What’s your home decoration style?
The three words I would use to describe my home are cozy, colourful and bookish. It’s never tidy, there are always piles of things to sort out and my main concern is where we can put another book case. Currently we have seven and two book trolleys. But there are piles of books everywhere. Crime and romance live on the landing, counselling and other work related books in the office. Downstairs I have a glass fronted bookcase with my special and signed editions in the living room along with a corner of unread hardbacks. In my study is a bookcase made by my father and this holds contemporary fiction, historical fiction and spooky reads. In the same room there’s a little alcove with unread proofs and my main book trolley sits underneath with everything I need for blogging. There’s always a bag of books in this room so visitors can rummage and borrow old proofs and once a month it goes to a charity that cooks Sunday lunch for the homeless. The books seem to fly from there every time.
Every so often we go to a holiday cottage and I think ‘our house could look like this’. Everything could match and it would be restful and tasteful. It could be in fifty shades of beige or grey, which seems to be the new magnolia. The truth is I love colour and pattern too much. I’m a huge fan of William Morris and Liberty print, especially my ‘strawberry thief’ desk. If we did a declutter with Stacey Solomon I think she’d have a lot to say about my textile sculptures of hares, the amount of art on the walls and the piles of books living on the floor because I’ve run out of shelf space.
My book obsession has even made its way onto the decor with bookish cushions, prints and kitchenware covered in Moomins. We have framed poems on the walls and characters like Mr Tumnus.
The most recent thing we did was renovate the kitchen, more in keeping with the period of the house which totally gutting the room and took three months to finish. I love the colour, the old pieces of furniture that don’t match and the blue units with brass. It’s the most I’ve ever spent on anything in one go but it makes me happy every time I go in.
If we did declutter what would I do with my weird old objects, most of which end up living in the study. No one else would want a candelabra that’s a monkey in a Chinese dress or the decorative bird houses, the chesterfield armchairs that belonged to my friend Nigel and the oak kitchen table we bought from Facebook for forty quid. I have an old dresser from a previous home full of china from my previous in-laws, glasses with poodles on and a Polish pottery teapot that holds eight mugs of tea and stays warm with a tea light underneath. There are prints from seeing Monkey: The Opera in New York, my photos of Venice and my rabbit mask. Snowglobes, lanterns, orchids, antique taxidermy, stones from all the beaches I’ve been to, 17th Century dough bowls, phrenology heads and vases because there are always flowers.
I love that my home has cozy places to read, like my chaise longue (all day long) and my chair in the study usually occupied by Max. I love that my cats have places to lounge and the dog knows she can hop up on the couch. I like the soft light from lamps and candles and the way the sunset gives the landing a peachy glow. I want people to come into my house and feel comfortable, welcome and to see who we are as a family.
I guess I’m just a maximalist at heart, greedy for colour, pattern and soft soothing light, beautiful art and quirky collectibles. Of course most importantly a lover of books.
The Lotus Readers 