How to Make Your Home Your Own
Personal touches, treasured knick-knacks, abundant artworks… Discover some of the many ways you can ‘collage’ your home
Kate Burt
12 December 2020
Houzz UK. I'm a journalist and editor, previously for the Independent, Guardian and various magazines. I'm now excited to part of the editorial team at Houzz UK & Ireland, bringing the best of British and Irish design, interiors and architecture to Houzz.com.
Houzz UK. I'm a journalist and editor, previously for the Independent, Guardian and... More
Our recently published story, Are These the Interior Trends Coming Our Way in 2021?, unearthed a curveball. There’s the usual interest in key colours and styles for the coming year, but one emerging ‘trend’ is more surprising…
2020 had us all spending a lot more time at home, reassessing what’s important to us, and – it seems – creating homes that reflect that perfectly. The result is a customisation of our spaces into a ‘collage’ of deeply personal styles. Take inspiration from some of the best examples on Houzz.
2020 had us all spending a lot more time at home, reassessing what’s important to us, and – it seems – creating homes that reflect that perfectly. The result is a customisation of our spaces into a ‘collage’ of deeply personal styles. Take inspiration from some of the best examples on Houzz.
Be playful with history
This ancient Cotswolds cottage has beautiful old ceiling beams, lots of which are on show throughout the house. In the dining room, however, the homeowner, fashion consultant Mel Moss, saw them as an opportunity for display, rather than being reverently intimidated by their history. The beams are still visible, yet they’re also adorned with unusual, colourful fabric bunting she picked up on a trip to India.
“We quite like doing things our way and going against the grain a bit,” says Mel, who shares the home with her artist husband and their two sons.
The result is a unique interior, packed with pieces collected from around the world and often bought for a few pennies.
See more creative ideas in this stylishly curated Cotswolds cottage.
This ancient Cotswolds cottage has beautiful old ceiling beams, lots of which are on show throughout the house. In the dining room, however, the homeowner, fashion consultant Mel Moss, saw them as an opportunity for display, rather than being reverently intimidated by their history. The beams are still visible, yet they’re also adorned with unusual, colourful fabric bunting she picked up on a trip to India.
“We quite like doing things our way and going against the grain a bit,” says Mel, who shares the home with her artist husband and their two sons.
The result is a unique interior, packed with pieces collected from around the world and often bought for a few pennies.
See more creative ideas in this stylishly curated Cotswolds cottage.
Showcase all your stuff
Even when you’re more traditional in your response to your home’s era, you can make a space your own. This library, for example, is full of furniture, pattern and objects on every surface, but what more could you want from a room whose purpose is to entice you to squish into an armchair by the fire and get stuck into a good book?
The house was redesigned by architect Trevor Brown, who explained how involved the owners were in the project and how important it was for the reconfigured building to work around their belongings.
Explore the rest of this characterful period home that had an era-appropriate upgrade.
Even when you’re more traditional in your response to your home’s era, you can make a space your own. This library, for example, is full of furniture, pattern and objects on every surface, but what more could you want from a room whose purpose is to entice you to squish into an armchair by the fire and get stuck into a good book?
The house was redesigned by architect Trevor Brown, who explained how involved the owners were in the project and how important it was for the reconfigured building to work around their belongings.
Explore the rest of this characterful period home that had an era-appropriate upgrade.
Go overboard on artwork
This is no scientifically curated collection of artwork, bought for its investment value and perfectly positioned. The packed gallery wall is a labour of love, with mismatched frames and a mix of mediums – and the elegant room, designed by Sascal Studio, looks all the more homely, interesting and welcoming for it.
This is no scientifically curated collection of artwork, bought for its investment value and perfectly positioned. The packed gallery wall is a labour of love, with mismatched frames and a mix of mediums – and the elegant room, designed by Sascal Studio, looks all the more homely, interesting and welcoming for it.
Reinvent a high street item
The pattern of the unusual flooring in this en suite bathroom is unique. It’s made up of two different high street marble tile ranges. Though executed by the project’s architectural designer, Katherine Marshall of Fraher & Findlay, the idea and design came from the homeowner.
