The images I am about to show you are not really before and afters. They are sort of half way theres and now. When I look at the half way there shots I wonder how I ever thought they were OK but then building a room especially styled in an eclectic fashion takes time. There isn’t one store we can all go to (even mine) which houses everything and actually nor would I want it to be. If you want a totally cool unique interior you have to combine all sorts of periods together: modern, trad, retro etc and shop from boutiques, fleas, auction houses, chain stores – that’s the fun part right? The not so fun part is that  it takes time.
So I’m showing your these images for two reasons,  firstly as my mother would say - have patience. Patience  as we all know is a virtue, and all good things come to those that wait. Can’t tell you how much that line irritates but hey!  I have very little patience although  I’m working on it. Secondly its supremely gratifying to look at the old spaces and think wow I’ve come quite a long way. I don’t think I would have pulled off any of these looks if say I was under a timeline. They have kind of grown and evolved as I’ve grown and evolved. The interesting fact is that all the pieces that I’ve brought have remained, they may have shifted rooms but when you buy things from the heart you don’t want to be replacing them any time soon.
Lets start then in the lower ground floor. This is how it used to look, pretty darn bare and the garden OMG so barren!:
And this is how it  looks now:
To widen out the shot we’ve gone from this:
To this. I love this space so much more now and the garden which has been a lot of work looks so much fuller. Infact I wish you guys could see it now as its changed again with the outdoor kitchen, more planting, I must take pics.
Now to my studio although it wasn’t my studio at the time is was the so called ‘winter living room’, which we never went in – like ever:
No fireplaces, no rugs, very little warmth. Best thing I did was to move that sofa downstairs. It now looks like this and I’m way happier!
Bottom line you need layers. The more layers the more intrigue. Minimally styled rooms look exactly that minimal and sterile. I’ve had people ask me about dust before, ‘isn’t it so much more work dusting it all’. Yep but I would rather dust or have dust and be happy then doped up to eye balls on drugs to enable me to live somewhere minimal, pared back and clutter free!
Have a lovely weekend. x