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!

Styling a Scandinavian Christmas Table

Christmas can be an expensive time of year with presents, parties and panto combining to mean you have taken on the national debt of Belgium by the 1st of January. I love decorating my home for Christmas but I don’t think you need to spend a fortune doing it or to invest in loads of stuff that you are going to chuck away after Santa has set off back to the North Pole. If, like me, you are operating with more of a Morrisons than Macy’s budget then going for a Scandinavian inspired Christmas look is ideal. Our Scandinavian friends like to keep things simple and minimal and to use lots of natural foliage that you can forage from your garden or local parks under the cover of darkness.

The Christmas table Reena and I created at our recent Hygge for all Seasons workshop

At our recent Hygge for all Seasons workshop at the Occasional Home Store, Reena (@hygge_ for _ home) and I created a Modern Rustic/Scandi inspired Christmas table scheme featuring 3 simple ideas for table decorations inspired by our favourite Nordic instagram accounts and nature. If you are not already following our inspiration accounts then you are in for a treat

The beautiful account of German sisters @babes_ in _boyland

Cool white Christmas with a boho twist in the Swedish home of @bytrineravn

Rustic maximalism in the Finnish home of @storm_ and _ clay

The space we were transforming for Hygge for all Seasons was a big lecture room overlooking a beautiful reservoir. It meant we were working with quite high ceilings and a bigger table than the average family would be sitting down to on the 25th December. But to show that the ideas can work in any setting I have also recreated them at home so you can see just how easy it is to do

The view out over the West Reservoir from our workshop room

Our workshop venue, a beautiful 1930s former water filtering station

We used a dark grey linen tablecloth kindly loaned to us by Chalk Pink Linen for the base of our table along with some of their lovely crisp fresh white linen napkins. They also do all of their linen in a gorgeous dove grey which I used when I styled my table at home. For our tableware we used earthy ceramic plates and beakers in muted neutral colours from Igigi General Store and then added interest to the table with some simple Scandi candle holders in the shape of stars from The King and I and I and for a tiny touch of twinkle some vintage crystal ones from Hellish Designs. We added a bit of Nordic drama to the table with our dramatic pampas table centrepiece and hula chandeliers.

Our gifting advent tree allowed Scandi Santa to share some suprises with our guests from Jord Home, Malako Skincare, Sevin London, Thornback and Peel, Lovestruck Interiors, Kate and the Ink, Igigi General Store, and A Little Botanical

A charcoal grey tablecloth from Chalk Pink Linen provided a great backdrop to our table scheme

We were working with quite a big space so went for a dramatic table centre piece using pampas grass and made the table cosier by adding sheepskins to our chairs from Jord Home

After feasting on Bronuts from Norahs Brownies (it turns out that combining two of my favourite cakes together creates a third cake I like even more) our work shoppers went home with a luxury botanical candle from Join London which are hand poured in Jen’s South-East London riverside studio and use only natural ingredients. If you were not able to come along on the day but would like to create a similar modern rustic look for Christmas table then read on and find out how to use chicken wire, a hula hoop and fencing wire to create a Nordic Noel.

The Hygge for all Seasons look recreated on a slightly smaller scale in my kitchen

Make your own rustic advent chandelier

What you need: One hula hoop, approx 1 metre of linen or hessan, masking tape, floristry wire, mixture of faux and real foliage of your choice

Ok so you maybe reading this think a chandelier?? I thought she said this was going to be full of affordable ideas not looks to steal from the Palace of Versaille. But bear with me because the chandeliers in question are made using the humble hula hoop. I sourced mine off E-Bay for about £3 but charity shops often have them too. To cover them I used natural linen but a cheaper alternative would be to use hessian which is roughly £5 a metre.

Start by cutting the hessian into 10cm wide strips. Either tie on to the hula hoop or, for a neater look you can use masking tape to secure it in place. Wrap the strips around the hoop until it is fully covered, this is your base. The next step is to wrap a foliage garland around the hoop securing using florists wire. I used a simple garland made by Parlane that cost me £8. Depending upon how dramatic you want your hoop to look tie on mixture of faux and natural foliage (eucalyptus is good as it looks fine even when dried). I wanted mine to have a bit of drama so i tied springs of eucalyptus on pointing downwards using florists wire. Finally, cut four lengths of twine (mine were about 60cms long but it depends on the ceiling height you are working with) and tie each length on about 30cm apart around the hoop.

