Playing changing rooms...

Good afternoon snoozers, or is that just us today? The Eastons are feeling pretty sleepy on this warm Sunday afternoon, I have just about managed to pull myself around to share with you a little post for some easy reading. 

I trust you read Monday's blog on brown furniture right? Well look what I've been up to this morning...

We were given (yep you heard me, GIVEN - how lucky are we) this gorgeous sideboard from a member of Craigs family. It's been sat at the bottom of our hall for some time collecting dust, so this morning, with Craig out at work (hence the rug under the sideboard - it was my dragging mechanism!)  I decided it was about time we put it to good use and I started to practice what I preach...

If you're a regular reader you probably know by know that I'm not most keen of our living room ( its way to bland and the paint choice was made before I crossed over to the dark side), but I thought I'd make the best of what I have. 

Below you can see on the left hand wall was a hand painted dresser in off white (snooze), and the rest of the walls look really bland too.

So I switched out the dresser to make room for the sideboard, and popped this in the right hand alcove besides the burner...

Are you ready?

Voi la...

I hung this big piece of cow art above the sideboard, and layered up some metallic finishes (mirrored frame and copper planters) with some greenery and our home bar to add a punch of 21st century quirk to the antique piece. As I mentioned last week, this helps make your brown furniture seem more 'eclectic cool' than ' dingy Grandma'!

What do you think?

   

I feel like the sideboard totally grounds the space making it feel much more complete than before, and by adding some interest at a higher level on the back ( log burner ) wall instantly the whole place seems more interesting. It's by no means perfect yet, but it's much better than before don't you think? And all of this was done using everything I already own - who'd have thought just a little effort can make quite a difference. As silly as it sounds, I feel great for doing this too and now I want to go sit in my living room rather than avoid the place!

I'd love to see how you've styled up your brown furniture, stick them over twitter or instagram and tag in @lilliandaph and use the hashtag #brownfurniture.

Happy Sunday snoozing folks.

P.S I'm working on some monthly features for the blog and some daily stuff too across social media sites (Facebook, instagram and twitter) So if you haven't already, give Lilliandaph a heads up over there, I think you might like what's in store.

XOXO

So this post is inspired by a friends recent decorating dilemma, which upon hearing has made me think about this...

Lots of us end up lumbered with brown stuff that perhaps we didn't choose or maybe choose a long time ago before we all got super cool (we have inherited a brown leather bed, the thought gives me shivers, that Craig brought from his Dad's. You know the Argos type, he loved it when he was a teenage boy.)

By 'stuff' I'm talking things like big old comfy sofas and wooden tables and chairs that have been passed down from parents and family. Lets face it, we can't always afford to buy everything new when were changing up our spaces, and besides some of the brown 'stuff' can have the most character and charm - it's just knowing how to nurture it.

So we have a couple of options with this brown sitch:

1. We can change the colour of the stuff- So paint or re-vamp those old school, classic, built-to-last pieces that you pick up at car boots or had passed down to you. Not only paint but changing knobs and how you dress these pieces is all part of the tarting up process.

and

2. We can integrate the brown- so this is all about making the brown stuff work in your space in a cooler way. Adding other elements, offsetting with other colours and accessories, and throwing in more brown (yep you heard me -more brown) all helps to transform your brown stuff works.

Number 1 is mainly aimed at wooden furniture, (although I have come across painting leather and fabric on the crazy web I've not yet tried it myself, check it out here if your intrigued.) I adore cleaning up and painting old furniture it unleashes so much life into a piece that can be quite unbelievable, but this is going to be another post for another time. Today were talking how to work those awkward pieces into your scheme on mere integration tricks.

Add more brown 

Honing in on the hue with touches like cushions, accessories, artwork, wallpaper and even paintwork will stop your brown furniture sticking out like a sore thumb and create harmony through your scheme. Play around with tones of the colour to create an interesting feel rather than sticking to one which may leave it looking flat and boring. Be brave and try depths you might not have explored before - dark sludgy browns can add grandeur and really ground a space, where lighter tones will make a place feel more calming.

Compliment the hue 

Adding pops of other colours to offset the brown will help to update the look and modernise the whole scheme. Hit it up with brights like orange and pink for a really quirky contemporary vibe or go for greys for a more understated cool. Using lots of earthy colours (greens, neutrals and warm reds) can bring a relaxing element to your space, however for me this is kind of a bit predictable and 'been there'. This is all amount hitting up your 'stuff' with a big bag of cool. 

Go glam

If you do lean towards these earthy tones, think rustic glam and add shots of surprise in other ways. Super scale-up your shiny surfaces like mirrors and metallics, hang your lighting a little lower and layer up varied textile finishes. All of these things will stop your space looking as mundane as the front page of the Next home brochure and create extra WOW (I realise I may offend Next fans here, but I had to take the risk sorry guys. It's not that it's not lovely, but it's just not AMAZINGGGG.)

