The hell and heaven of moving house. Some tips for you...

This summer, during the heatwave, we moved house. It was two days after returning from a rainy week in Scotland (the only rain the uk seemed to have the whole summer!), my daughter was luckily in camp, which I'd booked in a fit of foresight a few weeks before, but the stress was still stressing! 

However, it turns out there's something about the manic list making and last minute logistics that I quite enjoy AND in the end it leads to something I love: the most is the process of 'making home'.

Give me a trinket, and good lord do I have many, and I will find a home for it. The thrill of new walls, new colours, light and angles on my art, new surfaces for my bits and bobs, making somewhere feel like home, fast, is something I do well. So I thought I'd give you a little run down of how I do it, in case it's at all useful:

Big things first: Think about how you'll use the space and move the largest items into place first so you can see how much space you have to play with. If you decide you need more or different furniture then do take your time with it. We made a few costly mistakes rushing to get storage etc.. and we bought things new when usually, I'd much prefer second hand.

Also remember, furniture is furniture...don't fall for the 'this is for your bedroom, this is for the living room' categories that shops try to pedal. Anything can work anywhere, a locker can work as a shoe cabinet, or a bar (and I can show you both!), a storage bench can be by the door, or a dining room bench. You get the idea.

Plants: I can't tell you how much a few house plants help a space feel alive and lived in.

Lighting: This will change through the seasons but think about creating homely pools of light where you'll need them. A reading nook, dark corners, over important surfaces..play around with up and down lighting so you never have to turn the big light on! I have a little ikea rechargeable lamp that now basically wanders the house with me.

Art: So I've realised that I'm more of a collector than a curator! I have an addiction to the visual and whatever I love goes up on the wall, so I have a lot of pieces, from prints to plates, in every size. I figure you can't expect people to support your own art, if you don't do the same for others.

To try to organise it all, I grouped pieces that felt cohesive together, decided which room they felt best in and also decided roughly where in the house I wanted groups/gallery walls and where I wanted single pieces. 

Examples: My bedroom is a calming green cocoon, so I wanted mostly pics of nature and some nostalgic pieces we've collected from places we've lived. There's a corner of the living area that's yellow and blue and I had the perfect group of paintings and prints that had accents of blue tones and they work great together as a little gallery corner. BUT there are no rules! Don't be scared and don't get paralysed by the choice, get it up with command strips, live with it and then you can move it if you want to.

Kids rooms: I admit I did get excited looking at the gorgeously designed kids rooms that you see on instagram, but then I realised that my kid is messy and that I'd get annoyed if her perfect room didn't look perfect all the time, and that is no way to live. So instead, I simply applied my usual rules, a plant or two, some colourful art on the walls, enough shelves for the bits and boom, a lovely, creative feeling, practical space that will hopefully grow with her. 

Hope the ramble has been useful. Your space is your space, so only you will know what's right but don't be scared to take some risks and enjoy it!