to ask about things you did to your home that make you happy?

[BabsolutelyAnanas]

We are somewhere in the middle of purchasing a house (hurrah!)

Looking for ideas of how to nest and interior design our little home is the main thing that cheers me up at the moment, and I am always on the lookout for new ideas to make best use of space and to make it feel like our castle/small terraced house .

I'm interested in non-sickly children's room ideas, space saving kitchen ideas and cosy living room ideas but more than anything else I'd love to know what changes or purchases you've made to your homes to make it feel like yours and a place you're happy to retreat to at the end of the day. Big or small, expensive or completely free I would love to hear what parts of your home make you happy.

Gas fire - so cosy and no cleaning up. Bookshelves everywhere - books make me happy.
Brightly painted walls or light colours with good art on them.
Conservatory with underfloor heating -warm and sunny year round.
Lots of blankets.
I'd also add storage for toys that you can close the lid etc and not see them if your kids are at that stage.

@MangoBiscuit Thank you for the heads up about the IKEA frames - that might even be something I can start putting together now, as it is so versatile there will definitely somewhere lovely to put them. That will cheer me up on a glum day for sure

Put laminate down in the living room, ceramic tiles in the kitchen/dining room. Repainted all downstairs and so far one of my boys rooms. Laminate in there too, got a lovely bunk bed and put glow in the dark stars everywhere. Its brilliant in there now, just the teenagers room to go. That is laminate too, silver walls and band posters everywhere.
Set up a cocktail corner with some shelves, which is next to pointless as I hardly drink, but for some reason makes me feel like a real growed up.
Also cleared the garage of all the crap we'd been storing to make a music room for my kids. Got the drums out of my house!

Don't skimp on the cost of carpet for your lounge, and buy the best underlay you can. It really makes a difference. I'd recommend Cloud Nine underlay. After years of putting up with a crap carpet, we recently had the lounge recarpeted with Cloud Nine underlay and it is utter heaven ❤️

I definitely wouldn't suggest laminate. Cheap looking, cold, dusty and always looks grimy after a while.

@BeaSmithers

Don't skimp on the cost of carpet for your lounge, and buy the best underlay you can. It really makes a difference. I'd recommend Cloud Nine underlay. After years of putting up with a crap carpet, we recently had the lounge recarpeted with Cloud Nine underlay and it is utter heaven ❤️

I've just been looking into carpets and underlay for ours. That's really helpful, thank you.

Pulled up the carpets, sanded the floorboards and painted the floors in each room a different, bright colour.
Not for everyone but I love it

Looking at room colours -

With some of the rooms, I just know but with others it's more ambiguous. How do you decide if there isn't a particular colour speaking to you?

Decluttered.
Spent lots of time planning spaces and cupboards. Our utility room is tiny but fits in washer, dryer, boiler, ‘housemaid’ full height cupboard which houses shark and ironing board, charging shelf and shopping bags, a coats and shoe cupboard for the whole family, a big ladder radiator for drying and still has a decent size workspace for folding laundry. Took a good few weeks of planning but it’s so worth it!

@MangoBiscuit. It wasn't that much more expensive than normal underlay either. A friend who's a carpet fitter recommended it and it's wonderful to walk on.

I now want to recarpet every room 🤣

Plan you lighting, it can make a huge difference
Test paint colours in different parts of the room before deciding
Have both a shower and bath if possible, get a shower with both an overhead shower and side shower jets that work independently

Beautiful, comfy, good quality sofas and a nice fire

Best thing I did to my home was to leave it and never look back

My north facing kitchen diner didn't feel quite right and it took a while to realise it was the paint colour. One of the many off-white/neutrals, it might have looked fine in other rooms and houses but it looked dingy in mine.

I repainted it a different off-white and it has transformed how I feel about it.

Plants!! I love my plants so much and they really liven up my little London 1 bed flat and make it feel like a home (although it is becoming a bit of a jungle now)

Agree if you are planning big changes to a new home live in it for a while to see how things could work better.

Get rid of anything you dont need.

When planning a room see if you can add storage.

If you are not a fan of cleaning get rid of shelves etc.
I have removed shelves over the last couple of years and everything I call dust collectors.
I like a clean tidy house,so much easier now.

Agree with decorating and going with what you like.
Its your home,doesnt matter what anyone else thinks.

I also think simple blinds and nothing on window sills makes windows look nice inside and from outside too

Building in storage everywhere.

Investing in the best kitchen appliances we could afford, they were worth every penny.

Being bolder about colour.

Decent carpet and especially decent underlay.

Treating cushion covers and throws more like clothes that you rotate with the seasons - cheap and easy way to freshen up the look of a room.

1. Superking-size bed and separate double duvets (OH is like a human hot water bottle and I can't sleep if he's near me)

1. I put a lovely comfy sofa in front of our patio windows so I can sit with my coffee and watch the birds in our garden.

1. I made my home office really lovely so I want to be there - I have an arm chair and a coffee table where I sit to read reports (and sometimes escape from the noisy children by going to "work" but sitting in my arm chair to read or knit!). I also have lots of plants and candles.

1. Lovely art. It's taken years to build up but we buy something we love once or twice a year, usually when we are on holiday. Not particularly fancy or pricey, just what we love. I don't think there is a painting or photograph anywhere in my house I don't love gazing at all day (except maybe the marvel themed stuff my DS chose for his room lol).

We decluttered before, during and after packing. When we moved in we decluttered some more.

The kitchen we moved into was brand new and lovely- not one of these shiny hideous impractical kitchens but solid, well-made cabinets. We painted the walls dark green and hung up some solid oak shelves on old brackets. We've got plants and cookery books and pretty pots and mugs on display.

We have a big comfy sofa and a couple of armchairs in the living room with lots of little side tables covered in plants and lamps so we have lots of lighting and seating options. Our home has big windows so we got away with painting and decorating with darker colours. There's no reason why houses have to be as light as possible!

Live in the house before you make big decisions, painting doesn't have to be done straight away, don't knock holes into walls unless you're certain you want that giant harry styles picture hanging above your bed and remember it's your home so do with it as you please.

You probably won't settle on a colour scheme for the whole house so be prepared to have slightly mismatched rooms.

@DefinitelyOdd

I stopped trying to decorate in other people's taste and went with what made my heart happy. I now apply that to all home related purchases and have a fantastic mismatched house of oddities!

Totally agree. I used to decorate to be modern or trendy and never really liked it. Decided that the only people our house needed to please was us, I've done more to the house since than in the 16 years prior. I get more compliments now too, which is bizarre as it's not trendy at all.

I also have something I love in each room, I've found a love of art I never knew I had, I still wouldn't say I love art, just the pieces I have, lol

I second plants. They really do make a difference.

Oh, and being bolder with colour. The colour in our lounge turned out much much darker than we expected, but it looks amazing and it's made me realise we don't always have to go for neutrals.

Put in a wood burner. I love it.

I love my salt lamps, candles and fairy lights all around. Makes home very cosy at no expense at all.

Built in alcove bookcases with downlighters and cupboards underneath.
Being a bit bolder with colour - Pinterest is really good for colour schemes (just search that phrase).
Decent quality neutral bedding and towels.
Putting my WFH desk in front of a window - I've seen the neighbourhood's gardens change with the seasons over the past 9 months, and it's been amazing to watch.