Create Space: Clean up your clutter

Clutter can cloud your life.  It is, of course, subjective – and everyone has a different tolerance level.  At one extreme the totally intolerant will have completely clear surfaces and sparsely furnished rooms.  At the other extreme is the compulsive hoarder – with wall to wall collections of things that others think is junk.    Whatever your level of tolerance, once you’ve reached it there can be psychological consequences. It can lead to distraction, disorder, anxiety… and perpetually increasing clutter and disorganisation!


There are 2 simple things you can do to help reduce visual pollution in your house:
- Discard whatever you can (preferably by recycling, upcycling, or giving away for reuse), or even better - don’t obtain it in the first place.  This can be tricky these days, with so many of our consumables having individual packaging – as well as simple things like the kids’ paintings that come home from school.  If you have it top of mind, though, you’ll be surprised what an improvement you can make. TIP: buy in bulk and decant things into smaller reusable containers (e.g. yoghurt); have a rule that only 2 or 3 pieces of artwork can be retained at a time – so the art on the wall will have to come down if you want the new one to stay.
- Get creative with your storage solutions to house the things that you do need to keep.  Here are some ideas….

1. CHESTS

• Decorative / statement pieces: use the opportunity to enhance your décor.  Don’t feel you have to choose something that will detract from it.
• Functional or multi-functional – they come in so many different sizes that you can use them to store large items (dress-ups) or small items (jewellery).  You could even choose them to perform more than one function e.g. storage for shoes as well as seating people whilst putting their shoes on.
• Add interest and accessibility - your bedroom could appear more interesting by placing a chest at the end of your bed where it can be used to store linen and pillows. Extra blankets are now easily accessible during those cold winter nights, plus your bedroom will always appear in ship-shape without much effort.
• Child friendly – the most reliable way to make sure toys (or sports gear) are put away is to avoid the need for folding, stacking, sorting etc. Piling items into a chest is so easy even the pre-schoolers can be expected to do it!   VAST TIP: Choose a chest that is sturdy enough to withstand the rigours of childhood.  Consider styles that are unlikely to be outgrown in 5 years’ time.  You may also then be able to continue to use it when they leave home, in that guest room / office / home gym you’ve always wanted!  

2. COFFEE TABLES

• Think about how they’re used: coffee tables have become a staple of living room décor and are used in a variety of ways. The one you choose will need to meet your usage requirements: what does it need to store now and what about in a few years’ time?  Does it need to completely hide things, or do you like to have your stack of magazines visible?  Will you have TV dinners around it? Does it need to be child-proof? Would a table with drawers or shelves work better – or would you be better off considering the use of a chest?
• Size: if you want to create a central focal point to your furnishing arrangement, a square coffee table works well to unify different seating areas. A rectangle fits best in areas where there is just a 3 seater sofa, and sometimes the use of side tables will work with the space more successfully. VAST TIP: If your coffee table tends to get a lot of use, a solid hardwood table is the most beneficial choice: durable and versatile, they can withstand the wear-and-tear of daily use. Choose a distressed look to enhance the character of the piece rather than detract from it.

3. VERTICAL STORAGE

• Reclaim your floor space: vertical storage solutions (like cubed bookcases, shelving, and cabinetry) will allow you to free up the floor space.  This can give the illusion of more space, and make your room more functional. 
• Visual effect: you can choose vertical storage that displays your decorative items (collectibles, vases, photos) and keeps books tidy but on display (open shelving), or you could opt for something that hides the things you want to store (cabinetry).  If you do want to hide your items, either go for a cabinet that blends in with its surroundings, or one that makes a bold statement all on its own-which can be seen as art rather than solely being utilitarian.  VAST TIP: make sure you place items at appropriate levels in open shelving – high shelves for items that rarely need accessing, low shelves for things that are OK for the kids to touch. Don’t forget your earthquake brackets!

4. BASKETRY

• Similar in nature to a chest – basketry lets you avoid folding, stacking, sorting things: everything can reasonably be dumped into a basket and still look tidy from the outside.
• Use for any purpose and in any room – just make sure the baskets are strong enough to withstand the use they will get (water resistant if being used in the laundry, tough if being used by the kids and strong enough to hold heavy objects).  VAST TIP: fill one or more cavity in open shelving with a basket to create an interesting look and provide ‘hideaway’ space while retaining some open display space at the same time. 

