Serious interiors goals at Grand Designs Live and the Ideal Home Show

One year since becoming a home owner, I still haven't fully decorated and put my own stamp on the property. And in today's Instagram culture where you are inundated with picture after picture of interiors perfection, that alone has been hard. But I stick by my beliefs. I'm a firm believer of living in dwellings as they are for a bit, rather than making any structural or aesthetic changes right from the offset. It gives you the best chance to learn what works for you and what doesn't. And which rooms get the best light, compared to those that perhaps don't.

This house doesn't have the biggest of rooms and for this reason, I have shied away from bolder colours. I always thought that pale colours would suit these rooms better and make them seem less small. And it's for this reason I have always eyed up a palette of soft greys, looking to emphasise clean lines with white ceilings and white skirting boards.

That was until I got my house and home fix at the Ideal Home Show and Grand Designs Live earlier this year.

Lots of the show rooms at both events featured rooms the same sort of size - if not smaller - with dark, bold colours. And they worked well. Contrary to popular belief, they didn't make the space seem smaller. These darker shades actually gave the walls a warmth that I never thought possible from a darker colour. I suddenly started liking colours I'd never considered before. Take this Blackadder inspired room for example.

I love the opulence of the dark blue walls against the
dark brown flooring and the metallic details.

And oh to have a bathroom like this...

That gold bath though
And can we please talk about the sink? (below)

And how about this room for a celebration of colour? Not exactly the dark walls 

we have been nattering about, but an inspiring use of colour all the same. 

But now you see what I mean. I never once considered having dark or colorful walls (read: walls that aren't white!) but they inject so much soul and personality into a property. I have always been so scared to make that leap but what I've come to realise is that paint is just paint. It's not the be all and end all. What's the worst that could happen? That you don't like it and that you have to re-paint? That is part of the fun of decorating. Your sense of style will evolve over time, so it's not unreasonable to try something now and re-decorate again later. Be bold. Take a leap of faith.

*To Homebase for dark sample pots of paint!*

Grand Designs Live

This year I signed up to lots of London trade shows like The Ideal Home Show and Grand Designs Live, due to my increasing interest in homeware and interior design. Everyone has their own opinion, but if I had to recommend one of the two shows over the other, it'd be Grand Designs Live over The Ideal Home Show. Ideal Home to me just felt really manic and crowded, as it was situated in a smaller venue with what felt like many more stalls and exhibitors. Grand Designs Live on the other hand is a much bigger venue, a lot more spaced out, and didn't felt quite as busy.

For those of you not familiar with Grand Designs, Grand Designs is a show on Channel 4 here in the UK which focuses on self build projects where people create their dream homes from scratch. Although the exhibition in London, had some stands focused on building your own home, there were were plenty of other stands with furniture, interior design and etc suited to people like me who don't have the funds to be building their own home! By the end of the day, we'd found some kitchens and furniture we really liked, so took pictures of them and brochures for future reference.

One of my favourite things I saw were these quirky little garden huts, perfect for entertaining in the warmer months. Most designs had straw roofs with sides you could pull down in wetter weather. These came in a variety of different sizes - the largest being like a mini living space where you had two separate sides, one for dining, one for lounging with space for a pretty epically sized TV.

One of the exhibitors was a French furniture company that did the most ornate pieces, with amazing geometric shapes included in their designs. We especially loved the glass topped and chrome legged hallway table and these gold tables which wouldn't look out of place in either the lounge as a coffee table or in the bedroom as side tables.

We saw some lovely kitchens and have been getting plenty of ideas for our rear house extension. I have always loved the idea of having an island with chairs pulled up to make a breakfast bar. We saw a really lovely kitchen island with white marble tops and black shelving and drawers cleverly hidden on one side, with really nice lighting on the shelves, to showcase your favourite ornaments. It was simple, but elegant, and a really clever way of using the space

Our other favourite kitchen used different types of wood - our favourite being the darker mahogany - with an interesting sketched / graffiti type overlay to the front of the island (as below) which reminded us of the decor of this hotel we stayed in.

We really liked these white cabinets with the glass shelves, lighting inside, and the mirrored backs. The mirrors reflected the light really well and would be the perfect way to store your finest crockery.

Although we probably wouldn't choose to have have drawers like these in our kitchen, I did like the idea of having quotes etched into the doors, and a designated biscuit drawer!

The main face of the show was Kevin McCloud, the presenter of the show by the same name. However as with the Ideal Home Show (where there were different celebrity 'faces' to endorse separate areas of the show e.g. 'garden' 'DIY' etc, but who physically weren't there), we didn't expect to see Kevin there. But as we went on the very first day the show opened, we were lucky to catch him giving a talk on the RIBA House of the Year and a sneak peek into one of the newest shows he had filmed. On Grand Designs the TV show, he always comes across as passionate about architecture and very knowledgeable about the self build process. In person this came across equally well. I really liked one particular quote of his, where he compared going to see the different builds on Grand Design to going from restaurant to restaurant for a different meal - but without the digestion. Afterwards he and the panel answered people's questions about architecture and self build projects. I really liked how the stage was set up with bold beautiful colours, and brought the outdoors inside.

On our way out we were handed a goody bag which had some pretty lovely refreshments in like mint infused lemonade, a popcorn snack bar and a bar of Baileys chocolate

Adults tickets cost £20 on the door, but you can get them slightly cheaper online at a favourable advance purchase rate. There isn't much in the way of food inside the venue, however there are lots of wonderful food places in the Excel centre itself, so as long as you get your hand stamped, you can go in and out of the show as much as you like!  

In summary, I really recommend Grand Designs Live and have been raving about it to all my friends and family ever since. So yep, definitely worth a visit if you are ever in London!