Please can you help me? - please describe things that you feel add "polish/finishing touches" to you/your home?

[GabrielleChanel]

So I always used to wear nail varnish as it made me feel like I had my shit together even when I - I have also recently moved to a red lip for a similar reason. Since Coronavirus/all the handwashing I have moved to a nude nail because I can see how clean my nails are better

But I realise that this polish is something I am striving for and I think makes one look less frumpy. I think my house could do with a bit of de-frumping too - e.g plumping of cushions.

Are there other things you do?

What do you think makes a house look polished/finished?

[WildRosie]

One or two old GPO telephones in prominent places give a home a lived-in look. If they work then so much the better but it's the look that's most important. This one is topaz yellow but they also come in green, red, blue, black, grey and ivory. Also brown if you like brown.

[Anewmum2018]

houseplants!

[GabrielleChanel]

What kind of house plants?
Pleased to see the gpo phone thing! I already have one.
😂

[Simonsaysitschristmas]

Fresh flowers, lit candles, plump cushions and throws folded neatly over the arm of sofa or in a basket somewhere.

Toiletries neatly hidden in the bathroom no scattered all around the edge of the bath.

If you have a fruit bowl, make sure you get rid of any rotting fruit immediately.

[Dillo10]

Art on the walls
Candles
Coffee table books neatly stacked
Soft furnishings - throws, cushions etc

It can also be how the furniture is arranged - never have the back of your sofa against the wall for example

[JamieFraserskneewarmer]

My Lord - I didn't know that you shouldn't have your sofa against a wall! Presumably that only applies to those with palatial room sizes. If ours wasn't against a wall we would have to circle round it!

[BeanbagMcTavish]

Pictures, mirrors, cushions, throws (neatly folded, as a PP said) , rugs, lamps, vases of flowers, plants in nice pots.

[QuestionableMouse]

I think nice flowers in a pretty vase always improve the look of a room.

[Nosuchluck]

Lots of lamps and beautiful light fittings.

[Bluntness100]

You need to go for some beautiful unusual stuff, which doesn’t always mean expensive op.

But things like a lovely table lamp and shade, cushion covers, throws, some artwork on the walls, but not next at home or matalan mass market stuff.

Look at Etsy, they have some fantastic people on there, who make lamp shades, cushion covers etc, in gorgeous fabrics, some artists who paint and sell their own stuff.

Try not to have matchy matchy, but things that tonally go together and blend and are fairly unique and you will pull it off.

[Redcups64]

So much Inspo on Instagram- you won’t have to look far at all.

Houseplants-throws-cushions-candles-a room theme, like grey/scandi/modern ect

[PrimeraVez]

• Texture so rugs, cushions, throws
  
• Definitely plants! We have plants on our bookshelves and a huge thing next to the TV
  
• A nearly arranged bookshelf
  

I also think it’s a fine line between a house that looks messy/cluttered and one that looks soulless/bare

[Bluntness100]

I have to be honest though, I’m a bit bemused at the first post about old phones in response to making a home look polished.

They certainly suit a certain type of quirky home but I certainly wouldn’t say dotting some old and rather ugly phones about is going to cut it.

[florascotia2]

PLEASE no candles. They're bad for health, and bad for the environment. So bad, that they're about to get warning labels:

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/scented-candles-health-danger-environment-air-pollution-chemicals-a8732436.html

[MillyDilly]

@Bluntness100

I have to be honest though, I’m a bit bemused at the first post about old phones in response to making a home look polished.

They certainly suit a certain type of quirky home but I certainly wouldn’t say dotting some old and rather ugly phones about is going to cut it.

Me too. 😄

[HasaDigaEebowai]

The things listed above plus:

Decent full, heavy, lined curtains of the right length (floor length) and sitting correctly around the window.

Furniture and objects that don't look flat pack or straight out of the next catalogue as a complete matching set

Texture. So much of interior design is about texture.

Varied lighting sources with soft/warm bulbs

large rugs - furniture should sit on the rugs, the rug shouldn't just be in the centre of the space.

Art and mirrors hung at the correct height. Art on walls, photos in frames on surfaces (unless its a tastefully done photo gallery wall in which case i can accept them on walls - DH will NEVER agree with me on this but I'm not budging in my views)

[HasaDigaEebowai]

Not sure I agree with the GPO phones thing though (even though I have one)

[Bluntness100]

Agree with hasa on all their points, although maybe we are getting into big money.

So op it depends on what your definition of polished is, and what’s your budget, as finishing touches can go part of the way there but if the bare bones are not good it’s never going to get you all the way there

[GabrielleChanel]

Oh god so how do I know if the bare bones are no good?
[argh]

[Bluntness100]

I guess the bare bones not being ok would be a cheap worn sofa, maybe one of those ubiquitous eighties shiny leather ones, flat pack furniture that’s seen better days, worn flooring be it rug, carpet or laminate, cheap, Ill fitting and not very clean window dressings,

You know if the bare bones aren’t ok I think.

[BinkyBoinky]

Plants for sure! Especially in the windows, it really adds to the cosiness of a home.

[ivykaty44]

Have the house as you like it, let your taste shine through & enjoy your home

[HasaDigaEebowai]

Spend some time looking at some interior design websites such as Houzz (although I personally prefer the US site to the UK site because there are more examples of upmarket properties). You'll soon work out the look that gives you that polished feel.

It can be really expensive but doesn't have to be. My hallway console table cost £25 from ebay and spent years stored in an old farm building. I recently bought an art deco glass fronted cabinet for about £40 from a charity shop and its now in the process of being gold leafed inside to become a drinks cabinet.

I do think you perhaps have to have an eye for things like that though to avoid it just looking like a collection of junk and to make it look polished.

[Yankathebear]

The right lighting makes a massive difference.

[Mummyof2girls5and10]

I've got several sets of sofa cushion covers and matching rugs in the attick. I swap and change them around every couple of months to give my lounge a new burst of life