Kitchen/Diner Revamp: The Big Reveal!

Things I had planned for 2020: giving my dining space a give it a Scandi Rustic revamp. Things I did not have planned for 2020: home schooling my kids for six months whilst trying to hold down my day job, write a book and keep a vague grip on my sanity. The latter slightly delayed the former but I am super excited to finally be able to show you the finished room!

To quickly recap: in the longer term we have big plans to create a contemporary open plan kitchen/diner, knocking down walls to combine three rooms into one. But in the short term I wanted to give the kitchen/dining space a refresh - toning down tango floors, adding timber cladding to create texture, refreshing the walls, removing a radiator cover bigger than our car, switching up the lighting and stretching my DIY skills to the limit by creating some faux crittall doors.

The Before. This is how the room looked when we moved in.

My moodboard for the revamp working in paid collaboration with Neptune

Working with Neptune, my dream interior brand, I have transformed the previously gloomy, cramped feeling space into a light, bright dining space that is now the hub of our home. So let me take you on a tour!

Working wonders on the walls

I think the lady who lived in the house before us was actually a secret senior Scandi fan because almost all of the walls in the house were painted in a neutral colour palette. However in a couple of places her inner Lawrence Lwellyn Bowen let loose and added flock wallpaper to the mix including on one of the walls of the kitchen. Having steamed it off in haste and then repented at my leisure - adding Neptune’s Cranbrook shiplap cladding has added some much needed (non Llewellyn Bowen) character to the room. Made from Norwegian Spruce (the Morten Harket of the timber world) you can keep it raw or have it stained in 16 different colour ways. Because the space is fairly narrow with not much natural light to speak of I have also refreshed the other walls using Neptune’s signature white paint: Snow. It is the perfect, fresh white and works perfectly as a base to build colour and texture around in a room.

The walls before. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so hasty to strip that wallpaper off

I actually con’t believe how much better it looks! The cladding really adds interest to the room and Snow is the perfect crisp white for freshening up the space.

Freshening Up the Floors

If you are not a fan of the colour orange look away now! The floor we inherited was in perfectly good condition but as can often be the case, the varnish applied to the floorboards had taken a turn for the tango over time. In a DIY first (and potentially last) for me I buckled up went to B&Q and bought myself a belt sander to strip them back to a more natural shade of wood. I dithered for ages about whether to just seal them with a wax and leave them au naturel but ultimately decided to paint them an off white. I do love how light and bright the room now feels but part of me still wonders whether I made the right decision! I guess I will have to live with that #RenovationRegret though because if given the choice of spending another 48 hours belt sanding or fly fishing with Nigel Farage I would probably choose to get my tackle out.

The floor before in all it’s tango glory

The floor afterwards painted in off-white. We purposely just did one coat to allow some of the grain of the wood to still show through.

In the kitchen space I have broken up the white floor with a jute rug

Switching Up the Seating

We already have a dining table located through the double doors from the kitchen so the idea behind creating a second dining space in the kitchen was for this to be a more relaxed, informal option that channeled more of a cafe feel! With that in mind Mr Malmo built a bench seating area in.

Bench seating by Mr Malmo beautiful grainsack linen cushions by Maison Brocante - a great small interiors business

The grainsack bench cushions from Maison Brocante are really comfy. I still need to decide how to finish the bench seat itself but that decision can wait for another day (or year)

We have also added a Arundel bench from Neptune in a natural oak finish. It is nice and wide meaning we can comfortably fit three of us on it or one person can hog it! Layering a Neptune sheepskin on it adds coziness to the space and stops the white walls/floors feeling too stark.

Lots more seating options to choose from now. I love how wide the Arundel bench is - perfect for our family of five!

Sometimes i let him sit on it

To tie the two dining spaces together we have a set of Wardley chairs which echo the kitchen/diner colour palette. These chairs encompass everything I love about Neptune - they ooze beautiful craftsmanship that is built to last and the spindle back design is a simple classic that will endure beyond any seasonal trends. You can choose to have them in any of the Neptune paint range finishes or in beautiful natural oak.

We have the Wardley chairs in Ink and Snow to echo the colours in the kitchen and tie the two spaces together

Letting the Light In

One of the great things about this house is the ceiling heights! All of the rooms have lofty ceilings but in the dining space we had just one overhead pendant light that got completely lost in the space and no cosy lighting options at all. Although obviously that is something Mr Malmo lost zero sleep over given he would happily sit watching TV with the kind of lighting they use to illuminate crime scenes. Over the table the lone interrogation pendant light has been replaced with the Browning three light pendant from Neptune which fills the ceiling space so much better and adds a discreet industrial nod to the space. Adding in walllights (the Brompton - which have a gorgeous brass finish for an really affordable price) means we now also have a lower light option as well. I love putting these on during the day when it is raining outside to create a cosy feel.

The lighting situation is now significantly less interrogation cell! This three bulb pendant light is a great choice if you have a larger space to fill

These brass Brompton wall lights are a great price for a really high quality finish. I am still un-decided on the picture shelf - do you think I might need to add another one?

Creating Crittall Style Doors (on a budget)

Perhaps the most ambitious part of the revamp was creating my own version of Crittall doors. Woodworking skills are not something listed on my CV for a reason - making a simple Roman Spear in middle school took me 11 weeks, saw me snap approx 67 jigsaw blades and drove my CDT teacher to the edge of a nervous breakdown. The existing doors dividing the kitchen from the more formal dining space were pretty non descript and I thought they would make a great feature if they were given a crittall makeover. Because in the longer term they will be removed when we knock the two rooms together putting in an actual crittall dividing screen was not an option. However, armed only with a tin of Charcoal paint from Neptune, a paintbrush, 11mm timber strips from B&Q and gorilla glue I think I have delivered a pretty good short term crittall dupe! Although it is at this point I should probably confess that I may have called upon Mr Malmo to do the part that involved the hacksaw and superglue. The chances of me either losing a finger or sticking one to a window were just too high otherwise!

The partition doors before

And after their Crittall makeover. All it took was two coast of Neptune Charcoal paint, some 11mm timber strips cut to size (by Mr Malmo) and some gorilla glue!

It’s my new favourite shade of dark paint as has less of a blue undertone than Railings. I just need to touch up the paint job a little bit where my frog tape skills lacked a little!

Crittall feels on a budget

Tablescaping Time

Although it has been a long and winding road to the finish line now that the space is finished I couldn’t be happier. It has turned what was a dark, gloomy bit of dead space into my own personal Scandi/Rustic cafe and become the real hub of the house - where we come together to eat, read, draw (dinosaurs) and chat. And now that it is finished it means I can finally indulge in one of my favorite hobbies: tablescaping!

Now that the space is finished I can tablescape to my heart’s content

I loved pulling this scheme together using some accessories borrowed from Neptune’s Autumn/Winter collection. The Lulworth tableware in dappled grey looks great against my vintage wooden table with cutlery in Olive (Neptune’s colour of the year) adding a subtle contrast. In the centre of table I have played with different height candle holders,the Bayham and the Heddon and then added some flowers from Neptune’s range of greenery. This rannuculous is credibly realistic and definitely something I will be investing in.

Hopefully sometime before 2034 we will be able to host people back round our kitchen table but for now I am happy to stay home and enjoy the new space.

I am just a girl making eyes at her new faux crittall doors and trying not to burn my bum on the radiator

Thank you so much to Neptune for collaborating with me on this project and for the enormous patience you have shown me as I struggled to complete it in a global pandemic! If you are in need of interiors inspiration then do go and have a browse of their newly revamped website which has so much lovely interiors content to browse on it.

Paid Collaboration

Photos by @TiaTalula

Designing and Building A Garden Office

2020: the year none of us could have predicted in our crystal balls on the 31st of December.  Life as we once knew it has been turned on its head.  Our morning commute has shrunk from taking a train into the city to walking across the landing to the makeshift office in the spare room.   Although we are now being encouraged to get back to the office by Boris, with every fresh headline it seems less and less likely we will be returning to the 9 to five of old.   And, in truth, having had a taste for working from home and the flexibility it allows, do we even want to go back to the old way of working?

With all of this in mind, an item that was on our “Maybe one day it would be nice to have” list has made it’s way to the forefront of our renovation priorities: a garden office.  This had always been in our long term plans as one of the attractions of this house was that it came with a garden that was longer and wider with the ideal space at the bottom for a studio. As the kids get older we were anticipating a time when we might want to have a separate space where they could hang out (or we could hide from teenagers).  Lockdown has made us realise we may need that extra space sooner than originally anticipated.    

Forgive the slightly messy photo with B&Q’s finest extension cable taking centre stage but the area to the right of this picture at the bottom of the garden is where we thought would be a good spot for a garden studio.

Having decided to get our “Shoffice” on sooner than expected, last month we started to scope out our options.  There are lots of different companies out there offering studios of all shapes and sizes and catering to every budget. It all depends what you want to use the building for and how much you have to spend.  The more traditional log cabin style tend to be cheaper and the more contemporary tend to the more expensive but there are also good options in the middle and many ways to pimp a log cabin to give it a more modern feel . 

Cabu create a range of modular buildings including garden studios with a modern farmhouse aesthetic

Koto have some really cool contemporary home office designs

We wanted something fairly big so that we would have space for both an office and a storage element (otherwise known as a shed). We actually came very close to buying an ex display Hanley Heritage model from Malvern, having discovered this great British company through @design_at_nineteen (go check out his feed for Garden Office Goals) but we ran into difficulties in terms of side access to get it into the garden without having to call in a crane and it didn’t have an integrated shed so we had to go back to the drawing board. All of the other options we looked at in the size we wanted from garden studio companies were, unfortunately, out of our current budget.  So, instead, armed only with a rough drawing I had done after a glass of vino (that frankly looked like something a five year old had knocked out after an exhausting day at softplay) we decided to ask our builder if he would be able to knock us up something bespoke in budget falling within permitted development rules.

Ok so my art work will never be displayed in the National Gallery but hopefully you get the idea

You are probably none the wiser as to the design having looked at my rudimentary drawing (Neil Buchanan I am not) so I have pulled together a moodboard that captures the key elements. The idea is to have one building with a apex roof that includes two separate spaces: an office and storage shed. Working within permitted development means that it can have a max height of 2.5m but I still like the idea of having an element of slope even if it is not going to rival Notre Dame for ceiling height. The top left image on the moodboard is major inspiration for the whole design and belongs to an instagram account I think you would love to follow called @barnhousecabin. It is the forest cabin that two Copenhageners have built on preserved lakeside land in Denmark and if our Shoffice (on a much small scale) turns out 5% as cool in our non lakeside North London suburban setting I will be happy. In terms of the glazing I am hoping to include a set of crittal style aluminium doors that will span much of the width of the office space to bring lots of light into the space. With the cladding I want to keep things feeling contemporary by opting for vertical planks and I have been investigating composite alternatives to timber as that may prove to be a more cost effective option in the longer term when it comes to maintenance.

Top left image is of Barnhouse Cabin, middle image from Pinterest, Top Right image from the Local Project, bottom left image of Cabu Cabins, middle bottom image from Chatsworth Road project completed by Shakadelic and bottom right image is via Remodelista and of David Kohn’s Stable Acre Project.

Excitingly after a couple of days of mulling it over (and probably trying to decipher my drawing with a cold towel around his head) the builder came back to say he could deliver what we wanted within our budget so Project Scandi Shoffice is go! I can’t want to share the progress with you as it takes shapes over the next few weeks and hopefully inspire a few of you to maybe try something similar.  In the meantime I am off to pitch a TV Series called #PimpMyLogCabin to MTV.

Updating My Kitchen/Diner with Timber Cladding

A couple of weeks ago on the blog I revealed my plans to revamp the second half of our kitchen/dining space.  The project is my lockdown sanity saver – giving me something to focus on other than Twinkl worksheets and how little it turns out I know about how to calculate and teach improper fractions. The space is fairly non descript at the moment meaning I have a blank canvas to work with but it is also quite narrow and doesn’t get much natural daylight so it is potentially a bit of a tricky beast to breathe some Scandi Rustic style into.

Top left image from Plain English, Top middle, Middle left and Bottom Left images from Neptune

One of my main revamp conundrums is what to do with the wall that I over enthusiastically stripped wallpaper off before Christmas with no real plan as to what to replace it with. In hindsight that gin fuelled decision may have been slightly hasty as the wall below the paper was not in great condition and in its naked state it is currently lending the kitchen more of a 1970s squat than Scandi feel. Over Christmas I added a festive sprinkle to it with three rustic wreaths but with Saint Nicholas having long since returned to the North Pole it is time to find a more permanent solution to the problem.

The wall after my Friday night wall paper stripping frenzy

Because the dining space doesn’t really have any distinguishing/interesting features I don’t just want to paint the wall as I feel like it needs something that can help to add (non seventies squat) character and texture to the room.  On a pre-lockdown visit to the Wimbledon branch of Neptune I stumbled across the perfect solution. The ceilings of the store (which is a new build) were clad in a really gorgeous timber with a white washed/grey finish that created my ideal Scandi- Coastal look.  Upon quizzing the store manager (yep I know I have great chat) I discovered that it was in fact Neptune’s own Cranbrook Shiplap cladding which I already had pinned to lots of my Pinterest boards! It is made from Norwegian Spruce (no less) and comes with a silver birch finish but can also be customised to any of the other colours in the Neptune paint range.

Because the dining space is quite narrow and doesn’t get much natural daylight the light wash of the Cranbrook Shiplap cladding is perfect for adding texture without making the space feel gloomy or oppressive.  With Neptune having made all my interior dreams come true by teaming up with me on the revamp I can actually now give you guys a first peek at what it looks like in my house because work had actually begun on installing the cladding before lockdown began ( I was just a little behind on my blog writing and Instagram documentation of the project!)

Goodbye depressing wall hello Cape Cod Clapboard vibes

As you can probably tell from the amount of power tools in the above picture this was a task above my DIY pay grade but if you have a better grasp of a spirit level than I do and wanted to take on a cladding project of your own then the basic principles are pretty straightforward. The first step is to attach batons (hark at me with my technical terms) to the wall to create a frame on which to attach the cladding and then, once this is done, saw the planks to size to fit the wall and affix them to the batons with screws.

Although work had to stop when lock down began so some of the boards still need a colour wash applied it has made such a huge difference to how the space feels. I can’t wait to get to work painting the floor to take the David Dickinson factor down several notches.

When lockdown is lifted and work can resume all that is left to do is to colour wash the remaining boards with the silver birch finish so that it has a consistent look overall. Hopefully by then I will have also made more progress on the other aspects of the revamp like the painting of the bench seat, floor and other walls so that I can give you a better idea of the final look. However, I already absolutely love how the cladding has transformed the space - it is giving me all the Cape Cod Clapboard feels.

I love the rustic natural feel of the Norwegian spruce boards. When we do the longer term renovation of the kitchen we will reuse these planks in the utility.

Five Great Ways to Use Timber Cladding to Update your Decor

If you fancy taking on a cladding project of your own I have rounded up below some of my favourite ideas for how you can use it in your home. From hallways to bedrooms and lots of rooms in between there are plenty of ideas to get your timber juices flowing. The cladding I have used in our dining space has a rustic appearance but I also love how both more contemporary cladding or traditional tongue and groove style boards can look.

Image Credits. Top left image Domino Magazine, Top Right Project Felix via the Local Project, Bottom Left Mollies Motel and Bottom Right from Remonis

Whilst I ultimately used panelling rather than cladding in our hall it was a very close call because I think cladding can be a really great way to zone a space like a hallway. For example, I love how the contemporary cedarwood cladding in the first picture below has been used to create a backdrop to the pegs. But it can be equally effective if you go bold and clad the entire space

Image Credit Oak House, Derek Swalwell . Pictures below left hand Vosges Paris, right hand M Arkitekur

When the dining room revamp is done (some time in 2025 judging by my current rate of progress) I have my sights set on updating the wardrobes in our master bedroom and the boys bedroom. They are fitted and although structurally sound I would love to bring them more up to date. I have a whole pinterest board devoted to them (no you are too much fun) and one of my favourite ideas is have new cladding style doors made to fit the carcasses. I absolutely love how Simply Scandi Kate has done something very similar in her bedroom so that it looks like a wall of cladding rather than wardrobes. The blush pink wardrobes below are actually MDF with lines scored into them to make them look like Tongue & Groove.

