reclaimed Archives - Page 13 of 24

It’s time to give your hallway a seasonal spruce up

As we’re a whisker away from stepping into a new season, we turn our thoughts to giving those rooms that saw a lot of use over the winter a refresh. The hallway is one of those places where things always seem to accumulate during the winter months with various scarves, hats and gloves all seem to end up all strewn over the place. There may be the odd dirty scuff mark on the wall from winter wellies and the doormat may be looking a bit lifeless with wet and muddy boots wiping on it over the last few months – it sounds like this hallway could do with a quick spring makeover!.

Clear and declutter

Start by working your way through the boot mountain and pair up all those odd gloves. Maybe you can put some of the heavier coats away in a bedroom wardrobe to make a bit of space for lighter coats and leave the hallway looking less cluttered.

Photo credit: Little Greene Paint Company

A lick of paint!

This is a great place to start – once you are back to bare walls it will completely freshen and transform the hallway. If your hallway is a little on the dark side then opt for a brightening colour, such as a yellow or green. If you have plenty of natural light flowing through a glass door then a darker colour would look fab and dramatic even if only on the bottom half of the wall. The Little Greene Paint company offer a wonderful selection of environmentally friendly paints and are sure to have just the right colour for you.

Image featuring: Fenshaw Mango Wood Storage Bench

Add some hallway storage

The hallway is the first thing everyone sees when they knock at your door, whether they step inside or chat on the doorstep. The last thing we want anyone to see is a pile of muddy shoes and boots inside the doorway! Look at some shoe storage ideas – how many shoes are often needed by the door, would a hallway bench come in handy for the little ones to sit on? If you want hidden storage then a storage bench might work or maybe open shoe storage is easier. A narrow console table is a hallway must-have – get one with some drawers to pop keys, the dog lead and other items in so they are easily found as you are dashing out the door. Leave a bit of space free so guests have somewhere to put their shoes and coat too!

Image featuring: Oasis Console Table

A few finishing touches

Once you have the basics covered you can elaborate and give your hallway a touch of personality! Add a mirror over the console table, a houseplant, some wicker storage baskets, a new doormat, a diffuser for a welcoming smell, an armchair or a selection of your favourite family photos. All of these will transform the hallway into a place you will want people to see rather than rushing them through on their way into your home.

How to make spring cleaning more eco friendly

Words Zero Waste on concrete background with natural cleaning products

Here at Modish Living, we love anything that helps the environment. With spring and spring cleaning just around the corner, we thought we would have a look at how we can ditch some of the chemical cleaning products we use every day and substitute with something a little more gentle on our planet. Opting for reclaimed wood furniture in your home, and especially the kitchen, is a great way to start as you don’t have to use chemicals on it – all that is needed to wipe down your dining room furniture is a soft, dry cloth.

Start with non-toxic cleaning products. We are all so quick to grab a bottle of bleach or degreaser without thinking about the toxins they contain or the fact that most are in single-use plastic bottles. There are now some non-toxic cleaning product ranges available to buy, but there are many natural ingredients you already have around the home that you can use. The main ones are vinegar, lemon and bicarbonate of soda.

Vinegar is a great degreaser and descaler – immerse your shower head in white vinegar overnight and see the sparkling result in the morning. Vinegar is also a great thing to use to clean windows and mirrors, scrunch up some newspaper and dip into vinegar and you’re good to get cleaning that winter grime off.

Lemon gives a fresh clean scent and is a natural cleanser. Combine white vinegar with lemon – leave for a couple of weeks to infuse and you will have a beautiful smelling spray cleaner. Using lemon is also a great way to create a scouring pad for metal, just cut it and sprinkle some salt on the exposed part for an eco-friendly scourer and cleaning preparation. To keep your home smelling fresh in-between cleans, rather than air fresheners use the natural fragrance of essential oils. Get a diffuser to stand on a small side table in the living room and blend your favourite smelling essential oils to give your home a pleasant aroma.

Ditch the disposable cleaning wipes and paper towels, it’s all too easy to grab some disposable wipes along with the grocery shopping. But for a more planet-friendly option, swap these for reuseable cleaning cloths that you can throw in the machine with your normal clothes wash. Or create cleaning rags from old clothes. If you have a few old t-shirts in your wooden wardrobe that have seen better days, rather than binning them, cut them down and use as cloths.

Another easy eco swap is to sweep the floor. There’s no need to grab the vacuum cleaner every day – you can easily sweep around floors – and to be honest, taking rugs out to beat them will most likely get them cleaner than vacuuming – they can also be left out for a bit to air and it’s a bit of a workout too!

