living room Archives - Page 6 of 31

4 Items of furniture you didn’t know your home needed

Bright living room with grey l-shaped sofa and round dining room table

Many of us have at least one piece of furniture that we treasure – a sideboard that was bought as an investment piece or a wardrobe that’s been handed down the family. Then there are the standard pieces in pretty much every home like the sofa, dining table, bed and chests of drawers. But now I would like to bring your attention to reclaimed wood furniture you may not even know your home desperately needs…. and once you have these top picks of ours you will wonder how you ever lived without them!

1 – A wood bookcase

Of course, lots of homes have bookcases in the study or in a children’s bedroom but they are also great for storage and display in the living room. An open bookcase is a great place to display your favourite stylish accessories, houseplants and of course books! A bonus is that you get lots of shelving without taking up too much floor space. Another great way to make use of a bookcase is to position it so it creates zoned areas in an open plan living space.

2 – A rustic coffee table with storage

Most of us do have a coffee table of some sort in our living rooms, but it is generally just a low table. We think a coffee table that doubles up as a place to store items is essential in the living room. Some drawers or a chest to stash away all those little things that you like to have nearby when you are sat down relaxing on the sofa is very handy and can give a whole load of extra storage space. A sturdy coffee table is also great simply to put your feet up on – The Standford industrial coffee table is an ideal choice, a way to bring a modern industrial element into your room as well as two drawers for storage and a handy shelf below.

Pink fabric bench with umbrella and bright pink cushion

3 – A bench

A dining table with a wooden bench is now a common sight in all the interior magazines. But a bench should not be restricted only to the dining room. A plush upholstered bench is great in the living room for when you have guests over and need extra seating, a bench can also be used as a coffee table – just get a decorative tray to pop drinks on it. In the entrance hall, a wooden bench is great so you have somewhere to sit when taking your shoes on and off, why not get one with a top that opens to offer hallway storage? And of course, you can always bring one up to the dining table when you have extra dinner guests and need to squeeze up.

Photo featuring: Knightsbridge Reclaimed Oak Console Table

4 – A hall console table

This gives a great first impression to welcome visitors as they come into your home A narrow console table just inside the hallway gives this normally slightly neglected space a focal point. Stand something decorative on the top, such as fresh cut flowers, a house plant or some family photos. A wall mirror is an ideal thing to hang over it. Perfect for a last once over before you leave the house

How to transform your home into a holiday destination

The best seating for modern rustic living rooms

Modern rustic living room with modern white sofa and wooden modern furniture

In this blog we will be looking at seating options to create the perfect rustic living room. The brown leather sofa has been a living room staple for hundreds of years – and now (luckily) there are so many different styles and shades to choose from, you can’t possibly fail to find the perfect one for your room!

First, we suggest you have a think about what furniture pieces are most essential in your living room – consider a rustic TV stand like the handmade Beam cube – which by the way, can be crafted to bespoke sizes making it the perfect choice to fit in a nook or cranny in an older cottage or farmhouse! A coffee table is also needed in pretty much every living room – if you don’t have much space for storage then consider something like a trunk coffee table or one with a shelf below and/or with drawers so it will have a bit of room for some living room storage! However, if you do have space then a console table or a wooden sideboard is a great living room addition.

Pairing a brown leather sofa with reclaimed wood furniture is a perfect combination – the smell and the feel of natural soft leather complement the beauty and uniqueness of rustic wood furniture. Depending on the shape and size of your room you can consider a 2 seater sofa with a small armchair to pull up to the fire. Go big in larger rooms by choosing a 3 seater and a coordinating 2 seater, plenty of room to spread out and relax on when your are watching TV or have guests over…..you can also add additional armchairs….. the combinations are endless and restricted only by what space you have available!

Rustic living room with large stone fireplace and brown leather sofa, brown leather armchair and matching leather footstool

We can’t talk about sofas without a mention of the classic Oswald 2 Seater Sofa. A Oswald Sofa is an investment piece of furniture that will be with you for years to come with this timeless design blending effortlessly with a rustic as well as a modern theme. This leather sofa is incredibly versatile, it will mix and match with modern or classically styled armchairs.

It’s very on-trend to mix and match furniture and introduce accent colours for additional features in your room. You can add pops of colour by bringing in throws and scatter cushions. This will add an extra level of comfort and cosiness to a leather sofa.

For contrast, you can blend a more modern sofa with the rustic furniture in your living room.

Get Airbnb ready – what to do with your belongings

Hessian doormat with words welcome and two pairs of grey shoes

Summer will be upon us before we know it and with no certainty that international travel will have opened up by then, it looks like a holiday in the UK may be the safest option. We will all be looking for a lovely bolthole away from home for a week or two, and if you’re thinking of opening up your home to Airbnb, now is the time start planning.