Image credits Top Image Suzy Hoodless

Although we don’t have a kitchen island in our current kitchen (unless you count our jazzy breakfast bar) I think using cladding on an island can be a great way to make it stand out. If you don’t have an island or wanted to keep yours more neutral then you could look to the walls or the cupboards to clad instead. The tongue and groove style cupboards in the kitchen of Imperfect Interiors are some of my favourite on Instagram.

Image credits Main image EST Magazine, Bottom left Gloria.Fi and Bottom Right Imperfect Interiors

There has been a lot of talk about the ceiling being the fifth wall of late and if you can get up there with a drill and some timber without ending up accidentally adding rustic character to your head it is the perfect place for some cladding. I think it looks particularly good in more modern style or new build homes where it can introduce real character and warmth.

Image credits Main Image M Arkitekur , Bottom left House Doctor and Bottom Right EST Magazine

I know not everyone is a fan of wood in a bathroom as they worry about it getting damp and mouldy but we had tongue & grovve pannelling to a half height in our old ensuite and we never had any problem with it. If you are on a budget and want to make use of reclaimed materials then using scaffold boards like in the picture below is a great way to add an industrial edge in an eco friendly way.

Image Credits Main Image Project Felix via the Local Project Bottom left Unique Home Stays and Bottom Right EST Magazine

I am a particular fan of using cladding to add texture and interest in loft bedrooms as they can very often feel like bland spaces. Adding a scaffold plank wall to our old loft bedroom was certainly a game changer for me. and using reclaimed boards is an inexpensive and environmentally friendly way to add a statement wall. I also love the idea of using cladding as an inexpensive way to create a statement headboard. If you are after inspiration for this idea when lock down ends then book yourself a night a Mollies Motel where I loved the contemporary cladding headboards in red cedar wood.

Image Credits Main Image Remonis , Bottom Left unknown source Pinterest, Bottom Right Malmo & Moss old bedroom

I hope that round up has given you some ideas for creating statement wooden walls in your own homes. With the cladding part of my revamp now almost complete the next task I am planning to tackle is my radiator cover colossus. Brace yourself for big questions coming your way about my best option for minimising its presence in the room!

The Cranbrook Cladding was supplied to me as part of my paid partnership with Neptune

Live There, Wear This - Melbourne

As we prepare to head into Week 7 of lock down, with potentially many more socially distant weeks ahead of us, I thought I would introduce a new blog series to provide a bit of quarantine escapism. It combines two of my greatest loves: interiors and travel and then lobs a bit of fashion into the mix (although obviously I am no fashionista as anyone who saw me in a pink, purple and green shell suit age 11 will attest). The basic premise is this: each time I will feature a jaw dropping home in a fabulous location and then a cheeky mood board or two of the type of outfits you might wear if you lived in said dream house.

I am hoping it will offer a bit of day dreaming relief from home schooling/endless work zoom calls/getting up at 3am to try and secure an online shopping slot /arguing with your partner over whose turn it is to clean the toilet this week. OK are you ready to come through the first keyhole with me? If so, virtual suitcases at the ready as we are off to Melbourne.

The Destination

Set on the banks of the Yarra River, Melbourne is a cosmopolitan city with a rich and diverse culinary scene that offers an insanely good cafe game. Pictures credits from left to right 1) Dukes Coffee Roasters 2) Archies All Day, Fitzroy 3) @mrsmithmelbourne 4) @julian.varricchio 5) Vegie Bar, Fitzroy

On my list of places I have visited that I would consider swapping the North London suburbs for, Melbourne is right up there next to Copenhagen. I have visited the City twice, nearly ten years apart. Once just after I left Uni and the second time when I was pregnant with my first son. On the first occasion a regrettably large chunk of the 36 hrs we had there was spent hunting down Ramsay Street to take a picture of myself smiling like a loon outside of Lou Carpenter’s house. The second time, no longer a student and with an income that would allow me to frequent nice cafes and bars rather than eat pot noodle in a youth hostel, I fully fell for Melbourne’s non-Neighbours related charms.

The City has access to several gorgeous beaches. A rooftop bar in St Kilda watching the sunset over the sea with a large Aperol Spritz in hand would do nicely for me right now. Picture credits 1) Via Porta 2) and 3) Captain Baxter’s St Kilda

Located on the banks of the River Yarra it may not have the show stopping good looks of Sydney but I actually much preferred it’s understated charms. Scratch the surface and you will find a multitude of cool cafe, bars and shops on streets bisected by trams that really reminded me of San Francisco, another of my favourite cities. Within easy reach of the city centre are a multitude of beaches including Brighton beach with its colourful beach huts and St Kilda, described as like Bondi without the crowds and camera crews.

Picture credits left to right 1) The Beach House 2) Fitzroy Neighbourhood captured by @n.charlone 3) @lyndagardner 4) The Fitzroy Pinnacle captured by @thewolochoice

The Dream Home

It is in the leafy family friendly Melbourne suburb of Malvern East that we head to visit our featured home of dreams. Malvern East boasts a range of architecture from beautiful Edwardian, Victorian & Art Deco homes to sleeker more contemporary developments. McNamara House, designed by Tom Robertson Architects fuses the two styles together to stunning effect.

McNamara house is an original federation era property but the owners of the home wanted to add a contemporary extension to help the space work better for them and their teenage children. Tom Robertson Architects came up with a design that has created a single-level contemporary pavilion that sits discreetly behind the grand facade of the original home. The entry, sleeping quarters and bathrooms are housed in the original part of the building with its period detailing and high ceilings whereas the kitchen, dining, study and lounge occupy the new contemporary addition. The journey from the old to the new is seamless.

In the new addition floor to ceiling thin frame crittal style windows flood the space with light and frame the view of the courtyard beyond.

The material palette in the kitchen/dining space has been kept deliberately simple with statement timber clad ceilings, a contemporary style white kitchen with marble worktops and white planked wooden floors in a natural finish.

The kitchen/dining space is linked to outdoor space via large sliding glass doors. The couple actually sacrificed a large portion of the properties original back yard to the extension as, with growing teenage children they were using the house and space differently and identified that their teenagers no longer used the garden as they once did (good news for anyo f us parents of young children desperate to say goodbye to the days of a garden full of plastic ride on toys!). The extension has been built around a series of courtyards that create different zones to the outside space. My favourite zone has to be the one with the infinity style swimming pool. I can see Malmo and a Mojito quite happily residing poolside.

Another of the outdoor courtyards features an outdoor barbecue. The large sliding doors open up to mean this space feels like an extension of the house in warmer months.

The sunken lounge on a separate level to the kitchen creates a cosy space for the colder months.

Part of what has made the blend between the old and new so successful is the design of the interior with the same simple colour palette and materials being used throughout both parts of the house to knit the old and new together. Many thanks to Tom Robertson for agreeing to let me feature this wonderful home on the blog (all pictures taken by Derek Swallwell). If you would like some further inspiration do go and check out some of the other equally awe inspiring projects the practice has worked on over at Tom Robertson Architects

The Wardrobe

So you were the owner of a gorgeous house like this in the Melbourne suburbs what would be in your wardrobe? I have put together a few ideas for the outfits I might like to slip into to mooch about in the different areas of this beautiful home and included some links in case you want to shop the look to wear in the slightly less sunny UK (surely we deserve a long hot Summer after our house bound Spring?!) . Or perhaps it might just give you some inspiration for how to shop your own wardrobe to create some new lock down outfits. So if you were to be relaxing around that lovely pool (or more realistically in your back garden this Summer) here are a few ideas for what you might like to wear.

Writing this looking out of my bedroom window at a soggy garden it feels slightly hard to imagine slipping into a swimsuit and lying in the warm sunshine but the BBC Weather App assures me sunnier days are on their way and whilst I may not have an infinity pool I do have the garden sprinkler so I may yet make it into swimwear in 2020. The edit I have pulled together below is focused on finding flattering affordable swimwear and accessories that you can feel comfortable sipping your poolside cocktail in. So there are no high cut styles that require you to call in a Combine Harvester to deal with your bikini line in advance and a distinct absence of the thong style bottoms favoured by Love Island contestants and the Kardashian sisters.

From left to right: 1) Candy Striped Cross Over Swimsuit 2) Sage Green Swimsuit, H&M 3) Blush Pink Beach Dress 4) Rust and Cream Polka Dot Swimsuit 5) Straw Beach Tote Bag 6) Leather Strap Sandals 7) Pink Metal Ridge Sunglasses 8) Straw Hat 9) Tortoiseshell Sunglasses

If the McNamara House were mine I think there is a strong possibility that 75% of my time would be spent in that amazing, light filled kitchen. I can imagine myself padding around the marble topped kitchen island or settling down at the dining table to drink a cool ginger beer and read a magazine. Whilst I was wafting around I imagine I would like to dress very much like the kitchen itself in an understated palette of easy neutrals. So below is my edit of where to shop the “Casual Kitchen” look.

From Left to Right: 1) Scalloped Edge Blouse 2) High Waist Jeans 3) Nude Sliders 4) Gold leaf charm necklace 5) Pendant Chain Necklace 6) Polka Dot Blouse 7) Linen T Shirt

As the sun set and evening fell I would prise myself away from the pool or one of the leafy courtyard areas, take a bath in that beautiful sleek white rolltop and then slip into something a little more sophisticated. Obviously in this fantasy my three kids are with their Grandparents for the weekend otherwise I would actually be slipping into saggy bottomed joggers and watching Top Gear/Power Rangers sporting a greasy top knot. The lounge at the McNamara House is divided from the kitchen by a sliding wooden door and was designed to be a cosy, cocooned space with sunken style sofas and it is there I would head in my evening outfit.

Whilst we may not be enjoying any nights out for the foreseeable future I have found that actually scheduling a date night at home and prising myself out of clothing with an elasticated waist for 1-2 hours makes me feel a whole lot better. The pieces I have included in the evening edit below could also be easily dressed up or down so you wouldn’t feel like you had gone too full on Joan Collins if you sashayed/shuffled down the stairs in any of them.

1) Satin Camisole Vest 2) Black Button Down Dress 3) Straw Shoulder Bag 4) Black Strap Dress 5) Personalised Pendant Necklace 6) Satin Midi Dress

I hope you have enjoyed coming to Melbourne with me and visiting the wonderful McNamara House in our mutual day dreams. I look forward to sharing more fashion and furniture fusion with you in some more dream destinations over the next few months.

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My Plans for Part Two of My Kitchen/Diner Revamp

Last month on the blog I revealed the first part of my mini kitchen/diner renovation.  You may recall that we have longer term larger scale renovation plans but, whilst we work out how much loose change we need to find down the back of the sofa to afford them, for now I am making some smaller changes to try to make the space feel a little bit more Malmo. 

Our kitchen after a mini Malmo makeover

I made over the space for less than £130

Not unlike me, the new house has a generous downstairs.   However, as you can see from the first floor plan below, the kitchen/utility/dining and living space are currently carved up into separate spaces in a way that means that some of the rooms are little awkward to work with. In the longer term we hope (subject to to planning) to be able to reconfigure the space to give us a bigger open plan kitchen/diner by removing the walls that currently divide the three rooms and shifting the utility room backwards into part of the garage.  I have included a second floor plan below that shows what that reconfiguration would look like.

However, as we currently find ourselves in uncertain and unprecedented times I am not really daring to dream too much about those plans at the moment.  Instead, to help preserve some semblance of my sanity whilst socially distancing, I am turning my mind and painting brush to completing the second part of the shorter term kitchen/diner revamp.  

Round one of the mini revamp focused on the kitchen at the end of the dining space.  This Scandi came over all Handy Andy and removed the upper wall cupboard doors, painted the lower cupboard doors and switched up the handles.  Those simple changes made such a huge difference so now I want to wave my Scandi-Rustic-Industrial wand over the remaining, untouched dining space.  

This time I  am unbelievable excited to have a little help from my ultimate fairy godmother: Neptune.   My love affair with this British brand started 10 years ago when I came across one of their beautiful kitchens on holiday in Norfolk but their story actually started 10 years earlier with a hammock hand sewn at a the kitchen table.  It turned out to be a case of from small hammocks big beautiful lifestyle brands grow. Today there are 26 stores across the UK (with a handful more in Europe) all of which are gorgeous destination experiences in themselves.

Gorgeous home inspiration galore on the Neptune Instagram Page

Whilst it is not currently possible to visit their beautiful shops in person, the online Neptune experience is just as swoonworthy.  I regularly lose myself down an inspiration rabbit hole on their website, Pinterest and Instagram pages and the great news is that lots of the helpful services they offer in store (such as design consultations) are now available virtually instead. So if you need help with a room revamp you can talk to a dedicated Neptune designer by phone, zoom or whats app and started planning how to improve your space with expert advice and ideas.. You can also still order items from their website with their online delivery service still running (working closely within all relevant government guidelines).

To be honest being asked to collaborate with them was a bit like Brad Pitt turning up and asking to take me to my school prom so I am absolutely delighted to be able to champion one of my favourite brands in these challenging times for British retailers.

The Plans for Part Two of the Mini Kitchen/Diner Revamp

So are you ready to see the space I will be working to transform? It is slightly awkward in that it is sandwiched between the kitchen, utility and living room and is relatively narrow. When we first moved in it was wallpapered in a textured flock wallpaper that I believe Lawrence Lwellyn Bowen may have designed during a fever. We said farewell to the flock on Friday evening before Christmas when, after a gin & tonic, I tore it off with my bare hands (sorry Lawrence).

When we first came to view the house this area had a table in but our existing dining table was too big and wide to fit in the space so we chose to put it at the end of the living room on the other side of the wall instead.  However, we quickly realised that without a table in the space the area just felt like a big corridor and it rapidly filled up with anything and everything that didn’t have a home somewhere else in the house.

The dining end of the kitchen when we came to view the house.

So before Christmas Mr Malmo got his drill out (not a euphemism) and knocked up an L shaped seating bench with built in storage so that we could create a second more casual dining area that would make the room feel less like a suburban branch of Big Yellow Storage.  

The storage bench construction in progress

It has built in storage

At the same time I threw myself on the mercy of Vintage Curator Interiors who I had sold my old, smaller dining table to before we moved.   That table held many happy and sentimental memories for me as it was the first piece of vintage furniture we bought for our old house and hosted many happy (and messy) family dinners.  I was therefore overjoyed when my puppy dog eyes and pleading tone combined to persuade Sam to let me have the table back.

The old table styled up for Autumn

However, as you can see from the pictures below, there is still lots of work left to do!  These are the 5 further changes I am going to be working on to fully convert it into a secondary relaxed dining space with Scandi Rustic style with a little bit of help from Neptune.

Transforming the wall

Whilst my wallpaper stripping frenzy before Christmas saw us saying sayonara to the flock it left us with an unpainted wall that looks like we are pioneering a new trend in seventies hippie squat chic.  My plan, to add some texture into the space, is to clad the wall in a pale rustic wood which, when we go ahead with our larger renovation, we can then reuse in the new utility room.

The wallpaper is gone but the blank wall left behind is ripe for a revamp.

These two images from the Neptune Pinterest page have been serious cladding inspiration for me and I am hoping the end result will have this lime washed, coastal inspired feel.

Painting the walls and floor

Because the space is relatively narrow and set back in the house one of my number one goals with the mini makeover is to brighten it up in order to make it feel more spacious.  We were fortunate in moving into a house where the previous owner liked neutral colours as much as me so the kitchen is currently painted in a gentle shade of taupe that is by no means offensive.  However to try and bounce some more light around I am going to take the walls whiter.

