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?

@ShirleyPhallus (fab name!) It’s Light Blue Farrow and Ball. I love it and have used it in every house. Very versatile.

Plants, lamps and soft furnishings
Not too cluttered though

Thanks to Musmerian I now know what colour to paint my bedroom wall!

Thanks @Musmerian, few fans on this thread then!

Flowers and houseplants. Even as a student you could get a bouquet for a couple of quid

Personally- it's perfume & simple jewellery incl a watch

Flowers and houseplants. Even as a student you could get a bouquet for a couple of quid

There are some suppliers of amazing dried flower bouquets now. Cost roughly the same as fresh flower bouquets but last up to 12 months so they're brilliant value.

Oh Musmerian, I'd have to put that beautiful table further to the right so it's centred- it would drive me mad .

Lots of people saying houseplants- I agree, but look for nice pots to put them in to hide the plastic grower’s pot. Even if it’s just a simple terracotta pot, it makes a big difference. If you can, try to stick to similar colours or styles so they complement each other - they don’t have to match, but consistency makes it look more ‘pulled together’.

How you hang your curtains - not the colour or pattern
Your light fittings and sockets - not the lampshades etc but the fittings

@Musmerian What I mean is don't have the back of your sofa literally touching the wall. It's an interior design "trick" - even a few inches away from the wall makes everything look better. Hard to explain!

All these people who have fresh flowers weekly - what do you do with the old ones? All the flowers I buy last a good fortnight, and they are often still good after that if you pick out any obviously 'past it' ones. Do you sort them out and put the older ones somewhere less conspicuous? Or do something flash like 'give them to the cleaner' or something?

I can get away with buying flowers once every three weeks (my house is fairly cool) and I don't chuck them until they are looking sad. Every week seems a bit profligate to me.

I just put the new flowers somewhere else. So I have them in downstairs loo, hall, kitchen on an occasional table and sitting room. I don't like mixed colours and if I buy two bunches of stocks for example, I scatter them around the house in old passata jars or jam jars. (Thatched cottage, this works here!)

Thanks, actiongirl, that makes sense. I just had visions of someone buying enormous bunches of florists' flowers and blithely chucking last week's into the bin!

(Beamed cottage here - have you tried sweet williams? They also look great scattered about in random containers).

Its well worth having a cut flower bed in your garden if you have the space. The idea is that it is planted with only growth in mind and that you harvest them to use in the house so it doesn't need to be artistically planned out or anything. it saves a fortune in flower costs.

Loving those flowers ideas above thanks!

Will try sweet Williams.

I cut daffs and snow drops from the woods we have as part of our garden and sometimes if I have enough, poppies and wildflowers. I also pluck small bunches on rural dog walks.

I love this thread it inspired me to go and gut the study last night and hoover up all the dead ladybirds from last winter.

Lots of natural textures wood, wool throw, etc
Blinds or window shutters
Dogs - obviously not polished but doesn't feel homely without them imo.
Lots of non matching lamps
A few non matching cushions
Art
Christy towels, Denby pottery, decent cutlery, saucepans etc.
No clutter, clean and tidy.

I don't like plants or books or candles or ornaments or curtains or stuff.

Agree with houseplants/flowers.
Lamps for evening.
Imo a bedspread over a bed looks tidier than just duvets, but the ones I like (Anthropologie) are expensive.

Love this thread.

I've just done my bulb order for my cut flower bed. I've tried to get a good mixture of things that will give me colour (in colours that will coordinate with the house decor) throughout spring.

Its also worth getting a few vases of different sizes so that you have the right vase for the right type of flower. I bought a few from ebay. Beautiful crystal vases available for only a few quid a piece. At one time I would have dismissed them as old fashioned but they're pretty on trend now with the art deco revival. I've also picked up old jugs and buckets/planters for flowers and plants on the patio.

I also think a bit of 'clutter' isn't a bad thing, as long as it's clean and not dusty. You want your house to look lived in, not as though you are expecting Ideal Home magazine round for a photo shoot. So a pile of books on a table, or knitting in a basket makes a place look as though people 'do things' in in rather than sitting bolt upright, afraid to rumple a rug.

Oh yes, agree it needs to look lived in and my house "works hard" - there are 4 kids and I WFH so there is always washing drying - work on the office table - it's never all put away.
I like them to be able to leave a book they're currently ready to pick up too.

HASA - what bulbs are you planting for your next year bed? (this is also why I always feel on back foot - would never occur to me that I would need to be this far ahead!)

Things that will not look ‘polished’:

Three piece suites
Unlined curtains
Family photos of any size hung on walls
Huge TV
‘Feature’ walls.

HASA - what bulbs are you planting for your next year bed? (this is also why I always feel on back foot - would never occur to me that I would need to be this far ahead!)

I have a raised bed which is just for cut flowers for the house and so things in there don't necessarily coordinate but I've ordered:
tulips - both late and early flowering
white narcissi
alliums
white daffodils
irises

I have also added:

more peonies
more dahlias
more agapanthus

The aim is to add few more each year until you get to the right level since obviously the aim is to keep them from year to year (although some bulbs are quite short lived). I have a big garden so I'm lucky and have the space to have a big bed for them. I much prefer to have a cut flower bed since then I don't feel guilty about cutting the flowers in the main part of the garden.

Then I have masses of seeds too for the actual garden (stocks, cosmos, sweet peas, hollyhocks etc) which I collect up at about this time each year in readiness for next years flowers to maximise the yield.

Huge TV, Feature’ walls

Not sure these can’t look polished, the size of the tv should be in relation to the room and can be positioned that they can be tucked away.

Also I’ve seen some beautiful feature walls with amazing wall paper and the other walls done in tonal paint.

there are 4 kids and I WFH so there is always washing drying - work on the office table - it's never all put away.

I'm always a bit confused when people say a house has to look "lived in". I think what people maybe mean is that it has to look homely and comfortable and I agree completely. But that is achieved IMO by the things we are discussing on this thread rather than piles of washing and drying left out. Don't get me wrong, mine is often left out too but there are things you can do such as getting a series of baskets for the laundry room so that each person's clean stuff goes straight into their basket for them to put away etc. Working from home (other than in times of lockdown) is actually a benefit IMO since you can quickly put the dishwasher on or put a load of washing through so it helps you to keep on top of things.

Plus the best possible thing you can do is train/bribe/force your children to help with the jobs. We have a summer holiday washing system at the moment. I put a load of washing on at night, DS2 pegs it out in the morning and ds2 brings it in and puts it into each person's room at night for them to fold and put away before bed (we iron as we use rather than in one go).

Not sure these can’t look polished, the size of the tv should be in relation to the room and can be positioned that they can be tucked away.

I'm about to put a frame cover over my large TV in the living room. If you look on pinterest there are load of nice examples but they tend to be in the US. It basically covers your TV with a picture which then folds back when you want to use the TV. I wouldn't use this in the snug where the TV is in very frequent use but we don't use the living room TV very often.

And I have a "feature wall" in my kitchen. Wallpaper is only on one wall and inside the glass fronted kitchen cupboards. Other walls are painted the same colour as the background colour in the wallpaper.