Name for me, please, the things that make a house seem "grown up"

[whiskeytangofoxtrot]

I was just at the house of a new mate, and though she is younger than me, the house seemed more "grown up" than mine.

There were console tables in the hall and very naice lamps and a proper dining room as well as a kitchen table.

We don't have room for a console table as our hall very small and full of buggy (though I know this isn't forever)

How then can I make our house seem more grown up?
(when it's also full of people who live, work and play here!)

[Goshthatsspicy]

I've thought of something... Proper garden furniture. I've yet to fix that!

[ziggyziggy]

agree, but that said bertie it will all probably come full circle in another 10 years or so and then be "timeless" itself

[BertieBotts]

Timeless and not dated = don't go for anything which looks "modern".

If you remember what seemed modern in the 80s, 90s, etc, it looks so 80s/90s now.

[whiskeytangofoxtrot]

Oh but it's so depressing - espesh when seemingly all mates can manage that their kids DON"T trash
I have two "mark-makers" here

[MaryBerrysEyelashes]

i hate coloured rooms.

all my house is white

Euro style

[MaryBerrysEyelashes]

oh god dont bother.
Wait till kids stop trashing then redo

[whiskeytangofoxtrot]

So how do you get timeless and not dated?

[ItsAll]

Or to put it another way, I'm highly unfashionable .

[ItsAll]

I think that's a good point Strumpers. I tend to like relatively / very simple classic things, so I hope it's true.

[StrumpersPlunkett]

I have been thinking about this thread a lot.
For me it is when things look more timeless and not changing every week with the latest fashion.

[ElBandito]

Pinterest helped me. I started with our bedroom as that is OURS and there is no need for plastic tat in there. Made a mood board for my bedroom and spent a couple of months pinning bedding, curtains, mirrors, lights etc and once I was happy with my ideas started buying and changing. It took a while and I'd still like a nice rug, but it looks do much better. Kitchen is next as, again, that is a grown up space. Think sadly sitting room full of pink plastic tat will be last, but will get there and have a grown up house in the end. Pinterest also means it is easy to check with your partner that they like where you are going.

[ItsAll]

I wouldn't choose a lot of what people I have in their homes (even when their homes are lovely), so they probably wouldn't choose a lot of what's in mine either .

Which doesn't add a lot to this discussion, but I just wanted to say it anyway .

I'm also hoping that someone else comes along with some good tips.

[Goshthatsspicy]

I have magnolia.
Unless my friends are lying, it looks very good. If you have an eye for decor, then it is possible to work with most colours. When we moved here, l painted the walls white. For this house, it looked cold and dirty. I've teamed the magnolia walls with very light coloured and pastel accessories.

[Belleview]

Very decided and committed interiors look grown up to me. I mean where there's a definite style they've decided on, it cost a fair amount of £, and it's consistent throughout, including lamps, cushions, side tables, curtains.

The opposite of 'it was cool looking so I bought it' and 'my aunt gave me that' and 'it was in the sale' and 'I got it off ebay' eclectic haphazard interiors.

[BertieBotts]

Perhaps it's just me then. I am totally fed up of white after having boring boring endless white and fucking woodchip on every single wall in every house I've lived in since I left home because it's always been policy not to allow painting them. Or if you can paint it it has to be something pale so that you can paint over it when you leave.

Next house is going to be a migraine inducing rainbow, I tell you

Nah. I think white can look nice, especially if it's really crisp and clean and nice. Just not scuffed, uneven, depressing white with stains.

[ItsAll]

Magnolia isn't great, but white is fab.

[ziggyziggy]

i love white walls, I don't think it's studenty at all and can look very grown up and fresh with the right decor.

but agree re. magnolia, hideous, have just repainted a magnolia monstrosity of a bedroom.

[GetTheFudgeOutOfRodge]

Colour on the walls. Off white or something else dull is fine but not white or magnolia, these scream "student house".

Oh. So I should revisit my plan to paint every room in the new house a hard wearing, washable, white then?

[BoffinMum]

www.ikeahackers.net

[BoffinMum]

I don't think so, I was looking at it a few days ago ...

[Belleview]

The ikea hack website has gone, hasn't it?

[BoffinMum]

Interestingly I hack nearly all my IKEA stuff. I add bits of fabric or paint it or rebuild little bits. I am a huge fan of the IKEA hack website too (fave is the Pax doors used to create a bedroom in a studio apartment).

[ijustwannadance]

slippermaiden in our house a 'console table' is something the PS3 gets dumped on

[ziggyziggy]

coffee that link is brilliant :)

i think attention to detail is key.

check the paintwork is decent, nice lighting / lamps, well framed artwork, etc

clutter must be really tamed and scaled back, show only things you love and that go together, the less you have on display the more the great stuff will shine

colours should go together.

surfaces and metal / glass should be shiny and clean, really makes a difference when it sparkles.

Also a few design classics always help, a few statement pieces that go together, choose an era - mid-century, art deco etc - everything must work together - don't mix eras and styles too much unless the individual pieces work together.

[ItsAll]

I've killed succulents. Or at least made them look so rubbish that I've thrown them away .