Make Over My House

I have had a request to do an interior style post, you know, showing how gorgeous my home is.  But here's the problem.  It's not really that lovely.  I have four kids, three of whom are under 5, and everything....and I mean everything...gets systematically destroyed.

 

I am also not very good at interior design.  I'm not afraid to admit this.  My talents lie elsewhere.  I can write a decent magazine article, and I can also style an outfit for a fashion shoot, (to some degree), but when it comes to the interior of my home....I have no clues.  Nada.  Zip.  Nothing.

 

So, I thought I would share some photos of my home..although I do feel a bit 'blergh' about them, but I thought I would throw it over to you.  Seriously...any suggestions for making my house lovely?  My house is very bland to start with and my taste is country style, if that helps!

 

So here goes..

Starting with my room, I do like my doona cover.  It's new and is by Actil which is an Australian brand.  I had it on layby for a while, and then ordered in the matching sheet set, then paid them off too.  The bedside tables are hand-me-downs from my parents!  They would be over 40 years old.  I'm due for some new ones.  These are looking a little worse for wear.  The print on the wall doesn't match either.  Suggestions?

I do like my antique chair that I picked up years ago.   My parents had it re-covered for me this year for my birthday. 

My piano belonged to a great grandparent, then my grandmother, then my parents and finally it was given to me for my 30th.  It is, without a doubt, the nicest thing I own.  The horse paintings were done for me by my best friend's husband.  You can see more of his work here.

Another horse painting I have which was painted by a local girl who I knew from my cattle showing days.  She's really good.











My kitchen is quite plain, which was deliberate.  When building our house we picked out all neutral colours because we figured it would be easier to sell.  Note the pantry door has no handle on it at the moment...something else that has broken, not sure how that happened.  I do, however, like my matching kettle and toaster which are by Delonghi.  I opted for the toaster that takes 4 slices of bread as I am preparing for the day when I have three teenage boys who will eat me out of house and home.  It's all a bit boring though.  Any thoughts? 

My kitchen chairs and tables are second-hand too, like most of my furniture, but these I painted.

I love this wardrobe.  It belonged to one of my husband's relatives and was a plain brown timber.  My husband sanded it back and painted it up to look a bit shabby chic.  It now sits in my little girl's room and I think it looks really good.  In fact her room is probably the nicest in the house.

I found her this gorgeous quilt and pillow set.  Little Red Riding Hood!  The quilt is actually really large, and not too babyish, so it will fit over most of a single bed once she grows out of her cot.  I am thinking a pretty white lace doona set with this over the top would look nice while she is still a little girl and in a bed.

This is my eldest son's room.  More art by my best friend's husband.  My son has a thing for birds, eagles particularly, therefore the stuffed bird on the bed. 

His room is a big old mess, this is why I have cropped 95% of it out.  He is going to need a desk soon, he's in Grade 6 next year, then after that he is off to High School.  This is a small room so that should be interesting.

Now this is the boy's room, one is turning 5 at the end of this week and the other will be 4 in January.  These matching doonas are it in terms of decoration really.  Not sure what to do here.  One bed has been painted white, but the other hasn't been done yet.  Should I paint both a different colour?  I was thinking some sort of fairy lights for their room, and perhaps my girl.  Would this work?

 

This is the main living area...it's a disaster generally and I have no clues what to do to make it nice.

Beyond the table and chairs is the main living area (excuse my washing on the clothes horse!) and the television is to the right in this area.  I didn't dare share of photo of this space, I'm too embarrassed.

 

If anyone has any thoughts or expertise in decorating please share your thoughts.  I'm so bad at it!  Would appreciate all your help!