A bespoke vanity unit with a black marble basin continues the unconventional style, and the glossy lips artwork adds a cheeky twist and a flash of bright colour.
Look around the whole of this house, brightened by an ingenious courtyard.
The pattern of the unusual flooring in this en suite bathroom is unique. It’s made up of two different high street marble tile ranges. Though executed by the project’s architectural designer, Katherine Marshall of Fraher & Findlay, the idea and design came from the homeowner.
A bespoke vanity unit with a black marble basin continues the unconventional style, and the glossy lips artwork adds a cheeky twist and a flash of bright colour.
Look around the whole of this house, brightened by an ingenious courtyard.
Link a plethora of patterns and colours
Designer Emilie Fournet loves mixing styles and eras to reflect her clients’ personal tastes. In this snug, the rug, lamps, cushions, prints and colourful items displayed on the shelves appear, on the face of it, to clash. Yet that statement kilim rug brings everything together, since the colour of almost every accessory in the room can be found in it somewhere.
This is a styling technique, but it’s one that can be put to good use when trying to find the best way to bring all your cherished belongings together in harmony.
Designer Emilie Fournet loves mixing styles and eras to reflect her clients’ personal tastes. In this snug, the rug, lamps, cushions, prints and colourful items displayed on the shelves appear, on the face of it, to clash. Yet that statement kilim rug brings everything together, since the colour of almost every accessory in the room can be found in it somewhere.
This is a styling technique, but it’s one that can be put to good use when trying to find the best way to bring all your cherished belongings together in harmony.
Mix in some vintage
Pre-loved pieces have immense power when it comes to personalising a space and can work particularly well as part of an otherwise uniform set of kitchen units.
In this welcoming cottage kitchen, reconfigured by Forbes Rix Design, the new units are black, so this vintage, glass-fronted cabinet, complete with scuffed paintwork, fits in perfectly as a wall unit for glass storage.
Perhaps you have a midcentury sideboard, your grandma’s old drinks cabinet, or an unusual light fixture, and would love it to be part of your new kitchen? Talk to your designer about how to incorporate it and you could turn a cherished piece into a functional part of your new scheme.
As the owner of that piece, you’ll have picked out something that uniquely appeals to you and, however you use it, it will never be a carbon copy of something in someone else’s home. The patina, the use, the position… all of these will belong to you.
Pre-loved pieces have immense power when it comes to personalising a space and can work particularly well as part of an otherwise uniform set of kitchen units.
In this welcoming cottage kitchen, reconfigured by Forbes Rix Design, the new units are black, so this vintage, glass-fronted cabinet, complete with scuffed paintwork, fits in perfectly as a wall unit for glass storage.
Perhaps you have a midcentury sideboard, your grandma’s old drinks cabinet, or an unusual light fixture, and would love it to be part of your new kitchen? Talk to your designer about how to incorporate it and you could turn a cherished piece into a functional part of your new scheme.
As the owner of that piece, you’ll have picked out something that uniquely appeals to you and, however you use it, it will never be a carbon copy of something in someone else’s home. The patina, the use, the position… all of these will belong to you.
Pick things just because you love them
When designer Amy Shirlaw renovated her tiny kitchen, she refused to make it a purely functional space. Rather than packing in wall units, which she felt she’d only fill with things she’d never use, she devoted the space to a blow-the-budget golden wallpaper, called Crowd (Where’s Warhol).
“The wallpaper was the starting point for the whole kitchen,” Amy explains. It’s from a Brooklyn-based company that has the rights to Andy Warhol’s imagery. “From afar, it looks like a shiny mottled gold,” she says, “but it’s actually an abstraction of a crowd scene that features Warhol. If you look for long enough, you can find him…”
Let Amy talk you through the rest of her tiny but glamorous galley kitchen.
When designer Amy Shirlaw renovated her tiny kitchen, she refused to make it a purely functional space. Rather than packing in wall units, which she felt she’d only fill with things she’d never use, she devoted the space to a blow-the-budget golden wallpaper, called Crowd (Where’s Warhol).