Finally, reuse glass jars. Now is the perfect time to clear out the kitchen cupboards and get rid of those out of date pickles! Instead of sending the glass jars to the recycling centre, wash them out and reuse them to store food in, instead of plastic containers, or keep a few handy and try making your own pickles or jams. Why not fill some with little posies of fresh or dried flowers to pop around the house? Tie a piece of ribbon or twine around the top for a little decoration – just the right size for on bedroom side tables, a rustic dining table or on a wooden sideboard in the living room.

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!

Top pick living room sideboards for under £500

Top of a reclaimed wood sideboard with large clock

You can never have too much storage space in the living room and the best kind of storage is one that not only provides hidden storage but also looks great! A reclaimed wood sideboard is of course the sustainable option, it is an investment piece of furniture that will bring individuality and warmth into your room for years to come.

A living room sideboard is not only used for storage, but also provides an extra surface to place some of your prized possessions or to add another feature to your living space. This could be decorative vases, pot plants or candlesticks – by hanging a mirror, wall decoration or clock over it you can give this additional feature some height too.

Here we have a look at some fab sideboards….and, even better, are a steal at under £500!

Farringdon Reclaimed Wood Medium Sideboard

The chunky Farringdon sideboard is a great choice. Sure to stand out in your living room, this modern sideboard is produced from reclaimed wood and finished with a slight hint of grey. The beauty of this range is that there can be slight variations in the finish which ensure every piece wonderfully individual and unique.

Dorset Reclaimed Wood Medium Sideboard

The Dorset Reclaimed Sideboard range is almost identical to the Farringdon, produced in the same beautiful chunky reclaimed wood but hand-painted in distressed white with just the top in natural wood with the hint of grey. The white finish will help give your room a lighter airier feel. This sideboard, like the Farringdon, has two drawers and one cupboard with a shelf for storage.

Savannah Small Reclaimed Wood Sideboard

This gorgeous small white sideboard will add a touch of rustic charm to your living room, the vintage brass cup handles on the drawers add an elegant vintage element. What a wonderful place to clear away all your living room clutter into. Books, magazines, DVD’s and kid’s books all tucked away in order, ready to be easily found when needed.

Standford Industrial Reclaimed Wood Medium sideboard

A piece of furniture from the Standford Industrial range will always catch the eye! Rough sawn reclaimed wood, salvaged from factories and transformed into stunning industrial furniture. You will see the various shades of wood, the old nail holes and natural undulations shine through the hard-wearing finish, ensuring every piece from the range is completely unique.

Chelwood Medium Reclaimed Wood Sideboard

This simple but stylish sideboard is perfect for the Scandi style minimalist living room. Crafted from gorgeous pale reclaimed wood, with two drawers and double cupboards, the Chelwood Reclaimed Wood medium sideboard will add to a light and airy colour scheme with the neutral colour ensuring it will blend beautifully with other pieces of reclaimed wood furniture you already have in your room. If you need something a little larger then this is also available as a large sideboard.

How to zone to create a multifunctional living space

Rustic open plan living room and dining area with white sofa and furniture and large black wood burning stove

Open plan living just keeps increasing in popularity whether in the form of an extension, a new build or taking internal walls down in a current home. This is very effective in a smaller home as it gives the feeling of more space, of course, you do need to pay attention to load-bearing walls and support if you do this.

This style really only started to appear more regularly in the 1950’s where you would often find a dining room sharing a space with the living room – often an L shape area to help with the separation. At this point, the kitchen was still seen pretty much as a service room and as such was not included…. until we get closer to the 1980’s that is. Now we love a house with an open plan – a place where the whole family can spend time together.

The children can play safely, do homework or watch TV while the parents can work, prepare dinner or get on with household chores all in the one large space – but it still makes sense to have some sort of definition between the spaces.

Zone by using texture

Although you aren’t breaking up space, the use of different textures will draw the eye to the different areas in the open space – A feature brick wall can clearly define where the dining area is – a combination of a tiled area for the kitchen and wood or laminate flooring to define other areas. A rug on the floor to anchor a reclaimed wood dining table to help define the dining space, whilst the sitting area can be clearly defined by placing a rug in front of your large sofa and placing a modern nest of tables on it.

