Weโve got a packed newsletter for you this month including:
We found our studio flat in London more challenging. Its a Grade 2 listed building with a beautiful, intricate ceiling rose & cornicing. We needed to avoid painting thick layers of paint over it or we would lose the detail. We used a spray gun so it coated a thin layer of paint so none of the detail was lost. The flat also has one massive room with high ceilings which is beautiful and lovely, but not easy to make the room feel cosy. We needed big enough furniture for it to feel welcoming and cosy.
Painting the walls, woodwork, doors & cornicing all one colour. This transforms a room. It opens it up, it makes it feel way more contemporary. By wrapping the room in the same colour its much calmer on the eye so you can almost be braver with colour. Thereโs less contrast and it totally opens up a room & gives a cool, contemporary feel which is calm to live with. It makes it feel very โdesignedโ.
The top thing I would do is to understand what you love and what you donโt like about the home. Thereโs a reason youโve bought or rented this property and understanding itโs pros and cons is really important. It there lovely light in some area and darker, more gloomy areas? Those are the things that you can either capture or improve on. Working out the purpose of each room: is it someone to relax & watch TV or is it more of a family room used all the time. Understand the feeling & mood you want to achieve in each space.
My second tip is always start but creating a mood board. Its a fabulous way for you to gather all your inspirations and fine tune your style for your home. Although you can do them online, I encourage clients to do a physical one. The home is such a tactile place so itโs lovely to get all your fabrics and samples and see them together in your home.
Check your products. Lick was launched with sustainability at its core. We were one of the first paint brands in the UK to become B Corp. Paint needs to be low VOC and water based. We use peel and stick samples as theyโre so much more sustainable than the wasteful little paint pots which end up in the bin. All of our tools are eco friendly and very sustainable.
Its like anything – if you buy cheap, its going to break and malt. A good quality brush youโll pretty much keep forever. The difference is that its not only so much easier to decorate with, but the finish you get is unreal. 90% of decorating your home is in the prep and using the right tools. I canโt tell you how important it is to get good quality rollers, tape & brushes. It makes decorating so much easier!
The colours we surround ourselves with are really personal. What I love so much about paint and colour is that its such a lovely way to bring your personality into your home. Its a really fun way to get creative and have fun. Walls are the dominant areas in a room. Bringing them to life with a rich pigmented paint and some colour will complete any room. It has the power to transform your house into a home that you love & to bring in a bit of โusโ to the space.
Thank you Tash!
In last monthโs Q&A with the brilliant Anna from @not.needing.new she named jarโs as the most useful, and commonly thrown away household item. We did a post on this with generated a lot of interest and discussion!
The first main theme was people sharing loads of creative ways they use jars rather than throwing away/recycling them. We loved hearing about all your conventional and more off piste ideas. It was great to hear so many of you really considering waste and how to reuse/repurpose useful items. We particularly loved these repurposed jars below by the incredibly creative @eminekuscul.
The second theme which emerged was to do with recycling. Many people commented that no one throws jars away any longer, they get recycled. This is obviously a broader and much more nuanced topic.
We donโt want to get preachy at How to Basically, but the sad reality is that much of our recycling ends up in landfill. There are many contributing factors to this. And that which does make it to the recycling plant still requires energy, often from fossil fuels, to be processed. Whichever way you look at it, something which has taken time & energy to create and then gets smashed up after one use is wasteful.
At the very heart of what we do at How to Basically is to help people move towards a more sustainable way of living. We wholeheartedly encourage you to think twice about throwing things away, in whichever bin, which could serve another purpose. No one is perfect and we all have time pressures but small, simple changes can be a great start in the right direction!
We have recently discovered, and are now huge fans of, Alessandro Vitale, who has released his brilliant book: Rebel Gardening. We are love everything heโs doing and highly recommend following his Instagram account @_spicymoustache_
Weโve got loads of exciting things happening:
