katie.lacy@letsgetcoffee.co.uk, Author at Modish Living

Autumnal coloured rugs to keep you warm

Louis de Poortere Vintage Patchwork Yellow Rug

As well as keeping physically warm this autumn, adding colour and texture to your home helps the feeling of being warm and snug in our homes.

As well as cushions and throws, rugs work a treat for adding colour to the home, as well as more than a hint of warmth now that the chilly evenings and mornings are with us. Even better, our rugs can be added to any room too.

Rays of sunshine

A recent arrival to our rug collection is this beautiful bright and golden yellow rug. As soon as we saw it, we knew it would become a coveted bestseller and we weren’t wrong.

This beautiful flat weave rug would suit any room at any time of the year, but the tempered golden hues and slightly abstract design we think make it the ideal rug for autumn.

If you are looking for a modern addition to soften the sharp angles and counter the sparsity of the industrial style in the living room, this yellow rug has just enough detail and the right hue of yellow to make it the perfect addition.

Having said that, it would work well in a rustic backdrop too, complementing perfectly the brown leather sofa or leather armchair.

Muted but with plenty of colour

You will either be instantly attracted to the above yellow rug or you won’t. There are no half-measures.

But as an alternative, this Louis de Poortere brown rug with flecks of yellow would make a perfect choice.

What also makes this a popular and stand out rug in our collection is the patchwork pattern to it. For anyone in love with the rustic or farmhouse look, this is the ideal addition.

As well as the living room, we think this rug nestling under the farmhouse table will bring a welcome not of sunshine for mealtimes when the winter weather has set in.

Shades of copper

When it comes to decadence, there is no other colour that spells out luxury and warmth like hints of copper. And this is what runs through these beautiful Louis de Poortere copper tone rugs.

Dramatic with more than a hint of statement, this rug is to be admired. It will fit a room where there is drama all around it. We have seen it used in the industrial landscape of an open plan living room but have also seen it add a layer of striking drama alongside modern living room furniture.

We have to be honest, this darker shade of copper with black and browns along with its abstract design is also great for the busy family home because it can potentially hide many sins.

Mango brown and red

For the bedroom, we wouldn’t shy away from colour because if there is one room where we want to feel and see warmth, it is when we retire in the evening.

This beautiful deep tones red rug is perfect. The underlay of golden orange and brown – the hint of mango wood colours – make it an ideal opposite against modern bedroom furniture.

In the spring and summer when we need freshness and coolness in the bedroom, clean, minimal and uncluttered lines are ideal. But in the winter, we want to take the starkness away and adding this deep coloured rug is perfect.

How do you add autumnal colours to your home?

How to make the most of a small dining space

It’s a known fact that Britain is currently the land of the ever-shrinking home. It’s a reality many of us face every day and one which is particularly frustrating when it comes to redecorating. But fear not! Retailers are now fully aware that people are looking are looking for nifty, space saving options when it comes to reclaimed wood furniture so there are plenty of ways you can make the most of a small dining space. Here are a few of our favourite ways to do it!

First things first – the dining table. The absolute best thing you can do for a small dining space is to invest your pennies in an extendable dining table and chairs. The Standford Industrial Reclaimed Wood Extending Dining Table is a truly superb 4 seat extending dining table. The great thing about this table is the mechanism to extend the table sits neatly inside the table, so cannot be seen unless in use. The chunky metal base and the gorgeous tones of the wooden top look great in any space, and the rustic table would look wonderful in the centre of a small dining space, or pushed against the wall.

But, if you really can’t find what you are looking for, a bespoke dining table might also be a great option for you!

Your dining chairs are also something you might want to think about. Look for a slim frame in a lighter colour to keep your space feeling brighter and more spacious. Alternatively, you could opt for a rustic dining bench. These are a fantastic, flexible seating option for modern homes, not least because they tuck right underneath the table, making the most of the space surrounding your dining table when not in use.

Finding a way to define your dining space is really important when it comes to open plan living. Whether you have a kitchen/diner or a living room/dining room, defining the two areas tends to make us rethink how we use our rooms, and consequently, how we could better use the space!

Another bonus to defining your space is it gives you a great way to add a fun splash of colour. A statement wall was a trend that dominated home decor for several years, and it is still a great way to add interest to a space which won’t take up any space at all. Ensure you don’t opt for a colour which is too dark which will close up your space and make it feel smaller, and you’ll be onto a real winner.

A large rug to mark the area is also a great option. Our Louis de Poortere rugs come in various sizes so you’ll be able to find one which works for your space and the clean, contemporary styles in the mad men rugs really suit spaces which are in need of decor to create the illusion of more space.

There are plenty of other options too – hanging a pendant light directly above the your dining table will create a sense of drama and also add some much-needed light or opting for a dining bench with a high back will create a real presence and a slight divide without taking up too much space.

Have you got any tips on how to maximise a small dining space?

Make the most of Halloween with these amazing decor & food party ideas

Hallowe’en is a fantastic time of year, a chance to indulge in mystery and ghoulish goings on! Both adults and children can enjoy this time of year and we have some great ideas for your Halloween party, along with decorating your extendable dining table and wooden chairs and menu ideas too.

Set the scene

Pumpkins are, of course, mandatory for any Halloween party and with most squashes and pumpkins starting at 50p for small ones to a couple of pounds for very big ones, you can spend a very enjoyable afternoon pumpkin carving ready for your party.

As well as clustering pumpkins about the place, re-use jam jars as tea light holders for the table. Wrap tissue paper around the outside of the jar, complete with black paper shape cut outs. Scatter them across your large sideboard with spider webs for maximum effect (the bought stuff, not the real webs of spiders!)

You can find templates for Halloween cutouts online!

Quick decoration idea

Use any white cloth or gauze and give it eyes and a mouth and hang the mini-ghosts from tree and shrub branches in your front garden as well as around the door to give your guests a flavour of what is to come. Hang them from the centre of the square for the typical ghost ‘triangle’.

Party food

Invest in plenty of black and orange food colouring or prepared icing products because you are going to need it.

From the bubbling depths of butternut squash and red pepper soup to piping hot jacket potatoes, there are plenty of delicious party food ideas.

Create a fantastic spread of food across your reclaimed wood dining table and what their faces light up with delight as they enjoy the Halloween shapes biscuits, huddled on the dining bench.

Use a basic biscuit dough to make these biscuits, using Hallowe’en cutters to get the shapes. Roll out royal icing, coloured with a few drops of orange food colouring or buy ready mixed black icing and use the cutters to cut out corresponding shapes. Using small dabs of runny icing as a glue, stick the icing shapes on top.

You can use the Hallowe’en biscuit cutters to cut out shaped sandwiches too. And don’t forget to place large plastic frogs in the jelly…

Everyone has a superpower

Parties are about having fun and there is nothing better than a theme to get the fun started. Halloween is a theme which has so many opportunities to dress up that it’s a shame to let it past.

As well as your typical guests of witches and ghosts, why not give a modern ring to your Halloween party. Witches were feared because of their supposed superpowers so why not ask everyone to come bearing a superpower? Even your pet pooch could get involved.

You could also make the pumpkin carving part of the Hallowe’en party. Pumpkin scoops are like mini shovels, perfect for little hands to handles.

Simply place the pumpkin fresh into your compost or if it isn’t too stringy – like in the smaller pumpkins – with plenty of seasoning, it makes a great pie or soup.

What do you think makes the best Hallowe’en party? We’d love to see your photos.

Renovation – Good to know tips for the dining room

Rocco Industrial Rustic Oak Spider Leg Dining Table

Renovating your home is a great way of placing your own stamp on things. In this post, we cover making a perfect dining room for you and your family. But what do you need to consider?

The Budget

We can’t start anywhere else other than with budget because this is the factor that dictates what you can achieve at this point. On one hand, your budget may stretch to a perfectly acceptable renovation of the décor including dining room furniture or it may extend to knowing down walls, new windows and the like.

