When doing up your home, there are decisions upon decisions to be made – colours, flooring, lighting, shelves, panelling, accessories – the list is endless. So, like me, you may discuss your interior design decisions with friends and family first, but some of the advice I received, I chose to completely ignore. Here's why I just trusted my instincts…
Painting my living room black
Wanting to avoid a room of safe greys, beiges and neutral tones, I knew I wanted to go bold in my lounge, but I wasn't sold on any particular colour. When I stumbled across an Instagram image of a black fire breast, I knew I wanted to recreate it. Telling people my intention to use black paint on the fire breast for a feature was met with: 'Oh wow, you're brave,' and: 'No going back' comments, but I was whole-heartedly set.
I must admit, it was before my DIY prowess excelled so my friend's partner kindly volunteered to paint it for me as cutting in with black paint scared me, but it's been four years and I'm still in love with my dark feature wall. In fact, I'd probably paint a whole room black in future!
Opting for a stair runner
While we don't live in a traditional period property, I've always loved the look of exposed floorboards, ornate fireplaces and old-school stair runners. I set about painstakingly sanding and painting all of the stairs and then found my dream carpet to be bound into a runner.
'It'll be harder to clean' was the main warning I received when I spoke about my stair runner plans, and you know what, I'll admit – they were right. It is harder to clean, as you must vacuum first then wipe the edges, but boy is the extra effort worth it. I'm also glad I went for a statement stripe – I get it's not everyone's cup of tea, but for me, it adds a bit of personality.
Adding a shower screen
Our bathroom has needed a complete overhaul from day one of us moving in, but with other priorities, we haven't got around to it yet. It's a wet room which is super handy, but the style reminds me of a swimming pool changing room – not really the vibe I'm seeking…
But, instead of living with the basic shower curtain situation, which reminded me of my flat share, I was determined to upgrade the room temporarily with a shower screen. Some people told me not to bother if I would be ripping it out, but actually, we are four years down the line so I'm so glad I made this tiny tweak to make it a bit more liveable.
Herringbone-style flooring
The flooring we have throughout our kitchen and hallway is laminate that looks like herringbone, and when I was swooning over the chevron look, a few friends asked if I was worried about it going out of fashion. I just knew that even if the trend did wane (which it hasn't!) I would still adore it. Although it was the biggest pain to fit (shout out to my cousin here), I'm still in love with the style and I think it really makes the space. In fact, I wish I had it in my lounge too! So, the moral of the story here is, if you love it, that's all that matters.