Zone by using plants

By now we all know the benefits of having house plants in our spaces – you can really embrace this natural and healthy way to zone a room. A tall plant in a floor-standing pot or some open wood shelving units are great for creating a natural divide, or how about an on-trend living wall to bring in a contemporary diversion.

Zone by using furniture

Use furniture to partition the space – it’s nice to have the option to section off an area when needed, especially if an open-plan room includes your home office. You can do this by opting for a tall bookcase, open shelving is great for this as you will still get the impression of space and see it flow. Sideboards are also great for this; the above dining space, featuring the Farringdon Reclaimed Wood trestle table, is zoned by the sideboard and a drinks cabinet. Of course, the most recognisable one is the breakfast bar or kitchen island – everyone will know that the kitchen space is beyond that point.

Zone by using colour

Painting sections of the walls in different colours is a great way to zone a large space. Or if you don’t want to commit to a wall colour, use furniture in pops of colour to define the space. We love the bright pink column radiator above for its bright and clever divide, together with the petrol blue fabric dining chairs that draw the eye to that area.

House Tour: A modern farmhouse retreat

Living room with rustic coffee table and grey brick chimney breast with large bay window

@bellwayhometorhead

We’ve had our eye on Instagrammer @bellwayhometorhead for some time and with over 35k followers, we’re clearly not the only ones who have fallen for her modern farmhouse style. Her use of natural textures and a neutral palette presents a wonderfully calming and cosy feel, which is complemented with beautiful rustic furniture.

The Property

Purchased in 2003, Lynn Mooney, better known as @bellwayhometorhead on Instagram, and her husband, Drew, and golden retriever, Marley, were attracted to the newly built detached property in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, because of its semi-rural location and good sized rooms. Over the years they have made significant renovations to the property, including a new kitchen, en-suite, dining room doors and lighting. The result is a delightfully inviting home with calming neutral colours and modern rustic furniture.

@bellwayhometorhead

The Style

Modern rustic farmhouse style would best describe the overall look of the home. Neutral colours and natural textures blend with carefully selected pieces of wooden furniture, such as the wonderful rustic dining table, to create a perfectly balanced and harmonious scheme throughout.

Favourite Rooms

The kitchen/diner with its beautiful two-tone Shaker kitchen units in soft grey and off-white. The colour complements the wooden flooring and white full-length shutters on the bi-fold doors, giving the room a distinct New England mixed with the Hamptons feel. The soft faux throws on the wooden bench and basket accessories add texture, whilst the industrial hanging pendant lights over the wooden dining table brings the look right up to date.

@bellwayhometorhead

Furniture Highlights

The refectory-style farmhouse dining table is an eye-catching piece. Lynn chose a combination of wooden dining bench and dining room chairs for seating to give a laid-back dining experience.

@bellwayhometorhead

The grey painted narrow console table in the living room is also a wonderful piece. Styled with two large rustic table lamps, it doubles up as a TV unit with the television above. Staying in the living room, the wooden rustic coffee table with natural wood top and white painted frame matches the colour scheme of the room.

@bellwayhometorhead

Get the Look

Recreate Lynn’s style with reclaimed wood furniture from our collections…

Chelwood Medium Reclaimed Wood Dining Table

Serenity Reclaimed Wood Dining Table

Mayfair Reclaimed Wood Coffee Table

For more of Lynn’s modern farmhouse style visit her on her Instagram @bellwayhometorhead.

Choosing the right bar stools for your kitchen

Wooden breakfast bar with rustic wood bar stools

Here we have a look at what to watch out for when buying new bar stools for your kitchen. There are three main things to consider – stool height, usage and style/ colour.

Getting the dimensions right

The height obviously depends on the height of what you are going to sit at. But – an important reminder – bar chairs are generally a little taller than countertop stools. So if your kitchen island surface is the same height as your kitchen worksurface (90-95cm) you will be looking for a seat height between 60-75cm. If you have a high bar-style breakfast bar (101-106cm) then you will be wanting a seat height of 75cm and above. The Oakley brown leather barstool is a great choice as the height is adjustable – great for in the kitchen – but also won’t look out of place at a reclaimed wood dining table if you need to add an extra seat when entertaining.

Ideally, you want a minimum of 15 cm space in between the bar stools, this should give you plenty of space to eat, drink and turn without disrupting others sitting with you. You also should consider how much legroom will be needed and if you have the space for the stools if they do not tuck under the surface fully.

