Old-Style Interior Design

moggins

When my DH trotted off to Holland for the weekend 2 years ago I completely redecorated the living room, the piece de resistance was the welsh dresser I had always wanted. Bought from a charity shop for £20 it was a murky mahogany colour. When I'd finished with it the base colour was white and the top colour was dry brushed blue. It looks amazing and no one believes the colour it used to be until I open the doors and show them the inside

needmoney

moggins wrote:

When my DH trotted off to Holland for the weekend 2 years ago I completely redecorated the living room, the piece de resistance was the welsh dresser I had always wanted. Bought from a charity shop for £20 it was a murky mahogany colour. When I'd finished with it the base colour was white and the top colour was dry brushed blue. It looks amazing and no one believes the colour it used to be until I open the doors and show them the inside

It really is amazing moggins what a bit of paint will do isn't it. I just love the freedom of not having to think Oh! this cost a bomb, better look after it, with painted you can just do a nd re-do. My inside the doors give the game away too:D

moggins

I'm having some great inspiration for this weekend though

tallulah_beaulah

Recently had to "tart up" our flat, ready for sale, and I found that a tin of white paint works wonders - I painted all our mismatched wooden furniture white, and wood-effect laminated furniture painted white, now everything looks like it belongs together and the rooms all look light and airy, and much bigger.

There's a primer called ESP - Easy Surface Preparation, which is brilliant. It primes the surface of laminated stuff that normally won't take paint, and it lasts ages as you only need a thin layer. Then paint over the top with ordinary emulsion.

Then I added cushion covers made from fabric from eBay, I had already made curtains a while ago (from non-mse full price fabric), but lined with old duvet cover.

It didn't take long and the whole place looks really fresh!

ocemeer

I match my duvet covers to the room buy either buying cheap white ones and dying them the correct colour then tarting them up from my magic box (bits of lace from old underwear, old buttons (50p a bag from the local charity shop and keeps me occupied for hours going through them) and scarves) or making them from scratch.

Furniture... buy stuff that needs restoration/renovation then find the fabric (one paid £10 for 5 metres of £10 a metre fabric the young lad rang it up wrong) and send it off to my mum, bit of a cheat but she loves doing it...best one so far is a nursing chair that was going on a bonfire reupholstered with a curtain left in our house.

I dont like a minamalist look, love houses that take on the character of their owners, so lots of strange stuff in mine. The other trick i found useful is if trying to sell your house is I painted a stripy clour chart style painting on stretched canvas and then had to try and not giggle when people went....oh i do like that where did you get it?

kaznelson

I originally trained at College as an Interior Designer and I wouldnt pay the stupid amounts of money for fabric, paints etc.

If you are trying to create the Shabby Chic or county home interior then 2nd hand is best. All the latest ideas can be found at a fraction of the cost.

Ideas for window dressings:

Dust Sheets are great with extra trimmings, more expensive material or dyed another colour

If you find a pair of curtains that you love but dont fit, add extra width or lenght with a contrasting fabric, looks great.

Tab-top are cheaper as you dont need as much width.

Try using ribbons for headings or hang rustic curtains from old branches.

Dont pay stupid amounts for fancy poles and rails. All the grand houses have their curtains stapled or glued onto a wooden pelmet.

Same goes for a pelmet over your bed, dont buy the kits, just cut a D shape out of some cheap wood.

To give you an idea on how much people pay, I once had a client who paid me £150 per month to rearrange the puddles at the bottom of her curtains!!!

goldentouch

Here's my best one.
We needed a dining room super quick and super cheap.
We took up the carpet and varnished the floorboards, papered and painted in neutral colours. Used a huge mirror and some very big pictures from IKEA and also some of their cylindrical fairy light tube shaped hangings (supposed to be Xmas lights). Then the best bit... the fire surround was horrible - orange pine - but the fire insert is the original Edwardian tiled. So we painted the wood with blackboard paint and now it looks like slate. Fantastic!

diamondcatz

Here goes
charity shops/car boots/local auctions naff pictures removed and frames of varying sizes all painted same/toning colours add fave photos-pictures and you have a theme to group together for a few pence
local cheapy auctions weekly here for household items and check the boxes of mixed items. mirrors that were dated I sanded and a lick of paint and a spray of gold crackle paint-very shabby chic and brightens the house same for the metal lights lamps especially the dated black metals-pink& gold for girls room-they were sooo happy. An unvarnished pine cupboard with glass doors stapled chicken wire on doors then matching/toning fabric. A subsidised short course at local adult ed and curtains etc galore and the patchwork quilt made with favourite material from the childrens clothes that take space to store ie prem clothes party dress etc keep me occupied whilst trying to beat the smoking habit and will be a family heirloom lol. Those glitzy cushions I drool over are made up of remnants and ribbons,sequins u name it if its pretty its sewn on. brill thread and I bet most ideas in mags can be copied . oooh dont forget bean cans etc can be painted as bits &bob ,pen holders good luck and everyone keep posting

shetitasatic

I saw a bedroom just like ours in a mag. the other day , but ours cost a fraction The lilac and white Toile de Jouey (?) wallpaper was 1/2 price in a sale at Laura Ashlet ( on the headboard wall only) matching small lampshade for dressing table - £2.
Some old hatboxes and shoeboxes covered in leftover wallpaper.
The 'chandelier' was an old brass light fitting not wanted from my daughters new house. I sprayed it white and rubbed it over with silver wax. The 'crystal' pendants came from a christmas decoration, hung on with fuse wire.
A junk shop mirror had the ornate frame sprayed silver and rubbed eith silver wax.
The cream walls I painted myself with all the various cream/beige./white bits left in the garage mixed together.-
A king size white pintucked duvet cover set was £16 from Primark.
The lilac curtains were in the house when we bought it - with a new silver pole from Argos.- as was the lovely cream carpet.
Looks just like the picture in the magazine! :T :j
The old pine chests painted cream

lilmisskitkat

I'm loving all the ideas on this thread, i love to 'dress' my house up!

When i moved in i had very little money left for 'pretty' things after buying all the things like furniture etc but i managed to make my house look really cosy with the help of charity shops and 'bargain basement' buys.

I got a pair of tall black candlesticks from a charity shop for £3 (same as were £14 in argos), there was a similar black metal curtain pole already up, i bought odd remnants of fabric (anything in terracottas/creams/golds.) to make cushion covers (very basic 'envelope' style ones - even i couldn't mess them up!). The living room was painted cream with a beige seagrass carpet when i moved in so all the colours come from the accessories and it looks really cosy (if i say so myself!). Plain cream and red pillar candles decorated with swirls using DD's gold glitter-glue pens! Lots of plain pine photoframes from Wilkinsons with my fave piccys in them, made it feel like 'my' house straight away.

For DD's room i bought a pack of 3 basic photoframes from Ikea, painted them dark pink with a £1 tester pot and bought 3 postcards of the Disney Princesses (Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty), framed them and hung them on the wall. Also bought a bit of pink gingham fabric from the clearance box, only cost a couple of £ and made her 2 cushion covers for her bed.

I bought 3 plain lilac cushion covers for my bed for £2 each, added some sequins (just randomly sewn on) and they look like they came from Next (without the £12 price tag!)

It makes me proud that my house looks nice and with just a bit of effort didn't cost the earth - it makes it even better when someone compliments you on something you got a bargain with or made yourself!

I'm getting more ideas from reading this thread, i feel an changing rooms moment coming on!

Kate xxx