I’ve discovered a new method for improving your living space and making rooms seem bigger and brighter than ever. It’s quite simple. Put up tons of Christmas decorations, live with them for a few weeks, then take them down again. It’s simply amazing what a difference removing my festive décor has made to the perception of space in my home. I’ve often discussed how ‘cosy’ my house is and have even shared ways for maximising space and clever storage solutions, but the Christmas-tree-technique really is the best way to improve your living environment!
First of all, I couldn’t imagine how we would fit a Christmas tree into our living room, nor could I conceive of where I would hang my room decorations, Christmas cards or garlands, but squeeze them in we did and the whole house looked even cosier than usual, and full of festive cheer. It was a lovely environment to enjoy Christmas in, and we spent much more time at home than in previous years, enjoying the ‘grotto’ we’d created. But I never could have imagined that a glorious by-product of all this decorating would be a bigger room at the end of it. Last weekend, we finally took all the decorations down and soon the room resembled something akin to a tinsel bombsite, so we hurriedly stuffed all the glittery goodies into the big Christmas storage bags I’d bought from REXLondon.com and hoisted them back into the loft for the next 11 months. Upon returning to the living room, hubby and I noticed an audible echo and immediately felt the urge to spin around with our arms open wide. Space. Glorious space.
I’m now considering a couple of potential new purchases, as all this space means more room for the mid-century furniture that I love! I’ve long been an admirer of the Charles Eames chairs that can be spotted in every interiors magazine centre-spread and my Pinterest addiction has only made this obsession with Eames worse – it seems like every other pin features a stylish Eames design classic. However, I don’t have the budget for something like this, so I’ve shopped around to get the best prices online and found some gorgeous replica Eames chairs on Lakeland-Furniture.co.uk in a rainbow of colours and even a rocking-chair style – ooh decisions, decisions. I’m also keen on the idea of maintaining this illusion of space (now that I have it) and have fallen a little bit in love with another design classic, the Kartell Louis Ghost chair. I’ve swooned over the design on many of my favourite blogs but never imagined that I could buy it – however, I’ve also found a replica ghost chair at a fraction of the price, so it just might happen for me in 2014. Plus, it’s sensible to keep the sense of space I’ve spent so long clamouring for, and have finally achieved this Christmas!
I think it probably helps that a lot of our belongings had been packed away at the start of December to make way for the Christmas gear and not all of it had made it way back into the house yet. Plus, we’d taken the opportunity to give each room a thorough clean, even vacuuming underneath sofas etc (who am I kidding? that didn’t happen!) so the house looked cleaner and fresher too, adding to the illusion of space. Whatever it was, every so often I’m still looking up and admiring how far apart the walls have become and am even thinking about getting bigger pieces of furniture, seeing as there’s so much extra space available now – there may be a new sideboard in the pipeline from my favourite local vintage shop but we’ll see! In the meantime, I can definitely fit in a chair or two and need more seats if I am to have any guests visiting this year, so here is a wish list of my favourite replica chairs from Lakeland and Marks & Spencer – let me know what you think:
Chair images from Lakeland Furniture and Marks & Spencer
I particularly love the double-whammy Eames chair made with see-through Ghost plastic – perfect! Have you experienced a growing home this year? How many extra inches has your living room gained over Christmas (see everyone gains inches over the festive period, it’s not just me)? What are you going to do with all that extra space? And how long do you think it will last? I’m really looking forward to putting up double-helpings of decorations next year and gaining even more square-footage in January 2015 ooooh!
