Happy Thursday, BDH. Mod R here, requesting Horde assistance.
I am moving house.
The new place is lovely, and I am very happy and grateful to have housing, but it has also been touched by the Fairy of Modern Rental Design (much less cooler than the Fish Fairy) and leeched of colour. Stark white walls, bright fluorescent lighting, black fittings, grey floors. Add windows that do not get direct sun and the usual English grey natural light, and you get the picture.
Very much a First World Mod problem, I am the first to admit. But the more I get to know myself and my ADHD, the more I realise how much my environment overstimulates me and makes me evil.
I haven’t decorated a home in more than a decade, and I ended up really hating what I did then, which was to work with the monochrome instead of against it. When I got rid of the bigger, greyer pieces, it was like my whole nervous system breathed a sigh of relief from tension I didn’t even know I was holding.
I do not want to get to that situation again.
Now I’m leaving all of that furniture behind and starting anew, with two limitations:
- I can only work with furniture, textiles, lighting, rugs, art, and renter-friendly tricks. The walls, floors, kitchen fittings, and permanent fixtures must remain as they are.
- More importantly, I have no measurable aesthetic sense. As in, I can appreciate it when I see it, but I have no idea how to get things that harmoniously “go” together.
My style is…pretty much everything they dig up at Pompeii? I’m not sure what to call that particular flavour of Mediterranean, but if I could live on an Ancient Rome set design, I would. Creams, terracotta, olive greens, pops of gold and sea blues.
My mission is to lighten and warm up the place by combining the two realities. “What if a spreadsheet became a home?” meets “You wake up on a sunny afternoon in Apulia. It’s 78 AD, and the olive harvest is plentiful.”
So I come to you, wise Horde.
Where do you look for inspiration and shop for home things? I’m in the UK, but please do not let geography stop you. The comment section has never respected borders before, and I see no reason for it to start now.
Is it Pinterest accounts? Design books by…? Instagram people? Specific blogs? YouTube channels? Secret witch covens that meet inside an ancient turtle and discuss where to buy good curtains?
Please advise, because I am currently losing a staring contest with a grey floor.
Hmmm since you’re starting from semi-scratch. I’ll give you the tip my mom gave me when I was a kid and I watched her decorating our home.
What she told me is that if you want things to look cohesive and look ‘right’, pick something you like that has the colors you want. Across the room you can other pieces that contain the same color(s). It can be just one of the colors in the original piece if you want, and that’ll likely be enough. Don’t go too color happy, and add some solids in there to make things mesh.
For example, in my living room we got a green couch (honestly because I love green). When the holidays came around, I found a throw pillow with some holly on it in the same shade of dark green as our couch. I also found a penguin pillow with a green scarf. I was gifted a throw blanket that’s just magenta in a very close shade to the holly berries on the pillow. So now it’s May, and I still have a penguin, a holiday throw pillow, and magenta blanket laid out prettily on my couch because they match perfectly and look cute LOL, I’m too lazy to do seasonal decor.
If you just google images of rooms in the style that you like, I’d hazard a guess that you’ll see a color palette across the photo. You can make most colors work as long as they’re connected across different items in your room. When it comes to decorating across time/aesthetic etc I’ve got nothing. But the color trick has worked for me over and over again. It doesn’t even have to be big items or anything, I once got a specific color of kitchen towel to help match a rug in my living room(since it was an open space situation).
Honestly don’t think too hard, have fun, and just pick something that you like to start! There’s no need to decorate super fast, you can gain items more gradually over time. I have tended to collect items for my home gradually over time except the big ticket furniture items. It’s easier to start with neutral large furniture pieces (couch/table) and add colorful accent pieces unless you’re really good at decorating (I’m not).
First – Lighting is always going to make a HUGE impact. You want warm lights! Stay away from “daylight” or anything super white. Lamps are your friend!
Second – they have come a LONG way with “renter friendly” things. Peel & stick tile, temporary wallpaper, etc. Not all of it is great, but read reviews and most will call out if things actually removed as easy as they were supposed to.
Lastly – 2nd hand stores and things like FB free groups for your area are great places to find good quality things cheap.
Good luck!
You can make your own art with a sheet of plywood that you then paint or put wallpaper on to have a movable piece or pieces
swapping out the lighting to warm white is essential imo and then interesting light fixtures/lampshades can really change the vibe of a space!
And it’s a bit more futuristic than Mediterranean vibes but there’s a decent number of light fixtures that reflect pretty colours onto the wall 😀 (the tiktok sunset lamp projection thing is the obvious one, but I’ve added a dichroic film to the reverse of my wall lamps so they provide the same amount of light outwards into the room but shine pink and yellow onto my wall)
Yes! A cozy home for ModR, Beloved of the Horde.
I was always a Pier 1 girl myself until they closed down. Sniffle.
I used Pinterest to keep track of stuff I liked when furnishing the house, but not for inspiration. You might look at online furniture stores or even Wayfair to get a sense of possibilities and how to achieve it.
I hope you’re able to achieve a look and feel that makes you happy and content. (Yes, my idea of home is very hobbit-y.)
To add to the stainless steel (or cover it up, ahem) They may also have something similar for the fridge. 🙂
https://www.amazon.com/Magnetic-Dishwasher-Reusable-Dishwashers-Appliance/dp/B0DGPZM3SC/ref=asc_df_B0DGPZM3SC?tag=bngsmtphsnus-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=80333278396869&hvnetw=s&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=72520&hvtargid=pla-4583932755015543&th=1
There are many others of similar style, some that help the fridge look not so blech. Faux stain window window films for bathrooms etc can help. The standard tried and true tapestry for the wall? LOL.
Houzz is a great source of inspo, you can go to the Stories and type a description of your style into the search to get started. It sounds like your style is a variation of Old World: https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/1329788/thumbs/So-Your-Style-Is–Old-World
I also live in the UK, and like colour (and also pattern!) in my decorations. I recommend IKEA for big rugs (and also half height Billy Bookcases) and maybe curtains depending on your taste. After that, I like Dunelm for things like cushion covers and doormats but some of their stuff (a duvet cover) has faded pretty quickly. Homesense / TKMaxx can also be good for getting a couple of fancy pieces, but it’s easy to spend a lot of money there so I would go there last.