The knack is not to overstretch your budget, achieving changes that work for you but doing it a way that spells a quality finish.

Plan it

There will be hiccups when you renovate the dining room or kitchen/diner so it’s important that you plan the project and have a method or schedule which you follow.

A bit like project managing, you need to have an overview of everything from a tight hold of the budget to making sure you have the right tradespeople on site, at the time you need them. There are materials to order as well as dining room furniture including the must-have reclaimed wood dining table with upholstered dining chairs!

Get the space right

Before you start buying rugs and other essential pieces, you need to get the dining room space right. This means making the best use of the space available from adding an L-shaped kitchen diner to a larger open plan kitchen. Or you may be renovating a formal dining room.

Don’t forget large spaces need zoning so don’t assume that just because you have an open plan kitchen with dining room that a table alone will denote the change in use of the space.

A great ‘divider’ is a rug. Perfect for zoning the eating area, a large rug under the extendable dining table with chairs and a dining bench works wonders for creating order in an open space.

Other pieces of furniture that help to zone a space are shelving unit – try open, industrial shelving units as room ‘markers’, for example – and a rustic sideboard. A reclaimed wood sideboard is perfect for hiding away dining paraphernalia as well.

Add as much light as possible

This is a two-fold exercise;

Firstly, maximise natural light – if your budget stretches to it, consider making windows larger, such as patio doors out onto the garden if that is possible.
Secondly, pay close attention to ambient light – from floor lamps to table lamps, to hanging pendant and statement features, ambient light creates the backdrop you need for both function and cosiness to a room.

The flooring options

Before you start selecting wall colour, you need to make sure you have the major components in place in the dining room.

With light maximised, functional and responsive, you need to make sure the flooring in the dining room is perfect for what you need too because this is something not easily changed (but dining room rugs are!).

And then, wall colour…

With everything in place, you can add the wall colour and start to put your new dining room sets in place too!

Making a statement with a grand dining room

A large room is a gift when it comes to décor and style, as well as choice of furniture. Without space constraints, you can really add the touches that you want.

But just as it is a great space to dress, it can be difficult to get right. And so, if you are entertaining with dinner parties and want to make a statement with your large dining room, we have some amazing ideas.

THE dining table

If there is one thing we love about a large space it is the statement you can make with furniture, and when it is the dining room, the grander the dining table, the better.

As you know, we have many options but make a statement with not just size but style too with the Hoxton farmhouse dining table. Pair with velvet or leather dining chairs – both comfortable and beautiful – and you’ll have a tempting table to invite your guests to.

Generous with both its dimensions and style, this is a beautiful piece as is the Kensington dining table. For an idea of how it can looking a large, bright and airy kitchen diner, take a look at how a customer, Sarah Jane of Just a Little Build, has styled her Luxe Kensington dining table.

If you do entertain often, you’ll want plenty of versatility when it comes to space. Many of our already-large tables are extending dining tables, perfect for when you need a 12 seat dining table occasionally…. An extending dining table to seat 12 doesn’t have to mean your dining room is taken up by table when you’re not actually seating the full 12.

Go bespoke

When it comes to the dining table, we find that for the larger space, a bespoke dining table and bench or upholstered dining chairs are great investment pieces.

You make a double statement with both the bespoke dimensions of the table and dining bench but also by maintaining the style you love.

The dining room rug

If you have opted for hard flooring, you will find that a flat weave rug will add a different texture that helps to lift and frame the room, something that is important in a larger room.

Err on the side of a larger rug, and again, be bold with colour and pattern. We find that starting with the rug before wall colour is much easier when it comes to symmetry and cohesion.

Colour & pattern

In essence, you have no worries about the large dining room being too dark or closed in by pattern. In fact, you have the opposite concern – not enough pattern and it feels bland, and too light a colour and it can feel cold.

Choose a luxurious wallpaper for a feature wall, creating complementing wall colour on the remaining walls. Or why not be very daring and create a statement with the wallpaper or vibrant colour throughout?

