Weekend Project

Hello everybody and Happy Sunday! We all live for the weekend, and when it arrives (finally) we each like to relax(ish) in our own little ways. I myself like working on little projects. This particular one was inspired by the creations in Kirsty Neale's book 'Hoop-la! - 100 Things To Do With Embroidery Hoops'. I purchased this little gem a few weeks ago and adore the creative ideas inside it. She really has thought outside the box - or hoop in this case! I thought I would share with you what I designed and made.

So after flicking through quite literally 100 things to do with embroidery hoops, I wanted to have a go at making my own. Knowing I had a spare hoop in my sewing box, I had a look through to see what else I had hiding in there. Deciding that I wanted to make it up as I went along, I just pulled out the key items I knew I wanted to use:

- Spare fat quarter of retro style fabric from 'Haberdasher's Hub' for the background

- Bright purple embroidery thread for covering the hoop

One thing that is explained in the book is different ways to cover your outer hoop to make the overall look tie in and more interesting. I loved this! 

I covered mine by wrapping embroidery thread around it, secured with double sided tape lining the inside of the hoop (as advised by Kirsty Neale). Although this was a little time consuming, the end result is so rewarding. I can't deny that it was also quite therapeutic.

Once this was finished, I picked out my favourite part of the fabric to display inside the hoop. In case you are not familiar, embroidery hoops are made up of an inner and outer hoop. To display fabric, you take your inner hoop, place it underneath the part of fabric you want to display, and then place your outer hoop over the top of the fabric. You then use a screw-driver to tighten the screw at the top of the outer hoop, which then pulls the outer hoop in and traps the fabric between the two. You then trim the excess fabric.

As you may have seen from previous posts, I love cross-stitching and so I wanted to incorporate a little embroidery into my design. I picked out certain parts of the pattern and followed them in corresponding threads using either back-stitch or satin-stitch. The photo above shows satin-stitch being started on the center of one of the flowers.

I then wanted to add a pop of colour and came across some fluorescent pink felt in my sewing box. Seeing as this was just a fun little decoration, I thought I would add my initial. I drew up a 'Z' template and then used it to cut out a pink felt 'Z' shape. I really feel that the pink works so well against the dark retro colours of the fabric. What do you think?

I could have removed the fabric from the hoop and machine sewn the 'Z' onto it. However, I was having fun just hand stitching and thought I would keep this consistent. So I back-stitched it on by hand instead. I really like the texture and detail the finishing touches add to the fabric and am so pleased with how its turned out. 
To finish off, I lined the inner hoop with some more double sided tape (to the back of the decoration) and stuck down the excess fabric to keep it looking neat.
The best thing is, this is something you can knock up in a weekend and is so fun to do. The design possibilities are endless too. I would love to see some of your versions!

Ta Dah!

Thank you Kirsty Neale for your wonderful inspirations! I cannot wait to get crafting me some more of these.

Next time you all have a free weekend, give this a go. It would be great for the kids as well I suspect. 

I usually find that some of my favourite items are those that I've made up as I've gone along - happy accidents if you will. This way of working is so much fun. Do you have any Happy Accidents you would like to share? Tweet them to me @ZibZobHandmade. I would love to see them!

I hope you enjoyed the read and that I've inspired you to do some crafting next Saturday.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend... Keep watching this space!

Zo..x

Inspiration: Living Area

I cannot believe how long it has been since I have last had a chance to sit down and type up a new blog post! Since the last time I was on here, I have got married - and all those handmade and handcrafted items have fulfilled their destiny and played their part in our special day!

Now that its all over (booooo!), I have been able to focus on my main passion and interest in life. I have been able to think about interiors, furniture, and how I would like our first home to look. I know my favourite room to design will be the Living Area, so I couldn't help but look into this first. And (if you're interested) I thought I would share my ideas with you lovely people.

Now because I have had the colours in my head for a few years now, I started with the palette first. I wanted to see how my choices actually looked together. I am very happy with my selection!

I knew I wanted the base colour to be grey and a few contrasting brights for accents. Over the past couple of years, I have developed a strong liking for mint tones and have decided this is the colour my sofa NEEDS to be! Based on this, I scoured many paint supplier websites until I found my perfect palette. It is worth remembering that just because you have taken inspiration from paint colours, it doesn't necessarily mean its all going on your walls! Use some of them them to just find objects of that particular colour.

