Styling a house

[Hoolahoophop]

We are moving! Yay. I never really did any decorating in my current house, just lived in it as it was, with very young children there didn't seem much point in making it nice for them to trash.

In my old house I had quite a soft but minimalist look. The house was old, and tiny. So light painted walls, cream carpets and furniture with a big feature fireplace and some red highlights. Solid light oak furniture. Mostly because it suited the house.

In the next house I want to decorate. I look on Rightmove and love all those modern chic styles with empty rooms and empty worktops. BUT. I know we are an untidy family. There are always toys out, always books on tables, always mugs lying around. The kitchen worktops will always have piles of papers and hairbrushes. We will always look a bit messy. But to counter that I want a house where everyone feels at home, where the kids friends can turn up and help themselves to drinks, where there are aways snacks available, a cake cooking, and enough dinner to set an extra place at the table etc. We will have quite a large garden and are an outdoorsy family, walking, tree climbing, watersports, our house is perfectly placed for walking into town and country alike. Friends pop round for a kick about, play with the paddle boards, or a jamming session with the instruments.

I am looking for ideas on how to style our home so it looks put together and grown up, but can also take our mess. Welcoming, fun, colorful, homely.

Is there a style I can search for on the Pinterest boards for ideas? We are literally starting from scratch.

Thanks

I don't know the answer, but adding and following because I'd also love advice on this! Love how you describe the kind of home you'd like to have.

Thanks @TheOtherBear that's kind.

Just wondering if anyone could recommend any interior design books that have good pictures to flip through looking for inspiration.

Oh watching too !

I would go for a Martha Stewart / Coastal Country Grandma sort of vibe - think country living but lived in! Ralph Lauren combined with Ina Garten! Lovely greens and warm woods, terracotta and tiles, striped textiles and jazzy wallpaper.

Lots of soft furnishings and lovely warm country colours, scattered around knick knacks from your life (intentional clutter around the house will help style out true clutter in places like the kitchen). But also if you know there’s areas you always have clutter, style it to embrace it. Eg. You know your kitchen worktops get messy, add in some lovely woven baskets or trays to catch the clutter.

I’d just get a storage unit and do the washing up. Get storage for bits left lying around. Also for toys. Reduce what’s available to dc.

Also why do you let dc be so messy? Just start to correct messy behaviour or you will be forever cleaning if you get viewings.

More implant to me to be having fun than washing mugs after every use, limiting the toys have and chasing them to tidy. We are not gross, it's clean, but definitely cluttered, we have trinkets from holidays, fridge magnets, pictures, photos, books everywhere. Don't want to change us, I like how we are, just find a style that suits us. The minimalist look will never be it.

@festivemouse I love that kitchen! I'm a sucker for a massive wooden farmhouse table and things hanging from the ceilings!

@Hoolahoophop
Not sure there is a style that is clutter central. Buyers won’t care about your lifestyle or what you do instead of tidying up. Buyers will want to see the house and its possibilities, not your endless memories and stuff. Put it in plastic storage boxes and put them in the garage. Stuff hanging from ceilings just needs dusting! It’s not a modern look. The American grandma look posted earlier is not great in my view.

We live in a cold country with dull natural light for most of the time
Id look at designing for Scandinavian countries…..they know how to Cosey things up and have great (you’d hardly notice) storage ideas
Heres a few images from Architizer.com
architects ideas

Urban boho or California coastal might be your style. Both are relaxed. The California style is more minimalist, though without sharp lines.

Don't mistake untidiness for style though.

California Coastal like Meghan? In a uk barn? Hmm. I’d just declutter and show off the best features. Repair anything manky.

Pinterest is definitely your friend if you're looking for inspiration.

@TizerorFizz she's looking to decorate her new house, not stage the current one. She's starting from scratch.

Just paint in colours you like. If you want colourful and cosy pick some colours you like and go for it. You don't have to fit a particular style or set of colours that someone else has decided go together.

Agree
And don’t forget the colour wheel if you find matching up tricky.

I think you need soft pastel colours, curtains rugs throw cushions and mix up the pastels, you can have plain or pattered, look up Kirsty Alsopp, Cath Kiddson and mix and match patterns.

Low lighting and decent storage work wonders, look at ikea for storage ideas so you aren’t over run with toys - they can play but they don’t need everything out at once!

How old are you DC and how much room do you have?

