture?

Lift the ‘Look’ of the Room
You have everything in place. Everything just as you want it. You have taken hours of research to find the contemporary furniture that creates the modern living room that is stylish and functional. But is there something missing? A rug can lift the look of a room. One way is by injecting a vein of colour that is eye-catching, but without starkness. This Atlantic blue striped rug is just one of many solutions.

Supports a key piece
There is a need for a rug to have the right dimensions, as much as there is for it to fit the space in terms of style, colour and appeal.
You may have selected an item of furniture, such as a black leather sofa as the focal point, the shining star that instantly attracts attention. You need to support this piece, whether it is a reclaimed wood coffee table with considerable age, a beautiful living room sideboard or a contemporary sofa that is simply delightful.
Wool rugs can support a piece. Match the colour of the rug and its style with that of the piece you want to support. A great colour for bringing out wood tones or contrast with the coolness of a marble coffee table is red, like this red patchwork rug.

Emphasise the space
The right size rug brings the room together. But it also needs to be the perfect colour.
This grey rug, for example, would look well in a space where the overall colour scheme if neutral but warm.

Create a focal point
The rug is an important addition in many living rooms because it is the focal point.
In order for any design scheme to be successful, there needs to be a reference point for the eye. Also known as a focal point, the rug is ideal because you can attract attention to it with shape, but with colour too.
Design and pattern can help it stand out too. The deep red of this rug, along with the emphasising grey swirls of colour is an ideal example of texture being added to a room with a red and grey rug.

Add Warmth
When interior designers talk about ‘adding warmth’, they are talking of adding texture to a space. The different textures of fabrics and materials stop a space being ‘flat’ and cold to the eye.
To add warmth, choose sumptuous fabrics and with rugs, this means a looser pile so that it caresses the toes.
The mix of chenille cotton and wool in a rug is luxury for the feet, ideal for adding warmth to your living room.

Adds a Twist
There is something delightful about adding a little cheekiness to a space, an item, a colour or a shape that is not expected.
Whimsical without being childish, a rug can add a sense of something extra to a space. As well as pattern, there is colour to play with.
This rug, with understate copper tones, would come alive in a space in front of a brown or black leather sofa.

Not Just for the Fireside
A rug was, and still is, commonly used to protect the floor in front of an open fire. But it is not just for the fireside.
With the right size, pattern and colour, it can be the platform that emphasises a piece such as a wood table or the beauty of a leather Chesterfield sofa.
Or it can be a piece of art work in itself…