Interiors – Page 54 – Apartment Apothecary

katy 30th January 2014

Swedish home of Annacate

I’m quite obsessed with Scandinavian design and interiors so Lovely Life blog, with its Swedish home tours, is one of my faves. I came across the home of Annacate recently, who is also a blogger over at Another Side of Life, and I fell in love instantly. The home is quirky, unique and effortlessly stylish. It was the vintage mirror above the kitchen sink that first caught my attention and then I saw the William Morris wallpaper, mid-century chairs and wall to ceiling books and I could not contain my envy any longer.

This home is a wonderful example of creating a personal, beautiful, interesting home within a period building whilst keeping it up to date – all the mod-cons with no sacrifice of the owner’s obvious passion for vintage style.

A few things to copy to make your own period home as beautiful and functional:

1) Create a white backdrop with white walls and floorboards as this instantly creates a fresh, crisp feel in a home on which to layer your furniture, textiles, wallpaper.

2) Use big, bold wallpaper or textiles in parts of the house to complement the age of your home. With a bright white floor, this will never feel too heavy.

3) Offset a brand new kitchen with vintage pieces like the mirror, dining table and chairs.

4) If original tiles have been lost replace with updated geometric patterned ones, reminiscent of Victorian tiles.

5) Replace modern radiators with cast iron ones or good replicas.

6) Use books (or in this home’s case LP’s) to decorate the walls.

7) Don’t scrimp on modern, cheap shelving as this will let down the rest of the room. Invest in vintage shelving like the great mid-century string shelving they have used in this house.

8) Use colours that complement the period of your home. I love the greens, blues and greys in this home, which can be seen in the tiles, wallpaper and paint on the walls and staircase.

9) Keep your vintage or antique furniture in its natural wooden state – don’t paint the death out of everything.

10) Let as much light into the house as possible, even if that means not having curtains or blinds at some of the windows. Allow the windows to show their real beauty, rather than covering them up, if possible.

Sit back and enjoy this beauty of a home…

All photgraphs are from Lovely Life blog – pop over to see more images of the house. To see more of Annacate’s interiors follow her on instagram @annacate.

Katy x

katy 23rd January 2014

Fabric panelled doors

So far, I have re-styled my dressing table, changed the pictures on my bedroom wall and planted some indoor bulbs, which are numbers 4, 7, and 10 on my list of ways to rejuvenate my home in the new year. I’m on a roll!

Number 8 on the list requires a bit more work as it is a furniture makeover, of which I did a few last year. I do have a cupboard in my sitting room that requires a little love and attention and I’m toying with the idea of lining its panels with fabric. I’ve found some gorgeous examples (for the vintage lovers out there) from other beautiful blogs and I wanted to share them with you as I think it can be such a versatile, subtle way of changing a piece of furniture. The bonus being it’s a different way of displaying your favourite fabric, too.

What do you think?

Fabric panelled cupboard doors by www.apartmentapothecary.com

Image from the beautiful Cinq Mai blog.

Cinq Mai blog.

Image from the wonderfully unique Dottie Angel blog.

Image from a cute nursery tour on Fawn and Forest.

Image from Dottie Angel’s blog.

Dottie Angel blog.

Happy Thursday and have a good weekend!

Katy x

katy 18th January 2014

Re-styling my dressing table

This week I shared some ideas about how to rejuvenate your home for the new year, without needing to spend money or too much time. I decided to put some of my own advice into action, which I hope will help you as it’s much easier, I find, to make changes if you can see what someone else has done. The idea is that we get so used to our homes the way that they are, that it’s very easy not to change anything for years. However, just by swapping a few things around, moving objects and adding some flowers, it can feel as though your whole room has had a makeover. Plus, your space becomes more functional as we can clear out stuff we don’t need, or no longer use, in the process.

I am very embarrassed to show the ‘before’ shot because I hadn’t realised quite how messy my dressing table and the area around it had become because I see it every single day. A really good tip is to take a photo of your room or a corner of your room – if you wouldn’t want to show that picture to anyone else, then perhaps it’s time to make a change. Just saying!

Before…

There is so much ‘stuff’ on my drawers that I really don’t need to use on a daily basis. Also, the lamp is too large, the headbands hanging on the mirror look messy and the fan is just randomly dumped there. I need to get rid of the mirror that’s ‘hiding’ under the drawers and put up the hooks that are waiting patiently to be seen to on the basket. The Lloyd Loom laundry basket needs to live somewhere else as it looks too big and clunky there. I want to re-frame the precious family pictures around the mirror and hang them elsewhere so I need to find something to replace them.

After…

How to re-style your dressing table by www.apartmentapothecary.com

Ta da!