I do not like shying away from colour. It makes me happy and I feel it is so important to experiment with it - just to see how it will look. If done in the right mixtures and quantities, it can really work.

My next task was to choose the kind of furniture, accessories and overall look for my future living area. Since joining Pinterest in early 2012, I have managed to build up a collection of items ready to create a concept board. So many people use Pinterest to gather their thoughts and ideas, and with most websites now giving you the option to 'Pin' images from their pages, it is so easy to build up a collection whilst browsing.

I love interesting items, those that make you talk. I would say my taste is quite eclectic - but with a strong mid-century influence. Creating this concept board really helped me to visualise how the items I chose would look together. I strongly recommend you do this when re-designing a room - whether it be on Photoshop or through cutting and pasting snippets from magazines. Its fun to do and so helpful!

So below, is my first concept board. I would love to know what you think. And if you love the pieces as much as I do, I have noted where I found each of them.

1. Cinnamon String Lights by Cable & Cotton. These would look great draped over a mantle or mirror, or even dangling from the ceiling in the corner of the room. Perfect for adding a bit of fun.

2. Hanging Terrarium Kit from Hammersheels on Etsy. Becoming very popular. Well aware that our first place may not have a garden, this would make the perfect alternative!

3. Enamel Pendant Light found on Two Sisters Home. You can find originals with characteristic imperfections from antique shops for around £20-£40.

4. 'Dancing Bird' Print & 'Fox' Print by artist Ewan John. Available from a range of suppliers. I had mine from Of Cabbages & Kings.

5. 'Angie' by Little Greene. Colour inspiration.

6. 'French Dark Grey' by Little Greene. Colour inspiration.

7. 'Banana Dream 2' by Dulux. Colour inspiration.

8. 'Drizzle' by Little Greene. Colour inspiration.

9. 'Marine Blue' by Little Greene. Colour inspiration.

10. The Binic Table Lamp created by Ionna Vautrin for lighting brand Foscarini. I fell in love with this little gem when I was introduced to it by Contemporist in 2010. Available from a number of suppliers in various colours. I purchased mine in Petrol Blue from Haus.

11. Air Plant Pod from ThriftedandMade on Etsy. I love the burst of neon pink and its another way of bringing the non-existent garden indoors.

12. Concrete Topped Stool from Cox & Cox. I also get drawn to fairly industrial materials. Never have I ever wanted to purchase a stool so bad!

13.Pinched Porcelain Cup Planters by Ebenotti on Etsy. So cute, and love the colours together.

14. Mid Century style Oyster Table from Urban Outfitters. Adore the simplicity of it.

15. Poncho Cushion from ohhdeer. Like a moth to a flame, I was drawn in by the bright colours and bold print!

16. Hooper Storage Coffee Table in Walnut from Made. The slim legs and curvaceous shape attracted me. I love the idea of being able to store/display things within it too.

17. CAT POT by Mirubrugmann on Etsy. As a cat lover, I couldn't resist. And its so quirky.

18. Seagrass Basket from Joss & Main. Perfect for storing blankets in and keeping next to the sofa. When it gets chilly, you can just grab one and wrap up.

19. The Margot Sofa in Pistachio Dexter's Linen by Sofa.com. Beautiful design and the fabric is gorgeous. When you order samples from these guys, they come in the cutest little box!

20. Retrospector Cushion from ohhdeer. Again, attracted to the various colours and unusual pattern.

21. My favourite. I have always wanted an original 1960's sideboard. In fact, I want my Nan's! However, this particular one was found on Etsy on FunkyJunky's shop.

So that is my concept board and list! I do hope you enjoyed the read and appreciate the beautiful pieces as much as I do.
I also hope I have inspired you to create your own mood/concept board for your next project. I would love to see them.

For more of my inspiration, visit my Pinterest page.
You can also follow me on Twitter - @ZibZobHandmade
Or visit the Handmade By Zibzob Facebook page for images and info on my work.

Happy Decorating.

Keep watching this space!

Zo..x

Flower Jars

Hello everybody and Happy Easter!!

