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?

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

Or decanted and styled. I have mine on a tray on the bath deck decanted into amber glass apothecary bottles. Nobody knows that its just head and shoulders inside..

Likewise my washing powder in the laundry room is decanted into a large glass cookie jar with a metal scoop.

As a pp said, instagram is full of ideas.

Not hearing much support for the classy old telephones. Luckily our OP seems to like them.

Texture
Houseplants
Lamps
Art/mirrors
I’m also a fan of the carefully selected burst of colour/pattern
No matchy-matchy furniture or soft furnishings
The odd unusual object (not necessarily a phone)
No clutter!

You don’t have to spend lots of money - my home is mostly eBay stuff that has been upcycled or was already in good condition. None of it screams new, and everyone always comments how cosy yet classic it feels.

I like the phone! ( don’t have one myself though.) I am of the belief of one ‘wow’ item per room. An interesting lamp, rug, artwork... or a phone! If I walked in a room which was clean and minimal and saw a quirky dial phone, maybe red, I’d say ‘wow’. Then attempt to dial all the phone numbers I remember from my childhood...

Not keen on the old phone look at all.

Going against the grain here we have also decluttered quite a bit and the house looks better and is easy to keep tidier without being soulless but in need of redecorating. We got rid of cushions in our main living room as they always looked untidy. But we still have some in our front room which gets much less usage.

I think if the house is tidy it looks more put together. I also nice pictures, a few photos without going ott, mirror or mirrors and nice and different types of lighting give a room a more finished look.

Texture - rugs, throws
Plants
Lighting - lamps not just main light

@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?

I think that to appear as if you have your shit together you will need both lips to be red, 'a red lip' isn't quite enough.

Thankyou Jazmin. Old telephones don't need watering or laundering, so they beat houseplants, throws and cushions any day.

At the moment I can't even see the floor in most rooms - one of the 'perks' of spending time together as a family is that nobody seems to want to do any tidying up.

Tidy. Tidy. And tidy some more! Aroma is very important, I burn The White Company essential oils and visitors always remark on how lovely our house smells. Healthy plants, lots of lamps for soft lighting, neatly stacked coffee table books on, er yes, the coffee table Thick hand towels and bottled, French hand soap in the bathrooms, TK Maxx do loads. Buy the best quality soft furnishings you can afford. Curtains should be interlined where possible. Pure goose down for pillows and duvets if you can stretch to it.

On a personal level, wearing matching bra and knickers, simple make up and perfume always makes me feel polished, even if I'm chilling at home in harems and a sweatshirt x

Old dial phones? 😳
If you grew up in the 70’s then you equate those phones with being ‘poor’ - i.e. living in a council house.
Anyone with a bit of money had trim phones or onyx and marble monstrosities.
To me they are akin to avacado bathrooms and plastic stick on bathroom tiles.

I don’t know a single person who doesn’t have at least one sofa along a wall, unless you have a massive open plan space, I don’t know how you can avoid it.

Why do you only have one red lip? What do you do about the other? Similarly what about the nine non-nude nails?

@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.

When did you visit my house?

Those old phones are too modern for my house - I need an old black Bakelite one.

I have fresh flowers weekly, three pieces of art (a Dylan, a Britto and a Nigel Humphries), Anya Hindmarcj candles, rare plants like cherry tart caladiums, cashmere throws and err bonsai trees!

I've suddenly realised where all my money goes

Books, plants, art, colour and somewhere comfy to plonk your arse. If it has hot and cold running water and doesn't smell of cat shit even better.

I think some of it depends on the type of house. I've got a two up-two down farmworker's cottage in which a gold leafed drinks cabinet would look like tits on a bull.

I've got beams so lots of natural fabrics; real wood, cotton, wool etc. Lots of what my DD calls 'twiggy shit', and quirky things from local shops.

I grewed up in the 70s and being on the telephone in the first place wasn't ubiquitous; for some families it was an aspiration. The GPO didn't let all and sundry have a telephone, waiting lists were common and having to share a party line was normal in newer housing estates. Hilda and Stan Ogden were permanently on the bread line and they had no telephone. Anyway, enough. I don't want to derail this thread.

This is why taste is so individual, some of this just sounds tacky to me. Also I have lots of the other things mentioned and my house doesn't look polished so feel it might be quite an elusive thing to nail.

I’m sorry I wouldn’t look at one of the old dial phones and think wow. Maybe it’s a taste thing, but I don’t think having one, or many, makes a home look polished. Maybe if it was one of the old bell phones, but even then it’s not going to make a home look polished.

It may have been aspirational at one point, but at another everyone had one.

Throwing out the kids and husband.

Agree horsey mum, just having items doesn’t make a home polished, it’s about having the right items, beautiful or unique ones, put together in a complimentary way,

For me the key is don’t buy something unless you love it and it’s perfect. Don’t just buy something because it fits your budget and fills a space. Wait and buy something perfect that you love,and that works in the room

That thing is coarse and vulgar, Bluntness. It will be a cold day in hell before a common contraption like that darkens my doors.

Art. I always notice art, or lack of it, in houses. I think a common mistake is choosing frames that are too small for the size of the wall, go big.

Personally I think there's a fine line between eclectic and jumbled mess. House magazines are full of 'unique' homes that all look the same after a while, the owners are still following trends even if they think they're not.

To be honest wild Rosie I’d not have one of them either,,😀