5. OTTOMANS

• Economy of space: if you’re getting an ottoman or footstool, consider one with a secret storage cavity, it will take up no extra space in your living room and you’ll have an additional hidey-hole.
• Dual purpose: ottomans also make good coffee tables (add a tray on top for stability), or side tables (some even come with a reversible top cushion that becomes a fitted tray), or even for extra seating.

Whichever option suits you best, be it a new coffee table or a storage cabinet, keep these tips in mind when searching for that new piece, and you should be well on your way to a clutter free life!

A guide to finding your sofa-soulmate

Lounge furniture is a significant investment: and tends to be the most frequently used furniture in most households. Buying a new lounge suite can therefore be quite daunting.  Taking some time in advance to think about what you want and need will pay off in the long run.

Here are some things to consider on the journey to find your sofa-soulmate.

SIZE: the first thing you need to do is measure the space you have available. Use a measuring tape  and be sure to take your measurements with you when you go shopping.  Make sure you also measure doorways, stairways, and other architectural obstacles that your new sofa will need to navigate.  If you have any particularly narrow or tight spaces, ask if the feet can be removed.

CONFIGURATION: Who uses your lounge furniture, and how? Is it used mainly for TV watching, entertaining guests, or highlighting a feature (a view for example)? Will your sofa need to seat just a couple of adults (and will those adults want to be cuddling or stretching out in their own space), several couples at once, or an extensive family?  Some general suggestions are:

• Consider what fits with your lifestyle and space 80% of the time
• Make sure that you take traffic patterns around the room into account
• Two sofas (3s + 2s) or a sofa and 2 armchairs in an L or U shape promote conversation
• Sectional, corner, or suites with a chaise work well where a lot of seating is required
• Armchairs can easily be turned from facing the TV into a more sociable position, and are great if you want to maintain personal space
• A sofa bed with a good mattress is a sensible choice if you regularly have people wanting to crash on your couch! If you don’t have the space, you could just look for a sofa with proportions that could accommodate a sleeping body (removable back cushions are a great way to gain extra width in this situation)

UPHOLSTERY: for most people the main consideration when choosing upholstery is how it will withstand the rigours of life.  Generally speaking, most coverings will stand the test of time if they’re cared for properly.  Leather is luxurious, durable, and easy to clean.  Fabric is usually a less costly option, can present a softer look and offers more of an opportunity to express your personality through colour and texture.  Some general suggestions are: 

• Top Grain Leather is the most long-lasting type of leather for sofa upholstery – avoid raw or waxed leathers if you like a cleaner more uniform look.  Corrected leathers are generally easiest to care for
• Polyester is no longer a dirty word.  Fabrics with some polyester content are more likely to be stain resistant and will not be subject to the same natural degradation as natural fibres like linen.
• Choose a tighter weave fabric if the sofa gets a lot of use
• No furniture likes strong UV rays or extremes in temperature, and sofas are no exception.  If you have a sunny room the best thing you can do is treat your windows (or install blinds etc).  Failing this, consider the impact of your environment when making your selection – choose upholstery that will fade gracefully, and won’t disintegrate from prolonged exposure.
• Look to the future when choosing a colour.  You might be better using cushions and accessories to add personality to your room rather than big bold patterns on the sofa.  They’re easier and cheaper to change if you lose interest in the colour or want to freshen things up.
• If an armchair is part of your configuration consider selecting accent chairs to add interest (leather armchair with a fabric sofa, plain sofa with patterned armchair, or a stylised armchair to complement rather than match the sofa
• Have pets? Kids?  What will they be allowed to do on your sofa? Usually leather is a good choice here because it is wipeable, and the cat won’t find it as appealing as a scratching post compared to fabric.
• Love your sofa and it will love you back.  Clean your sofa regularly (according to the manufacturer’s instructions). If you go for fabric, spend the extra cash on having fabric protection applied before you get it.  The best treatments come with warranties and helplines – ask for a demo before you purchase so you know what to expect. 

FRAME: this is the backbone of the sofa.  For strength, choose a sofa with a (sustainably sourced) kiln-dried hardwood frame.  The manufacturer will show confidence in its frame if there is a warranty awarded as a standard feature.