The floor is currently engineered wooden floor boards but they have quite an orangey appearance and a shiny varnish which currently makes the space feel darker.  In an ideal world I would probably sand them down and oil them but given the Corona crisis that is not really an option so my Plan B is to paint them an off white colour.  Mr Malmo has some serious reservations about this plan so I am hoping it doesn’t turn out to be an even worse idea than the Dirty Dancing sequel. 

The floors currently have quite an orange varnish that makes the space feel darker

I am hoping that by painted the walls and floors white it will significantly refresh the space. Picture from Pinterest source unknown

Updating the lighting 

Whilst I am hoping that freshening up the walls and painting the floor will make the space feel naturally much brighter I also want to change the current lighting to add a softer mood to the room in the evenings.  The only lighting we have at the moment is a small overhead light above the table that creates about as much hygge atmosphere as the floodlights at Wembley. I have plans to add in both some new overhead lighting and a couple of wall lights that will create a more balanced lighting scheme.  

Upgrading the seating 

Whilst the newly built storage bench has already provided an element of seating in the space we are still a few seats short of comfortably accommodating a family of 5.  As a makeshift seating solution we have been using a vintage Hungarian milking bench that usually lives in the hallway. However, whilst it may be the perfect size for a lone Hungarian milking maid, if any more than two people sit on it at one time it has an alarming tendency to topple over.  I am therefore hoping to add some more stable non-agricultural bench seating to the other side of the table and perhaps a statement chair in a darker colour at the end.

The rustic Hungarian milking bench that has been doubling up a seating in the dining at present

Removing the radiator cover and disguising the radiator 

On the wall opposite the table there is currently a large radiator cover that takes up almost half of the wall and protrudes out into the useable space which is already quite narrow.  I know some people prefer radiator covers to seeing the raw radiator but I am personally not a massive fan. I think, therefore, that I am going to take the cover off, pray for a not entirely Soviet looking radiator underneath and put a Scaffold shelf over the top to distract the eye away from it 

The radiator cover that currently cuts into what is quite a narrow space

Creating Crittall 

The final big change I want to make is to transform the glass doors that currently divide the kitchen from the living/dining space on the other side of the wall.  They are nice and wide and I think they are a perfect candidate for a crittal on the cheap style makeover. My DIY to date has not extended to woodwork, perhaps because my last brush with a jigsaw in 1992 nearly took my CDT teacher to the point of nervous collapse, but there is no time like the present to extend my home improvement skill set.   

The dividing doors I want to give a crittall makeover on a budget to. As you can see the dining table is currently doubling up as a table tennis table in lockdown

Ultimate crittal door inspiration from Plain English

Mine may not end up looking quite this chic but I am hoping that they add an industrial edge to the kitchen/diner

I hope you will enjoy following along with the revamp over the coming weeks, I know I am going to need your support and guidance when I am hacksaw in hand trying to craft myself that crittal!.

This Blog Post is Part of My Paid Partnership with Neptune

My moodboard for the makeover

My Hallway Transformation

In a straw poll of reasons why people move house I reckon the most common answers would be: up sizing or down sizing; change of location; moving closer to family; school catchment; taking on a renovation. I would possibly be one of the only people to respond with: to gain a girthier entrance.  There were of course other drivers behind our recent move but it really was a close of love at first sight of spacious vestibule for me.

The skinny hallway in our old house (I miss those tiles!)

Our old house was an Edwardian Semi with the stairs located in the middle of the house meaning much of the hallway was a long thin corridor.  When the boys were smaller manoeuvring a buggy and bulging nappy bag out of the front door was like a challenge from the Krypton Factor.  On at least one occasion I became an unwitting hallway hostage after the zip of my coat got caught on a rogue radiator valve leaving me effectively manacled to the wall for a good 15 minutes.

The radiator upon which I got impaled and ended up a #hallwayhostage

In contrast, in our new house when you walk in the door the stairs are directly in front of you and there is double the width to play with so my days of corridor struggle are over. We also have a separate utility room with an extra set of pegs where a platoon of the army of anoraks can be kettled slashing the likelihood of being hit in the face by a smalls boys anorak as you take your shoes off.

It might not look like much but this was the #vestibuleview that won me over to our new house

My Hallway Makeover Plans

The extra space and high ceilings alone are hallway heaven for me and it was all pretty neutrally decorated but this month I have undertaken a mini hallway makeover, in partnership with Cox & Cox to further “enhance my entrance” so to speak.

The main things on my hallway hitlist were: 1) finding a solution to the soviet sized radiator and accompanying cover that dominated the space to the left of the door; 2) changing the mirror for something with a more contemporary, clean feel; 3) finding a way to de-anagylpta that didn’t involve replastering the walls; 4) fitting in some more storage; and 5) lightening up the look and feel in particular of the floors.

Overall the look and feel that I wanted to achieve with the makeover is what I would describe as 1930s Scandi Rustic Chic.  Am thinking Neville Chamberlain was a huge fan of the relaxed Ibiza beach club look.

The decor is all light and pretty neutral it is just not quite Malmo so I will be looking to downgrade the orange factor on the floors and take things more 1930s Scandi Rustic

The anaglypta wallpaper is on my hallway hitlist even though I know it is coming back into fashion!

One of my go to brands when I am searching for Scandi/Rustic furniture, lighting and home accessories has always been Cox & Cox.  I have been shopping with them since right back in 2007 when I bought vintage table place holders from them for my wedding.  14 years and 3 kids later they still tick all my design boxes so I was over the moon when they said they wanted to collaborate with me on the revamp.

Adding Panelling

The first step in the makeover was to call Darren, my long suffering carpenter (who did the kitchen cupboards in my old house) and see if he would take on #Project Panelling aka my solution to “The Anaglypta Issue” (which, by the way, I think makes a great title for a Robert Ludlum Thriller!).  My plan was to remove the dado rail and just panel over the anglypta to avoid a lengthy battle with a wallpaper steamer. 

Panelling dilemmas: to stick below the dado or go above?

I deliberated long and hard about what height to go for.  The safe option was to stick below the dado rail whilst more adventurous option would be to go all the way to the celling.  In the end I went for a halfway (well ¾ way) house and panelled just under line of the doorway. 

I would love to show you an inspiring DIY tutorial of me doing the panelling but the reality was Darren doing battle with several large sheets of MDF in his garden shed and then attaching them to the wall with a mix of nails and glue with quite a bit of swearing along the way.  I am pretty sure he will be ghosting my calls in future. 

Despite a few doubts along the way I am thrilled with the 3/4 height of the panelling

Radiator Solutions

Once the panelling was on the next big decisions was what to do about the radiator and what colour to paint the panelling. The radiator cover that was on the left hand side of the hallway as you walked in was my no means hideous but it pretty much dominated the whole space and precluded us having any storage on that wall.

The before with a large radiator on the left hand wall which took up lots of space

The after with the radiator dropped in height beneath a bench. The woven fringed cushion and black and white chevron cushion are both Cox & Cox

It no longer dominates the space and I actually love the look of the column one

The solution I came up with  was to go for a much shorter radiator that would sit much lower on the wall and build a  seating bench over the top thus ensuring the radiator was no longer the dominant feature in the hallway and we had somewhere to sit to put our shoes on. The bench was to be built out of reclaimed scaffold planks which I sourced from our local salvage yard and which cost £7 a plank.  They are my number one favourite building material although I don’t think Darren shares my love of reclaimed materials judging by his reaction when I brought them home.  Sample quote “you want me to leave the paint stains on??” accompanied by the kind of look you give someone who has just told you that they would like a threesome with Eaamon Holmes and Boris Johnson.

The Scaffold Planks that I love but which baffle Darren! This natural striped runner from Cox & Cox looks great against the sanded floorboards

Paint Choices

With my radiator strategy in place it was time to make a decision about the colour of the panelling.  My first thought was to go dark after I came across this image in a Neptune catalogue.  However because the panelling was going on both sides of the hallway I was worried that it might narrow the room down so in the end I erred towards the light side.  A tester pot orgy later I had tried out every shade between bracken beige and perfect putty and arrived at my final choice: Ammonite by Farrow & Ball. 

Slightly too late for me but excitingly next year Cox & Cox are launching their own brand of paint.  There will be 16 dreamy shades and Flaxen or Landsdown would be a brilliant match for the look in my hallway.  It will be formulated by Mylands so expect a great quality consistent finish. 

Enjoying posing againg my newly Ammonite background with a rather spectacular faux string of pearls

With the panels painted it was time to install the radiator and build the bench.  I opted for a more contemporary column radiator which I bought from this website for roughly £170 which I think is pretty good value.  With the boards sanded down and installed over the top the radiator is now barely visible and it has transformed this side of the hallway. 

Malmo vs Mahogany

My final step in lightening things up before I could tackle the fun finishing touches was to tone down the mahogany factor from the floor and the door which were a good 7.5 on the David Dickinson after a week in Barbados scale.  The floorboards are actually really nice pine ones and sanded down they look so much better.  In the longer term I would like to get a new door but for now just painting it in Railings has been a bit of a game changer (don’t look too closely at slapdash Scandi Handy Andy’s paint job!).

Adding the finishing touches with Cox & Cox

With all of the structural changes complete it was time for the fun stuff: enter Cox & Cox. I have been obsessed with rattan style pendant lights ever since visiting Ibiza last year and Cox & Cox has some beauties. We are blessed with pretty high ceilings so we could afford to go for one of the bigger ones to make a bit of a statement.  I really like this one because it allows a view through it and doesn’t dominate the space too much (or hit us on the head every time we walk down the stairs.

The other big decorative item I was after to complete the makeover was a new mirror.  With the radiator dropped and the bench in place I wanted to add a circular one to break up the square lines of the panelling a little bit.  I think I lost about 1.5 days of my life to the google search large circular mirror until I hit upon this oversized thin frame beauty from Cox & Cox.  Unlike lots of the ones I looked at it has a really thin black rim and adds a really subtle crisp contemporary edge to the hallway revamp.

The Oversized Mirror of dreams

I know some people might have opted to put pegs where I have put the mirror but I think it really opens up the space and reflects light and I have, instead, added pegs further back so they are not in your face as you wanted in the door.  Oh and when I say added pegs let me introduce you to these #heavenlyhooks from Cox & Cox with a black slate base and burnished gold hook .  You can buy a set of three but I opted for four five individual hooks instead and think they add a nod to understated glamour. 

Obviously the insta reality of this photo is 5 primary coloured anoraks rather than an artful rattan bag and a pleasingly pale cream coat

I have four behind the door for coats and practical items and one is located next to the mirror for maximum insta faffery.  I am imagine it will play host to artfully poised baskets, bags of impractical pampas and oft be draped in fairy lights.

Let the faffing commence. I am looking forward to the styling possibilities offered by the hook!

The First Noel …..in my hallway

With the hallway revamp complete just in time for the opening of advent calendars I am super excited by all the fresh festive styling opportunities that it affords me.

First and foremost the bannister!  Our old one was boxed in by the downstairs loo totally raining on my garland parade.   This year I will be going to Scandi town on our new ones.  Cox & Cox have a great range of garlands to grace your stairs and work with a variety of different looks.  I chose this really simple but effective pre lit pine one .  It looks great even just on its own but has really nice thick branches/foliage that are perfect for adding further foliage of the faux or real variety to if you wanted to add more drama to your bannister.

The pre lit eucalyptus garland is lovely and bushy and easy to manipulate and can easily have foliage added to it for extra drama

There is also a matching pre lit wreath which fits rather perfectly on my insta faffery hook by the mirror.  Again you could leave it plain of add extra foliage if you wanted to dial up the drama. 

With thanks to Your London Florist I have added some extra eucalyptus and soft white dried grasses to complement the wreath

I have struggled for years with winding fairy lights into wreaths and trying to disguise the wires so really love the pre-lit one

The bench has not only created a handy place to sit when putting our shoes on but also lends itself to lots of great display possibilities.  I love these beautiful crackle glaze ceramic Christmas trees that Cox & Cox have introduced this year to help you achieve a pared back minimal Christmas look.  They look great on their own or in small groupings.  I would happily have a whole forest of them!

These speckle glaze trees are a lovely minimal take on Christmas

But my very favourite type of tree has to be these beautiful illuminated ones. They add such a soft pretty twinkly light to the hallway and you can either keep them plain or hang them with baubles in the same way as a normal tree. 

Welcome to Malmo’s Winter Wonderland created with a little help from these illuminated snow tipped trees from Cox & Cox

It was the night before Christmas….

I love the soft warm white light of the trees

Cox & Cox have a fantastic selection of baubles for all looks and plenty that appeal to my Scandi aesethic, I particularly like these ones which wooden cut out stars and trees in the middle of a thin gold ring which are from their New Neural Noir range.

White chevron baubles adding all the boho feels to my hallway

If you wanted to add a bit of extra twinkle to your Christmas scheme then I have to let you in on a fairy light secret.  I have had my fingers burnt in the past by fairy lights which promised to be warm white on the box only to turn up and turn out to be football stadium floodlight florescent but Cox & Cox have some naked wire cluster lights which are genuinely the warmest of whites! 

My own mini forest of illuminated snow tipped trees

To complete the warm white winter wonderland feel to my entrance I have also add a couple of great outdoor lighting products from the Cox & Cox range. I think I may love the 7ft outdoor illuminated tree more than any Christmas tree I have ever owned. Mr Malmo I fear has less fond feelings towards it after a botched erection attempted on his part saw the top section hit him on the head at 7:30am on a Monday morning! I have also given our porch a dusting of twinkle with a brilliant indoor/ourdoor star. The lights on both the star and the tree are also the warmest of warm whites #fairylightwin.

Announcing our arrival in the neighbourhood with some Christmas twinkle!

The new apple of my eye, our outdoor Christmas tree

The fairy lights along with all of the other Cox & Cox products I have used in the make over are listed below if you would like to shop my look!

Illuminated Indoor/Outdoor Star

Outdoor light up Christmas Tree

Indoor/Outdoor Magical Light Up Snow Tipped Trees

Grey and White Chevron Baubles

Speckle Glaze Tree

Indoor/Outdoor Pre-Lit Wreath and Garland

Indoor/Outdoor Naked Wire Cluster Lights

Oversized Frame Mirror

Round Rattan Pendant

Natural Striped Runner

Hanging Potted Faux String of Pearls

Black and Brass Hook

Black and White Chevron Cushion

Woven Fringed Cushion

There are a few final finishing touches I need to make to finish the makeover off like applying a stain to the newly sanded floors and deciding whether to paint the bannister or sand it down but those can wait until I have finished my figgy pudding.

 This blog post was part of a paid partnership with Cox & Cox. Many thanks also to Your London Florist for providing me with some foliage for styling my hallway and to Tia Talula for coming to my outdoor photography aid this week!

Renovating our bathroom to create my ultimate sanctuary space

It has been two months since we moved into our new house and, bar one bad wobble unpacking cardboard box 3456, we haven’t looked back.  I thought I would be longing for my metro tiles and modern rustic interiors but we have been so busy making renovation plans for the new place there hasn’t really been time to pine for the old one.

The room I am pining for the most: our old bathroom

However, there is one room that I haven’t quite got over saying goodbye to and that was my bathroom.  It wasn’t the largest room in the house but, as the only one with a lock on the door and a ready supply of scented candles, it was my sanctuary.   Apparently it is not just me that feels that way either: 43% of people in recent survey by top bathroom brand Geberit listed it as their sanctuary space.  I am guessing I am not the only mum who barricades herself in there for a bubble bath after the end of full day adulting!

The copper taps made by my builder added an industrial edge to the bathroom that I loved

It was one of the first rooms that I completely designed by myself from scratch and the combo of a vintage roll top bath, copper piping taps and hexagonal floor tiles was probably responsible for 89% of my Instagram growth!

