Re-arrange and Re-vitalise
- Siobhan Lam
- Oct 2, 2015
- 3 min read
I get bored easily.
This is not a great trait to have but I've got it and I do my best. It generally results in unsavoury activities like picking up my mobile phone whilst in conversation with a physical human being and flicking through facebook - yes that's gross, I know. I did say it was unsavoury.
It also generally involves growing very weary of my clothes, my shoes and ...my home. I don't mean, MY HOME HOME, I mean the aesthetics of my house. I grow weary of the paint shade in the bathroom, the handle on the back door now gives me the icks, the light fixture in the sitting room seems to instantaneously make my eyes roll and yes running an interiors store is an advantage in this situation. But ultimately unless you are Kim Kardashian or have a similar bank balance, completely re-doing the inside of your house every couple of months is a no-go. So what do you do?
Well for starters you take a chill-pill and get over yourself because this isn't a real problem and then once the chill-pill has been fully digested you start moving your bits and pieces around. Yes it's that simple, you take the vase that's always on the dining table and pop it on the shelf, stand back and see what it looks like. Like it? Great. Move on. Take each room in sections and when your finished - your room will look brand new and you'll feel awesome.
We moved things around in our living room recently and no jokes, it feels completely new. Granted we introduced a few new pieces (gold vase in the shape of the baby's head anyone?) but they were affordable and we only bought them after we had moved things around and knew we needed them - mostly we just just moved our older stuff around.
Want a goo at what we did? Read on!
The Mantel:
Previously our mantel was dominated by a rather large Bear print which hung on the wall above it with a few bits and bobs placed below, I think because of the size of the print we were hesitant to put too much on the mantel which left it looking a little sparse and lonely. So we decided to re-locate the print and replaced him with a replica bull skull which instantly revived the room and gave it a more bohemian and relaxed vibe - so we went with it.
We propped different sized prints on the mantel underneath the skull to add dimension (including our wedding table plan for nostalgic purposes!), we added texture with a potted ivy plant and then added various accessories like our trusted bell jar & vintage camera, ballon dog (by Dr. Dublin) and then popped a tiny succulent into a marginally macabre baby vase because it looked kick-ass and also it added a nice metallic highlight to proceedings. All fairly random pieces but together they seemed to make sense - so yes, nicely bohemian.
After we stared at the magnificence of the newly arranged mantel, we realised the rest of the room looked fairly heinous in comparison - mainly our art wall. Quite simply the art wall is one full of art, prints that we've collected over the years but lately it's been looking stale and tired which is silly as its SO bloody EASY to change it up. So we rolled up our sleeves, took everything off the wall and started afresh.
The Art Wall
Firstly we decided to keep the frames to a black, grey and gold colour scheme, we then decided on the prints we were going to re-hang and the newer pieces we were going to introduce, including our over-sized wedding invitation which we had framed for our nuptials a few weeks ago. Due to the size of the invite, it took centre stage on the wall and we basically arranged all the other pieces around it.
To keep the wall from looking bland bland bland, we decided to add a straw panama hat we picked up in Florence, a simple brass antique mirror and our hand hook, which we popped over the electrical socket for charging the ipad. These pieces added real personality and dimension to the wall, so don't be afraid to try something a bit different - more often than not it's these little details that really 'make' a look.
So next time you're feeling bored by your surroundings - get up and do something about it! You don't always need to spend money to change the look and feel of your home - just dedicate some time to re-looking at the space, look at your furnishings and accessories - what do you really love and want to look at everyday? Get creative and rearrange...and have fun with it!
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