The House Challenge - It Begins
So, here I am, the first post for 'The House Challenge'. Recently I did the big move and we moved house, we had been looking for quite a few months before this one popped up and we thought let's go and have a look... as soon as we both walked in, we looked at each other and we both new this was the one. We both had a little smile and looked at each other with our eyes, as if to say... this is our new home!
We did it, bought it and we are in! Although this isn't our first move, the move and the house feels different, it feels like, as cheesy as it sounds... it was meant to be... I think I am in house love! We were very lucky that the house doesn't actually need any work doing to it, the previous owner had looked after it very well, it was freshly painted, a perfectly fitted, working kitchen and a beautiful well established garden.
But as lovely as it is, it needs some spicing up with colour and new interior style and Frantasia Haze and I have some fabulous ideas. Where to start? well because nothing needed doing urgently, we are able to relax and design each part of the house as and when we want. I have been given 95% off the interior styling for the house (I had to give him 5% to keep him happy), but luckily he loves my ideas, so all is good.
I chose to start with the living room, I felt this was a good starting point before venturing into the mess of a new kitchen and re-tiling etc. I thought the living room was a good way to introduce us back into interiors and prepare us for decorating the whole house. I had already an interior vision for the living room, I wanted it to be light and fresh but warm, cosy and modern.
When we looked around the house when we moved in, I stood in the living room and new the colours to work with had to be greens and greys, these are the main colours I have chosen, along with wanting an added splash of colour, obviously the Frantasia Haze way... A splash of coral orange sprung to mind! I also wanted to try and capture the greenery from the front garden and have the natural light and colours follow through into the living room ... starting with the curtains and bringing natures life into the interior design.
The walls
After spending what felt like an hour looking at paints and choosing 4 sample pots to see which grey will grace the walls... It had to be, Polished Pebble. A soft grey, which reflects the light beautifully and it also gives a subtle warmness which was just what I was looking for and I love the finish!
I have this fabulous large mirror which I am planning on hanging above the fireplace, this is being upgraded and is temporarily in the garage. I am planning on re-vamping the frame, I saw this beautiful metallic gold and copper paint which I am going to use and give it a new life! It's bold and luxury gold finish will create a subtle but 'check me out' feature to the room.
Continuing with the walls to create a feature point for the room, I new I wanted a jungle, wild like nature designed wallpaper to bring the room to life. You could call it perfect timing, but what is Frantasia Haze currently working on!? a New Design Collection called Jungle Flower. YES, and in the design book I new I had a design similar to what I am looking for the living room wallpaper. So, away I am finishing the design for the wallpaper, which is also going to be featured as part of the Jungle Flower Collection, obviously I am very excited about! I will keep you posted and update you through 'The House Challenge'.
The Curtains
Fabrics, you could spend hours, days looking through different materials and designs, I could quite easily spend all my days doing this. But luckily I already had an idea, I new I wanted a block colour and to find a rich green shade. And ... I find it, this beautiful Forest Green Velvet, absolutely stunning colour, it is rich and luxurious, perfect for the room! Ordered ... and two weeks later they have arrived and are up! The Forest Green looks beautiful against the polished pebble walls and the soft grey helps the green stand out even more. It looks and feels like my interior vision for the room is starting to come together.
So there we are at the moment with the living room, ceiling, walls and woodwork are pretty much done, curtains up, so we can lounge around in our PJ's in piece, which has been wonderful! And now we are moving onto the flooring, some finishing touches and of course the feature wall paper which will bring the whole interior design of the room together.
I am looking forward to posting again with my house challenge interiors and sharing how well the living room developments are getting on in the next months, 'The House Challenge'.
Speak Soon,
L x