If you prefer neutral walls, make a bold statement with wall art, something that can be changed as the seasons roll on by…

… Work with the seasons too

From the bright natural light and warmth of summer to the golden hues of autumn and the twinkling lights of the festive season, add seasonal ‘adjustments’ to your dining room to give it a little extra zing. A bowl of autumn fruits on the sideboard cabinet can work wonders to create an atmosphere.

The statement dining room ceiling light

Whether you opt for a traditional droplet chandelier or an uber-modern, industrial-styled hanging pendant, you can afford to make a huge statement with the main light in the larger dining room.

Position your beautiful bespoke dining table beneath and watch your dining table sparkle the next time you host a dinner party.

9 Tips for choosing the perfect dining room rug

Louis de Poortere Red and Blue Rug in Room

Having trouble deciding on the perfect rug for your dining room? You have no need to worry because we have all the tips and hints you need to get it right.

1 Too big is better than too small

If you have a fantastic reclaimed wood dining table, extendable or otherwise, you want the dining rug to be the perfect platform on which it stands. Too small or not-quite-big-enough will be immediately obvious for all the wrong reasons. So measure, measure again and opt for a rug that is slightly too big – important if you have an extendable dining table.

2 Opt for a flat weave rug or short pile

A rug in the dining room will need to work quite hard. It needs to be easy to clean, repelling food spills without too much bother. A flat weave rug or short pile rug is a more capable and practical rug for the dining room than a deep pile one.

3 Rug first, wall colour second

Trying to match a rug to your wall colour will be a long nightmare that you never really solve but do it the other way around and you’ll find it less stressful. So if you want a coloured or patterned rug, use that as your starting point for the rest of the décor.

4 Be bold with pattern

A dining rug will, no doubt, sit beneath your dining table and no matter what your style – industrial chic or cosy farmhouse, for example – a bold dining rug will make all the difference to the space. You can afford to take a little liberty when it comes to pattern so from faded flowers to geometric gorgeousness, why not be a little more daring in your choice.

5 Easy to clean

Short pile or flat weave rugs are the way forward for the dining room but if you have concerns that your investment rug will take a bashing, you will need to consider how easy it is to clean. From washable rugs to cleaning with a wet/dry vacuum, there are many dining room rugs that can withstand heavy use.

6 Feel before you buy

We think that every piece you buy you should try beforehand which is why we stock our range at our studio – and rugs are no different. Come and see us (check our website for store opening hours) and admire our huge collection of rugs, all of which, in our opinion, would make a fabulous addition to any dining room.

7 Match the room shape

If your dining room is more square than rectangular, choose a squarer rug. This way you get a sense of symmetry throughout the room.

8 You can match the shape of your dining table to the rug shape too

For even more symmetry, choose a round rug for a round dining table and for the extendable dining table with dining bench opt for a rectangle rug.

9 Don’t go too light

Give yourself a break by opting for a shade slightly darker if you feel the rug will take a more than heavier bashing. We have many faded coloured rugs that add a hint of hue without being overly dark.

Use the tips above and you’re sure to find modern rugs or traditional rugs to suit your space perfectly.

Add a touch of glamour to the farmhouse dining room

Mitcham Industrial Oak Squared Large Sideboard

We grant you, glamour and farmhouse are not two obvious style fusions you would normally expect to see. But we think that any interior style is ripe for glimmers of glamour if done in the right way. So how do you add a hint of glam to the farmhouse style with reclaimed wood furniture? Let’s start with the dining room…

What’s your definition of glamour?

Glamour means different things to different people and so we’ve tried to cover the whole glamour spectrum. If you think we’ve missed anything out, drop us an email.

All that shines…

… is worthy of the glamour tag in our eyes but too much and in the wrong place can soon tumble into tacky. So keep it chic with these great ideas;

Shiny accessories – such as lithe, slim shiny candle holders or lanterns are an ideal addition to the farmhouse dining table.
In moderation – if everything has a shiny surface, not only will you be plagued with fingerprints, it will look too much. For the farmhouse dining room, the name of the game is understated and almost-under-used shiny stuff.

