Design ideas/tips – Page 8 – Apartment Apothecary

My sister, Juliette, lives in a London flat and works crazy hours so often her home is empty from 7am to 10pm, if not later. The other day she arrived home to find her front door had been bashed down by the fire brigade after one of the taps had been running hot water (she didn’t turn it off properly) all day and created so much steam that all hell broke loose. The emergency services had no idea how to get in touch with her so had no option but to break down the door so she arrived home to chaos. All the while, Juliette had been at work, none the wiser. So, what if we could control, monitor and secure our homes from an app on our phones? What if we were alerted every time there was motion, a temperature rise or fall and most helpfully in this case, an increase in moisture? Life could be that much easier.

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to Ham Yard Hotel in Soho for breakfast and to attend one of the Samsung Series talks of 2015; topics ranging from the rise of technology in health and wellbeing with Hemsley & Hemsley to the evolution of film technology with Working Title productions. I was lucky enough to go along to the Smart Home talk in conversation with, among others, the Soho House Group architect Alex Jackson and we were given a chance to try out the newly launched Smart Things technology in one of the hotel’s suites. Not a bad way to spend breakfast time. Smart Things originated after the founder experienced a major leak in his home whilst he was away. He had absolutely no idea of the damage being done and when he returned he was faced with a $100k repairs bill. Soon after he began to develop the Smart Things technology, starting with a moisture sensor, and launched a Kickstarter campaign, which was eventually taken over by Samsung.

I have to say that I was a real technophobe before I met Jules; I didn’t even know what a smart phone was, I had a CD-man (we’re talking only six years ago!), I’d never owned a computer and I had a TV the size of a postage stamp. Oh how things have changed! Jules is a web developer and completely obsessed with all types of technology and I have to say he is a big part of this blog – I wouldn’t have been able to start it without him. He has also taught me an appreciation for how technology can work for you, not against you, which is exactly the ethos of Samsung’s Smart Home. We were shown various different ways in which Samsung technology can be used as standard throughout one’s home but the thing that really caught my attention was Smart Things, only recently launched here in the UK (it can already keep stock of your fridge over in the States!). In the hotel suite, we went on a tour of the bedroom that had a Smart Things hub – a small box and a plug – installed). From the hotel bed I could turn on the lights, boil the kettle, turn on the radio, heat up my hair straighteners and make sure the temperature of the room was just right all from the Smart Things app on my phone. Now that is what I need in the morning!

The Smart Things hub allows you to control functions in your home either from within your home or remotely using just your phone. All you need are the plugs if you want to control things like TV’s, radios, fans and lights and there are different sensors that you can also install (when I say install, all I mean is stick or screw to a door or wall) to monitor motion, presence, temperature and moisture. It is hassle free, discrete, affordable and takes minutes to set up with no big wall panels or cables to hide. Take a look at this video to show more ways in which Smart Things can be used in any type of home…

In my own home we are now using the Smart Things starter kit and we have set up the plug to turn off our lamps, TV and radio when we leave the house and to put the lamps on when we return. We can also double check that our back door is open when we are out (I constantly have a panic that is is closed and that Otto won’t be able to get out to go to the loo if he is left at home alone). I can check I’ve turned my hair straighteners off, another panic I often have, and don’t even get me started on my “have I turned off the iron?” routine. Using the motion sensor we know whether Otto is moving around whilst we are out and we can even turn the radio or TV on if we are going to be out for longer than expected as he likes to watch a bit of TV! We will also be instantly alerted if someone enters our home. None of this takes any effort or much expense.

After the talk we also got to try out more of the Smart Home technology. Using the mask below I could see a 3D virtual room so if you needed help planning changes to your interior you could visualise it all here – clever!

The Smart Things Starter Kit is £199, which includes the hub, a plug and four different sensors and you can find out more about it here. It could even be the perfect Christmas present?

What would you like to control or monitor in your home when you are out?

Katy x

*This post was written in collaboration with Samsung.

As you know, last year I embarked on transforming our guest room into a home office and I wanted it to be a bright, motivating space with white walls, floors and furniture to allow the light to bounce around the room. Over the last year I have loved this space but I woke up last Saturday morning and had an intense desire to start adding more pastel colours to my home to make it feel more cohesive as my bedroom and office have a lot of pastels (I warn you, I can feel a whole sitting room makeover coming on – be gone dark colours!).