Mix it up

If your piece is old, clash it up with something uber- contemporary to create unexpected intrigue, a big wooden elephant per say. As I'm learning, this is what makes spaces exciting. Throw in the unexpected and not only does your space scream personality but it will fill your guests with decorating envy!

Play up pattern

Pick out patterns in your sofa or wood work detail and play on them. As long as your sticking to one or two colours, adding in even the most subtle of patterns will transform your space. I must admit, I'm a little bit of a pattern phobe, so I tend to add it in subtly through rugs and cushions in big prints that barely look like patterns.

Get rid of anything else uncool. 

Okay, sometimes we just have to be cruel to be kind (like the NEXT jibe). If your re-arranging or redecorating and keeping hold of your big brown 'stuff', it may be time to throw away any old pieces that just don't fit the bill. I tend to live by the rule of investing in the long term. It the same as with clothes, the more you spend on pieces the longer they will last. If you buy furniture, art or accessories for your home based on your true instinctive style, and not from the latest trend of a cheap homewards shop (I'm not saying you have to spend a fortune here- in fact sometimes the cooler stuff is cheaper - I have a big glass urn that I ADORE and it cost me eight quid from the charity shop. I also managed to pick up 4 ERCOL dining chairs for £90 in a charity shop - safe to say I was chuffed up!) then the more likely it is that you will never have to throw it away. Of course you can grab some good cheap bargains in these places that might see you through the next year, but be prepared to part with them once you're ready for a change. 

I hope these tips enlighten you, I'd love to see your brown transformations, or if you have a piece / pieces that you're not sure what to do with and would like a bit more help give me a shout!

XOXO

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Head over to pinterest for more inspiration!

Battling with bathrooms...

Good morning world, well actually I think I have missed the morning today I am quite behind the usual Sunday morning schedule - since hand in at uni I have not really stopped and I think it has finally caught up with me.

Anyway I'll quit winging now and get back to the blog, I realise I've lost touch a little in the last few weeks but the truth is I actually have no excuses. I have simply been busy living. Which sounds ridiculous but seriously life is time consuming isn't it? When I was busy with Uni work the little things would go out of the window, like mopping my floors and ironing, and now I have no stressful deadline to work towards, somehow I have upped the anti in completing the day to day jobs stakes, and quite frankly it's neither exciting or rewarding so I'm intent on applying myself to the things that make me happy and feel productive - like blogging. 

So today we have the bathroom guy in finishing off what we started around two months ago. I'm not complaining as he is a friend doing us a favour, which is brilliant for saving up the pennies, but it does require a dose of patience. I'm so excited to share this reno with you guys, although I am a little gutted that we don't have proper before pictures as this room has had a good overhaul. Hopefully it will be done within the week so I'll pop up a 'Voi-la' post then, but in the mean time it has made me do some reflecting on the bathroom journey.

Bathrooms are hard. Period. 

They can be so standard can't they? Like seriously when we started looking I just felt completely uninspired. We shopped around the usual bathroom places, the majority of which actually made me feel quite nauseous and frustrated at the time we were wasting. They were full of the same plastic-y looking fixtures and fittings that sparked no lust whatsoever. Why are bathrooms like this? I mean I get that they have to be functional of course, but would you kit your bedroom out in white clad plastic units? Didn't think so.

Fuelled with strong hatred for standardisation (I've never really been into standard- just you ask Craig) and armed with new insights into design, I made it my mission to design a bathroom that looked like it belonged to us. It's a hard thing to fight is standardisation, because unless you have the audacity to question the norm, it's so easy to be swallowed up by the sea of what seems to be the only possibility.

I'm telling you this, YOU MUST CREATE YOUR OWN POSSIBILITIES.

The bathroom designer from the standard bathroom showroom will tell you that you couldn't possibly  put those extra large taps over a sink, and the bathroom fitter will tell you that you need fitted cupboards for all of your essential bathroom items. 

SOD THEM. 

YOU KNOW HOW BIG YOU'D LIKE YOUR TAPS TO BE AND I'M PRETTY SURE THAT YOU CAN WHITTLE DOWN YOUR BATHROOM CLUTTER IF IT MEANS YOU CAN HAVE A BEAUTIFUL FREE STANDING UNIT TO HOUSE YOUR SINK.

Your bathroom does not have to look like every single other bathroom in England. It is simply another room in your house. Treat it like you would your bedroom or your living room. Fill it with all of your favorite things, hang pictures on the wall, house it with accessories and furniture. 

MAKE IT A SPACE THAT YOU NEVER WANT TO LEAVE.

