Before & After: How I Designed The Shared Home Office

April 06, 2017 by Melanie Lissack in Before & After

I'm so happy to be able to finally reveal to you the home office revamp that I have been working on since the start of the year! As I've mentioned in previous posts, me and my husband share this work space in our home and it just wasn't working for either of us. It was the only room in the house that remained decorated by the previous owners, and although the statement red chimney breast and biscuit coloured walls were inoffensive, they weren't exactly great either. Our artwork had been randomly hung all over the place just on the hooks left by the old owners; and with me and my husband working daily in this room, storage was a problem. As you can see in the pictures below, there was no-where to put anything and stuff had just started to build up until it was a TOTAL mess.

BEFORE:

Together with my husband we agreed on the below mood-board. The brief was a contemporary, masculine room which was also appealing to me. We already owned the walnut desk, plain rug and Ellie Vandoorne artwork (available from Rise Art - an ace online art marketplace selecting emerging and established artists), so we decided to choose colours that complemented these existing pieces.

*The agreed final mood board for the room.*

My husband really likes blue, so I decided to paint the chimney breast and the opposite wall in 'Railings' by Farrow & Ball. I'd been wanting to use darker colours in the home for a long time, so this was the perfect opportunity to use this dark navy blue hue. The colour on the chimney breast really made the Ellie Vandoorne artwork pop with its yellow background. While on the opposite wall, it was used as a background for a gallery wall to display all the artwork we wanted up in the room in a coherent manner (unlike how they were randomly hung before).

AFTER:

The colour on these walls is 'Railings' by Farrow & Ball. This is the Modular set with ash base from LSA International. — *The colour on these walls is 'Railings' by Farrow & Ball. This is the* *Modular set with ash base from LSA International.*

I did not want the room to be completely dark, preferring the chimney breast and gallery wall to be a 'feature', rather than blending in with all one colour. Instead, I painted the far end wall where the desk was placed in 'Clunch' by Farrow & Ball, which is a white that I prefer to others as in our house it always comes across more as a soft grey, rather than a yellow-white.

In the small space that existed on this end wall, I placed a really cheap shelf ladder that I also painted in Railings to blend in. On the shelves I put wire storage baskets for all my paint samples and documents to be tidily contained in one area! To DIY this gold mesh wire notice board click here.

These bowls with beech handles are part of the Disc Collection by LSA International. — *These bowls with beech handles are part of the* *Disc Collection by LSA International.*

In the shelving alcove I pasted in this Cole & Son Hicks Hexagon Wallpaper. This created an extra dimension in the room, as well as being a cheaper way to introduce designer wallpaper as this alcove used less than one roll. The black/gold/white colours of the paper tied in with the Railings, Clunch and gold notice board in the room.

With the left over Hicks Hexagon I covered old filing boxes and magazine holders that were going to be used in the room, to keep the room consistent.

Another budget DIY that I carried out to keep costs down was to dye the beige curtains with fabric dye. The existing curtains were in absolutely fine condition, they were just beige and didn't match the new decor. Ideally, I'd have opted for thick, opulent, dark velvet curtains, but I couldn't spend that sort of money when I had perfectly good quality lined curtains in the room. Instead, I brought some navy fabric dye from Hobbycraft and dyed the beige curtains dark blue. The curtains had a polyester stripe in the pattern which did not dye, but the cotton part and the lining dyed perfectly! I was really happy with the outcome.

This is the Axis Vase Trio with Ash Base by LSA International that I am using to store my multitude of gold paperclips! — *This is the* *Axis Vase Trio with Ash Base by LSA International* *that I am using to store my multitude of gold paperclips!*

To keep the room masculine, I used a lot of stationary containers by LSA International made of material such as glass, leather and wood. These LSA pieces not only look beautiful to be on display, but are totally practical! I found that by using 'display-worthy' storage on shelving units, you could fit a lot more in one place and it looked tidy and stylish, not chaotic and cramped!

Amazingly, me and my husband now have a work room which suits both our tastes! Craft items co-exist with music equipment, and thanks to choosing the right pieces it all works.

What do you think of our new he-she office? Leave your comments below!