A couple of weeks ago, I started working on doing up some old jam jars to fill with spring flowers for the wedding. However, I think they are also perfect for Springtime celebrations - especially Easter Sunday. So instead of showing you how to work on an egg-themed project, I will be talking you through the process of how I made these simple 'vases'. They will look lovely on an Easter buffet table filled with daffodils.

 

Knowing that I wanted to use them for the wedding, I have spent the last year collecting jars of various shapes and sizes (with the help of my Mum and dear ol' Nan). For this project I had a rummage through them all and picked out my favourites ready for up-cycling. Once the jars were washed, I set up a 'station' outside ready to get working. I wanted to incorporate the colours of the wedding into the decoration of the jars, and so I decided to spray paint them. I only sprayed each jar approximately a third of the way up to add a bit of colour. I felt that doing the whole jar would compete with the colours of the flowers. Spray paint works better than brush painting as it gives a smoother finish. To do this, I bought three small cans of PlastiKote Fast Dry Project Enamel spray paint from Wilkinsons for £3.45 each. They are supplied at various other stores as well - see for yourself on the PlastiKote Website.

To achieve a clean line when spray painting, I used masking tape. Using a ruler and a CD marker, I marked about a third of the way up each jar all the way around. I then followed these marks with the masking tape to ensure I would get a clean, straight finish. I then worked my way up the rest of the jar with masking tape so that no other part of the jar would get marked with spray paint.

Then the fun began! 

Now for health and safety reasons, (which our wonderful country seem oh so fond of nowadays!) I would advise you do this in an open space (preferably outside) and even wear a dust mask. Start spraying the paint directly onto the glass jar - making sure you get an even coat all the way round. Another reason for doing this outside is because the paint gets EVERYWHERE! I came in dusted with paint in my hair, on my clothes, on my face, on my camera.... Once I finished spray painting each jar, I put them on a separate newspaper-covered table to dry. I repeated this method until all of them were done. The paint takes a few hours to fully dry.

Once dry, I carefully peeled off the masking tape.

And there we have it! Pretty, colourful jars ready for displaying seasonal flowers. Have a go at creating some fun floral jars for your next spring event. Its cheap, cheerful and so simple to do (and who doesn't like that?). I would love to see your take on it.

For the actual wedding, I would like to add some ribbon or lace as well. When they are all set up on the day, I will make sure to take some photos to share! 

I hope you enjoyed. Have a wonderful Easter and as always, keep watching this space!

Zo..x

You Are Invited.... Chapter II

Just a quick post this time - well more of a progress update really. I have finally finished and sent out my Evening Invites!

You may remember the post I did on my Handmade Save-The-Dates. The theme was very 'English Country Tea'. Well, my evening guests didn't receive a save-the-date, and seeing as though the evening part of the wedding will be an English Country Tea (bunting and all!), I made the evening invites in exactly the same way.

The evening invites look the same on the front as the save-the-dates do. The layout inside is also very similar:
- Pretty paper backgrounds
- Main info on bottom page
- Further info on the top page
- Information mounted onto pearlescent paper

I then used the information from the day invites to help aid the wording in the evening ones. I also made some more of the 'Extra Information' booklets for the inside (as found in my first You Are Invited... post).

I used the same paper for the invite wording as I did for the information booklet - I felt this created a link between the evening and the day invitations.

I am so pleased they are finally all finished! Now that everybody has been invited, it is like a huge weight has been lifted. And I can't wait to crack on and finish all of my other little (or not so little) crafty projects.

Keep watching this space! I have recently completed my table plan board and I can't wait to share the process with you all.

Happy Crafting,
Zo..x

Handmade Bath Essentials

I keep finding myself back inside my new favourite gift shop that opened in my hometown fairly recently - Luna Blue. 
Its a brilliant go-to for birthdays, new babies, or if you simply fancy treating yourself. I think that its important to support shops like this as you don't see them around that often anymore. They are stockists of gift items from Dora Designs, Frith and Disaster to name a few names. Luna Blue also do framing and framed my lovely piece by Gemma Austen beautifully.
I have noticed, that one thing I have invested in time and time again from here is bath bombs. Although sold by Luna Blue, these particular ones are made by Bomb Cosmetics. They pride themselves on supplying handmade, natural and beautiful bath bombs and bath melts. 