Even managed to acheive my ultimate goal before we left and snuck an olive tree in

Candles lit, bubble bath poured ready for relaxation

So are you ready to see what my new bathroom is like and find out more about my plans for transforming it into my ultimate sensory sanctuary space with some clever tips I have picked up from working with the clever bathroom people at Geberit? Ok here she is!!

This was the bathroom when we first came to visit. All clean and tidy with strong folded towel game

Like most of the house we are lucky in that everything is in pretty good (ish) condition and fairly neutral style – we are not overwhelmed by an avocado suite or battling a beige bog.   It is more of a case of things looking a little bit dated oh and the shower running at a temperature indistinguishable from lukewarm tea. 

Up close the bath panel and unit are starting to show their age and I would like to swap them for something more contemporary

One of number one desires is to find space for a separate shower as at the moment we have a shower over the bath

As you can see from this floor plan there is a very obvious reconfiguration of the space we can do that will allow me to escape from my own personal bathroom hell: a shower over the bath.  By shifting the water tank out of the cupboard shown on this plan we will be able to separate the shower out and then I would like to switch the bath so that it sits under the window.

The current configuration is a bit awkward with an airing cupboard containing a water tank in a space that would be perfect for a standalone shower

Detail Architects have drawn up some plans to show how we could incorporate the shower into the bathroom

I love the arrangement of have the bath under the window that @the_girl_with_the_green_sofa went for in her new bathroom

By knocking through into the airing cupboard we would be able to achieve a shower space similar to @the_girl_with_the _green_sofa bathroom as well.

With those structural changes made  I can then hopefully get down to the fun part: designing a bathroom to stimulate all my senses!

It’s all about the Olafractory

Ok smell may not seem the obvious sense to start with but if there was one thing that took the edge off my old “dream bathroom” it was the fact that the toilet was positioned in the bathroom 30 cms from the tub meaning that a) 1 in 2 baths were interrupted by one or more of the boys bursting in to drop off something that smelt like it had been ejected from the bowels of a Victorian and b) when they burst back out again a smell remained that even a whole pine forest of toilet duck couldn’t shift. 

In the new house the toilet is actually separate from the bathroom an arrangement that some people view as old fashioned but which I am increasingly coming round to!  But what do you think? Would we be better bringing it into the bathroom as shown on the floorplan below?

The alternative option of bringing the toilet into the bathroom

However, if we do incorporate it into the bathroom to create more of a spacious feel, then it is reassuring to know that Geberit’s toilets actually have the latest in duo fresh odour extraction technology incorporated into them, filtering the surrounding air to diminish unpleasant smells and extracting odours directly from the loo before they have the chance to spread!

I love the fact that Geberit have developed a toilet with built in odour extraction

Coming Over All Kinesthetic

Come again Malmo I hear you say? I realise it sounds like I have got in touch with my inner Mystic Meg but your kinaesthetic senses actually relate to your awareness of the position and movement of parts of your body (in essence your sense of touch) rather than your ability to read the fortune of a reader of The Sun. 

So in designing a bathroom to stimulate your kinaesthetic side you need to pay attention to things that are tactile and nice to touch! In our last house the polished concrete sink in our ensuite totally ticked this box.

The concrete sink in our old ensuite

I would love to be bolder and introduce more concrete or micro cement into the new space this time potentially on the walls or even on the bath itself.  These are a couple of the inspo pics on my pinterest board that I keep coming back to.

I love the way in this one that the concrete sink sits against a polished concrete wall. Image via Pinterest source unknown

I love this concrete bath from @viaparissi but wonder if it might be a bit much in a family bathroom?

If I can make it work without having to take on a second mortgage I would also love to bring a reeded glass shower screen into the scheme for some additional texture.  I saw it used to great effect in this bathroom

I think I have pinned this image approximately 6788 times I love it so much! Image via Living Etc

The reeded glass shower screen is a great way of bringing texture in. Image from Living Etc

I also fell in love with a basin at the photoshoot I did with Geberit earlier in the year (click here to read all about it) that was made of a super matt, soft material called varicor.  I don’t know quite how to describe it but it felt like the basin was made out of the softest silk you can imagine. 

This Geberit basin made of a soft material called varicor is super tactile

As you can see I coulnt’t keep my hands off it!

On the techy side my derriere very much likes the idea of sitting down on an intelligent Aqua Clean  toilet that is programmed to know exactly the warmth to heat my toilet seat to for me. 

Scroll Stopping Visuals

I started with smell but obviously the other biggy when designing your ultimate sensory bathroom space has to be how it all looks!  Whilst I loved my old bathroom and the rustic vintage industrial vibes it was channelling I actually have in mind a softer slightly more minimal look for the new bathroom.  Still retaining touches of industrial edge but introducing calmer colours and softer textures.  Also shockingly even to me I am toying with the idea of bring some non neutral colours in.  Before you start imagining bright pinks and neon yellow I should probably clarify that I am more thinking of dabbling with a very light mint green.  I adore these tiles for example and how they look with brass taps.

Soft mint green is the new avocado in this bathroom by Sarah Shearman Samuel

Lighting is also a hugely important part of the visual experience.  My Malmo would happily bathe with the big light on (any other Northerners call the overhead light that?!) but for me dimmable wall lights are a massive important part of creating a relaxing bathroom experience. 

Geberit have also come up with some smart solutions to avoid dazzling your eyes when you enter you bathroom space such as soft automatic orientation lighting as part of their vanity units and mirrors.  Exposure to harsh light sources in the middle of the night can apparently negatively effect your sleep patterns so incorporating gentle orientation lighting into your bathroom design is a great way to avoid being awake all night after popping for a 3am wee!

Soft orientation lighting built into the vanity unit and mirror avoids dazzling your eyes if you pop to the loo in the night!

Turning up the tranquillity factor

Unless I at bathe at 11pm (which has been known to happen!) there is very rarely silence in our house.  The very best I can usually hope for is no-one under the age of 10 breaking through the door to enquire why there is a hairy glove floating in the bath or to ask my opinion on the Sheffield Wednesday back four.

There are some clever things you can do to maximise tranquillity and reduce noise in the bathroom though.  Geberit recommend planning features into your bathroom such as a decoupled pre-walls, opting for acoustically optimised pipework and choosing wall hung ceramics. The soft touch buttons on their flush plates also ensure a super quiet flushing action.  I can confirm I have heard louder whispers!

Geberit's soft touch flush plates ensure the tranquility of your bathroom experience is not disturbed

Also there is one person I always enjoy taking into the bathroom with me (when Ryan Gosling is too busy to pop by for a bubble bath) and that is Alexa! Being able to ask her to play Zero 7 to drown out any rows that might be happening elsewhere in the house about turning the Octonauts off is invaluable!

I look forward to sharing more details of our bathroom makeover with you as our renovation plans progress.  Hopefully soon I will be in a position to pull together a moodboard that whittles down the 3567890 bathroom images I have saved and shapes them into a coherent design incorporating the sensory design principles I have picked up from Geberit!

*This post is part of the my long term paid partnership with Geberit*

Malmo & Moss Renovation Diary: August

This week marked the end of our first month living in our new house.  I would like to say we celebrated this milestone wrapped in each others arms sipping chilled glasses of Dom Perignon but the reality involved mugs of builders tea and an aborted attempt to change a light fitting that nearly ended in divorce and Mr Malmo losing a testicle to an electric screwdriver.

The light fitting seen in our old house

To briefly recap in case you didn’t see my previous blog post about the move, we have swapped our old Edwardian semi for a bigger 1930s style house which offers us the potential to extend up, out and sideways but which currently looks like it got caught up in a pebble dash hurricane.

Here she is, our pebble dash princess…

I am not going to lie, I was worried that leaving behind our old house (which we had completely renovated) would leave me feeling like a fish out of modern rustic water with nothing to instagram but laminate floors and Laura Ashley wallpaper.  But, despite all its current imperfections and a distinct lack of metro tiles, this place surprisingly already feels like home.  It helps that we have actually only moved five minutes around the corner so we haven’t had to leave behind friends or change schools.  The move was driven by wanting more space and whilst the current configuration of rooms is a bit of a jumble (more on that to come….) gaining a garage, utility and a bigger, leafier garden has already made family life much easier. 

There is not a metro tile in sight at the new house so having to get my fix looking at pictures of our old bathroom instead

Although my dad has expressed some deep concerns about the width of the toilets.  Apparently in order to stay on the right side of his bowels I need to factor toilet cubicles the size of a small Belgian city into my renovation plans.

Me and my Dad who is smiling despite his narrow toilet concerns

To keep me sane as we attempt to create a contemporary Scandinavian inspired family home (with spacious toilets) out of this pebble dash Princess,  I thought I would keep a monthly renovation diary here on the blog.  That way I can show you the ‘Before’ , share our plans for the ‘After’, and hopefully acquire and impart some wisdom along the way about designing and building your dream home. Although there is not much renovation to document so far as most of the first month has been spent unpacking endless boxes.  It turns out a girl can have too many shoes, coats, rustic benches and artfully distressed candleholders (33 and counting….).  It felt at one point that Rogers Removals boxes were waiting until we went to bed and then frantically procreating.

The procreating removal boxes and some wallpaper that looks like it could have inspired one of Lawrence Llewellyn Bowen’s frock coats

Obviously I unpacked the really important things first like a giant rustic flower wreath

To escape the #RampantRogersRemovalBoxes we have been spending as much time as possible outside in the garden.  The previous owner was a keen gardener so we will hopefully just need to try and keep things alive rather than starting from ground zero.  It is south facing which means the outdoor seating area pictured below, gets lots of sunshine.  Actually I know it feels wrong to say this (given that August seems to have got itself confused with February) but if anything it actually gets a little too much sun for this pale skinned Northern girl. 

To escape the chaos inside we have been spending a lot of time outside in the lovely leafy garden

Because it is south facing it is a bit of a sun trap

I was, therefore, excited to discover that we have actually inherited an awning. Although that excitement slightly fizzled out when I discovered that it was in Sheffield Wednesday colours and looks about as Scandinavian as the Go Jetters.

The current sun shade situation is more Sheffield Wednesday than Stockholm

Apologies for the eyeful of my pebble dash

The hunt as begun for some alternative shade solutions with more of a relaxed Ibizan beach club vibe. So it was great timing when Solero Parasols got in touch to tell me about their extensive range of garden parasols. This cantilevered gem would completely meet the beach club brief.  It is what is known as a free arm parasol and can rotate 360 degrees.  It comes with lots of smart features as well.  The fabric is fade resistant and hydrophobic and  also has a UPF Value of 50+.   On days when temperatures soars the fabric will release rather than retain hot air adding to the stability of the parasol.  It also comes with wireless rechargeable lighting meaning you can stay outside and enjoy long Summer evenings.  To be honest I think it might be cleverer than I am!

A Cantilevered parasol from the Solero range.

Another option I really like (and hadn’t seen before) was having a wall parasol.  The patio area we have to play with is not huge so I like the idea of saving space by having one mounted to the wall.  And lets face it I am 100% there for any solution which obscures more of the pebble dash! 

This wall parasol might be the perfect replacement for the awning!

When it comes to inside there are even bigger plans afoot.  We have appointed Detail Architect to start drawing up plans for re-configuring and extending the current space and hopefully by my next diary entry I will be able to share some preliminary floorplans with you!

In the meantime I am going to leave you with a couple of shots of areas of the house that are starting to look vaguely Instagrammable (if you squint…..) Do you recognise the light fitting from our old house? 10 points if you can remember which room it used to hang in!

This is one of my favourite areas of the house so far. It has got quite high ceilings so it is possible to show my Abigail Ahern light off to full effect!

I have big plans for making over the fireplace in here but for now enjoying this corner

This Blog Plost was kindly sponsored by Solero Parasols

Styling my Garden for Summer

It has been quite a week in the Malmo & Moss household. After nine happy years we have moved house, leaving our Edwardian semi behind and taking on a pebble dash dipped renovation project.  It is fair to say that as I closed our front door for the last time on Monday I was about as composed as Gwyneth Paltrow upon discovering that her local Whole Foods had run out of tofu. 

Saying goodbye to our first family home has been emotional

One of the things I will be saddest to leave behind is our kitchen extension and the relationship it allowed us to have with the garden.  That sounds like we were embroiled in an unhealthy coupling with our hardy geraniums but what I mean is the way the design of the extension opened up the house to the garden allowing it to become like an extension of the house in the Summer.

My favourite feature if our old house: the cantilevered corner

A corner of our old garden where I proved to be surprisingly green fingered

Designing a kitchen extension for indoor/outdoor living

We were originally going to just have bifold doors going across the end but ended up going for a cantilevered corner.  It was definitely more expensive ( I will probably still be paying for it when I am 79) but it created so much more wow factor.  We loved having friends round for dinner and opening the doors up to enjoy all of the view of the garden from the table.

Table set ready for dinner with my favourite items from the Marks & Spencer Spring/Summer homeware range

Another key part of the design was having a raised deck that wrapped around the extension and using concrete constructed planters to create a seating area.  That little corner was the sunniest spot in the garden and I loved sitting out there with a cup of tea in the morning or with a glass of wine in the early evening (when the sun had gone down just enough for me to venture out without turning tomato red in twenty seconds).

The seating area on the wrap around decking that we created using raised concrete planters

Summer Styling with Marks & Spencer

Over the last few months as we have prepared for the move,  I have been working with Marks and Spencer (as part of a paid partnership) to explore their Spring/Summer range and to get to know more about the brand I have loved since I was a little girl.  With just days to go before we moved I enjoyed a final fling with my kitchen and garden styling them up to showcase some of the items I selected from the range and to inspire people to go alfresco Scandi Rustic style this Summer.

Table laid with the beautiful, simple Marlowe dining set

When I attended the launch for the Spring/Summer collection there were four items that really stood out for me and which I was dying to get my hands on. They were the small bulb vases, the Marlowe dinner set, the white washed wooden hurricane lanterns and candles from the calm range.  I knew that all four would look great on my  Summer table when mixed in with my existing tableware and vintage pieces.

These lovely little bulb vases are great for displaying single stems of flowers like these blousy peonies

Peonies plate perfection

The Marlowe dinner set is a lovely soft grey and has a great raised rim detail that I really liked.  I set the table with a lovely natural linen table cloth, added the plates and bowls from the set and then lit candles to flicker in the evening sun in the hurricane lamps from the collection. 

The candle from the calm range which is crafted with sweet orange and lavender essential oils

It is no exaggeration to say I love these hurricane lamps so much that they have appeared in literally every shot on my grid since I got them!  The original ones have sold out online but there is a slightly different shape which is equally nice which is still online and linked here .  To add some scent to my Summer table I lit two of the candles from the Calm range the style and price point of which I loved! A single candle is just £7.50 and has notes of cedar wood and clary sage.

My hero item from the range has to be the white washed hurricane lamps which I would happily buy for every room in my house

The last hurrah I had in the garden was to take my three hero items outside and add in some cushions and planters from the Spring/Summer garden range to create a more casual dining scenario on the decking.

Let’s go outside…….

Creating a low picnic table from a couple of old pallets covered with a linen tablecloth. These jute outdoor cushions from the Marks & Spencer range make great seating

I used a couple of pallets to create a low table and then for comfort, colour and seating used these great outdoor cushions which I have in both a mustard and navy stripe. Given that we have experienced #SiberiaInJune this year I can vouch for the weatherproof nature of them!

As somebody who is somewhere on the English Rose spectrum between Silas the Albino Monk from the Da Vinci Code and Casper the Friendly Ghost, early evening is actually my favourite time of day in the summer. I love the light at that time of day not to mention the festoon related Instagram opportunities

All that is missing is the food! We actually had an outdoor curry but it didn’t Instagram up as attractively as the cushions!

The hi-ball glasses are also from Marks & Spencer. They have a lovely rippled effect to the glass. I have linked them here if you would like to take a closer look

New Beginnings: Our New House

Whilst I alas could not take my cantilevered corner with me in the move (at least not without causing some serious conveyancing complications) I did bring all of my favourite Marks & Spencers items with me and I am now excited to share some sneak peeks of the new house and garden with you where, after a box unpacking rampage, I have settled in enough to do a little bit of styling!

