Decorate For Now And Not For The Future
I recently read a post where Lawrence Lewellyn Bowen said - Don’t decorate with moving or selling your home in mind, decorate for yourself. Unless you are selling iminentally.
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And in that moment I heard this in a way that had never resonated or registered before. Yet it’s so true. Why do we so often decorate OUR homes for someone else, for somewhen in the future?
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Crazy isn’t it, when you think of it like that?
I do get it though, growing up my parents renovated many properties and always decorated with a buyer in mind. But that was the aim of their game. Nothing too wild, neutral colour schemes and a kitchen that would appeal to most people. And it worked, they sold with ease every time. And I know they won’t mind me saying this, but besides the home they live in now and one other we all lived in for a long time when growing up, none of them felt like home. But then, how can white washed walls feel homely?
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I’ve done it too, 3 properties of my own prior to my current home with Chris. In the past it has been all painted white walls with a white gloss kitchen when the grey hype was in full swing, so I hoped on that train too with grey carpet and a grey accent wall here and there! But this time I vowed to do things differently. Yes this isn’t our forever home, but for now it is our home and I want it to feel homely.
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I’ve spent so many years without carpets living in dusty renovation sights (first world problems I know, but they are being laid today, HORRAY!), that this time I was adamant that this house would feel cosy and like ours once it was finished, even if it’s not forever!
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I can say so easily, that it’s been so refreshing decorating for ourselves not worrying about the impact it could have on selling the property in the future. Don’t get me wrong we haven’t gone crazy out there with whacky wallpaper and colours that would scare some people off, but that’s not our style anyway.
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I almost bottled it at one point when it came to painting the panelling in our bathroom a dark graphite colour. I wasn’t scared about not liking it, merely worried our future buyer might not. Then I thought why? Why am I letting that thought dictate my choices and what I really want. I ordered up the dark paint and went for it! We both love it. Everyone who comes round loves it and I’m sure our future buyer will too. But that doesn’t matter so much to me now, because I have committed to creating a home that I/we love and that feels empowering.
I almost bottled it at one point when it came to painting the panelling in our bathroom a dark graphite colour. I wasn’t scared about not liking it, merely worried our future buyer might not. Then I thought why? Why am I letting that thought dictate my choices and what I really want. I ordered up the dark paint and went for it! We both love it. Everyone who comes round loves it and I’m sure our future buyer will too. But that doesn’t matter so much to me now, because I have committed to creating a home that I/we love and that feels empowering.
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Our bathroom with painted panelling in Little Greene Vulcan
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We ripped the existing built in wardrobes out and planned to build some new ones that were more to our taste. They would be a great selling point we thought - lots of storage. And then my little ‘decorate for us’ bulb came into my head and we decided we were not going to spend the money building them for a future buyer, when we had perfectly adequate furniture already. So I updated an Ikea wardrobe I’ve had for years and it looks perfect in our bedroom. It was such a simple upcycle using some ticking stripe wallpaper, it was a much more affordable option that works best for us and like always feels great having saved another piece from going to landfill!
You can learn how I upcycled my wardrobe to try yourself in my last blog post, just click here!
You can learn how I upcycled my wardrobe to try yourself in my last blog post, just click here!
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Ikea wardrobe upcycle with decoupaged wallpaper detail
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Our kitchen was originally such an awkward space. It is small even now, (I think that was a selling point for chris because he knew he wouldn’t have to get in the kitchen much LOL), but we knocked out a cupboard and ripped out some awful built in corner extractor set up they had. We chose a B&Q kitchen in Green, I’ve always wanted a Green kitchen but second guessed the decision knowing that it’s not for everyone. But over the moon with the finished look, I entered us in to a competition B&Q we’re running to ‘win your kitchen back’ and low and behold we won! If you go to B&Q’s Instagram page you will see a picture of little ole Chris and I. We were absolutely buzzing to have won, and still can’t quite believe it now!
This was my sign from the universe that going with our gut and designing for ourselves is absolutely the right way to go!
This was my sign from the universe that going with our gut and designing for ourselves is absolutely the right way to go!
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Chris and I when we found out we had won the B&Q kitchen competition with our kitchen entry
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Our home now feels cosy which was one of the biggest and most important things to me.
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If what I’ve said today resonates with you and you’re often stopping yourself decorating in the way you love out of fear that a future buyer won’t like it at some point down the line.
This is your sign.
If what I’ve said today resonates with you and you’re often stopping yourself decorating in the way you love out of fear that a future buyer won’t like it at some point down the line.
This is your sign.
Your sign to start creating your home for you into a space that feels aligned.
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If you sign up to my newsletter you will receive a copy of my eBook ‘Stacey’s Curated Home’. It’s designed to help you discover your own style, give you new ideas on where to gain inspiration and teaches you the basics of a moodboard to get you on your way to creating your dream home!
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If you live in a rented property I understand that it isn’t as easy when it comes to decorating. Some landlords are really lenient and will let you decorate without too many rules, especially if what you plan to do is going to improve their property. However if you landlord isn’t so lenient I have a few ways that you can still make your home feel like your own and inject some of your personality!
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Ideas to make your home your own if you live in rented👇🏻
⭐️Artwork
⭐️Artwork
⭐️Funky bedding, curtains and textiles
⭐️Removable vinyl wallpapers / temporary
⭐️Change up kitchen and cabinet knobs
All the above ideas are easy ways to make your rented property feels like your home and the best part is that if you move you can take all the items from these ideas with you.
Let me know in the comments if this post spoke to you and give me a thumbs up if you no longer plan to decorate for the future buyer but instead for yourself! 👍🏻
As always, thanks for reading,
Stacey x
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