Through following a certain pre-wedding 'beauty regime', it is apparent that Sunday night is my bath night and I have developed a liking for sinking into a lovely warm, scented bath. Funnily enough, this is something I never used to enjoy - now I look forward to it every week! After buying many of these as gifts for friends and family, I decided to visit Luna Blue and treat myself this weekend. The image above shows a range of bath creamers by Bomb Cosmetics. The creamers are handmade and filled with cocoa and Shea butters - leaving skin delightfully soft. They also contain essential oils and perfumes, allowing the bath to smell gorgeous.

Almost too beautiful to fizz away in the bath, here is the Harajuku Girl Bath Creamer and the Rosie Heart Creamer. 

I love picking a selection of these to display in boxes as pretty gifts. They look so appealing!

Here is the Blackberry Bath Creamer, the Flower Bazaar Bath Creamer and the Feel the Love Bath Creamer. I can't wait to try these out and see how they smell. To find out what is in each one, and for a description of their scents, I suggest visiting their website for a full description on each. There is a vast array of bath essentials to browse through. 

I also bought what Bomb Cosmetics call a Bath Mallow and used it straight away. It looked like a delicious tiny cupcake good enough to eat!... but don't. Also containing cocoa butter, they're great for leaving skin silky soft. Bomb Cosmetics blend many ingredients and scents together in their mallows to create a beautifully fragrant bath.

Alongside Bath Creamers and Bath Mallows, Bomb Cosmetics also create what they call Butter Loops, Cocoa Swirls, Bath Tulips, Bath Buttercups and Bath Brulees - delicious!

I also adore bath bombs that colour the water. My most favourite coloured bath so far has been created by a cone-shaped bath bomb by the more well-known Lush - who also pride themselves on creating 'fresh handmade cosmetics'. It turned the water this gorgeous bright pink and smelled absolutely divine! 

Now there is a point to this post! I am actually going to add 'attempt to make my own bath bombs and melts' to the ever-growing list of things to do after the wedding.

If I could create something that looks good enough to eat, turns the water a beautiful colour, smells great, and doesn't leave you with a burning rash(!) then I will be one happy bunny.
Is this something any of you have thought about doing? If so... have you ever? And how did it go?
I need to do some research - maybe look into classes or invest in a couple of books. But it would be brilliant to make something by hand that would make an ideal gift. I would love to know your thoughts on this.
Next time you plan on taking a nice hot bubble bath - make sure you have a pretty bath mallow to hand - its so worth it!

Keep watching this space!
Zo..x

Handmade Christmas Cards

Hello my lovely people and welcome to 2014! I know this is probably not the best time to publish a festive-themed post, but (to put it simply) I have just not had the time to sit down and type away!
I have always been one of those people who isn't happy unless I am so busy that I want to cry. That is why this Christmas I decided to make my own Christmas cards. When I told people about this idea, they mentioned how expensive this process could be. Now seeing as I am trying to look after the pennies, I made it my mission to do this as cheaply as possible. I already had some blank cards and envelopes, so this was a good start! 

To make the above cards, I simply rummaged around my bedroom to see what I could find. I managed to find use for the following items:
- Blank cards and envelopes (5x7") by Papermania - available at most craft stores
- Black and white paper from old sketch books - sketch book paper is very good quality and lovely to work with
- Leftover Christmas wrapping paper found in the loft
- Christmas ribbon left over from last year's gift-wrapping
- Buttons from my sewing box (accumulated over the years)
- Festive Washi Tape (I admit this was a new buy, but was used for this year's gift-wrapping originally)
- A range of patterned papers from inside craft magazines
- Tissue paper
- Stamps and ink
- Cat biscuit boxes used as cardboard for mounting and backing
- Paint charts
- Festive-themed templates (stockings, bells etc.) I printed off from the internet