Pebble dash and White UpVC have replaced my previous cantilever corner but the garden is really rather lovely

Happy to have unpacked these concrete planters which are great for adding a modern industrial element to your garden

I love how “mature” the garden is, it feels like even we can’t manage to kill a hedge this abundant!

A bigger garden for the boys was one of the drivers for our move (along with my desire for a utility room). The garden in our old house was no postage stamp but it was, like the house ( but alas not me) on the narrow side and we ideally wanted somewhere with a bigger wider lawn to see us through the next 15 years of back garden football fixtures. 

The garden is south facing so gets lots off sunshine

I love the contrast of the jute striped yellow cushions with the pink hydrangeas

This place instantly ticked that box.  It is, like the house, wider and also longer.  It has also been been cared for by someone who knows her Foxgloves from her Fingers so is really mature and fully of things that are thriving rather than barely surviving!.

However, the existing kitchen extension does not make the most of the possibilities of the garden and so we are excited to get to work with an architect to explore ways to better open the kitchen up to the garden and to reconfigure the internal layout (which is pretty higgedly piggledly but more of that another time). I will be sharing more about those plans as they take shape on the blog but I thought you might like a sneak preview of the kitchen for now so you can get a feel for the scale of the challenge!

Introducing my new kitchen. In an Instagram poll this week it came out on top as the room in the new house people most wanted to see! We are working with an architect to explore how we can better open it to the garden

It may not be my modern rustic dream but it is liveable with for now!

#This Blog Post is part of my Paid Partnership with Marks & Spencer and the items that I feature were gifted to me as part of that partnership.#

Malmo & Moss is Moving House

We moved into the Malmo & Moss house on a scorching hot day in July almost exactly nine years ago. It was just me, my husband and two cats at that point. Although the cats were lucky to survive the move after they spent the entire journey around the South Circular emitting the kind of noise that I imagine would come out of Michael Gove’s mouth if he were to get his penis trapped in a lift door. Maybe they just had feline reservations about their owners moving from South to North London having only visited the area where our new house was located twice before. However, whilst they might have liked to remain #ClaphamCats we didn’t have a budget big enough to stretch to a family home in that part of the City.

Winchmore Hill, the area of North London we alighted upon, is probably most famous for once having played host (if that is the right word) to Augustus Pinochet who was briefly exiled here in 1998. However, before you get the impression that it is some sort of haven for war criminals I should balance that fact act out by telling you that it’s other famous ex resident is Lionel Ritchie (whose crimes are mainly perm and power ballad related).

Winchmore Hill Green the pretty heart of this lesser known part of North London

We moved when I was 37 weeks pregnant with our first son who arrived just two short weeks later. Whilst the move to a little known area where we had no friends just as we were about to become first time parents was definitely risky, it is a gamble that has more than paid off. Unlike Pinochet we have stuck around, seduced by lots of green open space, great schools and a street so friendly we go on holiday with our neighbours (although not John at the end of the street who I once overheard in Tesco trying to return some chicken he had purchased in 1999) .

July 2010: just two weeks after moving in we welcomed our first son

Two tired first time parents and a very proud (and very young looking!) uncle in the days before the front room went over to the dark side!

The house has slowly but sure been transformed from a #SanitaryPadPurplePalace with a conservatory #StraightOuttaBrookside to a light, bright modern rustic home. We have knocked through, extended and renovated the kitchen, enlarged and overhauled the family bathroom, reconfigured the loft space and breathed fresh life into the ensuite, tiled the hallway and installed crittal style dividing doors and added hygge to the living room by going over to the dark side and installing a woodburner.

You can get a glimpse in the background of the very off message Kermit the Frog green conservatory we inherited when we moved in

A couple of years (and another son later) we said goodbye to #KermitsConservatory and replaced it with a modern extension. This is it just days after it was finished

6 years later we still love how it has transformed the house

My favourite view looking back into the kitchen from the garden

Knocking through from the kitchen to the dining room has also been a gamechanger

However nine years and two further sons later we are on the move once more. This time there will fortunately be no need to subject ourselves to #CatCarTorture on the South Circular as we are actually only moving five minutes up the road!

Reasons for the Move

So why are we moving? The answer can be summed up in one word really: space. Or rather a growing realisation that we could do with a bit more of it. Our existing house, unlike me, is tall but comparatively narrow. Click here to see our floorplan. We have already extended the kitchen and the loft was converted before we moved in so we have no real options left to create extra square metres we are after.

We have maximised our existing space to create a kitchen/diner

Made over and reconfigured the loft

But alas we cannot magic up enough space for another bedroom

Our two youngest currently happily share a room but we know there will come a time when that arrangement may become less harmonious. Possibly between the ages 11-16 judging by my relationship with my own sister. Apparently having your little sister pick up the phone whenever you are on the line to your first boyfriend and sing “Let’s Talk About Sex” is not as funny as I thought it was at the time.

One day we anticipate all of the boys will want a (Scandi Forest Chic) room of their own

So when I saw a girthier house on a street we have always loved come up for sale 4 months ago with a floorplan that made heart flutter we decided to go for it.

The New House

OK brace yourself, this is the back of the new house which looks like it started a fight with pebbledash and lost. Inside it is less Scandi Rustic and more Sharps Showroom circa 1996 when fitted wardrobes were all the rage. But when I saw the floorplan I was sold. It actually currently has less space upstairs than our existing house but there is scope to add a generous loft and the downstairs space, after a reconfiguration and possible further extension, will offer us the big open plan kitchen/diner we have always wanted. And, of course, most importantly of all, I will finally be able to realise my greatest dream: a separate utility room.

My new rear end is decidedly bigger. It is the width of this house that really sold us on it

As well as the lovely big garden complete with apple tree

For the boys there is a bigger garden with plenty of Wembley and Hide and Seek possibilities . Whereas the clincher for Mr Malmo was the prospect of a garage of his own. Not because he is a car nut (our family car is more likely to be quarantined by DEFRA than appear at Goodwood) but rather because he has an ever growing collection of impulse purchased power tools which will now have a home of their own. I am slightly worried I am going to come downstairs and find him jigsawing wood in his pants at 2am down there!

First on my hit list: transforming the fitted wardrobes . Decor wise everything is actually pretty neutral though and has been well cared for so it is definitely liveable if not immediately instagrammable!

We move a week tomorrow so the next seven days are going to be spent in a haze of cardboard boxes, trips to the tip and snotty hankies as I reminisce about about all the memories we have made together in this house. We arrived as a couple and will leave as a family of five. This is the house is where our son’s first steps were taken, first words spoken and first poos on the potty (and floor) were completed. We have ticked off so many milestones, celebrating birthdays, christenings, christmases, and surviving a brush with Brian the misogynist bathroom tiler. It’s going to be emotional, not least as I have to say goodbye to my greatest ever E-Bay bargain: our £25 roll top bath.

Moving will be sweet sweet sorrow in that I will have to bid farewell to my roll top bath

And my copper taps

So are you ready for Malmo & Moss: The Renovation Years?! My head is already spinning with ideas so over the coming weeks/months/possibly decades I am looking forward to sharing more pictures of the new place with you and my ideas for transforming it one fitted wardrobe at a time! I hope you enjoy coming along with me for the renovation ride.

Secrets of a Successful Loft Conversion

When we first bought our house nine years ago one of the main attractions was the fact that it already had the loft converted saving us the expense and hassle of doing so. Thanks to six big VELUX windows it was flooded with light and had beautiful views out over the blossom trees on our street. However, after living in the space for a couple of years, we came to realise that whilst it was light, bright and spacious, it had about as much character as Keanu Reeves. Sorry Keanu but I have seen beige carpets with more dramatic impact that your performance in The Lake House.

The bright, bright loft conversion was one of the factors that sold our house to us

Over the last few years we have made a series of changes to the space to de-Keanu it and it is now one of my favourite rooms in the house. So I was delighted when VELUX asked me if I would like to team up with them to share my top five tips for designing a successful and stylish loft conversion. VELUX started out by installing their first roof window in a Danish school house 75 years ago and now sell their products in over 40 countries so working with them is a Scandi dream come true for me!

We have made a series of changes to add character, warmth and texture to it

My favourite of which has to be the addition of a scaffold plank wall

I hope my tips will help anyone planning a loft conversion or struggling to inject some character into their existing space to #BeLessKeanu. I have included in my tips advice shared with me by my Instagram followers who have some pretty stunning loft conversions of their own and have some cautionary tales of misplaced internal walls, incorrectly spaced skylights and awful attics!

Tip One: Perfect Your Floorplan

There are essentially three main types of loft conversion: a simple VELUX loft conversion where the roof slope is not altered; a dormer loft conversion which allows for vertical windows and doors; or a mansard loft conversion which is less boxy in appearance than a dormer (although there are multiple possible variations on each design and VELUX windows can easily be combined with mansard and dormer style conversions as well).

Our conversion is a dormer which is a popular choice as it is often the design which best maximises available space and does not, typically, need planning permission. Although click here for more detailed Government Guidance about when planning permission might be required (my inner lawyer is still strong!). If I was to tackle another renovation and convert a loft from scratch I would be tempted to go for a Mansard conversion (budget allowing) as they are less boxy in appearance than a dormer.

Seen here from the outside our loft extension is a dormer conversion

Once you have decided on the best option for your space start work early on your floor plan and how you will actually use the space. Loft conversions are often full of awkward spaces and getting the most out of them often relies upon embracing and finding clever uses for them. Think, in particular, about how you will use any space under the eaves. Ours was predominantly dedicated to storage but there was a large space tucked around a corner that was left empty in which I originally had my dressing table .

Once I realised that post children I had about as much chance of sitting on Brad Pitt’s lap as I did sitting at a dressing table we converted that corner into a walk in wardrobe which has made much better use of the space. It also allowed us to get rid of a large bulky wardrobe that sat in front of one of the windows blocking the view through to the outside.

Don’t be afraid to change your mind as you go along either. @Sodia _ Haddassi _ Amma shared with me that she would regularly go up and check on her loft as it was being built even if it meant balancing on scaffold boards and as she saw how the space actually looked made several decisions to change internal walls that infuriated her builders at the time but left her much happier with the end result!

Tip Two: Let the Light In

Did you know that according to the World Health Organisation we spend a whopping 70% of our lives indoors? When you have small children and 70% of that 70% is also spent in the company of Mr Tumble that can feel like a long long time! Sunlight is actually a natural anti-depressant so in the absence of it (and in the near constant company of Mr Tumble) it is easy to become glum! It turns out that people need daylight to help control the most basic metabolic processes, just as they need food and water. So getting the design of your loft right in terms of the number, size and position of windows can actually improve your mood, reduce your risk of obesity (although not if you , like me, keep an emergency packet of wotsits by the bed) help you get more restful sleep and boost your immunity to diseases and infections! 

Our bed is position underneath our Velux windows to take advantage of the natural daylight and fresh air

We have six large VELUX roof windows in the front sloping side of our loft and as a general rule you should aim for glazing to take up to 15-20% of your room’s floorspace to maximise the amount of natural light. We have top-hung VELUX roof windows because they open at the bottom making them a within arms reach and gives us a great view out of the windows to the blossom trees beyond.

@KBro1979 asked what VELUX options are available if your windows are out of reach? Because of your roof height rather than you being the size of a Borrower. Fear not the answer does not involve a trapeze. VELUX has an INTEGRA® range of electric and solar powered windows that open remotely with the touch of a button. They have blinds that can be controlled this way too!

Our windows are within easy reach but it is possible to automated opening systems if yours are a little further up

The position of your roof windows will likely be dictated by the shape of the roof; for example, a long, shallow room will benefit from windows spaced evenly along its length, whereas a narrow, deeper room might benefit better from fewer larger windows.  However in terms of reaping those sleep enhancing benefits consider positioning your bed close to your windows to soak up as much daylight as possible and speed up your metabolism when you have raided that emergency packet of Wotsits.

Tip Three: Create Character

Some of the loft conversions I love most on Instagram are actually the VELUX rooflight type where the shape of the roof has not been altered and cosy spaces have been created with original features such as exposed brick walls left in place.

The challenge with our dormer was that it felt very much like a new build in the worse sense of those two words. It was spacious and bright but had no distinguishing features and it often felt like we were echoing around in it. I had a couple of attempts at injecting a bit character in using “feature wallpaper” both in the dressing table nook and then also behind our bed to break up the space and create some drama. Whilst Lawrence Lwellyn Bowen may have been proud of my paste and paper efforts it wasn’t until we added the scaffold plank wall behind our bed that the space really started to come together for me. The rough sawn wood creates warmth, texture and character and I would really recommend thinking about how you can bring rougher less “perfect” finishes into your loft conversion. It might be be asking your builder to leave a wall unplastered, or by using brick slips to create the same effect or using lime wash or concrete effect paint but try and get some texture in if you can.

It cost about £250 in materials and labour but the reclaimed scaffold plank is worth every penny

I love how cosy it makes the loft space feel at night

Tip Four: Glaze to Amaze

When our dormer loft conversion was carried out over 10-15 years ago white uPVC doors in dormers were as ubiquitous as Noel Edmonds. Their popularity has since gone the same way as Noel’s TV career and thankfully a host of much more visually pleasing glazing options are now emerging. When we were renovating our loft ensuite we had a little bit of budget left over a decided to say sionara to our uPVC doors, the chunky frames of which obscured our view to the garden beyond. If money had been no object I would have loved to go with either crittall style doors like those in the loft of @FallowGrey or for a sleek sliding door system like in this conversion by Mulroy Architects. 

Replacing the white UpVC doors with a picture window has transformed our loft space

I love sitting in this corner looking out over the garden

However we came up with a compromise that overall I am pretty pleased with which was to replace the doors with one large fixed picture window.  The frame is still uPVC but because it is dark grey instead of white it is not as noticeable and to be honest the difference in price didn’t justify going for aluminium on basis probably only I would notice the thinner frames. We retained the smaller opening window to the left hand side so that we still had ventilation and through draft.  The cost of doing this was approximately £1000 including labour which I consider to have been money well spent.

Yes we did run out of floor paint ……

So when you are planning your loft conversion think really carefully about your glazing options and don’t just go with what builders and loft conversion companies fit as standard.  There lots of still cost effective options out there which offer much better wow factor.

VELUX, for example, have a really cool pop out balcony window product called CABRIO ® which I discovered through this collaboration that I would love to incorporate into any future renovation I take on! When shut it sits flush to the roof like a normal window and when open it pops out to create a mini balcony , have a watch of this little video to see what I mean, is so clever!

A window that can become a balcony!

Tip Five: Zone it Like Beckham

Sadly I do not have any pictures for this section of David Beckham reclining in my loft.  The tip I want to pass on here is about how to break up your loft space into mini sections.  Our loft has a fairly large footprint overall at 21sqm but because we are semi detached it is a long but relatively narrow space at 7m by 3m. The challenge is, therefore, how to stop it feeling like a big spacious corridor. We have always had our bed positioned underneath the Velux windows because I love going to bed able to see the stars, lying back listening to the rain falling on them in colder months (and the Summer months based on this June) and opening them up for a breeze on stuffier nights. However the second section of the room originally didn’t really work for us at all. We had a massive double wardrobe on one side and then a double set of chest of drawers on the other side both of which blocked the view out of the back windows and made it feel a bit being inside a storage locker at BIg Yellow Storage.

I added a monochrome gallery wall and armchair to this corner to create a separate sitting area within the room

Hopefully this picture gives you a feel for how the space fits together

I am one picture short of a full gallery wall!