STYLE: as influential in the overall look of your lounge as the upholstery choice.  Think about whether you want your sofa to make a statement, fit in with its surroundings, reflect an era, provide a canvas, add to a schema, or act as the starting point for a theme. Consider the following:

• The arm – high, low, slim, wide?  Lower arms suit lounging souls, slim arms can help reduce bulk in smaller spaces or where a more petite look is the objective.
• The feet – wood, steel, plain, ornate, square, tapered? Wooden feet tend to offer a more homely feel (and you might be able to select the colour finish).  Steel feet have a more clinical modern appeal. 
• Profile – sofas with a low back can give the illusion of space and modernity; a seat slightly higher off the ground may present a small storage opportunity.
• Modern, traditional, rustic, casual, formal, country, provincial: there are so many choices. Go with what you love and what feels right (not what your sister thinks you should like!).

COMFORT:  if you spend a lot of time in your sofa, this will be a priority.  The comfort factor is surprisingly different from person to person.  This can make it hard if you are a couple with differing perspectives!  Try using lumbar cushions to support the back of the shorter of the pair.  The length from hip to knee can have a lot to do with how comfortable a sofa feels, aswell as your personal preference for soft squishy luxury versus firm support.  A sofa with a low seat tends to be great for shorter people, but more difficult to get out of for elderly or tall folk.  If you like to lounge around, make sure you can do so comfortably.  Assess the position of the backrest: reclining or upright.  Most importantly: spend some time sitting in the sofa before you buy it. 

How to make a small lounge look fantastic!

Seating:

If you have a small lounge area, arranging seating that suits both entertaining and watching telly can be tricky.  Start by putting your couch against a wall, and set your armchairs on either side (rather than using 2 couches) facing each other to allow for conversation when entertaining, forming the classic U-shaped arrangement.  The chairs can be turned back towards the TV once the visitors are gone.  This will maintain the flow of space and traffic and allow the arrangement to serve two purposes: entertaining and watching television.  VAST TIP: instead of the bulkier armchairs that match the sofa, you could use occasional chairs that are smaller to give extra space.  If you still want them to look like they match, get them upholstered in the same fabric as the lounge.  If you’re keen to get funky, try an alternative accent upholstery on the armchairs and tie it in with the main sofa using cushions or by choosing the same base colour with a pattern.


Clutter:
Keep clutter to a minimum by choosing a coffee table and TV display unit with drawers, baskets or boxes in shelving units, or cabinetry that can also serve as art.  Another great option is to choose furniture that can multitask.  For example, instead of using a coffee table, opt for an ottoman with storage – and it can also be used as seating. Nesting tables are also fantastic for small lounge areas. VAST TIP: choose an ottoman that you can have upholstered to tie in with your lounge furniture.

Colour:

Lighter-coloured walls can make a room seem bigger, but can end up making the room look dreary; use brilliant hues in your fabrics to brighten the room, add an accent wall, or use a few select accessories to tie the place together. Use bold colours in your patterned fabrics and anchor the colour with solid fabrics in a neutral shade – but keep in mind that heavily patterned upholstery can make a room look busy. VAST TIP: changing the colour of your cushions and decorative items can give you an economical way to freshen up your room.

Accessories:

Use accessories sparingly, but use them to bring in colour and texture. Large canvases of colourful artwork, oversized pots and floor cushions stacked in a corner all add splashes of colour and a tactile sense to the room.  Avoid covering your entire wall with pictures, or displaying all your collectibles at once. 

Mirrors:

Placing mirrors in strategic locations makes your small living room seem bigger. Choose a location where the mirror reflects the best view. Hanging the mirror on a wall that is across from a picture window makes it appear as though you have more windows. The mirror can also reflect the view of the outdoors and bring in more light. Placing a mirror at the end of the living room, facing the entrance, makes the room seem longer.  VAST TIP: make sure you use the right type of hook system for your walls when hanging pictures and artwork - consult a hardware specialist to find out what's right for you.

*thanks to ehow.com for some of these ideas.