We are all guilty of hoarding a little - whether it be hanging onto glittery wine bottle bags to re-use on your Aunt's next birthday, or keeping hold of that pair of jeans you will fit into again one day. 
My point is, if you are thinking of making your own festive stationary next Christmas then have a mooch around to see what materials you can find in your own home. 
For example, the background to this card on the left is left over wrapping paper. The black paper is from an old sketch book. The brown paper is left over gift-wrap and I used my stamp set to spell out 'Merry Christmas'. Both the Christmas tree and its background are made up of colourful papers that I ripped out of craft magazines. Mags such as Craftseller usually include tear-out papers that are great for card making and other projects. They also include many card-making ideas for inspiration if you're not sure where to start.
I put it all together using double-sided sticky tape and finished off with some festive Washi Tape. To give a little depth to the card, I adhered the Christmas tree using 3D foam adhesives (a must have for card making).
It is always worth cutting out bits and pieces and having a play around first before sticking everything down. This way you can see which arrangement looks best for each card. 
Don't be scared to go bold and colourful! As you can probably see, I love mixing patterns and for some of my cards, I wanted to go a little less obvious on the colour scheme. 






With this card I went a little more traditional in theme and colour. I also played with different textures, incorporating ribbon, fabric, card and paper. 
The background is made up from robin themed wrapping paper. The central panels are made up of sketch book paper and brown parcel paper. All of these components were secured with double-sided sticky tape. To make the bauble, I drew around a template onto cardboard from a cat biscuit box! In-keeping with the bird theme, I mounted some scrap fabric from my sewing box onto the bauble shape. The bow was also in my sewing box. I think it fell off some clothing a few years back. I finished off the look with some Christmas ribbon I saved from the year before. I mounted the bauble with the 3D foam adhesives. To stick down the fabric, ribbon and bow, I used Bostik Glu&Fix all purpose extra strong glue. This can be found in most craft and stationary shops.

On this card, I used more wrapping paper and papers from craft magazines. I stuck with my stamp kit to spell out a seasonal message - I just love the playful charm stamps add to a craft project! The denim tree has been cut out of an old magazine and the button baubles are from my sewing box.

This design is one of my favourites purely for how simple it is and how well it worked. I had an old Sanderson paint chart in one of the drawers under my desk and from it, I collected up a range of the paint sample squares in green hues to create a Christmas tree. 

To top it off, I added a large star in a contrasting pattern and colour. 

The beauty of this project was how little it cost. It was so satisfactory to hand make unique Christmas cards from everyday items and them hand them out to family and friends.

If you have any questions on how any of them were made or have any general feedback, please feel free to post a comment below. I would love to know your thoughts. 

I love handmade cards of any sort so please share your crafts too!

For images of each of my finished Christmas cards, visit my Facebook Page.

I hope I have inspired some of you to make your own seasonal stationary and that you enjoyed the read.

Keep watching this space!

Zo..x

You Are Invited...

For those of you who have sent out any kind of invite, you will appreciate that it can be quite difficult to fit in everything you think needs to included. It's all about compromise - you don't want to overload the guest with information, yet you don't want to leave them asking questions.
When choosing our wedding invites from Planet Cards, I chose to just include the basics that the guest absolutely needed to know (this didn't ruin the design either):
- Date of the wedding
- Time of the wedding
- The Venue(s) and addresses
- Information on gifts/money - this was achieved with a lighthearted poem
- When to RSVP by
- How to RSVP
I just needed a way to include a little extra information for our guests. 

After a little research, I found there are a few ways to include extra details. Examples include:
- Pockets built into the invites to insert maps and RSVP cards etc.
- Loose information cards to match the invite
- Including a web link to further information on the wedding day

Built in pockets were not an option as I had already chosen our invites, and I didn't like the thought of loose cards for fear of them going missing. I did like the web link idea - however not everybody in my family (grandparents for example) have access to a computer. I opted for an information booklet - all of the information would be in one place, and it wouldn't need a pocket in the invite as my plan was to use paper clips. 

With this idea, the first hurdle was deciding what was to be going into the information booklet:
Hotel Info
Including room tariffs, room information, hotel/venue website and number.

Alternative
Including a cheaper alternative for somewhere to stay, the address, website and number.

Map
A map from the venue to the alternative hotel.

Taxis
Although the hotel will probably have a list of local taxi firms, I thought it may be useful for guests to know them beforehand for pre-booking.

RSVP
What details to include when RSVP-ing.

