I have a small home and I need inspiration!

5 years ago

Hi,

I'm very new to this forum and i've had a little look around but I was wondering if I could get some recommendations. I have recently purchased a small 2 bed victorian terraced house and I am looking for books/magazines/blogs that I can use to get inspiration for decorating. I'm really struggling to find great interiors that don't have ridiculously high ceilings or great big hallways. ALL RECOMMENDATIONS ARE WELCOME!

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T Gray

5 years ago

This is a super site with incredibly friendly and helpful contributors, I am sure you will get a lot out of it, I certainly have. :)

As well as the advice from the great folks on here, there are 2 books that I have found immensely helpful. The first is the Haynes manual for Victorian and Edwardian houses and the second is Farrow and Ball: How to Decorate.

The Haynes helped me think about the history of my house, what I could/should/will/won't find as we tackle each room. The F&B book helped me think about colour and how it is affected by the light coming into the room (or lack thereof). It also made me think about the flow of the house from room to room which is especially important in a smaller house I think as a cohesive flow will make the rooms (and the whole house) feel bigger.

The best bit of advice I got was from my brother-in-law who said that we should live with the house for a good 6 months before making any large changes. There may be stuff that really needs doing though such as neutralising any particularly strong decor from the previous owners. (I removed all the odd strips of wallpaper stuck at random places in the hall!)

Good luck with it and make sure you post to let us know how it is going.

Oh and RB, surfing RightMove is a super idea. Quite a lot of the time it does show you stuff you then know you don't want!

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Comments (11)

Ribena Drinker
5 years ago
Have a look on the "photos" tab at the top of the page, there's more pictures there than you can shake a stick at - and they're not all rooms with high ceilings or giant hallways.
Patrina
5 years ago
Hi Jonathan could you share some pics of the spaces you want to decorate. There are some very clever houzzers on here that can do great mock ups for you.
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Karen
5 years ago
Here's a houzz story to get you started:

Check out this story from houzz - http://houzz.co.uk/sr/m=7/u=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaG91enouY28udWsvaWRlYWJvb2tzLzQ4NzI0NzcxL2xpc3QvaG91enotdG91ci1hLXNtYWxsLWVkd2FyZGlhbi1ob21lLWdldHMtYS1jcmVhdGl2ZS11cGRhdGU=
Ribena Drinker
5 years ago
I've also Googled images of various rooms for inspiration and I've even surfed photos on Rightmove for ideas.
Sonia
5 years ago
My favourite is Pinterest. It’s a free app full of millions of photos on every subject under the sun. You can search for any subject, eg cosy small living rooms, and images will pop up. They tend to be more normal houses than the glamorous homes on Houzz. I do love Houzz too so search their photos for inspiration. I live in a small home so I feel your pain! You’ll find the Dilemma pages helpful too, where people ask for advice and we all give try to help. This is a really nice friendly forum so welcome!
Emmanuelle
5 years ago
I like to find ideas on Pinterest, apartment therapy, living etc, Elle déco.... my favourite ones are The socialite Family (most of it in French though!) and Houzz of course, as it’s not all about aesthetics, it’s also about the making/diy, which I enjoy too!
Anthony (Beano)
5 years ago
Thing is, the pics you see both inspire you and depress you at the same time sometimes :-( I have a house with an open plan dining room and kitchen, leading on to a sunroom, the rest of the rooms are normal off a large hall and main corridor, they are quiet big so not so bad but at times I really do hark for a massive open plan home that I have no restrictions on furniture and light, problem is that I know if extended then the other rooms would still bug me and not be used, the only way I’d get what I wanted was to build again and that would cost way more than I prepared to pay, that coupled with my taste in furniture and accessories! That would break the bank!, I’ve a full attic trussed roofspace at about 25mts long that could be an easy open plan conversion at some stage, might never do it either! I love to look at the pics here but it’s made me realise something, I’m happy with what I have :-) I buy the furniture I want, my house is close on finished, next to no mortgage and go on holidays when I want really! As said, as much as I love to see the pics here, but the thoughts of, selling, building, furnishing and paying it off the rest of my life...........no way!
PRO
Ace Your Space
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
My focus is small spaces so I've gathered lots of images. Many of my ideabooks on Houzz have focussed ideas, and this is the biggest of those. https://www.houzz.co.uk/ideabooks/23339112/list/small-space-ideas

I also have many boards on pinterest geared up to small spaces, https://www.pinterest.co.uk/PhilsRichard/boards

Another great place for inspiration is this website https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/

In many cases I find you need to pick a space, work out what you need in it, then narrow down how each idea can use as little space as possible. It's usually a case of picking and choosing ideas from all over the place, rather than looking to copy one small space.
Jonathan Donovan thanked Ace Your Space
Sonia
5 years ago
T Gray I have just ordered the Farrow & Ball book you recommended as I was given a Waterstones Gift Card over Christmas. Collecting it later, thank you!
Danielle H
5 years ago
https://www.houzz.co.uk/discussions/my-first-house-before-and-after-dsvw-vd~4709786

This was my 2 bed Victorian terrace that I renovated a couple of years ago :) definitely not a huge hallway! Did have fairly high ceilings but not super grand! It was my first project so I would have changed a few things in hindsight but I loved it at the time :)
Jonathan Donovan thanked Danielle H

I have a small home and I need inspiration!

T Gray

Comments (11)

Ribena Drinker

Patrina

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Karen

Ribena Drinker

Sonia

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Anthony (Beano)

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