I’m reeling from your comment of no bookcases so I’m limiting my suggestion to address it.
I found some short folding bookcases a long time ago. They are great to spread books around in different rooms and also allows for decorating above them.
Good luck and hope you have more fun than angst in your new home!
I will get bookcases 🙂
I don’t really understand where this no bookcase thing started between you and Steph 😅 – all I said is that I’m not taking any of my current furniture with me?
It’s oppressive and black and makes me stressed, and luckily the new tenant was happy to buy it at reduced cost.
Yep, I think I went with the no furniture comment and went sideways! 🤪
I completely support getting away from oppressive and black bookcases! 🤗
I too am design-challenged. I hired a company to tell me what to do and I absolutely love the results. I had a room I didn’t know what to do with, and now I have a library with a bar.
Anyway, my suggestion is to hire someone to tell you what to do, and then implement their plan yourself. It wasn’t terribly expensive, I paid for 3 or 4 hours of time total. You can contact the designer I used https://www.joymontgomeryinteriors.com/ to help you over Zoom or find someone local to you. Good luck! It was really worthwhile for me. 🙂
Congratulations ModR on the new place! Hope the new is based on reasonable reasons – may this new beginning find you safe!
Nothing to add at this point but will strongly agree with those who recommend changing/adding warm light and a plant (real or otherwise) in the space you are most frequently in while awake and just purchasing a quality bed, a quality chair (both that you love) and a place to sit and eat. Then work through the spaces from most frequented / most important. Believe some one above mentioned bedroom first. Then tackle the next most important space to you. No need to do everything at once. But then I am eclectic at this stage in my journey so if it doesn’t bring me joy or a bunch of usefulness I set it free. Love the idea from above: digital frame for photos. Nature photos for me are very soothing. Sending you peace, health and success on this new adventure!
Congrats on your new home Mod!
I might suggest shopping thrift shops for pretty quilts that can be hung as art. Or find kitchen towels that can be framed for wall art. The shower curtains now can be anything – I just changed my old blah beige/blue one for a William Morrison Strawberry Thief print from Cafepress.com
Good luck and don’t stress, it’ll come together😉
I love your description of the preferred aesthetic!
I go to Pinterest and Instagram, but you could do some AI mockups for ideas. I’ve been planning my dream built-in library (very much a future project) and have been asking ChatGPT to show me fuchsia, dark teal, and peach bookcases (not all together). Stained wood is out of my price range, but, fortunately, I love a bold paint color. I’m still on the hunt for the perfect hue, though.
Maybe pick out a few key pieces that you know you need and let AI layer things around them?
Good luck!
Great minds!
+1 for AI use to test ideas
There are any number of computer programs that will allow you to decorate a room so you can find what looks best in your space.
Rugs are always a good start.
Sounds like an interesting problem…
Have you thought of using AI to test the colours etc.?
Take & upload a photograph of the room and ask your AI of choice to change the wall colour to X, etc. and see what you think…
It worked well for my garden the other week when I was considering different colour gravel to use!
Equally several of the bigger stores have a ‘see it in your home’ option for furniture etc. so you can ‘try it out so to speak’…
A good painter can paint your cabinets so that they look like they came that way.
I have ADD/design so I have all my soft fixtures – blankets, pillows, curtains, etc.- in different colors so I can change the look easily. I get tired of the same pictures too so I use a staple gun and cover them in different material for a different look. right now the picture above my sofa is a sari that is stretched across a frame. It cost about $20 bucks and looks designer.
Congrats on the new digs! You have a ton of advice already from people most likely more knowledgeable than I, so my two cents: indirect warm lighting. So the kind of warm LED lighting that shines on the bright white ceiling/walls, making them reflect the warmer colour. Don’t know if that explains it very well, but basically point a warm light at the surface rather than the space.
I hope you find your happy place amongst the gray! Or grey, if you prefer 😉
Lulu & Georgia looks like it may fit your aesthetic or Vivaterra. Both lean toward your color palette.
You’ll know a piece is right when feel something click into place in your chest. That’s what I always look for. (Even when my (87 yo) mom asks me (60 yo) “where are you going to put that?”) If it clicks, it sticks with me.
Good luck!
I have a friend who is am interior designer. They have an option to go into a clients home and create a plan for them.Iit’s cheaper than them doing the job, but still gives you a cohesive look for your home. She does a lot of those jobs because it works for her family’s schedule.
I tend to create Pinterest boards and check out every home design book in the public library to flip through the pictures. My ADHD doesn’t love the clutter I create and my home doesn’t have a cohesive look. I’m working on it.
So, you should buy a rug in a warm sand to medium golden brown tone. This will catch light and throw warm light onto the walls, and it covers up some of that gray floor. While there are furniture covers a more practical solution is a blanket or afghan in jewel tones. It’ll cover the monochrome furniture and you and Mr. Mod R can cuddle under it in winter. You know the art that sings to you, so check museum gift shops to see if they have posters by those artists. You can also check resale shops/thrift stores for decor items such as vintage vases, artwork, and dishes. The customer is always right in matters of taste, and the same goes for home decor. I had one neighbor with a suit of chainmail in his living room and another who had a black velvet painting in their foyer. It’s what makes you and Mr. Mod R happy that matters, not what some interior decorater thinks you should have, because Fad!
IFF you can afford it I would use Farrow and Ball. I save up and get them for at least one wall. They are made with lots of different pigments (depending on the colour you choose, it can be as many as 12 compared with 2 or 3 for crown). This means that in different types of light, they appear different colours. I also use USB fairy lights to lean into the gloom, along with lots of plants.
https://www.farrow-ball.com/
Good luck in the new place!
Check out Caroline Winkler and Alexandra Gater on youtube! They do a lot of renter friendly makeovers and give lots of hints and tips.
