Well today is a Sunday, so rather than writing a full blog I thought that I’d share a few little tips and hacks that I’ve gathered in the last couple of months. Many of these little touches are what turns a flat or house into a home, and really gives you the opportunity to add a little personality outside of the main pieces. So here’s three tips from me, and on that note…

1. Rule of three:

You’ll probably have heard of this phrase many times before but it’s always worth mentioning. The rule of three can apply to many things, including colours, textures, fabrics, but in this case I’m simply talking about arranging objects. For some reason when we see things arranged in threes it seems more natural and appealing to our eyes.

A simple example on one of our side tables

There’s a lot of science behind this like the fact that three is the lowest possible odd number of groupings, and in being odd our brains wants to scan and inspect the differences. You’ll see this a lot in kitchens and food bloggers when it comes to plating food. That same principle applies when decorating your home, like arranging items on a table for example. Of course, rules aren’t always there to be followed and breaking them a bit can go a long way. But generally, this is one’s a winner. We personally like to find some common trait between the items to help identify that they go together. E.g. similar textures or shapes. I’d recommend that the best practice is just to play about and see what works best for you. It is your home after all and should reflect you.

2. Create city skylines with objects on a surface:

I’ve briefly mentioned this in my final moving in blog, but thought I’d elaborate a little more. This was something that Maddie mentioned a few times when we decorating the flat. When approaching a flat surface like a side table or windowsill, utilise the items that you have to hand and try to arrange them in a way to recreate a typical city skyline. Think lots of items at different depths and different heights. Avoid grouping items of similar height together, and instead break them up across the surface. Too much symmetry in a room makes it look dull and cold. Adding a light or a mirror (or even the combination of both) helps add to the illusion by introducing a little more complexity with reflections and shadows.

3. Makeshift candle and plant or flower holders:

You may have already seen my blog on our hanging flower jars, but there’s plenty of other ways outside of the norm to hold plants, flowers or candles. In all honesty, anything can really do the job as long as it holds them steadily and is the right shape and size. For flowers, I really love our Florence flask as a holder (which you can see at the start of this post). It feels like it’s just the right amount of quirkiness for us. But we’ve also got some old tea mugs on the windowsill, tiny plugged flasks on our bedside tables and some tin cans in our kitchen.

Candles aren’t just for that special occasion. They’re a brilliant way to bring some additional light and ambiance to any room any time of the year. And practically anything can give a candle a little something extra. We’re often using old wine bottles as tall candle holders. Simple clean it up a little and then stuff a tall candle into the top. The more that you use it, the more character it develops as the melted wax slowly builds on the outside. And one of my favourite candle holders that we have in the flat is a glass jar filled with shells that we’ve collected from beaches we’ve visited. They act as a strong support for the candle in the base and give the object some sentimental value.

That’s it for now, but I’d love to hear from you. Are you considering trying any of the above? Do you have any tips yourself that you’re happy to share? Let me know in the comments. Tack så mycket.

//Dave

Pictures taken by Maddie 😀