Mix it up

One of the things that attracts us to the farmhouse style is just how versatile it is. It is a style ready for pairing with other styles but also readily accepting of ‘something different’.

Get this right and this ‘something different’ could be the seam of glamour you want to inject. For example, alongside, the farmhouse dining table why not for decadent velvet dining chairs? A pairing you may not be expecting.

Texture does it

Texture is also part of adding luxury and glamour to a room. And so similar to the velvet dining chairs in the previous idea, adding textures you wouldn’t expect is a great way of giving the farmhouse dining room a little extra zip.

From upholstered dining chairs to a velvet high backed dining bench, the difference adding various textures makes is delightful.

Add a rug

The farmhouse style is all about practicality hence most of us opt for a wooden floor. A great idea but if you want to add extra depth – and glamour too, by default – then opt for a dining room rug.

Steer away from a too deep pile, however, as this will not withstand the rigours of a busy dining room. A flat weave rug is a perfect alternative and with so many colours and patterns, you are spoilt for choice.

Lights, lights, lights

Easy and simple, you can’t go wrong when you add abundant lighting to any room but it is certainly well-received in the farmhouse dining room.

From a beautiful ornate chandelier to a modern hanging pendant light, be as bold as you dare in your choice.

Mix it up with modern chic

Want something really different? Add a flair of genius with a modern piece that completely contrasts with the farmhouse style but retains symmetry and coherence by using similar wood finish and colour.

And so yes, that industrial sideboard will pair perfectly with the dining table and leather dining chairs…

What do you think- Have we lost dinner table etiquette?

4 Tips on how to keep your living room tidy

Do you look with envy at the glossy pages of magazines or website of home bloggers at their super-tidy living room? You may think that with a family, pets and a busy work schedule that tidiness at home automatically suffers. But with these tips and some great industrial style furniture, we show you how to enjoy a tidy living room, without the hassle.

The skill of keeping a living room tidy is to impose a system of order. And so with this in mind, we take a look at the four key principles of keeping your living room tidy without being obsessive.

Tip 1 – Easy access

Storage is the key to a tidy room, whether that’s the hallway, the kitchen or the living room. But storage that cannot be accessed easily is a lost cause. The more people have to fiddle, move stuff, open stuff and close stuff to put something away, the less likely they are to do it.

At its simplest, the blanket box is surely the best easy access storage solution for the living room – and it doubles as an industrial coffee table too, if you need it to.

Great for kids toys and encouraging them to put everything away when they have finished.

Tip 2 – Order

Grouping similar things together means you are more likely to find things when you need them, saving you hours of frustration trying to find something.

For example, an industrial TV cabinet is great for keeping DVDs, games consoles, remote control and similar things.

An industrial coffee table also helps to keeps books, magazines and other bits and bobs together. Opt for one that has drawers too so you have different solutions.

Tip 3 – On Show storage

Sometimes the best solution is to have some nicer looking things on show. Shelving is a great storage solution in the living room.

You can leave it open such as in the case of a bookcase – why not ring the changes with this fantastic bookcase from the Aviator range? You can use these items to balance out the symmetry of the bookcase in the living room. you can either cluster similar things together or cluster similar colours.

The other thing with shelving is the order it can give you. Things you use rarely out on the uppermost shelves, regular things towards the middle and occasionally used items on the bottom shelving.

Tip 4 – Hidden

Every living room needs a certain amount of hidden storage, similar to that offered by the blanket box-cum-coffee table.

However, you might not want to hide everything away and when this is the case, you need hybrid options such as this part display unit, part drawer unit. As industrial furniture goes, the oak display cabinet with shelving and drawers is simply beautiful.

However, if you do want cupboard space as opposed to blanket boxes In the living room, we have an option in the stylish form of the industrial reclaimed wood sideboard. Elegant and utterly charming, the detail on the front of this piece from the Barclay Collection is to be admired.

In four easy to follow tips, we have solved your messy living room problem!