Second for Caroline Winkler! Lots of fun, colorful, renter friendly tips. She does a series called “Fixing Subscriber Homes” that you might find helpful!
+1 🙂 Caroline!!
As a nooo you can’t put a hook in the wall renter. We changed the handles on all the kitchen cupboards. Kept the original to put back when moved out. But bright red handles for us worked a treat.
I like metal photo prints (I get mine from Bay Photo but ymmv) ~$70 for a 16×20 enlargement of my pictures or family pictures, no frame needed. As much color as you want. Pictures of Tuscany can probably be downloaded.
also Etsy
in the states, Restore (donations for Habitat for Humanity). Can get fairly nice used furniture. Go to an upscale area, get nice art very cheap
I find a lot of inspiration from Pinterest – you could try looking for maximalist decor, Mediterranean style, etc. I often look for colors – e.g. yellow kitchen cabinets, terra cotta kitchen..
Practically, there are many creative renter-friendly ways to remodel using contact paper, peel and stick wallpaper/tiles, paint for the furniture (including stencils for fun patterns and effects). I really like chalk paint for the coverage and the complete lack of smell (it’s water soluble). Changing the hardware on cabinets also tends to have an amazing transformative effect 🙂
I don’t know if anyone mentioned AI yet, but Someone did mention apartmenttherapy.com. They did an article about different free interior design AI programs: https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ai-interior-design-37304209
I have a few friends who have used different GPT apps and liked them. Paid apps are probably better, but the free ones can give you some ideas. You upload a photo of your current space, select a design style, and the AI will redraw the room populated with matching furniture and decor.
Your description immediately made me think of this B&B that I stayed at on the Amalfi Coast: https://www.lenamagdabnb.com/ Hopefully the pictures inspire you!
Is a grey floor like a cat?
As a temporary thing, you can use wrapping paper or something similar, along with painter’s tape, to cover cupboard doors: fold the paper over the top and bottom and at the opening edge, and tape it on the inside. Run the straight edge along the hinged side and you may get away without tape there. Not expensive, easily changed.
I did this for a cupbard in my dining room with old, ugly, plain, large cupboard doors. Helped so much – although I’ll admit the poinsettia paper may look odd in the middle of the summer. Or not. 🙂
Hang fabric in rich, glorious colors that you love – curtain your walls, for example, if you can’t paint. Use solids for a wall and then over the middle or at one end hang a narrow print of something delightful, like elephants or flamings or ? Use those expandable rods to hang curtains over gaps, swagged doorways or windows.
You can usually change out electric covers and then replace them with the boring ones when you go.
Walls full of bookcases also do a lot for color. Vary the height if you want art on the walls in some places. You could look at pictures of houses for sale in the area — or in a climate that uses colors you love. There are reasons people tend to the same types of colors in different areas, of course, like southwestern colors in the southwest US, but the heart wants what the heart wants! Choose a color or couple of colors to use throughout and then shift shades or complements in different areas, like a dark blue in a bedroom and light blue in the bathroom, with the main color being that tawny almost gold, for instance.
Swag fabrics along ceilings and have them drape down at corners. Fairy lights in colors. A mirror to take advantage of color in one place and reflect a little light (don’t position it to scare you in bed, ahem).
Bland bookcases? Use wallpaper on the sides – run a pretty print up the side of the bookcase, or in the back where it will show above the books, or on the outside just under the top edge. And/or paint the cases so they reflect your love of those sun-rich mediterranean colors, outside or edges.
Good luck!
Of course bookcases don’t have to be for books – they can be yarn display shelves, art shelves, folded clothes or things in baskets, with pretty curtains or open, stacked with jigsaw puzzles or anything you might collect. Tall ones are a quick way to hide a decent bit of wall.
Congratulations on the new digs! Have fun with putting your space together!!
TK Maxx and what we here in the states have as Homegoods which is part of the same company. They get great pieces.
Also low light plants will help!!
On this week’s Interior Design Masters the challenge was rental properties in Leeds so they all had to be reversible designs. Some good ideas, especially the marine ply splashback I thought. Amazing how different they all turned out for identical studio flats. (I still prefer the old Great British Interior Design Challenge series because Tom Dychoff always gave good architecture chat.)
There’s two Australian shows that are good too but are as much for the drama as the interiors – The Block and My House Rules.
Changing Rooms of course and actually anything with Laurence Llewellyn Bowen.
You’ve got to look to someone to beat the bland beigeness of everything nowadays!
Mind you my mum brought us up in 360° colour during 1980s working class bleak Britannia (and sadly we were even embarrassed by it sometimes back then!) so I’m full on indoctrinated against monochrome now 😉
If you can affix it to a command strip, you can hang it was my moto – I had fabric attached to command hooks at the top & bottom draped to stop the hvac from blowing directly on my face in my dorm. I had heavy duty moving blankets attached at top & bottom to command hooks on a shared apartment wall to stop their tv from blaring into my apartment at 4 am. I firmly believe there is nothing I cannot achieve with a variety of enough heavy duty command strips & hooks, safety pins, and heavy duty line. But I also saw a cool trick for a rental friendly DIY slat wall involving rental friendly removable peel & stick wallpaper and gluing thin slats to the peel & stick wallpaper to create texture on blank flat unpaintable walls – and a similar trick for a roman limewash plaster look – basically putting up rental safe wallpaper appying random joint compound, then painting over the dried joint compound. You could do one wall and frame it with floor to ceiling bookshelves or faux columns secured with rental friendly furniture straps.
For design ideas I just image search various key words that relate in a million tabs and save photos I like. I like to follow a rabbit hole search as results usually give me ideas for keywords. Then I make a mood board in Microsoft paint (or word depending on how easy I want the image to be to move) with my saved pictures and with the specific thing I liked about a photo noted in words and probably circled. I tried Pinterest, and it can be useful as a search tool, but the boards don’t work well for me to “see” a cohesive image. Yes there are more sophisticated tools, but image dumping into an infinitely expandable window of MS paint is a free action that doesn’t require more thought processing.
