The renovation of our new house is well under way and we move in at the weekend! I’ve mentioned the work we’re doing in a previous post and although there is still a lot of DIY to be getting on with it’s time to start thinking about how we want the individual rooms to look. We’re moving from a two bedroom flat to a three bedroom house and in the near future both sets of parents will be living over the border in Scotland so will need a place to stay when they come to visit. That means we’ve got a whole bedroom to furnish so I’ve been gathering some inspiration.

I’ve always liked the idea of having a fabric bed as I think they look fantastic and add a bit of warmth to a room. A fabric ottoman bed would be perfect as it would provide loads of storage space and achieve the high end look I’m after. To compliment this I would love some grey floor length curtains in a similar shade to tie everything together. I’ll definitely be asking John to put up curtain poles as I think they look much better than plastic rails.

Quality is key when looking for the perfect bedroom furniture and I think it pays to invest in pieces your likely to keep for years to come. Websites, such as bedstar, offer various possibilities and are a great place to start your search. Style wise I like to keep it clean and simple which I don’t think will ever go out of fashion. I’ll be choosing a white wardrobe and matching bedside tables to reflect the light and make the room nice and bright. This is especially important as it will probably be the smaller of the two spare bedrooms that we’ll be furnishing from scratch.

Adding accessories will make the room feel more homely and add some interest. I love the idea of putting the wi-fi code in a frame on the guest’s bedside table. It means they don’t have to feel awkward about asking for it and you don’t have to read it out from underneath your router every time someone comes to stay. Antique brass frames are on trend and you could easily swap their content for photos that include your guests if everyone visiting already knew the code. I would also love a world scratch map. I bought one for a close friend and really like the way it acts as a piece of art and a reminder of all the wonderful places you have travelled. I would like to display one in the guest room, I can imagine it being a fantastic conversation starter!

Lighting is really important and I would like something a little bit different. I usually play it safe with a neutral lamp shade but I think an unusual fitting would give the room a little extra and create some interesting shapes. A simple bedside lamp would give guests another option if they prefer more muted lighting.

We’ve already got furniture for our other two bedrooms so it’s exciting to be able to style a whole room and imagine what it might look like. Hopefully we’ll have three functioning bedrooms by the end of the year!

Our mortgage has been confirmed and in less than a month we will officially be home owners!

You know when people say buying a house is one of the most stressful things you can do? They aren’t lying! There are so many things to consider and for first time buyers it’s a steep learning curve. We did some research, asked around and decided to get someone to do it all for us! We opted for a mortgage adviser who came highly recommended and did everything from finding the best deal to figuring out what was going on when there was a hold up.

Fortunately we weren’t buying and selling as doing both must take stress levels to the next level. In our case the sellers (John’s parents!) had already had their offer for their new property accepted so time scales were our main concern. If we had struggled to get the mortgage in place in time the sellers could have used a bridging loan to make sure they didn’t lose their dream home and reduce stress levels. The Bridging Loan Center offers alternative short-term funding solutions until a longer-term option becomes available. The rate is usually around 1% and you can pay the loan off before the specified time without any penalties. Normally these loans are used to buy a new property before the existing one is sold but you can use them for a range of other purposes like funding a buy-to-let investment, as short term working capital for a business or to pay unexpected bills.

Now we know we’re going to buy the house we’ve started to make a list of all the things we would like to do to make the house feel like our home:

• Remove wood chip from the ceilings – I don’t know who came up with it or why but wallpaper with wood chip in it is old fashioned and apparently it’s a nightmare to remove. Unfortunately it’s on most of our ceilings!
• Strip the walls, skim them and paint them – I’m not a fan of wallpaper so we’ll be stripping it off then having the walls skimmed to make sure they are nice and flat. We’ve been looking at paint samples but haven’t decided on a colour scheme quite yet. I’ve been scouring Pinterest for inspiration and I’ve found some beautiful combinations.

Top left, top right and bottom left: Design Seeds, bottom right: In Colour Balance all via Pinterest.

• Replace the carpets – I know it’s not practical but I want to replace the dark carpets with lighter ones to brighten the place up.
• Fit a new shower – The water pressure of the current electric shower is pretty poor so we want to plumb the shower directly into the boiler.

Here’s a little bit of an insight into the kind of style I would love to go for although John is worried I’ll make the house look too cold so I’m sure I’ll have to learn to compromise!

Top left: My Scandinavian Home, top right: A Design Ed Factory, bottom left: Stylizimo, bottom right: Remodelista all via Pinterest.

We’re so excited to have a home of our own and can’t wait to get started!