Usage

This depends on how you will be using this new seating area, if you are adding a place to spend time at – for evening meals and for people to sit for a longer time then bar stools with backs will be way more comfortable. I would also opt for a back if smaller children may be sitting on them so they can’t topple backwards. If however, it will be a spot for a quick breakfast or the occasional snack then you should not really need back on them.

Photo features from left: Dorset Reclaimed Wood Breakfast Bar Stool and Lansdowne Industrial Faux Leather Bar Stool

Style and colour

With so many styles to choose from this could be a bit of a minefield. Just because you have a light wood kitchen does not mean you have to have light wooden bar stools – you can go for a bold colour to add a modern contrast, use the opportunity to introduce an industrial element or opt for the classic leather bar stools. To bring in a luxurious look then you can opt for a classic velvet button back.

Photo features from left: Standford Blue Velvet Bar Stool and Chelsea Black Velvet Bar Stool

Adding a bar table

If you love the idea of a kitchen island, but lack the space then the Standford industrial reclaimed wood bar table is a great choice. Available in large for four stools and small for two stools, this can be styled with a whole array of faux leather barstools that will match or add contrast to your kitchen.

Style a rustic dining table with leather seating

Trestle rustic dining table with two leather industrial dining chairs and sun shining across

Wood and leather are a perfect pairing. So here we look at some of the different types of leather and faux leather dining chairs you can style with your dining table.

Leather dining chairs have always been a popular choice to pair with a rustic dining table – there is nothing like the luxurious feel, the smell, and the durability of a real leather dining chair, but for your family, a vegan leather chair might be a better fit. In this blog we look at just a few ways to team up wood and leather.

Photo featuring: Theo Faux Leather Dining Chair (pair)

1) Styling with a chunky rustic dining table

Here we have the gorgeous Standford large extending wooden table – quite a traditional style, so perfect in a farmhouse style kitchen but also works well in a modern Scandi theme. We think a delicate spindle back chair could look a little lost next to this chunky table. In this image, it has been teamed it up with the Standford industrial reclaimed wood bench.

Photo featuring: Standford Wooden Large Extending Dining Table & Standford Industrial Reclaimed Wood Bench

2) Styling with an industrial rustic table

Rustic industrial furniture is here to stay. Here we have the Rocco Industrial Rustic Oak Spider Leg Dining Table. The rough and rustic wood is finished in a lacquer. It is made using thick solid oak planks, we have styled this with brown PU leather chairs.

Photo featuring: Rocco Industrial Rustic Oak Spider Leg Dining Table

3) Go large

If you love to entertain and have a nice long dining table then you might want to consider a dining bench with back as well as dining chairs. The back will offer a little more comfort for your diners during a dinner party but as it is a bench, you can also squeeze up a bit and get an extra person around the table… without the need for an extra chair. The Cleo is one of those timeless pieces, it is made to order as a 2, 3 or 4 seater bench. Imagine how impressive the 4 seater looks sat along the side of a large dining table, and of course, you can add cushions and throws to add even more comfort and tie in with your dining room decor.

Photo featuring: Cleo Faux Leather Low Dining Bench

How to create the perfect industrial home office

Take inspiration from large communal workspaces and create the coolest industrial home office with these three simple steps.

We need the office space to be clear and clutter-free so we can work with a clear and clutter-free mind! This is one reason the functional and minimalist industrial style is just perfect for productivity.

1 – Go rustic

Invest in a good reclaimed wood desk. Work out how much spare space you have available and desktop space you need so you can work comfortably. Ideally, for the best desk and chair fit, you should allow a 1-metre area so you can get to your desk and move the home office chair in and out comfortably.

With so many home offices being created up and down the country in the last year, the Standford desk has proven to be a very popular choice. Not too big and not too small, it’s perfect for a laptop and desktop organisers. An industrial desk lamp fits right in for when a little extra lighting is required. You can always consider an industrial bookcase if you need additional room for a printer or reference books. Keeping right on theme, this shelving should be metal framed.

2 – Must-have metal

Metal is a vital element when it comes to achieving the industrial look – don’t be scared to add too much of it! You can always soften the look by adding house plants and warm reclaimed wood to balance the space.

3 – Leather

Get some leather into the office space – the Mustang is definitely the best office chair for this job! If combines a stylish metal frame with soft upholstering covered in natural high-quality leather. The perfect partner for an industrial desk, it is available in brown or grey. You can accessorise in leather too by adding leather picture frames, a leather desk blotter and desk tidy. Talking of accessorising you can add pops of colour too, some bold coloured storage folders or boxes, plant pots or some modern wall art to add some of your personality to your workspace.