Best Wishes for your new space!
+1 on changing the lighting to a full spectrum or as close to natural as you can get. Colors do not look the same under different types of lighting. When redoing a space, I always start with the floors. Find a rug(s) that speaks to you and build the room around it. I lean toward solid colors for larger pieces of furniture and pick up accent colors from the rugs, wall art,etc. for accessories. Much easier to change out smaller items when you want to. Quilts of any size are fun as wall art.
For inspiration go to a paint store or order paint swatches online. Also look around outside, Mother Nature creates a wonderful palette. Don’t be shy about asking for fabric swatches to take home or carrying around while shopping. That shade of blue, green, yellow might look ghastly next to the beautiful terracotta sofa you. fell in love with.
Congratulations on the move and have fun decorating.
I’m not sure if you live near an IKEA but they sell a lot of apartment friendly stuff.
Some of their stuff is too modern for me but I can usually find something I like. And I think they had a bit of stuff in the colors you mentioned.
Just a heads up- ikea is wonderfully paintable. It’s designed to be- so if you need shelves and color? Go for it. They can disassemble to go with if you move, and gives a bright pop. I have a very beige/white room and that helped me start bringing color in- plus pillows and blankets.
My go to is colorful storage example fabric ottoman (wayfair – https://www.wayfair.com/furniture/pdp/lark-manor-akifa-2150-wide-upholstered-rectangle-storage-ottoman-wnpo9049.html?piid=82956949). That includes baskets (IKEA) because I can have a pop of color but also a place to declutter. Agree with the pictures – metallic frames or wood and various sizing. You can easily change out leveraging a theme like pets, books etc.
+1 on rugs and if you can nice candle holders and candles. I like to be able to move things around from one area/room to another because sometimes you need a change but money is tight.
Go to flea markets and boot sales. Buy things that call to you. Join pages on Facebook that say they like your type of design. Roam around on Pinterest. Make your home a place where you feel comfortable and love your stuff.
You can get removal wallpaper https://oliveetoriel.com/collections/peel-and-stick-on-removable-wallpaper-australia-online?page=47&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22344038324&gclid=CjwKCAjw2rrQBhBuEiwAarLWHUMARA6QxsQVTx5QKOSj6-03FU_JqOOHe39hk2kRQ80MSSZ2rMDIXxoC1iMQAvD_BwE
I’m sure you can get something similar to apply to the grey kitchen cabinets
The example I gave is randomly selected from a quick internet search as an example
Here is another great removable wallpaper. https://paintedpaper.com
There’s also removable felt wall art that can add some softness, texture and color. https://feltright.com/products/shape-play-mist?variant=44630788112612&country=US¤cy=USD&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=21430639100&utm_content=&utm_term=&gadid=&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21430639826&gbraid=0AAAAACdj9gjqZnJk9u9oD207t8ZUPp1Kg&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIlvCegrXNlAMVETUIBR2Hkwh2EAQYCSABEgK9HPD_BwE
I’ll probably come back with more, but here are my first thoughts, from someone who has moved house every couple of years since childhood.
Lighting. Get yourself some lamps. Floor lamps, table lamps, bedside lamps. Then put smart bulbs in them, because being able to adjust the color(s) and intensity of your lighting is a game changer. The cool-to-warm white bulbs are nice, but if you can, get the full-color ones. If you go this route, post about it, because I’m sure I’m not the only one who will have light-color suggestions for you for different moods/seasons/weather.
Pro tip: Stick to only one or two brands of bulbs, if you can. It’s tempting to grab stuff on sale, and there are a lot of no-name or lesser known brands that you can get cheaply. That’s cool, but each of them will have their own app. If you don’t integrate them all into Apple Home or Google Home or whatever (which has its own issues) then you’re stuck thumbing through apps to get your lighting how you want it, which makes it more hassle than it’s sometimes worth. TPLink/Kasa, Phillips Hue, and Lifx are all solid, well-known brands, but YMMV.
Second, unless you love art frames, look at stretched canvas art. It’s frameless, usually cheaper, still has dimension on your wall, and you don’t have to worry about frame styles/colors not matching. Alternatively, hit thrift stores and antique shops for art, and have an eclectic mix of frames on your walls. Art lets you add both color AND points of visual interest, and hopefully makes you feel something every time you look at it. If it makes your heart happy, then hang it. Doesn’t matter what it is.
Third, Pinterest is your friend. Don’t worry about following particular people, just put in your desired aesthetic (rewording often) and let the bot show you pretty stuff, then save it to your own board. Start with the overall vibe, then later you can then drill down into Bedroom, Living Room, Kitchen, Bath, etc. Now get out there and pin, pin, pin!
Once you have a table, find one of those Provence (French) tablecloths in colors you love. Mine is yellow and green with lots of olives! Then, decorate everything to match the tablecloth. You Got IT!
If it’s okay with landlord, paint ceiling in hi gloss, this will reflect light and make it brighter. Get ideas from magazines, cut pictures out that you like. Shop thrift shops, or boot sales(I think that’s what you call it) think of your new space as a blank canvas.
Probably the last thing you want to do is stay in the same color palette. Why not accents of red (think of the different shades and patterns in cloth), gold (literally shiny/shiny gold (metal objects or metallic accents in cloth print) or vivid deep pink. Try scrolling through Mood Fabrics, Britex Fabrics, etc., and get samples of cloth. Go wild on the color selections (after all, you are just playing to find out what you are drawn to). Live with those for a week and see where you are. Do the same with inexpensive art prints from Etsy, Great Big Canvas, or Fab art. Remember, art doesn’t have to be hung; it can function as an attractive room divider or atop a fireplace mantel. The colors in the work you choose should reflect pillows or other things that you have selected the fabric for. At any road, good luck and have fun creating your nest!
I know this is old school and proves my status as a fifty year old, BUT magazines. Decorating is the one time I go to the bookstore and buy a bunch of magazines. It helps me to visualize.