I decided to start the process by adding a bit of colour to my home office with a quick and easy paint project. There is one corner of my office that has never felt quite right. It feels lifeless and cold with no definition. Here is how it looked before…

I wanted to paint the drawers a pastel colour to bring a bit of warmth to this corner but I couldn’t decide between a dusty pastel pink, blue, green or grey (all these colours thread throughout the office and bedroom at the moment – watch out sitting room, they are coming for you!). I used Dulux’s free Vizualizer app to help me make my colour decision. As I’ve said before, it can be so difficult to picture the end result when you are decorating so this app is a brilliant tool to help you feel more confident to make colour decisions. All you have to do is hold your phone up in front of the piece of furniture or wall that you want to paint and pick from their huge range of colours and the app will virtually paint the wall/furniture with the colour you choose. You can then save the image and share it directly. I don’t know about you, but I always like to get a bit of feedback from friends. I quickly realised that pink gave the most warmth and tied in well with the bits and bobs that I have on the shelves. I tried out a few different pinks with the app and finally settled on Dulux’s Pink Nevada 6 that is a soft pastel pink – not too sugary.

The app even told me where my nearest Dulux stockist was so I popped to the hardware store and bought a tin of the paint in satinwood and I was confident enough, after using the app, to buy a tin without getting loads of paint samples. This saved loads of time and faffing and didn’t consume my whole weekend.

And here is what this corner of my home office looks like now; much warmer and more cohesive as the pink of the drawers pulls all of the pink around it together. It is now much more of a feature than it was before. Pretty in pink!

I used this vase, flowers and book as colour inspiration and the app also allowed me to colour match the vase to the nearest Dulux shade of pink, which was incredibly helpful as I love this colour.

I’m really pleased with how bringing more colour into this room has worked out and the process was made so much easier using the Dulux Visualizer app. You can download the app here.

What do you think (please don’t say you like the ‘before’ better than the ‘after’ – ha!)?

Katy x

Ok, we need to talk about neutrals today. I’ve been thinking about colour a lot recently because I feel that my flat has become a home of two halves after recent room makeovers: the bedroom and office are neutral with pastel accents whilst the living room is filled with quite deep, intense colours. I don’t like the divide so I want to try to make the kitchen and living room more in line with the bedroom and office.

Firstly, I have decided to make my kitchen completely neutral with a few blue accents as I have loads of blue and white china. The inspiration behind my neutral colour scheme started with my new collection of Cotton white Le Creuset from Houseology. I am head over heels in love with Le Creuset but I have always held back from starting a collection because the bright colours didn’t do it for me and once you start collecting one colour what happens if you change your mind?!! The white is perfect for those people who love neutrals and those people who want it to fit in with a colourful kitchen, too.

Cotton white Le Creuset | Styling neutrals in your home | Styling String Shelving | Apartment Apothecary

Cotton Le Cresuet casserole dish (top shelf, left), utensil holder (top shelf, right) and baking dishes (bottom shelf, left) from Houseology.

It’s funny, I’ve always thought neutral colours weren’t for me – you know, beige and boring and all that? However, I’ve recently noticed that one of my very favourite Instagram accounts (that you can see here) is based on a beautiful home filled to the brim with neutrals. Turns out, I love them. It also turns out that they don’t have to be boring or blah.

Here are my tips to help you style neutrals in your home to make them look as interesting as possible and, in my opinion, as interesting as bright colours:

1. Texture and a mix of materials

Texture when integrating lots of neutrals in to your home is key. You want to add raw woods, glassware, ceramics, stoneware, baskets, enamelware and linens. The more texture the better as this draws the eye around the styling and adds interest and a variety of colour.

2. Points of contrast

Intersperse your styling with a few darker items (grey is always a good option) or even another colour. This will add enough contrast to ensure your neutrals don’t all merge into one another.

3. Combine vintage and new pieces

Combine new and old in your styling as the age and interest of the vintage pieces will attract attention and create more contrast amongst the neutrals.

I’ve been playing around with some of my kitchen pieces that I want to go on my open shelving (yup, I am definitely going for open shelving after my umming and ahhing, thank you to everyone who commented and helped me with the decision). You might think I am ever so slightly bonkers but I spent Friday night – yes, Friday night – removing stuff from my home office string shelving and then pretending they were my new kitchen open shelves and experimenting with styling neutrals trying to follow my own advice above. What do you think?

I am now really looking forward to ripping down the wall cupboards in the kitchen and getting some shelves up!

Cinnamon bun recipe

The first thing I decided to cook in my Le Creuset baking dish were these cinnamon buns to take to brunch at the weekend. Would you think I was even more bonkers if I told you I chose this recipe especially so I could play around with styling neutrals?! Bonkers, I tell you.

Cotton white Le Creuset from Houseology | Stoneware | Cinnamon buns | Food styling

Cinnamon buns in Le Creuset baking dish.

Pop over here for the bun recipe.

Here is my recipe for the icing – I think it’s better than Nigella’s 😉

2 oz softened cream cheese

7 tbsp softened butter

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp milk

Good pinch of salt

1 1/2 cups sugar

Beat the cream cheese and butter together. Mix in the vanilla and milk and then gradually add the sugar and salt until smooth. I pour it on whilst the buns are still warm so it kind of melts into them and will therefore keep them moist. However, you can wait until they are completely cold.

