8 tips to help make your house a home

We have just returned from a fabulous week away on the south coast of England. Although I was sad to leave, I am always happy to return home, I feel comfortable here, it's my happy place.

Home is a feeling that can be the result of emotions inspired not only from familiarity and comfort but also memories that you create. The place where you enjoy spending time whether on your own or with your loved ones. I have recently enjoyed reading the newly released book Happy Inside, by interior designer Michelle Ogundehin. Michelle gives a comprehensive guide into creating a home that also supports your well-being, thinking about our homes being more about how we use them than how they look.

'There's no place like home' - Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz.

There was a distinct time I remember when my parent's house stopped being 'home' and my own place became my home. I had rented my first flat in London and I bought a secondhand double bed. I remember exactly the bedding I bought, cotton duvet covers in pale pink with yellow flowers and pillowcases in multicoloured stripes, I also treated myself to a yellow ochre bed throw. That bed was the first thing that made my flat 'home' and I can still visualise it now.

For me, an important part of being an interior designer is helping you to choose the right look and feel for your home that you'll love for years. I give my clients a detailed questionnaire, forming the basis to develop a design scheme building a look that fits your lifestyle offering ideas and choices to inspire you. With colour and texture at the forefront, I bring confidence in how to combine colour and guide you to develop a palette to push your boundaries and enhance your home.

8 tips to help make your house a home:

1. Decorate your home to make you happy - Whether you live a quiet life or someone who likes to entertain, take time to work out what you feel comfortable with. The Danish term 'Hygge' meaning to live every day in a cosy relaxed way is a lovely positive motto to live by. By adding your own personality through colour, pattern and texture will bring warmth and help to make your home feel lived in. Consider the purpose of each room, e.g. warm colours in your kitchen to bring energy. The little book of Hygge, by Meik Wiking gives lots of fabulous tips on being cosy.

Invest in your bed - Get a good quality mattress, also natural bed linen to keep you at a comfortable temperature. Sleep is so important in how you feel.

A good comfy sofa - Work out where your sofa if going before anything else in your sitting room. A place to sit and relax helps to reduce stress. If you're buying a new sofa always test and sit on the sofa before you buy it! Sofa Workshop makes beautiful handmade sofa's all made in Britain, with a wide range of sofa styles and sizes offering a fantastic choice of fabrics to choose from.

Consider other people you live with feelings - Taking into account their design wishes, combing your styles can bring an exciting complementary element and is an important part of creating a home.

Room layout - It is so important to think about the layout of each room, trying furniture in different places to see what looks and feels best. A bad layout can make you feel exhausted and irritable.

Include biophilia in your home - Bring the outside in, It is proven plants help boost your mood and purify the air. Also, adding natural materials like wood into your home also helps to ground you and make it feel warm and inviting.

Nostalgia - Keep old pictures or memorabilia that have been given to you through your life. Bring new life into furniture you have inherited, by recovering or repainting as it helps fill your home with stories and memories.

Light and lighting - Good natural light can lift your mood and energy if you don't have great lighting bring in more sidelights to the room trying to spread the light around the room. 

These pointers seem simple when you read them but taking the time to think about each one is part of the building blocks to create your home.

I'm more than happy to chat through any ideas or challenges you want to overcome.

Happy homemaking!