Good luck and have fun!
Yep! This is me too! There is just something about going through a
Magazine that’s sparks inspiration
Bonus when you can cut the image out and tape it to a wall!
Best Whip cream chargers in USA & Canada.
Chillchefs website Link: https://chillchefs.net/
Serious answer (and I know there’s lots of negative thoughts on this) check with CharGPT. Give it that exact aesthetic. It helped me choose light fixtures AND found where I could buy them! Once you have a “look” you can go search the internet.
Late, but if you want to zhuzzh up your cabinets, I’ve had good results using peel and stick wallpaper on them.
There are peel and stick wall decor in amazing sizes and designs. I bet you could find a Roman/Pompeii for a single door or an entire wall and use it to tie all your colors together. I know grey is a popular color right now but it reminds me of Navy ships ugh.
Antique shops. Boot sales. French antique street markets.
“More importantly, I have no measurable aesthetic sense.”
“My style is…pretty much everything they dig up at Pompeii?”
🤣 MENTAL NOTE Mod R is FUNNY.
I’m sorry your situation specifically rules out the roman favourites murals and mosaics😢.
Colorful throw pillows. Scarves in pretty colors, arranged on your bed. Plants that have flowers like African violets in different colors.
I love a good cookie jar collection on the counter, in odd numbers like one or three or five. Even if you don’t bake cookies, they are great places to store your teabags or your K cups if you drink coffee that way, or small utensils, like wine corks, and specialty spoons that you want to always know where they are.
Colorful, throw rugs on the floor, in different styles to be eclectic. Maybe braided rugs in the living room and Persian looking rugs in the bedroom.
And I just love Sun catches in the window. I prefer a stained glass kind.
You don’t have to spend a lot of money to add colorful, personal touches and they actually look better against a monotonous gray, Brown or black background.
One of my favorite accent pieces is my shower curtains. I changed them for every season and every holiday. Same thing with the bathroom, hand towels and washcloths.
I scroll Pinterest until I can’t stand the ads anymore. I also like magazines for inspiration. But a couple of quick suggestions is change your lightbulbs. Many rentals use the cheaper lightbulbs that have that very cold white that’s more blue on the spectrum which makes a white/black/Grey house feel cold and look more greyish. Look for bulbs that have a more neutral tone or warm tone if that doesn’t bother you. Also you can use floor lamps and table lamps to pull the light down and make it more cozy. The other is a floor rug or runner to break up the grey floor will help. Also flowers and plants (if you can have them) are a fast and great way to bring color and a bit of nature in while you figure out you new place. Congratulations btw!
Figure out which of the colors listed make you the happiest and run with it for the furniture. For example, I am a person who gravitates towards sea tones, so I would start with darker sea tones for a patterned area rug and pull in the darker color in a solid for the couch and and lighter tones for armchairs. Then I would pull brighter colors out of the area rug for accents and accessories. The idea is to choose a pattered piece (be it rug, chairs or couches) to give you the color story and work from there.
You can get ideas and inspiration from Houzz a website. There is also Remodelista as a resource. Textiles and framed art as well as curated finds at thrift stores, charity shops and Buy Nothing groups help when on a budget. Good luck. Be patient. It can take a while to make a bouse a home. Another resource is the library to check out magazines and design books. And of course Tv shows and movies for house designs. I watch a lot of foreign tv series and it’s nice to see houses / homes in other countries.
Living plants are a great way to warm up any space. Even fake plants that mimic that look (if you have a brown thumb the way that I do) can help you.
Since you can hang them from curtain rods (if they are light enough not to bend or warp the rod) or sit them on floor and table spaces, these are renter friendly, too.
Good luck!
Hi Mod R, thanks for all your work keeping the BDH sane while we wait for news of Maggie 2. Congratulations on and good luck with your new place.
My first immediate thought is if there is as much black in the cabinets of your kitchen as in the photo, I strongly recommend finding a way to make them lighter. Otherwise all that black is going to absorb the limited light you do get and make the place really dark and dingy, a lighter colour will reflect more light back into the room. I suspect the best solution will be stick on: peel and stick wallpaper or tiles, contact paper, something like that. If the cabinets are painted, you may be able to talk your landlord into letting you paint them a light colour.
Beyond that, I suggest searching your social media of choice for ‘renter friendly makeover,’ add the room you’d like to start with if you want. Find a creator whose style and approach you like and watch/read/look through a bunch of their work for ideas. Given your description of the style you like, I suggest looking up ‘Boho home decor’ as well. And as an AuDHDer, I suggest looking for some home organisation suggestions; I like Cas from Clutterbug on YouTube, but there are several with ADHD friendly advice.
Lastly, don’t forget to put some art on the walls. This was the biggest mistake I made when we were renting: leaving big white empty walls. Command picture strips are your friend, and there are so many options online to purchase art prints of various varieties. Frames can be expensive, but you can often get them second hand.
Good luck and have fun with it. Not everything will work first time, and that’s ok. Learn from it and try again.
–Alison from NZ
Design Toscano was great in their heyday. I also always look at Etsy and eBay for tapestry, I love the texture with woven textiles, if you’re patient interesting things come available. And as others have mentioned since they aren’t framed are easier to move. You can also look for embroidered or textured drapes .
I think the advice of looking at the colors in your closet is brilliant!
I’m not sure what to do that addresses ADHD specifically – and that would be key for your success. I suggest searching for experts who can advise home decorating. Never gave home decorating much thought for myself, just went with colors I like. I love blue toned green for my living room because it is soothing.
Didn’t read all the comments, so may be repetitive…how about those hanging fabric pix? I entered wall hangings greece and got this website for lightinthebox.com which had some really cool pix, depends on if you’ve got a wall space big enough (and a tall enough friend or are good with ladders). I’ve got a gorgeous mountain lake scene as my headboard, and love it.
My kitchen is pretty blah, so I shopped for appliances that had pops of color and because I like it mostly turquoise.i have accents of yellow and darker blue. Don’t worry about matchy,matchy and just buy stuff that you really like.