The Dining Difference – Buyers Guide to Dining Furniture

Dining furniture can be a significant investment, and is integral to your family and/or social dining experiences.  In study after study, the beneficial impact of family mealtime has been demonstrated for children of all ages. Better grades, healthier eating habits, closer relationships to parents and siblings, ability to resist negative peer pressure, resilience in the face of life's problems — all these are outcomes of simply sharing dinner on a regular basis. 

So, what should you consider when furnishing your dining room?

LONGEVITY

Dining furniture stays with the family usually for many years: it doesn’t get changed as often as other furniture items, like sofas.  With this in mind, you can easily choose items that you know will go the distance. 

• Value: this doesn’t have to mean spending massive amounts of money - but if this is important to you, buying the lowest priced furniture probably isn’t the way to go either. 
• Materials: look for items where the materials used are of good quality – and suit your home environment – and that are inherently built to last, rather than just the ever-more-common ‘throw-away’ furniture.  Tables that are made from hard woods (ie dense woods) are less likely to be dented or damaged by everyday use.  Understand how the surface is finished: a lacquer or polyurethane finish is more hardwearing than an oiled or waxed finish (ie resistance to spills and staining).  Choose something that could be ‘refinished’ in 25 years if you wanted to renew the finish as a result of extreme wear and tear.  You might also find it useful to take care into account – if you don’t want to clean it every 5 minutes a glass table is probably not ideal.
• Construction: look underneath the table – does the joinery and hardware look like it will stand the test of time? Lift one corner of the table: does the rest of the table bend when you do this or stay strong and flat? Can the table be dismantled if you move house?
• Sustainability: while this doesn’t necessarily affect the longevity of your furniture, eco-conscious purchasing decisions will help the longevity of our planet

SIZE
It’s easy to get wrapped up in grand ideas about hosting huge family Christmas dinners or big dinner parties… but you should base your buying decisions on how your dining room will be used 95% of the time.  A good way to see what size table would work best is to lay newspaper or sheets out on the floor in the dining room to simulate the area the furniture would take up (start with how many people you will be seating most of the time – you need to afford about 60cm of space per person.  Don’t forget to allow for chairs aswell – allow a perimeter of at least 60cm between the edge of the table and the nearest wall or piece of furniture); also lay sheets out for other furniture in the room (sideboard, shelving, etc) so you’ll get a better overall picture of what it’ll be like fully furnished).  You’ll be able to test how easily you can manoeuvre around the room, checking for the best position, size, and fit for your room.  Take shape into account aswell – some rooms suit a rectangular table, some square for example. 

FUNCTION
Who uses the furniture and how?  If you have (or are planning to have) young children around, choosing furniture with a more rustic finish will save you a lot of worry when it comes to the ‘added character’ that comes with child-style use of household items!  The occasional cutlery banging incident or the everyday dumping of school bags will add to rather than detract from the character of the furniture, rather than have you cringing at every meal.  If you’ll be using the furniture in a formal dining room you’ll probably be more interested in flatter, sleeker finish. If you’ll be using it to rest on while writing you probably won’t want too many grooves and bumps. 

STYLE
Think about the mood that you want to set in your dining room: casual, formal, warm, cool, classical, modern, industrial, rustic…. If you’re furnishing from the beginning, using your dining table as an anchor point for the rest of the room is a good start.  Don’t feel you have to match everything: you can achieve coherence with items that are not all the same colour or made from the same material.  If you have existing furniture that you wish to work around, choosing complementary materials/colours can help you avoid the frustrating search for something matching.  Start from the ‘mood’ and choose items that evoke the target personality. 

STORAGE / OCCASIONAL
Most homes have more than just a dining table in the dining room.  Other pieces of furniture that work well in dining rooms can be buffets / sideboards (which can double as a servery, and will provide storage for the inevitable ‘good china’ etc); shelving units (which can be used as room dividers, tie the room together with well-chosen decorative items, display family pictures or conversation starters like travel memorabilia); wine racks (you could select something with doors if this is not something that you want on display / accessible to small hands; or a unit that has an interesting façade so it becomes a talking point);  and a large mirror on the wall can make the room seem more spacious when you have lots of people around. 

Most importantly, if you’re hoping this furniture will become an heirloom to be handed down through generations….choose things that you really love and don’t be afraid to wait for the perfect fit.