After this I used scrap paper to create various booklet prototypes. I didn't want to use more than one sheet of A4 paper for each booklet to keep costs and materials down. Trialing was necessary! The first prototype in the above image was an experiment on how to fold paper to create the booklet. The second prototype was created from half a sheet of A4 paper, allowing me to print two per page. Even though this appealed to me, the words and map were just a little too small. This is when I came up with the third prototype - made from one sheet of paper, big enough to read, and easy enough to make.

Even though I had found a design that worked for our invite, I wanted to use something a little less stark than white paper - especially as the invites have a lovely vintage finish. I opted for a pack of cream paper that I picked up from Ryman in town. In the photographs, you can see how the booklets look before they are folded. They are made up of two rectangular pieces, each split into 3 equal sections. Each of these sections is a different page of information. To create these templates, I simply used a Table in Microsoft Word and printed them off on a laserjet printer at home. If you have lovely handwriting, or don't have access to a printer then these could be done by hand no problem. However, it would take a lot longer as a lot of measuring would be involved!
Once the rectangular pieces have been cut out, they each need to be folded into a concertina-like state in order to form the pages. The 'Table' idea within Microsoft Word made it really easy for this part of the process. I simply folded across the lines that split the strips into 3 sections. 

The next part of the process is to put the booklet together. For this, any kind of glue/adhesive suitable for paper will do but my personal favourite is double-sided tape. The idea is to stick the 'front page' of the booklet to the first 'inside page'. As seen in the top photo on the right, this creates the first two pages of the booklet. The second two pages of the booklet are created in the same way - the 'back page' is stuck to the last 'inside page'. Once the two components have been made, they then need to be fixed together (using more tape!) to create the entire booklet. This is done by sticking the back of the second page onto the back of the third page. You need to make sure that they are perfectly in line with each other to get a clean finish. Once this is done, I close the booklet and rub a small piece of paper over it to make sure it is fully adhered. I use paper instead of wiping my fingers directly over the finished product to prevent smudging of ink and marking. After this, I open the booklet and 'read' through it to make sure it all looks okay. Each one of these booklets took me around 10 minutes to make and were easy enough to do whilst relaxing in front of the television in the evening. As with any mini project, if you start early enough, it doesn't become a chore and you can just work on it every now and again until it is done!

And here is the finished product! A four page booklet including all the extra information (hopefully!) guests may require when receiving their invite. As with everything I make myself, I stamped the backs with my 'Handmade By Zoe' stamp - one of my favourite investments to date.

And this is what each of my day guests have received! I tried to keep the paper and the font as similar to the invite as possible so not to compromise the overall look.

I would love to know what you think. Have you done anything similar with an invite to a wedding, party or shower? Would you have done anything different? Let me know your thoughts and ideas by commenting below this post.

Alternatively you can message me:

Twitter: @ZibZobHandmade

Facebook: www.facebook.com/handmadebyzibzob

Hope you enjoyed! And keep an eye out for the festive posts. I will be making Christmas cards, crafty gifts and sharing my pretty wrapping.

Keep watching this space!

Zo..x

A Warm Welcome - Hallway Design

As many of my friends know, alongside crafts and textiles, I am also very passionate about interior design and furniture. After studying it for nearly 5 years, not only do I enjoy the design element of it, but I have also become extremely fond of the 3D Visualisation side. My mum and dad are currently in the process of re-modelling the hallway and it was up to me to choose how it was to look once decorated. So, today's post is all about my design concept and the 3D visuals I created to explain it.

Okay, so this is what the hallway currently looks like - a mess right! But actually, I'll have you know that a whole lot of work has already been done on it. The doorways you can see in the above image were either never there or completely different, the lighting is in a new location, there has been a new ceiling put in, and all of the walls have been stripped of wallpaper, re-plastered and painted.

______________________________________________________

Even though I am re-designing for my own parents, it was never to be an easy project. The budget is very limited and the client (my lovely mother) can be quite picky - which there is nothing wrong with by the way! She needed it to be simple, give a good first impression, and appeal to most tastes (to make it saleable).