I have to worry about fitty-fitty at least 😅, if not matchy-matchy, because a chaos of things will make it seem like I live in constant mess and stress me out.
You might try knotted fringe throws made out of fleece fabric. It does not have to be sewn. My great niece and her teenage girlfriends used to get together to make them. The internet has the tutorials for them. There are many colors and patterns of fleece and sometimes you can find kits on sale to make them. IKEA has a lot of colorful products or you could visit the charity stores! I have used clothing from Goodwill as fabric. Just wash it and start creating. If it doesn’t work out then I have a new cleaning rag! Good Luck and happy creating!
1. Peel and stick tile. It’s amazing. You can create a whole new backsplash.
2. Wallpaper. If you can’t paint, it’s your best option. Peel and stick. Comes right off. Painted Paper has beautiful stuff.
3. Lighting. Get floor lamps, table lamps. They have smart switches that stick to your wall and control the smart bulb. So you can control from the wall. Don’t even use the nasty florescents. lighting is truly the most important thing.
4. Splurge for real textiles. Wool, cotton. It has soul. No fake stuff for rugs and throws.
5. Use brass metal. It really brightens a room. you can swap out the knobs on your cabinets and swap them back when you leave.
6. Plants. lots of plants. get grow lights for them. they make shelves with built in grow lights. warm Mediterranean glow.
7. Tapestries. wallpaper companies like Painted Paper make tapestries too. many of them have that Mediterranean olive aesthetic.
Find your closest art festival and buy prints (if you’re on a budget) of whatever speaks to you.
I highly recommend reading interior design book Foundations by Nate Berkus. I love what he has to say.
recommend is real and stick tiles for your terracotta needs, a lot of places online have something renter friendly, and I would probably go peel and stick wall murals, to gain the Pompeii feel to go with them. there was a place in Australia that had reasonable prices (pre covid!) and if I could remember their name I would tell you, i found them on Etsy, if that makes the search easier. the real trick is to unfortunately go for the more costly stuff to save yourself time and money later. Best regards, and congrats on the move!
Hi Mod R! I created an inspirational board on Pinterest for you. Here’s the link:
https://pin.it/7C074uD7h
Hope you enjoy.
This is so incredibly kind!
This is what has worked for me.
Find a bunch of old color magazines, National Geographic, fashion, architecture, doesn’t matter.
Then cut out the pictures that make you feel the way you want your home to make you feel and pile them up
(Extra step, to do or not) go through your pictures and cut out any parts that don’t work for you
When you have 20-30 pictures, lay them all out and find what they have in common. Colors? Textures? Patterns? Something else?
That is your starting place. Once you have that, you will start seeing things that are will fit into the “feel” you want – pillows, throws, wall hangings, rugs, tchotchkes.
I know my limitations and hire a professional 😆 just bought my first house and I’m so excited to have a landscape designer come out tomorrow to get plans for my future garden – the interior designer is lower on my personal list so my furniture will not match the room for a while
If you hang pictures or textiles on the walls, use removable strips. then you can reposition items without any holes in the walls.
One of the best things I’ve ever done for my home designwise was to edit down to my favorite and my best items. I did a deep clean, charity runs, got the kitchen to flow the way I liked it, closets organized like a boutique (because every girl’s a princess), etc.. Then I asked my favorite high-end furniture resale store for the name of their designer and invited her to “Come over to move a few things around”. In just a few hours my home was a magical place filled with things I already loved. Her hourly fee seemed like a lot of money at first, but the results proved it was one of my wisest investments. I never dreamed that my things could be so beautiful if they were placed just so and ‘if we maybe move this over here with this’. The celebrated designer Carolina Herrera suggests that you ‘decorate in colors you look good in, otherwise you look bad in your family holiday photos’. It’s anexcellent reason for buying new drapes -lol Wishing you every happiness in your new home!
A lot of the artists on redbubble offer big 6′ x 6′ scarves, which friends and I use as cheap wall hangings/much bigger art prints. Weirdly, they don’t have “scarves” on any of the menus, but if you type it in the search bar, you’ll get tons. At least one is literally a print of a mosaic from Pompeii 😀
You can use two stick-on hooks, a string, and binder clips to hang them up on a wall without any damage. They are also very easy to change out that way, which can be fun. I have a set of 12 nature ones for my office at work that I rotate through the year to make up for not having any windows in there.
Hi, in The UK we have a wonderful renters friend of sticky backed wallpaper, meaning you can peel of the backing and apply to walls to make them nicer or easier on the eye, and then before you have to return your home back to renter perfect you just peel it back off. In the UK its called “self adhessive wallpaper”, they also do Tiles and wood panels like that as well.
Good luck making your home feel more like a home. I painted mine soothing colours as I sure from anxiety so too much white feels clinical and too much grey I find depressing.
My home is now coffee and cream colours in my lounge/computer room, and pale pink/purple in my bedroom as those as supposed to be restful colours, my bathroom is a soft mint which helps reflect light around the bright white tilling. My kitchen is painted a Minion colour yellow as the kitchen cupboards are all very pale ash wood, and I wanted a bright cheerful place to encourage me to cook.
I meant have anxiety or sufer, sorry its 3am here and I’m having sleep problem due to ill health, I often cant spell properly when that happens
Even though you said walls can’t be touched, I love peel and stick wallpaper. You are in the UK … you can go with maximalism: floral, plaid, textures and colors that all mix.
Pops of colour (throws pillows are great for this!), bright art, and ONE big bright colored item as the focus makes they gray fade away. If you have a couch you love, find a cerulean blue throw cover or a couch runner.
Then your monochrome walls work with you.
Moving, such a joy… not. But you do get to get new furniture, so that is a plus (and hopefully have it delivered to your new place instead of having to move it in yourself!).
The grade school and high school I went to required uniforms, so I never learned to mix and match my clothes. College was the first time I had real day-to-day clothing options. My college roommate told me I should pick no more than three colors and stick with them (advice I clearly needed, lol). For my clothing, I usually stick with two…
In any case, my ability to pair colors can be questionable if I’m not careful.