I don’t think there is a style that makes a house that belongs to messy people look less messy and feel put together and grown up 😂 The only solution is lots of storage and/or messy and tidy zones eg a separate playroom or chill out space that can stay as messy as you like but the rest of the house is tidy.

Whet makes a home feel welcoming and be the social hub is the people, not the style.

If you want a minimalist home, I actually think a minimalist house with good storage is the easiest to keep clean and tidy 😂

What styles are you drawn to?

I'm not looking to style my home to sell.

I am looking to decorate my new home in a style that will compliment my families lifestyle. Which is a bit windswept and interesting.

So an ultramodern minimalist sleek and shiny white kitchen with no door handles will look very untidy with the toaster out, mismatched mugs on the side and a pile of paperwork waiting to be addressed.

Where as the country kitchen with Welsh dresser displaying colorful plates, home to a comical butter dish might not be modern or to everyone's style, but it would fit my lifestyle better.

Just trying to find some ideas while I decorate that will suit our life, rather than meet an aesthetic that will be a burden to live up to.

When you start decorating and looking for ideas there is a lot of inspiration for the look of the moment, but the look of the moment isn't really us, just trying to figure our what to look for that might be.

Yes. I’ve misunderstood. Sorry.

Kids are getting bigger and their toys are getting less obvious. We will have plenty of room. They increasingly leave their toys in their rooms, so downstairs will more likely be whatever project they are working on at the time. Drawing, Lego, Puzzles etc. Our table normally has homework, artwork, science projects spread across it, but is easily picked up and moved away if we need the space, just not put away daily just to be got out again. So surprise guest have to take what they see. And I would prefer styles that suit the lived in look rather than ultra modern which highlight it.

I don't really know what to call the styles I am drawn to. That's the problem.

But for living rooms, I liked the WM wallpaper that is on another thread, even as a feature wall. I like seeing a room where the sofa's are not the same, but compliment one another. I like real wood, solid light oak furniture with a good grain. I like thick luxury curtains. I like color.

In kitchens I prefer a range cooker or aga to built in for aesthetics, though I actually prefer built in for practicality. I love beams with fairy lights twisted around them and a hanging rail above a farmhouse kitchen or island where flowers are twisted or pots and pans can hang. I love to cook and the kitchen will be the hub of the house, my kids usually sit up the kitchen table doing homework while I cook. Again, natural materials. Lots of light, and comfort. Oh and I am really, really short. So tall worktop Islands are not so good for me as a working table where I can do prep work, make cakes, etc. And floor to ceiling storage cupboards are useless as I cant reach past the first two shelves!

@Hoolahoophop have a look at The Kinfolk Home: Interiors for slow living. Most of the photos show minimalist interiors which is exactly what you're not looking for, but don't be put off - the whole point of the book is about designing your home to fit the way you want to live, not the other way round. The text explains this from the perspective of various designers and architects, and how they have made their spaces work for them.

So you take your lovely messy family life and think "what do I need to make this room work for us" - it might be matching huge squashy sofas, it might be a huge table for you all to sit round a la Mad Hatter's Tea Party, or it might be, as a friend's house is, about using the main room for the kids with hammocks and a trampoline, and then having a smaller, more adult space somewhere else.

I've just moved house, and reading this really freed up my thoughts...form follows function and all that...very liberating!

This sounds absolutely perfect. Thank you, will go look now.

Mad hatters tea party huge table is spot on! 😂

You're very welcome - most of the photos will look wrong as I said, but the ethos is what you're after. DS and I are really enjoying thinking about what to put where, and if it makes him happy to have teddies lined up on the stairs then so be it!

From your description of what you like, it sounds quite "arts and crafts" which to me is about honest and well-made pieces which positively embrace family life - they're beautiful but also sturdy so they cope with it!

Just googled images for arts and crafts interiors. I think you may be right, thanks again @chaiformeplease I will start there and explore on Pinterest. I love the idea that teddies can be built in to your home.

I think I may be a bit old fashioned as well. I am looking forward to being rich (Hello lottery!) in old age and having a library with a bay window looking out on the garden (a cheery tree in permanent flower with daffodils around the trunk). In the bay will be a comfy arm chair just for me and an occasional table with a beautiful crystal decanter and glasses, and a plate of biscuits. By my feet will be a tapestry bag full of wool and embroidery silks.

Arts and crafts meets eclectic sounds like your style. I would be googling those plus creative storage ideas eg ways to move and store art/Lego/puzzles in progress if you want to repossess your dining table 😂

William Morris’ adage, “Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful,” is a good philosophy!