“The wallpaper was the starting point for the whole kitchen,” Amy explains. It’s from a Brooklyn-based company that has the rights to Andy Warhol’s imagery. “From afar, it looks like a shiny mottled gold,” she says, “but it’s actually an abstraction of a crowd scene that features Warhol. If you look for long enough, you can find him…”
Let Amy talk you through the rest of her tiny but glamorous galley kitchen.
A close-up of that wallpaper.
Did you know you could use Houzz to find the perfect local professional for your job? Check out the Houzz Professionals Directory.
Did you know you could use Houzz to find the perfect local professional for your job? Check out the Houzz Professionals Directory.
Break with convention
An ornate antique mirror, a dramatic, black-backed floral wallpaper and a vintage changing station aren’t, perhaps, conventional additions to a modern baby’s nursery.
Yet, provided everything is safe for use, there’s no reason not to include pieces like this. Choose what you love! And think about how you’ll be giving your new arrival a taste for daring design from his or her earliest days.
An ornate antique mirror, a dramatic, black-backed floral wallpaper and a vintage changing station aren’t, perhaps, conventional additions to a modern baby’s nursery.
Yet, provided everything is safe for use, there’s no reason not to include pieces like this. Choose what you love! And think about how you’ll be giving your new arrival a taste for daring design from his or her earliest days.
Create witty vignettes
In this rented farm cottage decorated by blogger Hayley Stuart, there are individual, creative touches everywhere that give the place a warm, homely feel.
A good example is in the kitchen, where Hayley has created a cooking-themed collage on her wall using assorted and aged wooden spoons mixed with vintage-style prints. If it makes you smile, why not?
Take the full tour of this totally transformed rented house.
In this rented farm cottage decorated by blogger Hayley Stuart, there are individual, creative touches everywhere that give the place a warm, homely feel.
A good example is in the kitchen, where Hayley has created a cooking-themed collage on her wall using assorted and aged wooden spoons mixed with vintage-style prints. If it makes you smile, why not?
Take the full tour of this totally transformed rented house.
Celebrate age
When renovating, there will always be features that are beyond repair and need a complete overhaul, but think twice about other areas that do function well without covering over their former lives.
Look closely at the stairs in this hallway and you’ll see the owner has chosen to display some very worn paintwork. As long as the treads are sound, there’s no reason not to – especially if, as here, a new runner is fitted to protect the paint from further peeling (and cushion bare feet).
In addition, along with the clash of patterns and colours, the cabinet stuffed with books shows someone in the house has a love of reading over and above a love of having a polished and ‘perfect’ interior.
Tell us…
What makes your home unique to you? Let us know in the Comments.
When renovating, there will always be features that are beyond repair and need a complete overhaul, but think twice about other areas that do function well without covering over their former lives.
Look closely at the stairs in this hallway and you’ll see the owner has chosen to display some very worn paintwork. As long as the treads are sound, there’s no reason not to – especially if, as here, a new runner is fitted to protect the paint from further peeling (and cushion bare feet).
In addition, along with the clash of patterns and colours, the cabinet stuffed with books shows someone in the house has a love of reading over and above a love of having a polished and ‘perfect’ interior.
Tell us…
What makes your home unique to you? Let us know in the Comments.
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I enjoyed this article immensely. Great variation. Thank you for including the links so we could see more of some of the houses featured. Some real inspiration here. Mel Moss has such an eye, she could combine anything and elevate it! The pink bathroom with the lip artwork is really inspiring. The rest of the house is utterly original. Makes me want to re-renovate our recently completed barn.
These are all beautiful homes. I like that they show the owner's own style rather than the usual grey/white/Victorian side extension that everyone is doing now. However, I would question why anyone would want to "display some very worn paintwork". But, each to their own.
Friends who have worked long term in many countries across Central and East Asia always put out only a few pieces out at a time, so their collection is always remarkable. I've never quite managed this. But William Morris was right on this, a century before Mari Kondo: to keep nothing in your home unless you know it to be useful, or believe it to be beautiful.