Don’t see why that two or three colors can’t apply to your home.
I’d go with furniture in very neutral colors like brown or cream (depending on messy your household is). They make couch covers (which are a MUST when your dog just KNOWS the couch is his), and you can use those to liven it up, if you want… but I’d go with couch cushions (pillows) or throws.
For floor covers I’d go with something more neutral like cream, so your couch cushions (pillows) can give you the pop of color you want.
This applies to the bathroom and kitchen, too. Floormats are amazing, but remember to keep a room cohesive. Maybe something like a cream floor mat with teal towels. That way the colors don’t try to scream and make your eyes bleed.
And pick up some nice pictures or paintings for the walls. If you can, go with ones of flowers or sunsets – great colors. Those do an amazing job of adding color. I have a friend who does wildflower photography and gets his images printed on metal. Light and super cool! You could look for something like that…
I use Pinterest and the snap tool to find similar items to the aesthetic I see pictured. I’ll try and find something there and post as a reply one
Dear Mod R…there are some really fine suggestions here about adding fabrics (drapes, cushions, rugs, pillows), art work, and plants. If you really like Pompeiian mosaics the Getty site https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/pompeii-mosaic has some gorgeous ones for you to use as inspiration for colors and patterns-I think some of the geometric ones are stunning. Or you could pick a print(or two or more) from this site https://fineartamerica.com/shop/prints/pompeii and use the colors in it/them as guides to whatever fabric, etc you choose as brighteners and lighteners in the murk.
+1 on fineartamerica.com for prints. Excellent suggestion.
Terra cotta goes really well with grey
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/337066353381339890/
So I don’t think that the grey floor will be much of a drawback to what you want to live in
This is a spread that would look good against white walls https://www.zazzle.com/trendy_mediterranean_terracotta_navy_blue_tiles_duvet_cover-256187163089244788?srsltid=AfmBOopidM3ETk0YEIzwaSyFoocxGwJC9qN4vxLjiTBQb0tjTnalScnC
Pleaseu
Removeable wallpaper is very renter friendly, you can get whole murals. just Google “removable wallpaper for renters Pompeii” and you can see a vast selection at very reasonable prices.
Also in the UK with limited ability to decorate rented apartments.
Hines of Oxford have some of the most amazing tapestry pillows that really add a spark of colour, texture, and personality to your home.
I’ve also used those no-damage wall hooks to hang cheaply framed posters and paintings everywhere. They also come in tiny varieties for fairy lights which have changed the mood of my living room remarkably.
ohh exciting but also challenging times ahead!
I watch way too many interior design channels and read magazines but have no formal training whatsoever. so with that disclaimer here my two cents:
1) seeing as you already know which colours you like, pick a colour palette based on them, I.e : terracotta, creams (and then grey black seeing as you can’t change them). use a cream and terracotta that is a bit muted, has some great in it . you can bring in green through I.e. plants, possible in those antique looking bust looking planters. they are fairly cheap
2) go for a cream that is not too warm in your bigger pieces, in your rug if possible use a combination of creams , terracotta and grey.
3) Pinterest is your friend in these cases. look up ‘ how to warm up grey floors ‘and the see if you like any of the search results . use that as inspiration after analysing it , I.e. what do I like?
4) I think there are shades available you can clip unto existing light fixtures haven’t used them myself yet though. maybe Google to see if there is a company that ships to you.
Good luck!
I am no help on decorating. However, I can get you the goods on organizing!
Checkout the Youtube channel Clutterbug and look for an overview of the Bug types (different organising styles) – maybe take their quiz as well – then you can start to work with your Adhd instead if against it 🙂
Note: your organising style might be different in different rooms.
1. If you’re doing rugs, start there. It’s much harder to find a rug for a couch than a couch for a rug.
2. Decide if the rugs will be neutral/quiet or visually textured. I myself love me a Morris style rug, but if you go that way you have to be comfortable with simplicity elsewhere to achieve a pleasing balance.
3. One of the best tricks I ever learned was from a military spouse who got moved around a lot to non-permanent housing: starched fabric as wallpaper. But these days you can also get peel-n-stick wallpaper. Try http://www.lovevsdesign.com. Moderately pricy, but for good reason, and you only have to do one wall or the inside back of a bookcase to make a big difference.
4. For ideas: library magazines or Pinterest, yes. Also, there are online quizzes to help identify what people are calling your particular design style. It took me a while, but I finally figured out that my hubby’s favorite style is “plantation” or sometimes “Hemingway.” Once you know this, it’s much easier to find good ideas relevant to your actual style.
5. Go slowly. Add one element at a time and live with it for a few days or weeks. Pay attention to your clutter threshold. There may come a time when you think you want or need more, but your visual threshold will try to stop you. Listen to this inner voice, especially since you live with ADHD. Simple and pleasing will be less stressful than several items that are allllmost right.
What a fun new adventure!!!
Most landlords are willing to let you paint & make changes if you put things back when you move out. So you can install different door handles or faucets if you keep the originals to re-install when you move. They also make lots of peel & stick vinyl backsplash tiles for kitchen and bathrooms. Also carpet tiles. I’ve moved alot in my younger years.
There is peel and stick wallpaper now, and it does not damage the finish underneath. So when you move it can be removed.
I hope you have an easy move into your new home Mod R! In my experience, somehow stuff magicaly breeds when you need to pack it up and even when you throw some out you still end up with more than you had before you moved. As I am ah… esthetically challanged, I can’t offer any help there, but I wish you the best of luck!
Big pieces of art on the walls help, screen of is just a scarf on a pattern and colors you love. Make sure all your pictures have the same color frame; it helps calm the brain. The Last time I moved, I spent a lot of time on Google store. I found my rig by typing in orange rug and then Google showed me what stores near me carried it in stock. Take your time over the next three months finding things so you don’t rush into something you hate. I love your color palette and, as my grandpa used to say, if the colors are found in nature they match.