Making the alcove into a walk in wardrobe meant we were able to get rid of the bulky wardrobe, move the radiator that had been under the window to that wall instead and then put the chest of drawers where the radiator had been (still with me?!) On the side of the room where the chest of drawers used to be I have now created a seating area with a vintage armchair and side table and made this area distinct from the sleeping area by painting it a different colour and adding a gallery wall. It makes it feel as if there are two rooms within a room so if you have a large loft space or large and awkward footprint think about the different ways in which you can use the space and how you can decorate to subtly create different zones.

So there you have it my five top tips for creating a truly instagrammable loft conversion in collaboration with VELUX as part of my paid partnership with them. Thanks to everyone who shared their loft conversion stories and questions with me to help me write this post.

Creating My Dream Bathroom with Geberit

When I started using Instagram two years ago I wasn’t actually posting pictures of interiors.  Shoes yes, random day trips to National Trust Properties yes, pictures of my pudding yes but interiors no.  The mists of time and mum brain mean I can’t actually pinpoint why I switched from posting cakes to kitchens but I do remember that it was a picture of my bathroom which first got likes other than from my long suffering friends who were probably tempted to block me if I posted another picture of a profiterole by that point.

One of the first shots of my bathroom I ever posted to Instagram. Yes I did like the Valencia filter a lot back in 2016!!

Having finally got my head around hashtags a picture of my bathroom was included in a midweek montage for #MyHomeVibe and it turned out that people rather liked the curve of my copper pipe taps and cut of my metro tiles.  And whilst I do feature other rooms in my house on my account (to avoid people feeling like they are trapped in some sort of Suburban Bathroom Groundhog Day) it is always pictures of my bathroom that do the best.  In fact this photo of it, when regrammed by Apartment Therapy garnered over 70K likes and was in the top ten most liked pictures on their feed last year.  Not bad for an e-bay bargain bath and a slightly dodgy 3am paint job.

The picture that got regrammed on Apartment Therapy

Aside from its Instagram popularity it is also my favourite room in the house because a) it is the only room with a lock (a not to be underrated feature when you have three boys) and b) I am pretty sure I share DNA (and a waistline) with a Walrus in that I could happily spend 23 out of 24hrs submerged in warm water.

Designing My Dream Bathroom With Geberit

So when Geberit got in touch asking if I would like to design and style my dream bathroom using their Xeno²range I didn’t need asking twice.  In fact I don’t think I even needed asking once as I said yes before they had even got to the end of the sentence!  They had me at vanity unit of my choice. 

In case you have not heard of Geberit before they are a Swiss company with a long pedigree in designing and producing innovative, high quality, long lasting bathroom products.  To use a Swiss sporting analogy, they are to bathrooms what Roger Federer is to Tennis: stylish, refined, durable and always ahead of the rest of the pack.  The only difference is they are serving up sanitary ware rather than aces.

A basin and vanity unit from the Xeno² range

The crisp, clean design aesthetic of the Xeno² range obviously tickles my Scandinavian sensibilities but what I loved about the brief was the challenge of bringing some of my signature Modern Rustic/Industrial Vintage style into play to create a bathroom which mixes Geberit products with my personality.

My Design

The building blocks of my fantasy bathroom chosen from the Xeno² range were a double vanity unit with built in basin, sleek intelligent sensor mirror, tallboy storage cupboard and a super intelligent AquaClean shower toilet.  Intelligent in the sense of its ability to leave your bits as shiny as a whistle rather than out score Steven Hawking in a Mensa test sense that is. 

The AquaClean Shower Toilet that will save you a trip to Japan

I don’t know if you have found this but if you talk to friends and family who have visited Japan the number one thing they rave about is not the splendour of the cherry blossoms or the speed of the bullet trains but the technology the Japanese use in their toilets which come with heated seats, varying wash modes and just generally more of a brain than our standard British Bogs.  Thanks to Geberit there is no need to trek to Toyko for your derriere to experience that kind of dream experience. 

More information on all of the products featured in my dream bathroom from the Xeno² bathroom range is available here. 

I actually initially found having totally freedom to design my dream bathroom left me a little stumped!  Not in the sense of having no inspiration but more in that my inspiration cup was overflowing and my mind was boggling at all the possibilities.  To marshall my inner runaway rustic I used Canva to create a mood board for my room.  This really helped me to focus on how everything would look together and create a cohesive vision for the room (without wishing to sound too  Llewelyn Bowen).

With my moodboard complete it was time to take things off the page and into the back of a sweaty battered Audi A6 estate and head up the motorway to a photographic studio in Warwick where a bathroom set, photographer, videographer and make up artist with her work cut out were awaiting me!  I was more than a little relieved to arrive without being pulled over by the police as am not sure how I would have gone about explaining the contents of the car to the boys in blue.  Yes officer that is an enormous dried flower cloud in the passenger seat and a rustic Hungarian milking stool you can see gracing the parcel shelf. 

Luckily I was not pulled over with this amount of pampa grass in the passenger seat

Having never done anything as exciting as this before I thought it would be fun to share some behind the scenes footage with you from the day so that you can get a feel for what I was up to in a Warwickshire warehouse and to then talk you through the different elements of my dream room.  Spoiler alert soft neutral colours, warm natural textures and materials will feature rather than bright colours, clashing patterns and glitzy metallic finishes!

The Day

What initially threw me when I arrived was the fact that it was not a “bathroom” in the traditional sense that was awaiting me.  It was a bathroom within a roomset (so far so Truman Show) which meant there was no ceiling and half of the room had no walls! The next thing to get my head (and generous eye bags around) was the fact that it would be me as well as my dream bathroom captured on camera because as well as photographing the bathroom, the Geberit team have also made a clever video about my roomset to help you get a better sense of the look.   Click here to take a look at the video

Eyebag and brow miracles worked ready to roll (looking a little like I am wearing my pyjamas)

So it was actually quite a busy and buzzy set with a photographer and a great videography team there to capture all the action.

As someone who has, to date, largely taken pictures on my phone, I learnt so much that day about all the tricks that professional photographers use to get the very best out of a room and space.  The positioning and strength of lighting in particular plays a huge role in how a finished photo looks.  Consequently, it will be a giant light reflecting umbrella and stage lighting rig rather than bubble bath and some new hair straighteners that will be on my Christmas list this year!  I loved seeing the shots come through on the photographer’s computer as we went along. 

So having seen glimpses are you now ready to see the end result?  I hope so because here it is!

My Rustic Scandi Dream Bathroom scheme

Creating a Cosy Corner

This may make me strange but I love a bit of company when I am in the bath. Not in the actual bath itself just someone to sit and chat to me in the bathroom as I bathe.  Although my three year old frequently misinterprets this bit and climbs in to join me in the actual bath with a large toy boat/collection of aged flannels/a whole toilet roll.

I loved how this corner worked out with the flower cloud

Having an armchair in my dream bathroom was, therefore, an essential item. The chair of my bathroom dreams is actually from Ikea.  I am a huge fan of their Soderhamn range of seating.  It has simple clean lines and a great price point whilst looking easily more expensive.  It has a lovely wide back and deep seat meaning your companion can be as relaxed on the chair as you are in the bath.  To be honest even if I wasn’t having a bath I would be tempted to sneak in and sit on it curled up with a magazine

Adding Stylish Storage

Whilst the vanity unit and tallboy cupboard from the Xeno² offer great storage (with clever features like soft close doors) I also added in some additional storage options under the sink for stowing away bulkier items like toilet rolls and towels.  To contrast with the sleek lines of the Xeno² unit I chose rougher textures such as wood and rattan to bring some warmth and texture into the room scheme.  One of my favourite places to source baskets like the ones used in these photographs is from French Brand Maisons Du Monde.  The Candian Dry box is a vintage find which I paid £10 for at Ardingly Antiques Market 3 years ago and which I could, in the interim, have sold 10 ten times over for ten times the price.  I cannot, however, bring myself to part with it!  If you are not able to find a vintage equivalent H&M Home often have a great range of vintage style/rustic storage boxes to choose from.

The Canda Dry box that is one of my most prized possessions added great towel storage

Lowering the Lighting

It goes without saying that my dream bathroom would feature candles.  In fact that tallboy storage unit would probably be predominantly filled with them.  Scented, unscented, real, battery operated I love them all! My current obsession are these hurricane lanterns from Marks & Spencer which have a lovely limewashed wooden base and speckled glass and create a lovely soft glow when filled with candles.  However, woman cannot read Living Etc by candle light alone so I also added two wall lights into my bathroom scheme from Cox & Cox.  I chose black to add a nod to the industrial into the room and they are, of course, bathroom rated.  They are actually outdoor lights which is a great trick to employ if you are struggling to find bathroom rated indoor light options!

I was really pleased with the industrial edge the black carriage lights added

The Xeno² Vanity Unit and AquaClean toilet actually also have smart motion sensor lighting built into them as well to prevent you stumbling around in the dark in the morning/middle of the night.

Turning Towels into a Feature

I know a lot of people like their towels to be neither seen or heard (a talking towel would admittedly be rather alarming) but I like mine to become a feature of my bathroom design.  They are a great way to add subtle nods to colour, pattern and texture into a room.  Using a vintage ladder to display them on is also a great way to add some height into your bathroom scheme.  There is a probably a retired builder called Dave laughing all the way to the bank after I purchased his paint splattered step ladders (possibly brought out of the back of his van by mistake/an after thought) at a car boot a couple of months ago.  The selection of towels I have featured are all from HM Home. 

H&M Home have some great towels this season including this linen striped one

Elsewhere in the bathroom I have also added soft texture and a touch of hygge in with shaggy sheepskins on the floor and bench.

 All Hail the Humble Tooth Mug

When I first met Mr Malmo he was using an aged Sheffield Wednesday Mug with a fading picture of Chris Waddle on as a toothmug.  It took me four years and two house moves to finally give Waddle the red card from our bathroom and replace him with something more Scandi than Sheffield themed.  The moral of this tale is that small details can actually make all the difference to a room and there is no reason why practical things cannot also be beautiful ones.  With this in mind, I sourced a handmade tooth mug and soap dish in earthy colours from the ceramics range stocked by socially minded small business Aerende Store.  For display rather than practical purposes I also mixed in some vintage bottles I have amassed over the years as well as some new favourite vases from the Nordic inspired range at Marks & Spencer so that I had a range of different sizes, textures and colours.

Vintage and new ceramics adding some texture to the basin area

The basin upon which they are resting from the Xeno² range is actually made from a super soft matt material called Varicor which I have never come across before but would happily now enter into a long term relationship with. 

In Praise of [dried] Plants

I have a confession to make which may make me an insta outcast by the time you finish reading this blog: I don’t really like houseplants.  Yes they have carbon dioxide absorbing life enhancing benefits to having them around but my ability to reduce a monstera to mulch in less than a month means I just don’t dig them.  However I am not an all round nature hater in my home, I do still like to bring the outdoors in and embrace plant life I just prefer, in the bathroom, for it to be in dried rather than semi biodegraded form. I think the 1970s kinda gave dried flowers a bad rap.  Pot Pourri has a lot to answer for. But the last 12 months has seen them having a major resurgence and no-one is happier about this than me.  They add soft texture, natural colours and a bit of drama to the bathroom, require zero maintenance and need never be thrown away.  I used them in two ways in my dream bathroom design.  Soft wavy pampas grass to soften the wall the toilet was hung on and then in a super size flower cloud in my cosy corner. 

The cloud is actually much easier to recreate than you might think, you just need a floristry oasis wreath (easily obtainable on Amazon) and then a selection of dried grasses and flowers.  Mine was made for me by Your London Florist and they use a mix of grasses and then dried hydrangea heads and roses to add in some (subtle) colour and drama.

Wall Art and the Wall Hung Toilet

I don’t know about you but I grew up in a house that had both a separate toilet (in a room no bigger than your average glovebox) and the cistern proudly on show.  With space now at a premium that sanitary set up is increasingly uncommon (I say this based on a survey of my friends houses rather than backed by official census data on the bathrooms of Britain).  With a toilet now more likely to be featured in the bathroom itself, the looks of your loo have become more important.  Geberit were actually one of the first companies to introduce and champion the wall hung loo in the UK:  stoying away cisterns and making flush plates a thing to covet not conceal.  When I visited their showroom in Warwick recently I was gob smacked by the range of flush plate options they offer.  My dream bathroom features one hewn from slate that looked completely unobtrusive and part of the general rustic theme.  Another great way to blend your toilet into your room scheme is to add art to the wall on which it is hung so people have something that draws their eye other than just the WC. 

So there you have it the bathroom of my dreams.  Hope it has provided you with inspiration for how to style your own Rustic/Scandi bathroom paradise and how to use the Xeno² bathroom range as part of that dream. 

One Bathroom Two Ways

If you fancy seeing how the colour loving Yin to my neutral décor Yang got on with the same challenge then head over to Come Down To the Woods Blog by clicking here.  Her dream is definitely different to mine but I still found myself seduced when I saw it.  She certainly has a way with wallpaper and I don’t mind admitting that I was tempted to nip up the motorway to Leeds and purloin the Tom Dixon marble bathroom lights she included in her scheme. 

There is also a line in her blog that made me laugh about imagining me wafting around with sheepskins, dried hydrangeas and hamman towels as I would say a solid 40 minutes of the day were spent with me either fluffing a sheepskin, positioning a hamman towel or handling a hydrangea.  You know me too well Woods….

I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into the work I have been doing as part of my long term paid partnership with Geberit.  It has been so much fun so far (in fact I kind of feel a fraud calling it work!) and I have more exciting content to share with you later this year so watch this space!

Creating a Rustic, Romantic Retreat At Home

I have a confession to make……I like Valentines Day!  I realise that probably puts me in an exclusive club of which only me, Barbara Cartland (RIP Babs) and Dolly Parton are members but I can’t help it.  I love a bit of regulated romance.  Don’t get me wrong, I totally agree with the V-Day haters when they say that romance should be about little acts of love all year round rather than the emphasis falling on one day.  But the reality is, when you both have jobs and 3 kids to parent, you are more likely to be reciting daily sonnets about whose turn it is to take the bins out than comparing each other to a summer’s day. However, whilst I like Valentines Day,  I am not really a massive fan of going out somewhere to celebrate.  Mainly because it is extremely difficult to find a teenage babysitter who is willing to give up an evening snogging her Enfield equivalent of Justin Bieber to look after our boys for the night.  So i thought I would share some inspiration for creating a rustic romantic retreat at home instead, with lots of tips that you can put into action at anytime of the year.

Creating romance at home 365 days of the year

Cupid Loves to Cook

They say that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.  Well the way to this woman’s heart is by creating an amazing flower cloud installation “Signe Bay” style over the dining table.  This amazing creation, setting the scene for romance chez Malmo & Moss this February, was the work of the super talented Your London Florist.  The base is a ball of chicken wire suspended by a couple of hooks drilled into the ceiling.  The main elements of “The Cloud” are magnolia branches, natural foliage and dried flowers which means that this is a cloud which doesn’t have to blow away after the 14th of February.  It can stay on and be adapted for Easter, spring and beyond.  I also love that Your London Florist used tulips and roses in it which were older and might otherwise have gone to waste because they are perfect for turning the petals out on to create this great trumpet shape.

Saying I love you with a flower cloud created by the super talented Your London Florist

Adding some sort pinks and greens to the kitchen with roses on the table and my favourite plates from Wonki Ware.

One romantic table scape ready to roll

If you are staying in for Valentines Day and have lost the number for the local Chinese then, having set your tablescape, can I suggest that you try wooing your man/woman with my favourite “I am trying to impress you by cooking something more tricksy than a Chicken Kiev” menu.  I always find that when I try and cook three courses simultaneously either 1) we end up eating at 11:47pm after I burn and have to recook at least one of the courses or 2) I forget to include a critical element of one of the dishes and it is usually the one that gives it flavour/a consistency that is not like gruel.  With  that in mind I am going to recommend ditching a starter in favour of popping open a tub of Pringles and focusing instead on the main course which is a Lorraine Pascale’s Roast Beef with Parma ham wrapped green beans .  It is almost impossible to fuck up (unless you have to clean up an overflowing potty incident shortly after putting it in the oven and forget to set a timer).