Figures suggest that over 260 million guests have stayed in Airbnb properties around the globe making this the obvious place to market your property or guestroom. If you want to let your home whilst you’re away for the summer months, or even whilst you’re still there, then it really doesn’t make sense to box up and store all your personal belongings and favourite pieces of reclaimed wood furniture for this relatively short period.

Whether it is the spare room you are letting or the whole house, you have to find the right balance for your guests. A mix of homely and ease of use. Feeling at home is one of the main reasons that guests opt for an Airbnb rather than a depersonalised hotel room. But your guests will want to be able to put their things away and won’t want to be moving your items out of the way all the time! Think about where you can store your personal items in the house – maybe you have a lockable spare bedroom or can make some space in the loft or garage for storage.

The rule of thumb is if you don’t want guests to touch or use it then get it out the way! Ideally, you should let your guests know what they can or can’t use – so make it clear in the guest book to save any misunderstandings later.

A large sideboard in the living room is a great place to clear your stuff into – books, family photos and other personal items can all be put away. We would suggest that in another cupboard you could leave jigsaw puzzles, board games and playing cards for your guests to use during their stay. On top of the wooden sideboard, you can leave a selection of books for them to read and information about the area they are staying in – such as flyers from local takeaways or restaurants and details of local visitor attractions etc.

The bedroom is one of those places that can be a bit cluttered. If you have a bedroom chest of drawers you can move all your things to the bottom drawers and leave guests two top rows to use during their stay. Section off large wardrobes – push your things to one side and leave them the other side clear with plenty of hangers. If your guests are only staying for a week or two they won’t need too much storage space, but think about other items of furniture they might need. A wooden bedside table to put a reading lamp on or somewhere to put a glass of water and charge their phone is a handy and stylish bedroom storage addition.

Children’s bedrooms are another space that can be a bit cluttered, if you have a family home then you would, of course, expect families to rent it off you. Children love looking through new books and playing with different toys! So things you don’t want them to use and play with, should be put away completely. Toys they can use can be put in a wooden toy chest in the bedroom – your guests will also know exactly where to tidy everything away.

How to create more space without extending

Open plan kitchen and living room with black wooden bar stools

If you don’t have the budget to extend or if you live in a property where it would be hard to get permission, there are lots of tricks that you can do to add some more useable space or simply bring more light into your room to make your room appear bigger.

Make use of dead spaces

Under the stairs is definitely the main contender here – this space can be transformed into a hidden storage heaven – a place to pop away coats, gloves, scarves, boots, shoes, school bags…the list goes on. You can even squeeze in a home office!

A storage bench seat is also a quick and easy way to create a feeling of space in a hallway by hiding away clutter. The landing is another area with potential for adding space – a small console table or a wood bookcase can help take books and other items out of another more cluttered room.

Knock through rooms

This is a great idea if you have a separate but adjoining kitchen and dining room. A wall means you lose space in both rooms and restricts where you can put furniture pieces, but by removing it, you will instantly have the feeling of more space, especially if this lets in more light to a small or dark room. If you are creating a kitchen-diner then you might want to consider using dining benches around your reclaimed wood dining table – as a bench is lower than the table, the space appears less interrupted with no taller chair backs.

Photo featuring: Parquet Dressing Table

Multi-use rooms or layout changes

Many of us have a spare room, but how many nights a year does it really get used, a total of a month? This space can be used for something else, something like a gym or a home office. A home office desk can double as a dressing table for guests and you can use a chest of drawers to put your office bits and bobs away in. Switch your everyday office items on the desktop to some house plants to make the room more inviting to guests.

Zoning rooms

You can easily zone a room to make it more multi-purpose using furniture such as a large sideboard, a bookcase, sofas or floor rugs – the great thing is you have the flexibility to easily move them if you need to change how the space is being used.

Furniture choice

Choosing the right furniture for your room also plays a major part on whether your room feels a bit crowded or light and airy. For example, smaller pieces of furniture, like armchairs, will make a room feel more cluttered than one light coloured 3 seater sofa.

White living room with white fabric sofa, wooden coffee table and shelf with white painted wooden letters spelling Home

Change doors

A really simple but effective thing that you can do is change the doors to rooms – Using a sliding door to lead to smaller rooms such as an en-suite or dressing room will enable you to use make the most of space otherwise taken up opening and closing a standard door.

How to treat marks on reclaimed wood furniture

A reclaimed wood dining table, or any reclaimed wood furniture for that matter, are pieces of furniture that are investments and will be in your home, for you to enjoy, for years to come. Over time, accidents will and do happen, so in this blog we will look at ways to try to prevent accidents and how you can get your furniture looking as good as the day you bought it. The two most common are watermarks and minor dents.

