This week, the wonderful Katie from @comedowntothewoods took over our Instagram for the day, giving us an exclusive house tour, styling tips and some really useful advice on all things renovations, home styling, Instagram and more.
Katie is a dentist, mum of 4, and self-confessed accidental Instagrammer. Having started a large renovation project several years ago, a friend recommended using Instagram for inspiration as an alternative to the more traditional interior magazines. From there, Katie set up her Instagram page (@comedowntothewoods) to document her renovation process and now has one of the most popular and well-known interiors accounts around! With over 200 thousand followers, and a wonderfully colourful family home known as the Peach Palace, Katie has never looked back. From a neon green fireplace and secret door to her study, to lots and lots of bright velvet sofas, Katie is a champion for styling your home in a way that simply makes you happy.
Read on to discover Katie’s invaluable advice on how to style your interiors to make your heart sing…
My style now is very different to 5 or 10 years ago. Looking back, my style was pretty beige, neutral and pared back, with the occasional statement wall where I’d tried to experiment with a bit of colour. Instagram gave me ridiculous courage to try new things and experiment more and put myself outside of my comfort zone.
I have styled my home how I like it, and with what makes me happy. You have to style your home for you, not just copying trends or something you’ve seen in an interior magazine. Pick one thing in each room that makes your heart sing, or that you just can’t do without, and then base the room design around that. It’s not always something you buy, or something new, but it can be sentimental, a piece of art, or a piece of furniture.
When it comes to choosing sofas, armchairs and pieces of furniture, I’d always be tempted to mix it up, choosing different styles throughout the house. I have 5 sofas of varying colours throughout our home! I think that it’s a lot more flexible if you have a range of styles, colours and textures. Get inspiration from Instagram, Pinterest and interior magazines, and create a moodboard with lots of pictures, fabrics, natural materials. It will help you to see if what you like fits together, or if you need to make some changes to create a look that you love. A sofa is a big investment piece, so you’ve got to know that you’re going to love it.
It’s really important that you get lighting right as it totally sets the tone for the whole room. There are a range of different types of lighting – top lighting which is often the main source of light at the top of the room, task lighting which consists of side lights and table lamps that help for reading, and ambient lighting such as candles and fairy lights which are used to create the desired atmosphere. Having lighting at different levels makes such a difference to your space. Don’t forget that natural lighting can also have a big impact on a room, so bear that in mind when thinking about what fixtures and fittings to incorporate into a space.
Connecting with nature has become even more important than ever! In the last few months, we’ve been limited in how much time we can spend outside, but that connection is really important. You can never have too many plants, but also try to use natural materials, such as wood, stones, and other natural textures that bring us back to the outdoors.
When styling a room, it’s important to be confident in what you love, and if you want to try something new, then go for it! If it fails, you can move things around – I change pieces of furniture around from different rooms to update a look instead of redecorating the whole space.
Unless you take some design risks, you’ll never actually really know what your style is. It takes one room, one risk, to help you find your feet, and once you’ve achieved that you’ll be filled with confidence to continue the process throughout the house.
Take a look at the video below for Katie’s top tips on styling a space.
Plus, if you missed out on Katie’s live Q&A and want to learn more, click here!