They didn’t last long!

Do you love Le Creuset as much as I do? What colour would you go for?

Katy x

*This post was written in collaboration with Houseology.

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As you may have noticed, I am quite keen on white. My whole flat is painted in Dulux Brilliant White and I love it that way; it’s the perfect colour to bounce the light around the flat and it feels fresh, contemporary and complements everything and anything. Honestly, I’ve always been a bit too scared to add colour to the walls as there are no features, cracks or rough plaster to absorb the colour because it is a newly built flat so I worry it will look too stark. I know that as soon as I own a period property I will definitely use more colour; I already know exactly which ones I will use!

However, I often get a craving to experiment with colour and I have realised that a really good way to bring it into my home, whilst maintaining a white canvas, is to paint pieces of furniture. This is also an ideal way for renters to add colour to their home if their landlords won’t allow them to paint their walls.

Now, there was a time when the craze to paint every single piece of furniture that came through the door was strong: chairs, tables, bedside tables or sideboards. Personally, I think too many painted pieces of furniture can be a bit of overkill. Instead, I really love the idea of picking one main piece of furniture per room and painting it a colour of your choice. This can add the burst of colour you can lack in a white room and if you ever get bored it is so easy to change.

Here are some fabulous examples of using a painted piece of furniture to bring colour into a home…

Image via: BoligLiv

Image via: Yvestown

Image via: Decor8

You can choose a bold, bright colour for a large piece of furniture that really draws attention like the turquoise, pink and yellow cupboards above. Alternatively, you can choose something more subtle and subdued like the pale pink cupboard below or use glances of colour with pastel coloured dining chairs.

Image via: Sanna Fischers blogg

Image via: Yvestown

Image via: Apartment Therapy

My home office is completely white: walls, floor, desk, sideboard, drawers and chair. I have decided to take my own advice and inject a bit of colour by painting a set of drawers using the Dulux Visualizer App – it’s free and you can download it on iTunes or Google Play. I will be back tomorrow to show you the results!

Katy x

Although I love period properties, I have always dreamed of building my own home one day. It will be made of wood, have large rooms with huge windows, a simple interior, all the light in the world and be set amongst the trees or next to the sea (probably the sea).

What appeals to me about designing my own home is that I would be able to make the house work for me in a way that period properties just don’t: I really don’t like the small windows, the wonky floors, the cramped spaces, the lack of insulation in period properties. Don’t get me wrong, I love the charm that all of these flaws give to an old house but one thing I can say about new builds (having lived in them for the past ten years) is that they are so easy to manage and maintain. However, even when a new house is built without the specific owner in mind there are things that aren’t perfect like the location of the plug sockets and radiators that restrict furniture placement, the flimsy plasterboard walls that restrict wall mounting pictures, mirrors, hooks with ease and the lack of storage.

Building my own home | House in the woods | Wooden house

This image via Lonely Coast. Featured image via My Scandinavian Home.

I went to a brilliant event this week at the Good House Keeping Institute hosted by George Clarke of Channel 4’s Amazing Spaces. George gave us the low down on a new type of plasterboard called Lifestyle Wall, a product he is really excited about from British Gypsum’s Rooms Made For You range. Lifestyle Wall allows you to fix anything anywhere without any need for drills or specialist fixings: shelves, curtain poles, kitchen cabinets, large pictures, TV’s or mirrors. This plasterboard offers complete flexibility and ease when making a house a home. Gone are the days of wanting to put up a shelf and desperately tapping the walls to figure out where the joists are or traipsing around hardware stores trying to figure out which fixings you will need for your flimsy plasterboard, or going to the cupboard to get out the drill and realising it is not charged and having to hoover the horrible plaster dust after you have used the drill. With Lifestyle Wall a single screw can support 15kg!

A group of us bloggers tested out the plasterboard with George and it really is that easy – no drill, no mess, complete flexibility. I’m pretty sure this type of plasterboard will become standard in new builds but if you are considering a renovation or loft extension I would highly recommend it, having tested it myself.

When we build ourselves a house Lifestyle Wall is exactly the type of thing I would use to make the space my own. Just thinking and writing about designing my own home makes me excited. I might have to wait for a few years yet but in the meantime I have been avidly following this Instagram account of a self-build – it is literally like she has reached into my mind and built my dream home!!!

Katy x

*This post was written in collaboration with British Gypsum.

Samsung Smart Things

Furniture makeover

Styling neutrals in your home

1. Texture and a mix of materials

2. Points of contrast

3. Combine vintage and new pieces

Cinnamon bun recipe

Bringing colour into your home

Designing my own home