The humble hula hoop transformed into a stunning scandi chandelier

Once you have completed all of those steps, all you need to do is find a way to suspend it from your ceiling. I got Mr Malmo to screw a small hook in (i think I made this request after he had had a couple of beers as screwing things into plasterboard usually sets off his ‘no fucking way’ alarm). You could equally just use command hooks if you are willing to accept that at some point in December they may lose their stick and deposit a chandelier on your crackers.

​Pampas Grass Table Centrepiece

What you need: 30cm x 20cm wooden box, chicken wire, plyers and 10-15 stems of pampas grass

Pampas grass has been all over Instagram this year which either means swinging is having a big revival or that there is a massive trend towards using natural dried grasses in floral arrangements. I am really hoping it is the latter as I don’t fancy throwing my car keys in a bowl and going soixante neuf with my 86 yr old neighbour George who last possessed his own teeth sometime around 1987 and favours using an outside toilet. I have seen some great ideas for using pampas in your home, from creating a stunning hanging installation (check out the account of Signe Bay for inspo) to the more suited to a surban semi option of using it in a vintage box that I have gone with.

Because the scale of the venue at our Hygge for all Seasons workshop was big with high ceilings I was able to go a bit more dramatic creating lots of height with a vintage Canadian Dry box (which I am careful never to leave Reena alone in a room with in case she disappears off into the modern rustic mist with it). However back home I used a smaller box I picked up for £10 from Sunbury antiques and a bit less grass to create a slightly pared back version.

My box was about 30-40cm long and 20cm wide. If you are struggling to source a vintage one then H&M Home also have some similar size ones with a rustic look to them. All you need apart from the box is some chicken wire, plyers and a bunch of pampas grass. I got my chicken wire online (which am fairly sure may have placed me on some sort of Interpol list) but you can also source from petshops.

Pampas looks beautiful but be warned it sheds more fluff

Chicken wire is quite sharp so maybe pop some gardening gloves on for this bit

Cut a roll of wire that will fit inside of your box (maybe wear gardening gloves to do so as I emerged from my skirmish with it looking like someone who had stuck their arm in a holly bush). Then basically just poke your pampas grass into the holes in the chicken wire in a manner that creates an arrangement you are happy with! If you have you mother-in-law coming round for Christmas lunch and want to avoid making chit chat with her about Barry from her Bridge group’s prostate then leave the stalks long. But if not maybe cut them to a more conversation friendly level of about 30cm. You may want to be careful about how closely you position it to candles as pampas is right up there with a shellsuit in terms of flammability.

I used a mixture of natural and faux foliage on my hoop chandelier. Dunelm is my favourite place to source realistic looking reasonably priced faux.

I love the height that the pampas adds to the table.

The wooden box adds warmth and texture to the Christmas table

Mini Eucalyptus Wreaths

What you need: euclyptus, wire and floristry wire.

To add some greenery into our Christmas table we made mini eucalyptus wreaths which acted as a backdrop to beautiful calligraphy christmas labels from Oysterbridge Co. My original idea was to make mini rosemary wreaths having seen them on Pinterest. I don’t know if it was because my supermarket rosemary was just too short but 45 minutes into my minature wreath making all I had was a herb heavy lap and a sprig of rosemary balder than Kim Kardashian’s bikini line tied in a circle. So I went back to the drawing board, rejected the rosemary and turned to the far more plyable eucalyptus instead.

The wire helps to create structure and it means you can secure the foliage in place using floristry wire. You can make them as big or as small as you like in terms of the size of the hoop (this idea would equally work to make hoops to hang on a wall as the wire is quite sturdy). And you can go simple or more dramatic in terms of how much foliage you add. I kept ours quite simple because we were putting the labels on top and didn’t want to detract from them. The mini wreaths will also make your christmas table smell amazing.

Create a wire base (close your loop by simply wrapping the wire ends together) and then secure your foliage in place with small lengths of floristry wire.

Et voila one mini eucalyptus wreath

Add a personal touch to your table with these gorgeous handwritten labels from Oysterbridge Co

I made this wreath a little bit less neat as I loved how it looked with the sprigs fanning out slightly

We would like to say a huge thank you to the 31 lovely people who came along to Hygge for all Seasons in November and made it so much fun. We have loved seeing how people have incorporated the ideas from the workshop into their Christmas decor already. We would also like to thank all of the brands that collaborated with us in providing gifts for our works shoppers (including Join London, Sevin London, Malako Skincare, Igigi General Store, Love Struck Interiors, Thornback & Peel, Kate and the Ink and Chalk Pink Linen) and items to use in our table styling (Chalk Pink Linen, Igigi General Store, Lights 4 Fun, Hellish Designs and The King and I).