I started by surveying (measuring) the entire hallway, stairs and landing so that I could draw up an accurate plan. In my opinion, this is the worst part - but it is also one of the most important parts, which is annoying! Once I had drawn up the plan, I imported it into my model space so that I could start creating the model of what it would look like. It is this part of the process that I thoroughly enjoy, as I love watching the space progress and seeing what it should look like once finished. It was also important to my parents that I created visuals because, as with a lot of people, they find it hard to visualise the finished area when it is still such an empty shell.

I have recreated the photograph above with a visual of what the hallway will/should look like when finished. The house has fairly high ceilings and I wanted to include more than one texture and pattern on the walls so that they wouldn't feel so vast. I did this by choosing two wallpaper deigns and separating them with a dado rail. I went for green purely because it is a favourite and looks lovely and fresh.


Before I reached this decision, I actually started to design the hallway how I would have liked it myself - just to see what it would look like (not quite my mother's taste)! It included a lot of warm grey tones and pops of daffodil yellow. I adore these colours together. I also left the stairs bare, had the handrail and treads painted black and left the balustrades, newel posts, stringers and risers painted white. I think staircases can actually be an interesting way of showcasing your taste and personality. This is useful as the staircase is usually the first thing guests see when entering your home. I have seen a lot of really cool photos including:

Rainbow Steps - the overall design creating a fun 'play area' feel

Contemporary Balustrades - sophisticated and enjoyable

Reclaimed Materials - creating an edgy and rustic look

To list just a few.

Even though I had to 'play it safe' to a certain extent, I still didn't want to make the design too expected, beige and samey. I knew my mum definitely wanted wallpaper and texture - so I gave her both, in feel and design. I opted for a textured, plain wallpaper for above the dado rail and a smooth, geometric print wallpaper for below. The reason for the geometric print is, I wanted to add pattern to the space that was different to large floral prints that tend to be everywhere within households now (including my own bedroom!). I added further interest by choosing a striped carpet for the stairs in earthy tones to ground the green on the walls. I felt the stripes would have been a bit too much for the entire hallway floor, and so decided on wood (Oak) for this.

I wanted to keep hold of the high skirting board that the hallway had before as it is in-keeping with the features around the rest of the home. I think that the dado rail decision fits in with this plan quite nicely as well. When re-designing a room in your house, I feel it is really important to think about the style of the skirting, cornices, architraves and any other molding for that matter. When they compliment each other and the style of the house, it really brings harmony to the overall design.

I still managed to keep hold of my beloved grey and yellow palette within this design. As seen in the images above, I plan to have the curtains, accessories and lighting fixtures in the two colours. Although I have chosen a fairly mixed colour palette and selection of patterns, I feel they all compliment each other to form a fresh, contemporary and welcoming hallway.

When it is time for a change in your home and you are reaching for the paint charts and fabric swatches, it is important to remember that even though the colours and textures play a large role in the design, you also need to take into consideration how the space is used. 

After living in this house for around 17 years, I know the hallway pretty well. It is quite a peculiar shape which is why the furniture had to be thought through properly. In the end I opted for a small stool for guests to quickly perch on when removing their shoes, and a slim console table for displaying various items. Knowing the house (and the people who live in it) well, I know that the console table will need drawers for post, papers and other small items that can be a messy eyesore. The table will also be a good place for guests to put their shoes under out of the way. For this particular home, this is all the furniture the hallway required.

After receiving samples through the post, both myself and my parents fell in love with the wallpaper choices. 

To the left of the image: Beka in pale green. To the right of the image: Ling by Steve Leung in green. Both from Graham & Brown.

It may sound like common sense, but when wallpapering a high-traffic area, always make sure it can be easily cleaned/wiped or it is labelled as 'washable'.

I was determined to find a lovely striped carpet for the stairs and adored Chiswick Stripe in Stone from Carpetright.

Again, make sure the flooring is up to withstanding high volumes of traffic if it to be used in such an area - particularly on the stairs.

What do you think of my choices? What would you have chosen or done differently?

I know it has been a little more long-winded and bit different to my other posts, but I do hope you have enjoyed the read (and the visuals). I would love to know your thoughts and please share any recent projects you have worked on around the home - hallway or not!

Once it is all done I will be posting 'before' and 'after' photographs, and I really can't wait to see how they compare to the visuals.

Keep watching this space!

Zo..x