Table ready to receive Lorraine Pascale's roast beef with Parma ham wrapped green beans.

For pudding why not try my go-to easy pudding: Gingernut, Lemon Curd and Blackberry Cheesecakes.  You can make them in advance to reduce the amount of courses you have to juggle.  It is my own creation so I will have to describe how to make it rather than linking you to a recipe so bear with me.

Ingredients

1/2 packet of Gingernuts, 20g Butter, I jar of Lemon Curd, 1 tub of Creme Fraiche, 2 Tablespoons of Icing Sugar, 2 Handfuls of Blackberries, Mint to Garnish.

Method

Put the gingernuts in a bag and pound to pieces with a rolling pin. Melt the butter in a pan and then add the gingerbread crumbs, stir until the crumbs start to come together.  Take off the heat and pat the crumbs into the base of a glass tumbler.  Then spoon lemon curd in to cover the biscuit base.  Stir the incing sugar into the creme fraiche and then spoon on top of the lemon curd before adding the blackberries on top.  Pop into the fridge to chill and set.  Get them out of the fridge about an hour before you are ready to eat them otherwise the biscuit base tends to be even more impenetrable than Hilda Ogden’s knickers. 

I love the colour combination of the green, pinks and soft grey added by napkins gifted to me by Chalk Pink Linen

Eucalyptus down the centre of the table makes an inexpensive and lovely smelling garland

Romance in the Rolltop

Hands up anyone who has a husband who actually enjoys a relaxing bubble bath? It is my go-to way to unwind but on the rare occasions when I have been able to persuade Mr Malmo to join me he has looked about as relaxed as a man about to partake in a threesome with Toyah Wilcox and Dot Cotton and constantly fretted about the water temperature burning his balls.  He would, in his own words, rather go to a Simply Red concert and plait Mick Hucknall’s hair than slip into a bubble bath.  However, I personally enjoy nothing more than romancing myself in the bathroom (that is not a euphemism for masturbation by the way) by lighting all the candles sprinkling some rose petals in and pouring myself a glass of proseco.

The bathroom ready for romance rose petals and all

Our bathroom used to be a whole lot less romantic as, when we moved in, it was a third smaller and host to a very tired bathroom suite and some tiles decorated in a range of tile stickers that even Laurence Llewellyn Bowen would refuse to put his name to. We lived with it like that for a couple of years whilst we concentrated on renovating downstairs and then saved up enough to make it bigger by stealing a bit of space from the spare bedroom. That allowed us to separate the shower out from the bath and invest in the roll top of my dreams. I say invest but it is actually my best ever e-bay bargain at £25. It came with silver taps but I asked my builder to have a go at recreating some copper ones I had seen in a kitchen in Living Etc which just involved some copper piping and a bit of clever welding. The dark paint on the walls is Dulux Bowler Hat and the wall and floor tiles were both inexpensively sourced from Walls & Floors Ltd. It is definitely a far more romantic place to linger now

The copper taps that were made by my builder after I saw and fell in love with some in Living Etc

The bath is one of my best ever E-Bay bargains at £25

If you are with me on enjoying a bit of tubtime then why not try my playlist for romance this Valentines to listen to whilst you are having a soak.

1. Extreme: More Than Words

2. The National: I Need My Girl

3. Radiohead: No Surprises

4. Cat Power: Wild is the Wind

5. Michael Kwanaka: Home

6.  Jeff Buckley: You Should Have Come Over

7. The Beatles: Blackbird

8.  Lana Del Rey: Video Games

9. Lauryn Hill: Can’t Take My Eyes Off You

10. Bon Iver: Skinny Lover 

Hope you enjoy my romantic playlist. If you have a favourite love song you think I should add to it tell me in the comments below

Let’s Take This Upstairs

Whilst I may not have much luck getting Mr Malmo in the bath it is, unsurprisngly, much easier to persuade him to join me in the bedroom.  To be honest, as parents of three young boys, it is usually just to sleep and we are more often than not also joined by a Pre School Camilla Parker Bowles at some point in the night.  But regardless of the omnipresence of a junior third wheel, I still love my bedroom so much after it’s rustic makeover (read about that here) that it is my favourite place to retreat to in the house. 

My haven in the house: our bedroom

Ready for romance with fairy lights and candles

This Valentines Day I may have upped the romance factor a notch or two by adding a gorgeous rustic wreath above the bed created by Your London Florist.  If you fancy having a go at recreating, then source some bendy type twigs, some sprigs of your favourite natural foliage (eucalyptus is mine) and make them into a roughly circular shape and secure with floristry wire. I always think it is nice to leave some sprigs and twigs loose for a wilder feel.  I am really enjoying using dried flowers at the moment because it means you can create things which last longer than a week and won’t drop petals on you as you sleep.  Your London Florist used some lovely dried grasses in this one which they had sprayed a pale pink.

Upping the romance factor with a rustic wreath

I love that it can be adapted to last beyond Valentines Day

If you don’t fancy a rustic wreath above your bed (because you are worried about suffering a #ModernRusticConcussion if it drops on you during the night) then why not add romance with lots of cosy sheepskins, candles and fairylights instead. Or still have flowers but maybe just a smaller posy style arrangement in a jam jar or similar by the bed.

Sheepskins add romance and a touch of a Game of Thrones feel to the bedroom floor

Rather unromantically I have been letting Mr Malmo read a lot of porn at bedtime lately.,….Cabin Porn that is. Our big project for 2019 is installing a garden room/cabin at the end of the garden so I have been buying him lots of rustic outhouse and shed inspo books to get his creative and carpentry juices flowing. Although ultimately I think this is a job which may prove slightly beyond his joinery paygrade. If you have built your own garden room or have sourced one from somewhere else that cost less than a small terraced house I would love to know about it.

His stash of (cabin) Porn over on his side of the bed

So there you have it, my recipe for creating romance with your interiors.  May 2019 bring you lots of love and, in my case, the #ScandiShed of my dreams.  Many thanks to Your London Florist for collaborating with me on this blog post by gifting their services and the beautiful flowers.

Dedicating this post to Mr Malmo the long suffering, bubble bath hating love of my life

How I Transformed My Hallway With An Affordable Alternative to Crittall

When people ask us if we can ever see ourselves moving house, Mr Malmo and I often give contrary answers. He is very much “Remain” on the basis that moving involves a) spending money and b) the very real risk of me “losing” in any move i) his collection of Sheffield Wednesday Programmes dating back to 1989 and ii) the maroon sweatshirt he loves but which I think makes him look like a cross between a teenager on day release from Borstal and a Songs of Praise presenter. My answer is also “Remain” but with the caveat that I would instantly trigger Article 50 and leave for a house with a double width hallway like this.

The spacious hallway of my dreams. Picture credit www.livingetc.com

I have this yearning for double width because our house is semi-detached and the hallway is an L Shape. You can’t see the stairs when you first come in the house as they are located in the middle of the house. If that makes about as much sense as inviting Jim Davidson to be the keynote speaker at a vegan mindfulness seminar then hopefully the two photos below will clarify what I mean.

The hallway as you come in the front door

The view looking backwards towards the front door. With the stairs in the middle of the house to the right

When we first moved in the hallway was dark, narrow and a bit damp (which I realise sounds a bit like a tagline for a vaginal deodorant). My first tactic to brighten it up was by painting both the walls and floors in a lighter colour. From memory the colour I chose was Farrow & Ball’s Slipper Satin although I could be suffering from a bad case of middle class amnesia and getting my Slipper Satins and Wimborne Whites mixed up.

The hallway after my initial attempts to brighten it up by painting the walls and floors in Slipper Satin

This definitely helped to bounce more light around the space but there is only so much Slipper Satin can achieve when your only source of natural light is a window on to a side alley and you have to contend with the shadows cast by the army of anoraks that come with having three boys (and a husband with a penchant for a Liam Gallagher mac). I started dreaming of a more radical solution to the problem involving replacing the wall between the hall and dining room with a crittal partition like this.

Crittal doors in the hallway of House Curious (Picture credit www.livingetc.com )

However, after getting a couple of quotes, I started to realise I had crittal dreams on a cornflake budget. They were coming it at around £7-10K for doors to fill a 2 x 3 metre space. It was actually Kevin my quotes guy (who had come round to price up making the opening for the doors) who came up with the idea of installing timber panelled doors instead of crittal ones. A quick Pinterest later and I realised this was a compromise I could live with. Compared to crittal the price of having bespoke timber doors made was just £2K (with the labour for knocking the wall through and making the opening about £1.5K ).

These timber doors from Plain English (pic credit www.remodelista.com) made me realise that there was life after crittal!

This is what the space looked like just before “Project Partition” began. Although it was to be hastily renamed “Project Opening” after realising the former sounded less like a plan to remove a wall and more like Hitler’s code name for his plans to annex the Sudetenland. Project Opening admittedly did have slight working title of a 1970s porno connotations but it at least had less #annexationovertones.

The view from the kitchen before “Project Partition” commenced

The night before work commenced on taking out the wall and putting the doors in

The builders took the wall down in stages and I have to confess that I nearly called the whole thing off after they took the plaster off the wall and left me alone with the exposed brick wall of my dreams for a night. #BareBrickBradPitt as it became known even scooped me the honours in #myhomevibe after the addition of some festive pom poms and illuminated Noel letters around Christmas time. But just like Angelina Jolie, I ultimately waved Brad goodbye with the rest of the wall being knock down and temporary supports being put in place.

For one night only: #BareBrickBradPitt in all his glory

It’s totally normal to decorate your building supports in the style of a Winter Wonderland right?

The builders had originally thought that it might be necessary to put a steel in above the doors as it is a load bearing wall but it turned out there was already a timber beam in place that did the job which saved us a bit of money. After the opening had been made good, the bespoke doors were installed unpainted.

The unpainted doors installed and waiting for me to decide on a paint colour

Only one of the doors opens (the furthest to the left if you are looking at them with the front door behind you) but it has hinges that mean it can be folded right back. If I was to go back in time I think I would have opted for them to be concertina doors so that we could have the option to fold all three of them all the way back. However, that is but a minor quibble because with the doors in place we now have a view straight through the house out to the garden when we open the front door and there is so much more light in the hallway.

This door folds right back but the other two are fixed in place.

After much deliberation about what colour the doors should be I ultimately decided to go for a really dark colour and chose Charcoal from the Valspar paint range at B&Q (not an ad!). I am really happy with that choice now but I like the fact that because they are timber I can change the paint colour to change the feel of the room in future if I wanted to. (something I couldn’t do if there were crittal!).

The finished doors in Charcoal paint by Valspar. I wanted to them to look crittal-esque which is why I went dark with the paint colour

A lovely spot to hang out pretending to read an interiors book.

Having the doors in place lets lots more light into the hallway from this room

I love the new view from the kitchen with doors in

The other big change we made at the same time as installing the doors was to replace the original floorboards with a tiled floor instead. Whilst I love wooden floors there were lots of gaps in ours so that in winter it was like being on the set of “Whistle Down the Wind”. I was really torn as to whether to go for a statement Victorian style floor with some colour in it (inspired by the picture below from Living Etc) or something more muted.

The tiles I spotted in Living Etc (Pic Credit www.balancemedesign.com) which for a brief moment tempted me to go for something bold in the hallway

Ultimately I chose a monochrome design from Mosaic del Sur which at about £900 came in about £4000 cheaper than the Victorian tile option! They have proved pretty hard wearing so far. We don’t clean them with any special products (perhaps mistakenly so!) and they actually show up mud much less than the wooden floors they replaced. Every now and again I have a pang and wonder if I actually ought to have gone for polished concrete floors but that is a project for a different house me thinks, maybe one with that double width hallway that makes me trigger my Article 50

I am really happy with my ultimate choice of monochrome encaustic tiles from Mosaic del Sur.. Sheepskin placed there entirely for instagram purposes…

They are a good balance between a modern and traditional tile

The next step in our hallway renovation is to tackle the stairs and bannisters. The sisal carpet we laid after a couple of years suffered a horrendous middle class atrocity when it had a tester pot of Annie Sloane Chalk Paint thrown down it by our toddler. Let’s just say Sloane and Sisal don’t mix. What I would actually like to do is to replace the Jackson Pollock carpet with a runner, painting the stairs and banister at the same time. The current banister is the kind of shade of mahogany that David Dickinson turns after 5 weeks on the Costa Brava so I am desperate tone it down or potentially paint it dark but even thinking about the amount of sanding required to get that project going makes me feel tired so, for now, it is on the back burner.

David Dickinson banister is on my 2019 hitlist as in the #SloaneOnSisalShitShow you can see on the stairs!

Hopefully this view will include the carpet runner of my dreams once I have found the motivation to sand down and repaint 30 plus stairs

But for now I am just going to enjoy hanging around here holding an impractical hat

Thanks for reading all about my hallway overhaul hope it inspires you to see that you can achieve a crittall look on a cornflake budget afterall!

A Weekend at Eden Hall Cottage, Norfolk

Does anyone remember the TV programme ‘Challenge Anneka’?  The basic premise was that Anneka Rice (sporting a blue jumpsuit that made her look like an errant Kwik Fit employee) had 48hrs to complete a seemingly impossible task like reintroducing an obscure species of Owl to the UK or persuading Lawrence Llewellyn Bowen to wear beige.  It sadly disappeared from our screens some time around 1994 but I think the BBC should bring the show back and set Anneka a new challenge. Find a holiday cottage near the coast in the UK that sleeps 10-12 people (without anyone having to sleep in a drawer) with interior’s that don’t look like the inside of your Auntie Pat’s conservatory all for less than £5000 a week.  I suspect it would make reintroducing that obscure owl look like child’s play.  But fear not Anneka, I’ve got this one.  In my little black book of holiday cottages is a place that ticks all of those boxes and more: Eden Hall Cottage.

The gorgeous back porch of Eden Hall Cottage which is a traditional flint cottage on the North Norfolk coast

About the Cottage

The cottage is located on the North Norfolk Coast on the so-called secret side (i.e. the stretch that is not overrun with men called Tarquin down from London for the weekend who are partial to red trousers).  Eden Hall’s owners are Vicky and Chris White.  If I tell you that Vicky is the founder of the beautiful home and lifestyle brand Plum & Ashby you will start to appreciate that this is going to be a pretty special place.

Edenhall as it looked when Vicky and Chris first went to view it

Vicky, Chris and their dog Bertie live in Olney (Bedfordshire) but have always been regular visitors to the Norfolk coast.  They got engaged there and, in 2015, they started to look for a property they could turn into the coastal holiday home of their dreams.  After two years of searching and several close misses, in November 2017 (on their shared birthday) they went to view Eden Hall Cottage and fell in love. 

The Renovation

It took some vision to see it’s potential as a beautiful beach bolthole because it was, at the time, completely run down with rats in residence and a random toilet in the middle of the drive.  However they were able to look past the loo and having secured the property, brought an architect on board to help them restore it to it’s former glory. Their ambitious goal was to have the property ready for its first visitors by the summer of 2018.   

The inside of the property had seen better days but the potential was easy to see

Some gorgeous period features were still shining through the gloom

Having hired a team of local builders following a tender process, their first step was to strip the property back to it’s bare bones (including taking out and replacing all of the upstairs floors the joists of which turned out to be rotten).  This is what the cottage looked like when I first popped round “Kevin McCLoud” style at the start of their renovation journey.

The upstairs landing and staircase. The entire upper floor had to be removed as part of the renovation and replaced after the joists were found to be rotten

Vicky and Chris kept and restored the original brick fireplace

The Interiors

By the time Malmo McCloud returned to stay as one of their first guests in October 2018, it was virtually unrecognisable.  With the renovation complete, the cottage has five double bedrooms (three of which are ensuite), a stunning kitchen diner with vaulted ceilings, a relaxed sitting room with open fire, a family bathroom with a gorgeous cast iron roll top bath and a boot room and separate utility.  There is a lovely secluded patio garden at the front and a large lawned area at the back (perfect for letting our pack of lad labradors off the leash). 