The beauty of reclaimed wood is that it is never going to be a smooth, pristine, mark-free, piece of timber. The timbers used are salvaged from old buildings, factories or railway tracks, which means the wood is not going to waste but being skillfully recrafted and given a new lease of life. Of course, this means that the wood will have undulations and markings and we want those on reclaimed wood as they make each piece unique and gives them some history.

Because of these beautiful little features, the odd mark or scuff to your wood dining table will simply blend in and give it a little more character. However, some damage will leave a more lasting mark that you might not want to be a part of your table, water damage is one of those.

Corner of a rustic dining table with a brown and grey faux leather dining chairs and newspaper and spectacles on table top

Water damage

Be a little bit fussy! Make sure diners use coasters when drinking at the dining table, especially if they have ice in a drink – before they have even picked it up you may have a water ring under the glass…..and don’t forget to have coasters at the ready on pieces such as your reclaimed wood coffee table as well. To deal with water spillage you really need to dry it as quickly as possible . Dab it with a paper towel or something very absorbent to remove any water. This can then be wafted dry or left to dry naturally, the longer you leave it the more chance it has to soak into the wood. If you are standing a vase of flowers on your rustic dining table, then again use a coaster to place it on – or put them out of the way on another piece of furniture, such as a wooden sideboard where they are less likely to get knocked over by people reaching across the table.

Minor scuffs and dents

Waxing – that is all you really need to do to get any minor scuffs and dents to blend in with the rest of the table. It is actually best to wax or oil your table (depending on its original finish) regularly to keep it looking its best and to keep up, and build up, a good layer of protection. If the damage is a little more serious then you call a furniture technician to come to your home – they can work wonders on your rustic furniture.

Everyday care Do’s

– Use coasters for drinks and hot dishes

– Clean up spillages as soon as possible by dabbing gently with a paper towel

– Use a little water and a mild soap for daily cleaning

– Rub scratches or scuffs with wax or oil

Everyday care Don’ts

– Use abrasive chemicals

– Use furniture polishes containing silicone as they will build up over time

– Rub vigorously as this can damage the finish

Ideas to decorate your home for Easter

Thin twigs from a tree with yellow flowers

Decorating the home for Easter is certainly gaining in popularity with more and more people buying an Easter wreath, decorating an Easter tree or adding an Easter themed table decoration. Here are a few ideas you might want to try out yourself this year!

Dining table decorations

A reclaimed wood dining table is a very versatile piece of dining room furniture and can be decorated in many ways from fun and colourful Easter baskets filled with fake grass and chocolate or painted eggs to an exquisite Easter bouquet – which will really bring the outside in. We think a mix of both works best, a basket of painted eggs as well as simple fresh cut flowers like daffodils or tulips. For something really rustic, natural and simple to stand on a wood dining table, you can arrange some spring twigs in a vase.

Close up of a collection white Easter eggs in gold framed geometric ornament as a table decoration

Living room decorations

To bring some spring cheer into your home why not decorate your living room? Hang a spring and Easter themed garland around the fireplace or add some fairy lights and a simple but striking decoration to the mantlepiece. Dedicate a shelf of your wood bookcase to Easter decorations, use little pots of spring flowers and twigs, decorative egg and rabbit ornaments to create a small Easter display – you can also add any Easter cards you receive to complete the display.

Easter wreath

This is a really popular choice for an Easter decoration now. You can hang one on your front door to welcome your own family or anyone else who comes to your door. A rustic wreath looks stunning placed on a farmhouse table or on a kitchen sideboard. You can really go to town and theme the whole kitchen by adding ribbons on the back of the kitchen chairs – something bright and cheery like yellow or green.

You can buy wreaths ready-made or you can opt to create your own, we love this rustic spring and Easter themed one above.

Easter tree

You can create an Easter tree for indoors or one for in the garden…. if you plan to do some outside entertaining. All you need are some bare twigs, which you can arrange in a vase using decorative stones to keep the twigs in place and some Easter decorations to hang on this – paper spring flowers, egg decorations, rabbits and chicks are perfect for the job.

Quick tricks of the trade to create a sellable home

Welcome doormat in front of white front door with two large grey plant pots with green shrubs either side

Moving home is listed as one of the most stressful things in life. Organising finances, selling, finding your new home, packing, unpacking and finding new schools for the kids can make it time-consuming and costly. So, here we have put together some basic pointers of what you can do to get your home ready to sell and hopefully get as close as possible to your asking price, without stressing every time the estate agent calls to organise a viewing.