* Huge thank you to Farrow & Ball, Cole & Son, LSA International, Rise Art and Sainsbury's who gifted items featured in this post. Please note that this post also contains some affiliate links, which basically means if you shop this look via this post I'll get a small commission.

DIY Pastel Easter Door Wreath Made From Cheap Plastic Eggs

March 21, 2017 by Melanie Lissack in Seasonal

For my Easter door wreath this year, I wanted to make something really full-on and dramatic. I feel like i've achieved that with this egg-tastic door wreath! This wreath was really cheap to make, but it wasn't the quickest thing to knock up. If like me you are dedicated to the cause of having the best Easter wreath in town for a few quid, then read on my like-minded friends...

Farrow & Ball's Key Colours For Spring 2017 & How I Would Use Them In My Home

February 28, 2017 by Melanie Lissack in Lets Talk About...

I know this blog is meant to be about getting a contemporary look on a budget, and Farrow & Ball tend to be considered as 'posh paint' due to its price point, but I just cannot stress enough how much of a Farrow & Ball fan I am. To me, its often a false economy buying a cheaper paint brand. For application, colour depth and range, Farrow & Ball really cannot be beaten. If you are going to spend money in one area when decorating, spend it on the paint. It's the foundation of the room and what everything else will be based around. With my Farrow & Ball fan-dom you can imagine I was excited to see what the key colours for spring 2017 were going to be for F&B. This season F&B have picked four hues - two dramatic, intense colours alongside two neutral shades.

Before & After: Decorating My Living Room Blue

February 14, 2017 by Melanie Lissack in Before & After

I think that one of the major pro's of being an interiors blogger is the fact that you get invited to press shows to see next seasons furniture and home ware. Just spending my day in interiors shops is a fun day out for me, let alone being able to see and touch not-yet-on-sale furnishings! One of the big trends for SS17 that I took away from the end of last years press shows was the fact that blue would be big for 2017. Blue velvet sofas and chairs featured a lot. Large backdrops painted in lovely matt blues highlighted the new gold accessories for spring and summer.

How To Choose The Right Paint Colour In Your Home, with Farrow & Ball Colour Consultant Joa Studholme

September 28, 2016 by Melanie Lissack in Lets Talk About...

I think it is always the greatest DIY dilemma - what colour should we paint the room? I know myself I 'ummm' and 'ahhh' for weeks, buying tester pot after tester pot of virtually the same colour, until I am completely confused. Then, I often pick a colour completely different to what I had in mind originally, cross my fingers and hope for the best. If there is one thing that I do know about paint, it's that Farrow & Ball are the best in the business. I know so many people who have used this paint and then just can't ever conceive of using another paint brand again. That's why when Red Magazine invited me to their Smart Women week of workshops to hear Farrow & Ball's International Colour Consultant Joa Studholme talk about how to choose the right paint colour in your home, I jumped at the chance to lap up all of Joa's expert advice.

Review: Hemsley - The Own Brand Paint To Rival Farrow & Ball?

April 05, 2016 by Melanie Lissack in Lets Talk About...

A few months ago after having an internal door replaced, I went into Homebase to buy some eggshell paint to paint the new door with. Needing to buy an eggshell that matched my already existing heritage cream skirting, I begrudgingly headed over to the Farrow & Ball paint section. Even though I'm all about doing up your home on a tiny budget, I LOVE posh paint. I'm a die-hard Farrow & Ball fan. I have a box with about 60 sample tins of Farrow & Ball paint in under the stairs. There is no contest for me when it comes to choosing F&B over cheaper brands such as Dulux or Crown. F&B paint gives a beautiful depth of colour due to its high pigmentation and the chalky matt finish looks expensive and elegant. Cheaper paints do not have this depth of colour, they fade over time and glossy paint looks cheap. F&B do a wide range of interesting colours (132 to be exact - check out 'Charlotte's Locks', an intense orange, and 'Vardo', a 50's style teal). You can get any of these colours in different finishes such as eggshell and floor paint rather than just emulsion. The paint is thick, creamy and easy to apply. It is water based and has low VOC's, so it does not smell nor pollute your house with chemicals and it's simple to clean your brushes. It is made in England.