Vicky battled her builders to have vaulted ceilings in the kitchen/dining space that is at the heart of the house

The rowing oars are a subtle nod to the cottage’s coastal location

The family bathroom blends contemporary and vintage features with a huge rolltop bath to relax in

Vicky said that her aim for the interiors was to create an English take on an American beach house and it is a triumph of Nantucket come to Norfolk.  The walls are painted in a pallet of clean minimal neutral colours which act as the perfect backdrop to some seriously luxurious furnishings from brands such as Neptune, Rowen & Wren, Also Home and the White Company.  There is not a jaunty anchor or whimsical shell in sight. 

The relaxed sitting room is at the front of the house and opens on to a secluded patio courtyard garden

The star of the show has to be the duck egg blue Humphrey Munson kitchen which is at the heart of the house and fabulously well equipped.  I loved the way that Vicky and Chris had chosen to leave sections of the original flint walls exposed in the kitchen to provide a rustic contrast to the contemporary units. 

The Humphrey Munson kitchen Vicky chose in duck egg blue works perfectly with the flint walls left exposed

The perfect shelfie

Those flint walls

Marble worktops and brass taps add a vintage edge to the

We stayed at the house as a group of ten (with 5 friends rather than 5 children I have previously failed to mention in case you are wondering).  The layout of the cottage is perfect for groups of friends or families..  Upstairs are two generous double bedrooms (one of which is ensuite) and a further single with bunk beds and some lovely touches for children staying like a minature teddy version of Bertie the dog. Upstairs is also host to the family bathroom of dreams which has Georgian style panelled walls, a huge roll top bath and gorgeous brass taps. The bath products are all from Plum & Ashby’s beautiful range made in the UK.

The upstairs ensuite bedroom with gorgeous striped headboard and exposed wooden beams

I have this thing with the amazing honeycomb tiles on the floor in the ensuite

The second upstairs double bedroom which is a great size

The family bathroom with fabulous Georgian style pannelling

The lovely single bedroom complete with bunk beds and lots of thoughtful touches for junior guests

I love that Vicky and Chris were able to keep the original window frames

Downstairs are two further double bedrooms both of which are ensuite.  This layout meant that those in our party with kids could sleep upstairs whilst those without occupied the bedrooms downstairs so that they were spared a 7:30am wake up by the Octonauts/Fireman Sam/Mr Tumble emptying his spotty bag.

One of the downstairs double bedrooms. I love the panelling painted in a lucious dark green

Pinstripe cushions from Also Home up the comfort levels in all the bedrooms

The bedrooms are all beautiful but the one to fight over is definitely the master suite off the kitchen which has both a four poster bed and roll top bath of it’s own.  It is set off the kitchen/diner and is like a mini hotel in it’s own right. I loved the vintage boathouse sign that hangs above the doorway to this room adding a nod to the coast.

Prepare to duke it out for who gets to sleep in the stunning master bedroom

The four poster bed of my dreams from the White Company in the master bedroom

A peek into the ensuite which has a roll top bath of it’s own

And a shower to with marble metro tiles

We all then enjoyed big communal breakfasts together with papers around the huge kitchen table which can easily seat 12.  Bacton, where the cottage is based has a small local shop which stocks all of your bread/milk/Sunday papers essentials. Though it is not the kind of the place where you will be able to source artisan pate or gluten free granola so maybe stock up in advance if those things are your daily essentials.

Evenings were spent slobbed out on the two huge comfy sofas in front of the fire. The zinc coffee table is truly a sight to behold, I am pretty sure that it may be bigger than one of our bedrooms at home. If you have been out taking the sea air during the day then coming back and running a bubble bath in the stunning main bathroom of an evening is also to be recommended.

The living room with open fire and that zinc coffee table!

I love all of the subtle nods to coastal decor that Vicky has included in the cottage without it ever feeling beach themed

Settle down on one of the two huge sofas and enjoy a film

The kind of bath you want to linger in with Plum & Ashby products on tap

The Surrounding Area

If you can bring yourself to leave the comfort of the house then there are two stunning (and nearly deserted) beaches close by.  The one at Carts Gap has a little café and Happisburgh boasts a Lighthouse and an excellent playground.

The seafront in Bacton on a slightly stormy day

The lighthouse at Happisburgh which is just ten minutes drive from the house

Bacton woods close to the house offer excellent dog walking/Gruffalo hunting opportunities and if you are in need of a National Trust top up then Felbrigg Hall is just 10 minutes away.  The delights of the rest of the North Norfolk coast are also within easy reach with Holt (a lovely Georgian market town) just twenty minutes drive and beyond that gems including Wells on Sea, Blakney, Stiffkey, Holkham and more.

The harbour in Blakeney a lovely place to visit about an hours drive from the cottage

HUge open skies and miles of sand on Holkham beach

Disclosure 5 minutes after this idyllic mother and son photo was taken he did an emergency poo in a sand dune

We enjoyed a delicious pub lunch at The Victoria at Holkham and then a run on the vast and beautiful beach.  We also called in at Stiffkey Stores for a coffee and spot of modern rustic interiors shopping.  The kids loved a) the cabins for sitting in outside and b) the excellent selection of sweets for less than 50p on offer. I should also mention that the Gunton Arms (rated in the Top 50 places for a pub lunch by [    ]) is also just ten minutes away from the house.  Be sure to reserve a table well in advance of your stay though as it gets really booked up!

The Victoria Inn at Holkham where we enjoyed a delicious pub lunch

Stepping inside Stiffkey Stores in like stepping into my Modern Rustic paradise

Some of the beautiful displays in Stiffkey Stores

So Anneka hang your jumpsuit back up and return to presenting the Sunday Morning Sizzle on Radio Colchester as this is one challenge I have solved without your helicopter even having to leave Broadcasting House.  If you would like to book a stay at Edenhall Cottage click here you can also follow the cottage on instagram here. We were lucky enough to be guests of Vicky and Chris when we stayed but at less than £2000 for a stay even at the height of peak season it is a complete bargain compared to anything I have found of similar size/quality anywhere else in the UK!

*We did not pay for our stay at Eden Hall but I was not asked to produce any content in return for our stay. I am writing up our stay for the blog because it is genuinely one of the nicest places I have ever stayed and I wanted to share it with you *

My Living Room Makeover Plans

Do you have a room or area of your house that is off limits for Instagram? Without wishing to sound too Joseph Fritzl, our “hidden room” is our dining room. I call it the dining room because 8 years ago when we first moved in (and prior to doing the kitchen extension) this is where our kitchen table used to be. Once the extension was complete we moved the table to the bottom end of the kitchen, opened up the wall between the kitchen and this room and made it into a second living room. Confused?

This side of the room often pops up on Instagram as it features one of my favourite additions to the house: these faux crittal doors

The kitchen table which has been relocated to the new extension

I want to say I will artfully sketch you a floor plan in charcoal so you can see how it all fits together but unfortunately I have drawing skills that are on a par with those of a worm drunk on tequila so I am hoping that these next photos will help to make things a bit clearer!

The kitchen used to be accessed by a narrow door to the left of this picture. Knocking out more of the wall and shifting the entrance has allowed lots more light into the “dining room”

Opening the artist formerly known as the dining room to the kitchen has made a huge difference to our family life and we use it lots as a relaxed family living room but this space very rarely graces the grid for the following reasons:

1) It is home to a toy storage unit which regularly belches out brightly coloured plastic objects and which can only be moved with the assistance of a small crane or Hulk Hogan

Thanks to Hulk Hogan for popping round and helping me move it for the purposes of this blog. The whimsical rustic ladder was all Hulk’s idea.

2) There is a 1980s radiator stranded behind the sofa shitting on every shot with it’s Soviet Era bad looks (although it does come in incredibly handy for resting a mug of tea on). In all seriousness as well limiting my insta possibilities it’s current location means it is mainly heating the back of the sofa rather then us.

My temporary radiator cover up solution!

3) The kids treat the sofa as both a trampoline and dinner table meaning it looks like the kind of two piece suite you often find in a mini cab office that has been sat on by 27,876 15 stone men called Keith eating kebabs whilst waiting for a cab.

But I have some plans for this space which may see it making more of an appearance on Instagram in 2019 which I thought I would share with you here (mainly to give myself a kick up the arse to get on with them)

The sofa in all of it’s banana and butter stained glory

Hoping that my mum isn’t reading this blog as I know she will be telling me off for having my shoes on the sofa!

Step One: Re-positioning the Shits On Every Shot Radiator

This is 95% because all of the heat it emits gets lost behind the sofa and 5% because it limits my insta possibilities in it’s current position (ok maybe more like 75%/25% but still…). Kevin my quotes guy has been round to suss out alternative positions and assures me it can fairly easily be removed from this wall and a new vertical column radiator positioned on the wall leading to the kitchen instead. I haven’t mentioned this plan to Mr Malmo yet on the basis that it involves taking floorboards up and he will probably therefore receive it as warmly as an invitation to set his own pubic hair on fire. There were some murmurings from Kevin about BTUs (which I believe relates to heat output rather than the currency of Moldova) which may slightly restrict the choice of radiator I can go for but I am thinking of either a white or light grey one so that it is not too noticeable in it’s new location.

The re positioned radiator will go on the wall to the right in this picture

Step Two: Pimp My Wall Rustic Industrial Style

With the radiator shot cock block out of the way I am planning on making the wall behind the sofa more of a feature wall. Not in the Lawrence Lwellyn Bowen flocked wall paper sense obviously. It will not surprise you to learn that I have a more rustic/industrial plan up my sleeve. I currently have three of these gorgeous old Brooklyn ceiling tiles on the wall but I now want to go large and cover the whole wall with them. I know that you can now get wall paper with them printed on but I really want the texture and feel of the real deal. My inspiration comes from Baileys Home and Garden where they have done this to stunning effect. Nailing 50 of them to the wall should be simple right? If in the big room reveal it actually turns out to be a feature wall of LLB’s new satin flocked wallpaper you will know that it has turned out to be anything but.

Ceiling tiles on the bar at Baileys Home and Garden as captured by @kinshipcreative_dc

I picked up three of these beautiful Brooklyn ceiling tiles at Sunbury antiques fair a couple of years ago.

Only need to find another 49 of them now…..

Step Three: Saying Goodbye to the Seatdrop Sofa

There is a school of thought that says that we should hang on to the minicab office sofa until the boys are of an age when they are able to eat a banana without nearby surfaces ending up looking like they have a bad case of fruit based thrush. However, I am going with a different more visually pleasing school of thought that says that if we have the corner sofa of my dreams in a smoky grey velvet they will love it so much that eschew their previous #badbananamanners. Has anyone else combined velvet soft furnishings and three boys without having to take a Valium anytime they go near it?

Trying to demonstrate to the boys that the sofa is for sitting pretending to read a coffee table interiors book on rather than trampolining

Step Four: Trimming down the Toy Storage and Creating a Magazine Library

We are currently in the midst of a lengthy rearrangement and redecoration of the boys bedrooms which make building the Taj Mahal look like a quick project. Once that is complete I am hoping to relocate the current toy storage holder upstairs and replace it with something that belches plastic less frequently (ideas on a postcard please!). I would then love to add some more picture shelves to this wall to display some of my abundant collection of interiors mags because what woman doesn’t love to get her Kinfolk out for the lads? Although do you think that having more picture shelves might be too much with the wall of many rustic tiles as well?

This stunning shot from the home of @bloggabis is inspiration for my picture ledge extension

The wall to the left is where I am envisaging the additional picture shelves going

But do you think it will be too much with my rustic tile feature wall as well?

So there you have it my Living Room makeover plans for 2019.  Apologies for the slightly analogue presentation of them.  Learning how to create a digital mood board is one of my life goals for 2019 after I have nailed more regular (by which I mean more frequently than twice yearly) maintenance of my bikini line and the art of loading the dishwasher so that it doesn’t look like it has been done by Gazza upon returning home from a night on the lash.

Mood board your perfect space with Corian® Design

*This blog post is a paid advertorial with Corian Design*

When we extended and renovated our kitchen back in 2012 I had just given birth to our second son and was about to embark upon a career change that would involve forfeiting two thirds of my previous salary (remind me why I thought that was a good idea again?!).  That meant we were working to quite a strict budget and so there were certain items on my wish list that I had to compromise on.  Worktops were one such item. 

I had my heart set on marble, concrete, or Corian surfaces but it was a case of champagne taste and lemonade budget. In the end,  we ended up going for wood.  Five  years later,  I still regret that decision.  It is not that I don’t like the wood it is just that I don’t love it and I have been slowly working on persuading Mr. Malmo that it would be a good idea to upgrade the worktops ever since.

The worktop in the holiday home we recently stayed in during a trip to the Netherlands made me regret my original wooden worktop choice!

So when Corian® Design asked me to try their new Moodboard Maker tool I jumped at the chance!  I am one of those people who is literally unable to visualise anything using only my imagination so the Moodboard Maker is the perfect tool for me.

Who is  Corian® Design?

Corian® Design is a  designer and manufacturer of high quality Solid Surfaces which are made using a blend of minerals and acrylic and can be shaped into literally any design or size you want.  There are over 100 different colours and patterns available to choose from so whatever your interior style there will be an option that will work for your space. 

The Corian Moodboard Maker

If you are ever having a bad week at work or the kids are winding you up,  forget yoga, pilates or meditation and get mood boarding!  It may be less likely to tone your abs, improve your core or flexibility, but I think it is one of the most relaxing and therapeutic things you can do as it allows you to escape from reality for a little bit and get in touch with your creative side. The mood boarding I have done in the past when planning out room schemes has been of the analogue variety in the sense that it involved pritt stick, scissors and lots of ripped out pages from magazines.  I was really keen to try the much less messy digital version.

An introduction to the Moodboard maker

I am not naturally good with technology.  Actually, I am naturally terrible with technology.  I have an innate ability to crash an app at 50 paces and I think the IT guy at work has now started fielding my calls to avoid the almost daily questions I have about how to use Microsoft Excel.  Therefore, when I say if I can use the Corian Moodboard Maker tool, then anyone can. I really mean it!  It is super simple and straightforward.   The end goal is to create a visual mosaic with several  pieces that represent different surfaces, textures and materials to create a design story for your space. 

The first step in the process is to choose a style that you think best represents you. The options include Organic, Minimal, Relaxed, Modern, Refined, Bohemian or Edgy.  The different styles come with a different range of inspiration pictures to choose from. But, you can also upload your own images to the tool quite  easily to give you extra choices and personalization.  I played around with Organic and Bohemian styles but in the end decided on Minimal as I felt it best captured my Scandi-inspired look. 

My kitchen and the existing wooden worktops

You then have a blank Moasaic shape with several  different segments to fill.  The first step is to pick a Corian® Design swatch that you want to showcase and then you can build the rest of the mosaic around it.  You can select more than one Corian® Design Solid Surface swatch if you are struggling to narrow down your options or want to play around with the look and feel.   I chose Corian® Solid Surface in Silver Gray and Arrowroot because I am most drawn to these two and am struggling to make a decision.

You then fill up the rest of the segments either using the bank of pre-existing images available in the tool or by uploading your own images which could be anything that inspires you, it doesn’t have to be strictly interiors related.  So if you have of a beautiful sunset from your holiday that you really like the colours/feel of then add it into the mix. 

I used a combination of images from my own home (both room shots and close ups on textures such as the front of one of my cupboards) and then also drew upon some of the existing Corian images as they blended really nicely with my own pictures. 

Photo credit Vintage Piken

I used a picture of the front of one of my kitchen cupboards because I like the distressed wood

You can easily drag and drop images in and switch them around if you don’t think you have the right combination.   Et voila one finished moodboard which you can download to your phone or computer, share on your social media platforms, pin to your Pinterest board for your project or even order a framed print of!  Here’s my final moodboard:

My final mood board created with the Corian Moodboard Maker