Showing posts with label Home. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Home. Show all posts

Thursday, 20 March 2014

I Love Metallics


My name is Tara, and I am an addict.

Metallics. I can’t get enough of them. Whether its clothes, makeup, wallpaper, accessories… I have an immediate affinity with anything that shimmers. It is only recently that the true extent of my addiction has become apparent to me. Looking around my home and in my wardrobe, even my nail polish collection – I am truly a bona fide magpie.
So, instead of looking to rehab I have decided to embrace my obsession because, to be honest, where’s the fun in fighting it? In addition the more I think about it, the more it totally bewilders me that there aren’t more people suffering from this wonderful affliction. We all want to feel like kings in our castle, don’t we? So surely the simplest way to achieve that is to fill our castles to the brim with gorgeously lustrous golds, shimmering silvers and dazzling coppers.
Metallics are a great way of instantly injecting glamour and majesty into a home. They can be both super modern and also quite country and traditional depending on how you incorporate them, so there is room for metallic no matter what your preferred style. Another major plus point is that gold and silver literally go with ANY colour, so no excuses.

There are a huge number of metallic paints available thesedays. From walls to woods to masonry there is a metallic paint / spray out there for whatever your need. If you have caught the metallic bug, try out a few different brands and testers before you commit as there are various finishes available, depending on whether you want it mega mirrored and reflective or more of a muted matt-metallic look.
Look around the room – is there an old item of furniture that could use a bit of a makeover?  Or a blank wall that has been staring at you for ages, desperately in need of transformation? Get the paint out!

It is amazing how any old item can be completely transformed with a bit of metallic paint.
These tree stumps have been galvanised and look how amazing they are as coffee tables! I am seriously considering taking a chainsaw to the tree outside of my window.

A word of warning… metallic paints are not the easiest to work with and tend to need several coats. But hey, we suffer for fashion and beauty so makes sense that we should suffer for décor too, right?
Mirror frames, wooden furniture, table legs, dining chairs, storage chests, even door frames or window sills if you are feeling daring – the possibilities are endless. Just make sure if you are painting anything wooden that you use a layer of lacquer or varnish to protect the finish.
 
 You don’t even need to use paint - these ideas are created using types of metallic sticky-backed plastic. Totally mess-free, and you can peel them off when you fancy a change. A brilliant way to jazz up a hallway. Examples of brands to look for are Dura-Lar and d-c-fix®(search on amazon).
 
 
 
My biggest guilty pleasure is to mix metallics which I know is a supposed “no-no” but I wholly disagree.  Silver, gold & copper all sit beautifully alongside each other, and I think mixing them helps create more of a layered aesthetic. Don’t believe me? Try it out for yourself J

Monday, 30 September 2013

Scented Candles - A Fragrance Revolution


I am obsessed with fragrance and the way it has the ability to instantly transform your mood. It can invoke memories or nostalgia, filling you with warmth and comfort. It can create effortless romance and enchantment. It can energise, invigorate or establish a perfect aura of serenity. It can make you feel right at home, or transport you a million miles away. The possibilities with fragrance are endless.

So why don’t people seem to have as much interest in scenting their homes as they do their bodies?  The perfumes we choose for ourselves are immensely personal - a general reflection of how we like to feel and how we like to be perceived. Surely this should extend to our homes as well? 
 
With that in mind, I am pioneering a home fragrance revolution! I am championing the crossover between interior design and fragrance.

I want us to change the way we view home fragrance – not as an occasional impulse, but as an integral part of our home décor. Who says you can’t decorate your home with fragrance just as effectively as with a canvas on a wall?

Scent is the ultimate “fifth dimension” when it comes to decorating a space, enabling you to encompass more than just aesthetics. Creating an ambience is a multi-sensory experience, and it is this idea that has the potential to completely transform the feel of our homes. It isn’t just about what Dulux colour we pick, or which wallpaper we choose – fragrance can be far more powerful, not to mention far easier to change as your mood suits.

There are various ways to scent the home of course: air fresheners, plug-ins, diffusers, fragrance lamps, room sprays… the list goes on. My preference of course is for candles, as they are so much more than a room freshener. They have a magic sort of quality, the way their delicate warm glow dances and flickers, emanating a unique sense of comfort and luxury. A burning candle seems to radiate a calming, hypnotic silence that you can’t replicate with anything else.

So I would like all of you reading to please, put my theory to the test. Light a scented candle (or two) at home and leave it burning for the evening; nothing expensive, just any scent that you like. Try it several days in a row. How does it make you feel? Doesn’t it make your home feel warmer, cosier, more lavish? Do alternative scents make a difference?

Join me in my fragrance revolution, and let me know what you think!

I would love to read your comments about which scents you like, and which ones make your home feel special.  If you like the blog so far (at its early stages!) please please subscribe, all you have to do is enter your email at the top left of the page. Easy, right? J

Posts coming soon…
Very important tips about scented candles that people don't know! | DIY lampshade project | First peek into the journey of the Tara Sofia candle collection