Entrance

This gives the all-important first impression. Paint the front door if it looks a bit shabby, wipe down outside windowsills and thresholds and give the windows a clean. If you have a front garden make sure the grass is mowed and any borders are weed-free. A hanging basket or a floor-standing planter always look good to potential buyers as they walk or drive up to your house. Hide wheelie bins around the side or in the garage! Inside, a hallway storage bench will be a place to hide away shoes ready for when viewers pop round.

Photo featuring: Chelwood Reclaimed Wood Coffee Table

Living room

The living room should be set out to show how the most popular pieces of living room furniture can be placed in it. A 3 seater sofa arranged around a rustic coffee table and a TV unit are essential in this room. A bookcase with doors can hide any living room clutter ready for viewings but there is no need to clear everything away – the house will benefit from a few personal pieces left on show to make it look homely and lived in. Light the open fire if it is a cooler night to give your room an instant cosy look and feel – a velvet armchair pulled up to the fire will make the buyer imagine themselves sitting there reading a book!

Kitchen

This is probably the most important room of the house to have ready for viewings. Floors, walls, worksurfaces and cabinets have to be clean. If your kitchen units are a little dated or too dark for the room you can consider painting or replacing cupboard doors. Touch-up dirty grout using a grout pen. Once you have the decor tidied-up you can look at decluttering worksurfaces and open shelving – don’t think that everything has to be hidden from sight, just minimise it giving an open and uncluttered feel to the space. If you have a breakfast table in your kitchen put a crisp table cloth on it and add some fresh cut flowers.

Dining room / area

The dining room should be clear and clutter-free ideally in a neutral colour with rustic furniture that is in good proportion with the space – a small round table at one end of the room will look a bit lost if the space is large, maybe consider an eye-catching reclaimed wood dining table instead? Arrange the dining table and chairs and add a wooden sideboard, again showing there is ample space for the most popular size, a 6 seater dining table, as well as storage. Have a clean runner on the table and a centrepiece on it, like some fresh cut flowers or greenery.

Photo featuring: Mitcham Industrial Oak Spider Leg Dining Table & Standford Brown Leather Dining Chairs

Bedrooms

The master bedroom should be a calm and inviting space with room for all the bedroom furniture essentials like a double or kingsize bed, bedside tables, a wooden wardrobe and a wooden chest of drawers. Let children’s bedrooms be children’s bedrooms, but tone them down and declutter them a little – just taking a few posters off the walls, adding a neutral throw and some cushions on the bed will transform the room.

Garage and garden

Now’s the time to clear out the garage, it’s going to have to be done when you move anyway, so do it before viewings start. Gardens of course should be cleared of toys, maybe get a storage shed to keep things in. Make sure the grass is mowed and flowerbeds are weed-free. If you have patio furniture and it is the right time of year, then put them out in the garden, again you are giving the potential buyer a small glimpse of happy days in the garden!

It’s time to get your home spring ready

Zinc milk churn full of bright pink flowers against a rustic wood background

Finally, what feels like the longest winter ever is just about over! Although we are not completely out of the woods yet it’s getting to that time when we can tentatively start thinking about spring. Outside the spring flowers are starting to show signs of life so let’s bring a bit of spring feeling into the home!

The obvious place to start is to get some spring flowers into your home whether it be daffodils, tulips or hyacinths they will all brighten the room up and lift your mood when you see them. Place flowers on a small sideboard in the living room or as a spring centrepiece on a reclaimed wood dining table, just have them somewhere where they get seen a lot!

This is also a good time to clear up and clean around the fireplace. You can probably put away some of the cosy candles and other winter warmers and replace with vases of bright flowers or dried grasses and fresh scented diffusers.

Clean the windows to let every bit of extra light and sunshine in. Wipe down shutters and wash curtains and nets to freshen them up and remove any dust that may have built up over the winter months. You could also get some new brighter cushions or throws for the sofa and take the opportunity to introduce a new colour into the living room.

In the kitchen, wipe down the cupboard doors and clean inside the cupboards. Take stock of what you have got in them and reorganise so you can find what you want more easily. We all have a near empty jar of pickles or chutneys sitting in our cupboards that’s past their best – clean and wash out the glass jars and reuse as small vases for flowers, tealight holders or even have a go at making your own jams and produce.

If you have a breakfast table in the kitchen you can get some new table linen and napkins to freshen the place up or look at getting some new kitchen chairs for a modern new look around the wooden table.

The bedrooms are also a great place to have an after-winter sort out! Put away some of those big winter woollies, make a space on an upper shelf of a double wardrobe to get them out of the way so you can get lighter jumpers in a more accessible place. Sort through your winter bedding and put heavy throws, blankets and quilts in a wooden blanket box at the foot of your bed. Not only does a blanket box provide plenty of handy storage but if you do need to grab an extra layer on a cooler spring night it is easy to get to. They also look fabulous sat at the foot of a wooden double bed!