The mirror from underneath the drawers is gone, as are the hooks and the laundry basket has been swapped with the Singer machine my kind neighbour, Kate, recently gave me (love it!). Just these changes make the space look tidier and more stream-lined. I’ve also swapped the lamp that I had in my craft room into here as it is a better size and the colour is perfect. It’s the Little Dane lamp from Loaf, if you’re interested.I’ve cleared all the clutter from the table top, which makes life easier as more space has been created. If you’re worried about getting rid of stuff, keep it in a box for a week – if you don’t need it in that time, chances are you may not need it at all.

I’ve also framed some vintage educational wall charts from a second hand book that I bought on Amazon for £9 (it’s called The Art of Instruction), which was my only expense. I just used 50p clip frames so, all in all, it cost very little indeed.

Clearing the top of clutter will make my dressing table so much more functional.

Adding fresh flowers does wonders.

I’ve added a vintage Burleigh ware bowl to the dressing table for any loose ‘bits’ like hairbands, grips, make-up etc.

The one thing I would say is that if you are planning to do as I did and swap things around in your home, like the lamp and laundry basket, do make sure that you know where you are going to put them before you move them. Otherwise, you will just end up messing up another corner of your home.

Happy styling!

Katy x

katy 13th January 2014

Rejuvenating your home

Ergh. This is how I’ve been feeling for the last week or so. I did way too much over Christmas and new year and then straight back to work so I feel totally exhausted, which is not what I hoped for at the start of a new year when I’m supposed to be starting afresh. I’m looking forward to the weekend when I can get back on track and catch up with myself a bit.

I don’t know about you, but one of the things I always like to do at the start of a new year (are you sick of resolutions talk yet?) is to try and de-clutter a bit and find some quick and inexpensive ways to rejuvenate my home. I recently saw photographs of a house in Stoke Newington, that is used for photo shoots (hence the absence of any ‘stuff’), and it made me crave a more stream-lined approach at home and to change things around. It got me thinking about some easily achievable things we can all do, that can take minutes and most require no money, to give our homes a fresh new start for the year. I find that even changing the smallest thing in a room can make all the difference and bring a room back to life…

1) Style a set of shelves differently.

Swap things around, find bits from around the home to replace objects, add a lamp or a plant.

2) Change the cushions on your sofa.

This can instantly change the look in your sitting room and, if you can make them yourself, doesn’t cost too much.

3) Reupholster your dining chairs.

I learnt how to do this last year and it is so much easier than you think!

4) Change the pictures on your walls.

Either swap them with others from around the house or display them in a different formation.

5) Print a pattern onto a plain curtain, blind, cushion or lampshade.

Use a lino cut or even a potato to customise plain textiles in your home. This could change the whole feel of a room.

6) Clear up your noticeboard.

Take everything off, have a good throwaway and start again.

7) Style your bedside table or dressing table differently.

Either de-clutter or find objects from around the house to replace the ones that have been sitting there for years.

8) Do a furniture makeover.

You could paint a piece of furniture, sand it back to wood, cover it in fabric, line it with wallpaper.

9) Buy new bedlinen in the January sales.

This instantly lifts any bedroom and is key to a bedroom makeover.

10) Plant some indoor bulbs.

Use pretty containers or tea cups to plant bulbs so that there is some much needed colour in the house.

Do any of these ideas appeal to you? Have a look at these photographs, courtesy of JJ Locations, that inspired me to want to change a few things around in my constant quest for a light, organised, de-cluttered home (although, obviously not to the extent of this minimalist ‘locations’ house!)…

I’ll be back to show you how I get on restyling my very ‘real’ and messy dressing table!

Katy x

katy 21st December 2013

Christmas table ideas

I’ve been collecting some ideas on my Pinterest Christmas board for the Christmas table and I am well and truly inspired. For me, the enjoyment of Christmas comes from the time, effort and creativity that goes into the preparation; I don’t like doing the chopping but I will happily sit down for a few hours and make pretty place name cards or napkin rings, which is more enjoyable than the lunch itself. A great looking table makes Christmas lunch more special than any other meal of the year.

A few little ideas from me if you are running low on time and/or cash to help make your Christmas table stand out:

1) Use a length of Christmas wrapping paper as a table runner.

2) Whack some sticky back plastic on some wrapping paper to make festive table mats.

3) Keep some ribbon left over from your wrapping and use it to tie cutlery sets together – something so simple can make all the difference.

4) Stock up on battery powered tea lights and pop them into jam jars or kilner jars. Absolutely no hassle, pretty, safe and you don’t have to constantly change them, like you do with real tea light.

I love all of the ideas below and none of them will take too long…