I like http://www.chairish.com for a lot of things. It’s great for vintage and antique pieces, but re a lot more reasonably priced than 1st dibs.
1st Dibs has a fair number of UK-based dealers and might be useful to you. It’s free to join. http://www.1stdibs.com
I must confess that the majority of home things I own were inherited or thrifted and I have no aesthetic to speak of.
Personally, I would focus on how you want each room to feel. What’s its purpose? How should it feel to accomplish that? Then, ask yourself what rooms you’ve been in that felt that way. Why did they feel that way? Let your intuition guide you.
Living room: welcoming – soft cozy furniture, throw blankets, coffee table, bookshelf, board games? Bedroom: restful – dimmable yellow lighting, sunset or twilight colors, no TV?
Do you like plants? Do you have pets? Consider the needs of each living thing that will be in the space.
IMHO each item in the space should serve a purpose. If I have to wonder why a thing is in a room for more than five seconds, I default to “get rid of it” but that might be a combination of claustrophobia and anxiety talking.
I have a large selection of throw blankets that I rotate seasonally. I have a few wall hangings that I rotate or rearrange periodically rather than buy new stuff. I’ve been known to use graphic printed blankets as curtains.
It’s your space, make it home for you. Enjoy the journey 🙂
Sounds like you need to spend some time on the Facebook Moody Decor page!
Japandi style! You have an ADHD sister here: I don’t decorate my home to the high octane eclectic crazy cool artsy meets ancient world aesthetic that I drool over in my Pinterest boards exactly because I have ADHD and I have learned that I need a very calm restful minimal home environment- NOT cold or ultra modern: restful. I’m a magpie and I can collect string if I not vigilant! am attracted to knickknacks so I direct that towards plants now. The most coherent way for me is to have a cohesive palette that shares no more than 3 colors throughout my house- warm soft neutral with a high light reflection is a solid plan with no buyers remorse. I find Japandi allows me to feel centered, relaxed and free to focus elsewhere and not on cleaning up or decluttering. So much time wasted to declutter and cleaning that I could weep. Truly: less is more. Rest IS more.
Look up Alexandra Gater on youtube
For the UK specifically… I’d go wander around somewhere like Dunelm or even just Ikea or The Range (Home Bargains and B&M also oddly have a bunch of interesting homeware on occasion, and even the big supermarkets are surprisingly effective at that sometimes) and see what catches your eye? It sounds silly but I’ve quite often just hit the artwork section for any of those places (or even the lampshades), found something that caught my ADHD brain and then built around that style-wise as a centrepiece. Seeing something in person is the key thing though, you’re not getting all the colour inaccuracies etc from an online pic.
You can always prop up big pictures on tables against the wall if the renter requirements don’t let you use picture hooks etc, and if there are small bits of wall that will take removeable wallpaper, that’s also nice for adding pops of colour (or stick-on tiles for bathroom/kitchen).
Ooo exciting! I would find one thing you love per room, so a lamp, a rug, a sofa, a picture, and build the rest of the room around that
Command strip hooks, shelves, etc. can be used in amazing ways! And double sided tape comes off with gentle heat from a blow dryer (Test on a safe wall first but useful).
And plants with cool grow lights make such a difference to the atmosphere, especially during grey winters! Aside from the dependable peace lilies, I have a Meyer lemon dwarf tree and herbs all inside with grow lights that give me daylight :-). Good luck and have fun!
Watch the Sorry Girls on YouTube! They do a lot of renter friendly interior makeovers!
depending on your budget: have the kitchen cabinetd wrapped (diy if you are handy). It’s renter friendly if you use the removable version, and it removes a ton of black at once. For decoratinh what I did is pick one dominant colour, and decide with every item if it fits with that. Then style of the item is irrelevant. Although tbh my house looks like library meets second hand store in furniture 😀
I feel you. adhd lack of visual vision is a thing for me too.
10 years i have been indecisive about our kitchen. I put pictures into chatgtp and now decision made. lots of different variations on where the blue should go
we are going for a grey floor… i would never have done that but now I know it will work.
I’m a big fan of watercolors, especially those by Winslow Homer and John Singer Sargent. Terrific light, very tropical or Mediterranean. Pick a painting that makes you feel good, then go looking for objects in that palette.
I’d start with a rug. Ruggable sells in UK: tons of designs & they are WASHABLE. From there comfortable furniture (no suggestions on source). Pillows & throws add comfort & color. Then smaller objects that warm your heart.
And cats. And books.
Maybe IKEA? I know a lot of people look down on it, but I also work there and I know their interior design people work hard to build cosy and inspiring rooms/apartments in the stores. Maybe a walk around an IKEA (or two) can help you with that. You don’t have to necessarily buy there, but definitely use the inspo. Also, some room sets may be succumbing to the grey plague but not all will be like that. Old catalogues may also be an option (old because colours and because they don’t print them anymore). It will be a problem though if you don’t like the Scandinavian style for obvious reasons.
Hi Mod R, sorry, but I can’t send photos here. If you wish to see some I could show you some colorful and some dreary rooms.
My appartement is very white” white walls, windows, doors and ceiling. The floors are light wood.
I bought a lot of furniture at Ikea. The basics like wardrobes and shelfs. Mostly white and natural wood.
Then I started browsing furniture stores. Cheap and expensive both. I found cheap but colorful, woolen area rugs. A very cheap but colorful sofa. I found some more expensive but still not bankbreaking single pieces like a red leather stuffed chair, a dark blue cupboard, and prints for the walls.
I added some heritage pieces from my parents. Brown oak, British, around 1900. Some pewterware, not the rigid stuff.
My biggest problems always are lamps and curtains so I went for unobstusive ceiling lights and added single pieces beside sofa, bed etc. The curtains are in the main color of the room and are framing simple sheer white panels or blinds. Everything Ikea again.
The main colors are dark blue, dark red and orange accents.
This probably sounds awful but I feel everything goes together really well.