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!)

Ah yes. Exactly that. "Things people have given you or you've bought second hand/the cheapest because you had no choice".

Maybe an idea to look at something like ikea hackers (blog) and try moving things around to make it look a bit more deliberate, long term work out what's a priority to replace, can you spruce anything up, re-upholster, paint, varnish etc?

The whole KonMari thing seems to make a house look more purposeful and less drab - might be worth a look?

I know what you mean and I'm 34 and I don't know either. I think it's because we haven't had much spare cash since I've been a sahm and therefore cannot collect things here and there we pretty much buy what we can when we absolutely have to.

No idea why but whenever i see someone with a globe then i think thats grown up lol x

a globe?

Oh yes, a globe! but get one that's also a drinks cabinet. :o

I do LOVE KonMarie BUT BUT BUT Marie doesn't have children and so can't advise on what to do with the room full of plastic tat that I can't yet chuck not to mention the wooden aspirational toys I bought in the hope that my children would want to play with them.

Marie lives in a different world where spending half an hour a day lovingly unpacking her handbag and thanking her purse for its service is possible.

We've recently done up the kitchen and utility room, and I removed a load of the children's 'artwork' blu tacked to the cupboard doors and it instantly made a huge difference. Sorry kids!

I know it's obvious but keeping windows clean, surfaces clear and dusted, clutter and shit out of way and floors vacuumed helps.

Yes she does, she had a baby last week.

But agree it's not quite the same

I'm sure the lovely scarily enthusiastic posters on the Kondo thread would help with children related Kondoing. I am vv sloooooowly helping DS go through his stuff but he's six so we are veering out of plastic tat territory or at least what he has I can just shove back in his room and close the door.

www.buzzfeed.com/alexlee/my-house-is-always-this-clean#.teymYB48Rw I like this article, especially the advice about plants that don't die. Succulents are hard to kill off too.

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

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.

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

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).

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

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

www.ikeahackers.net

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?

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.

Magnolia isn't great, but white is fab.

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.

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.

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.

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.