Clearly this is a subject I am passionate about (sorry for the rant I told myself this would be a short post), I feel I have a lot a personal experience in this department - our bathroom guy even told me I shouldn't be painting the walls the colour I have! But it has really opened my eyes into bathroom design, I feel it's such a shame when you visit a lovely home with welcoming decor then you visit the bathroom and it looks just like every other bathroom you have been in. 

I'll follow this post up with pics and a write up of exactly what we have done in our bathroom, but in the mean time get shopping for some lovely homely pieces for your own bathroom, dig out some artwork and hang it by your shower, and fall in love with your bathroom.

Happy Sunday

XOXO

P.S if you really are going to shop, H & M have some fab cheap accessories, as do Urban Outfitters and the gorgeous online shop MiaFleur

Sunday morning bloggin' ; a blogger worth bloggin about...SARAH AKWISOMBE

Good morning you lovely lot, I've woken up nicely fuelled after half a bottle of wine and a good old sofa slouch last night - just what the Doctor ordered!

This morning I want to share with you a blogger who I'm pretty new to, but honestly she is one fiesty lady!

Sarah Akwisombe is an award winning blogger and freelance stylist based in London. It sounds like she has a gutsy 'no messing' approach to life and is hitting me up with loads of big time inspiration at the minute! 

Not just the fact that she had the balls to quit her day job and pursue her dreams in making it big in the interior styling/ design industry, but just simply for the FACT THAT SHE CUTS THE BULL SHIT.

This lady really says it how it is, which is highly admirable to see in the field as I'm quickly learning it can all be a bit pretentious.

My fave post of hers at the minute are

this one - mainly cos it links pretty strongly with where my heads at right now

and

this one - this is exactly the no nonsense approach to interiors that I'm talking about, she really ditches right and wrongs and makes it clear that a home should reflect its owners - which I totally agree with.

CHECK her out, I reckon she's the type of lady we all need to take a leaf from!

Oh and 

Get all over this list she's curated 

You'll thank me for sharing this with you I can guarantee!

Happy Sunday

XOXO.

P.s how cool is her home??!!

ALL IMAGES FROM http://www.sarahakwisombe.com

House reno. PART I...

Sorting through some photos on my mac I came across some 'before' snaps of the house. So for those of you who don't know, we've been busy renovating our house - its not been lots of major, structural stuff but still its been a bit of a long haul. Seeing these pics makes me realise just how much we've done, it definitely feels rewarding. We are almost there so more pics will follow, but in the mean time here's the living room and conservatory snaps...

The living room before we started, when we moved in we stripped a load of bright pink flock wall paper, and paired it right back. we opted for paper on one wall to compliment the natural colour of the  original fireplace. We ripped up 13 year old Karndean flooring and lived with painted floor boards for the 1st year, which I really quite liked at the time but looking back it was all a bit pale.

Then after about a year we made the decision to add a log burner, the house is pretty cold and with the conservatory being all glass its almost unusable in the winter. After a few domestic tifs about where the burner would go and getting past the complications of the glass roof , I finally got my own way and we decided to go for a through and through burner (means it is open in both sides), and we knocked through from the living room into the conservatory. My advice to anyone doing anything similar would be question the obvious. To me, this comes pretty natural, I question EVERYTHING, but my husband wasn't getting it and I was starting to feel a little ganged up on by men to say the least.

STICK TO YOUR GUNS. Yeah it cost a little more, but to me if I couldn't have it how I pictured then it wasn't worth having at all. Both my husband and the fitter were making faces when I asked if it was a possibility, but as soon as I heard him say "It's more difficult, but yeah", I snapped it right up! Don't just do things cos' it's the norm or cos it's all that your workman is capable of, if you visualise something in a certain way, PIPE UP and don't settle for less until you know that it's absolutely IMPOSSIBLE.

A stud chimney breast had to be built on the lounge side in order to create room for the chimney to be diverted away from the glass roof and out to the house roof.

We (I say we...Craig), knocked out the brick under the window, when we had new windows fitted through the house, we opted for French doors here. The idea here is that one day we will build a balcony along the back of the house...one day!

DRUMROLL....TA DAHHH!!!!....

 In the conservatory besides the log burner I'd say the game changer has been painting the mahogany woodwork. It's really lifted the space as well as modernising it at the same time. The walls look so bare on these photos and were crying out for a coffee table or ottoman in this space but I'm holding out to find 'the one'.

So were obviously not totally finished, the most important touches are still yet to be added but like Craig keeps telling me, we can collect those over the years we plan to be here. Like the conservatory the lounge walls still feel so bare and we definitely need some rugs going on. And like Abigail Ahern keeps on telling us, there should be way more lighting in this room- we do have a dimmer though so that's a bonus ;) Keep reading for updates on our very own house reno. and please feel free to comment ;) XOXO.