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Change your Interiors: Small ideas Big Impact

Life isn’t always about big ideas and sometimes it’s the smallest ones that have the greatest impact. Have you ever bought a new top and found that it goes with so many things in your wardrobe that you feel you have about ten new outfits? From there it’s a short step to adding a pair of shoes that you might not have put together with a particular pair of trousers before and suddenly there’s a spring in your step?

change your lampshades with the seasons
change your lampshades with the seasons nellie from pooky

Sophie and I discussed this on the podcast the other day (you can listen here) and I thought it was worthy of further examination here.

There are two ways that I regularly change my interiors to refresh a room using things I already have. The first is lighting. And, as the days start to get longer, it seems appropriate to look at this first.

After all, in winter when the days are long and dark we need more lighting in every room. Sometimes it’s about adding a lamp in a corner or perhaps draping some fairy lights round the banisters or round a plant. Come the spring that’s not needed any more and it can be liberating to move things around.

change your lampshades with the seasons nellie from pooky
change your lampshades with the seasons nellie from pooky

I often move table lamps from room to room but if you have one that only fits in a certain spot you can try swapping the shades around. Perhaps in winter a plain linen shade that allows maximum light in the winter can move to the bedroom in the spring and a patterned one can come into the living room. I told you recently about the rattan shade I bought from Kalinko which I have liberated from its original base (now in the sitting room) and brought into my study where it’s slatted form makes it ideal for both ambience and task (as long as it has a pearlized bulb).

Another easy change is cushions. Since the colour palette in my house is fairly tonal throughout it’s easy to swap cushions (and rugs come to that) from room to room. It’s a small change but it really does make a difference to the whole space.

This also works well with bedding. It’s not such a bad idea to build a collection of seasonal bedding so you can feel a sense of redecoration when you move from dark hibernating colours to lighter and brighter designs. This also works if you live with someone who won’t have cushions on the bed so you can’t make changes that way.

pink and green bedroom at madaboutthehouse.com shot by mark anthony fox
pink and green bedroom at madaboutthehouse.com shot by mark anthony fox

I am fairly new to the idea of scented candles but took them up during lockdown. Changing the brand from something cosy and wintery (leather) to something lighter and fresher (fig and cypress) makes a huge difference when you see the sun shining through the – dirty – windows.

Clean your windows.

madaboutthehouse.com shot by mark anthony fox

If you want to be a little more hands on then you can work wonders with a tin of paint or – even better – leftover paint. Colour blocking is a massive interiors trend at the moment and while you may not want to invest in furniture trends fearing you will go off them – then investing an hour or two with a paintbrush is easy enough to reverse.

Ideas you can use:

Paint a coloured square on the wall and hang small pictures in it to create a contained gallery wall.

pink gallery wall grid via Bianca Hall @frenchforpineapple
pink gallery wall grid via Bianca Hall @frenchforpineapple

Paint your woodwork – doors, skirting, architrave and picture rail in a colour that makes you happy. If your walls are white and you live in a rental this won’t take long and is easy to put back afterwards.

If your walls are painted in a colour but these elements are traditional white this will dramatically change the whole room. You can match the walls to make the room look bigger or pick another shade – pale walls with navy, green, chocolate or burgundy are all strong neutrals depending on the palette of the rest of the house.

Paint a window frame yellow. I’m desperate to do this but so far The Mad Husband is resisting all attempts at persuasion.

Margo Selby Blinds for Hillarys at madaboutthehouse.com
Margo Selby Blinds for Hillarys with photoshopped yellow window frames

I’m resisting the classic idea of moving the furniture around because I suspect that many of us (definitely me) have only one configuration that works with the big pieces – bed, sofa, dining table – but can you swap the side tables?

wooden side table from graham and green
wooden side table from graham and green

If you are staring out on your furniture buying journey then buying a good stool is always a great investment. It can be used as intended but also as a side table in a sitting room, a bedside table, a receptacle for coffee and flowers as well as bottoms.

brass side table from graham and green
brass side table from graham and green

I have a glass one, a brass one, an iron one and a selection of wooden ones. They are all round and roam around the house at will.

metal side tables from graham and green
metal side tables from graham and green

Lastly can you move your artwork around. I say this in the full knowledge that this never happens in The Mad House. Once a picture has been acquired with a space in mind that is where it lives and Himself will not countenance a change. And so, in my office, where the panelling is topped with a 5cm ledge I move things around All The Time. There are pictures, plates, magazine covers and small objects. You can call it procrastination if you wish but I’m saying I have only 2,000 words of my next book to write and if I need to spend an hour adjusting the position of a Mini Lego Batman in order to be able to find those words then that is what I shall do.

 

 

Kate Watson-Smyth

The author Kate Watson-Smyth

I’m a journalist who writes about interiors mainly for The Financial Times but I have also written regularly for The Independent and The Daily Mail. My house has been in Living Etc, HeartHome and featured in The Wall Street Journal & Corriere della Sera. I also run an interior styling consultancy Mad About Your House. Welcome to my Mad House.

7 Comments

  1. I agree, different lamp shades make a delightful difference. I have even painted them.
    A person who won’t have cushions on the bed you say? How much effort does it take to throw them on the floor! I WILL have cushions on the bed, thank you very much!
    Cheers from Canada!

    1. I was just thinking how I live my eclectic lamps I have collected over the years and how I need new shades to highlight their beauty. As for pillows I am a solid 2 king feather, 2 king firm topped with 2 Euro feather pillows and I sleep with them all. American so I of course use big king pillows lol.

  2. Oooh, a new book! Details please! Also completely agree about switching accessories around. Half an hour of restyling is good for the soul.

  3. The bird in the picture above the orange chair, just wondering but does it annoy you in the mornings.? Or is that the Latin name for blackbird? 🙂

    1. I completely forgot that picture was there. I hope it doesn’t offend you. The story is that starlings are known to imitate human noises and there was one that lived in the tree outside our bedroom window that would make the sound of a car alarm when it started its dawn chorus and it woke me up every single morning. My husband saw this picture by Charming Baker and it felt so apt he bought it for us. The bird has, thankfully, moved to a new tree.

    2. That bird art is excellent! So funny. That would totally brighten my day. I guess it depends on how you think about it.

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