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Adding SOUL to your New Build (part 5)

This is the 5th and final part of my mini blog series, helping you to transform your new build home with ideas, love and soul.

If you missed Parts 1-4, click below to catch up.

Read Parts 1-4

And in this final post, I want us to take a moment to appreciate what attracts so many homeowners to buy new builds in the first place.

Quite often, they feel spacious, bright and modern, offering an easy low-maintenance lifestyle to those who don’t have the patience, desire or experience to renovate an older property.  Families can thrive and grow in a new build and retirees can relax and enjoy time at home.

However, in my experience, most new builds need an extra layer of attention to transform them into the welcoming, comfortable and stylish homes we dream of.

So in honour of the humble new build home, this post focuses on Working with What you Have;

New Builds offer low-maintenance, contemporary way of life.

Without pretending your home is a period property when its not, or just settling for something which doesn’t bring you joy – work with what you have.  Enhance it and celebrate it with these top tips:

  1. Add texture with baskets – wicker, hyacinth, faux leather or rattan baskets are a simple way to intriduce texture which feels classic and timeless. Pop a wide basket near the front door for shoes, stack them along the top of wardrobes to fill those gaps and rotate your children’s seasonal clothes, and add to a bathroom for dirty laundry or extra towels (new build bathrooms are often the rooms which lack the most texture, so every detail here is needed),
Natural textures like wicker and rattan are ideal for accesories, like baskets
  1. Unless you bought your new build early in the process, you are likely to have your kitchen, floors and bathrooms already chosen for you by the building company. From my experience these elements are usually trendy, “fine” but not often special.  And when it comes to your home, each room should feel authentic and well chosen.

My advice is to take the materials you already have and enhance them with your own styling twists, adding interest and detail.

For example, your new build cream shaker kitchen may look like every onther one on the street, but upgrade your handles to burnished bronze cups or fluted knobs, style with walnut and marble chopping boards, herbs in ceramic or terracotta pots, well chosen artwork dislayed on an easil frame and touch-dimmable kitchen lamps – and suddenly, your kitchen feels classic, curated and personal.

Styling your home with interesting art, books and natural objects oozes authenticity and depth
Upgrade new build kitchens with elegant knobs to elevate & personalise the look
Dress kitchen counters with ceramic bowls and wooden chopping boards

Take a new build bathroom – usually tiled from head to tow in an inoffensive neutral tile which let’s face it, screams unimaginative.

Rather than re-tiling, treat your tiles as the backdrop to all the lovely layers of texture you can add.  Hang a light filtering linen blind with a textured pattern to detail, hang artwork (yes, even to your tile with adhesive hooks to avoid tile drilling), then light it up with battery powered lamps (also adhesive), layer the floor with a natural shower mat or slatted drying board, invest in the nicest towels you can find and dress beautifully across the bath. 

Add bathroom-loving plants  – hanging from the ceiling, arranged on the windowsill and stood around the bath in large pots. Introduce texture with woven baskets (see my basket obsession above) and paint whatever white walls or ceilings you can in something moody, warm and cocoon-like.  And just like that, you’ve brought your bland new build bathroom to spa-level.

New Build bathrooms don't have to be bland - build on the neutral foundation with accesories, plants and styling.

Despite, my long lists of encouragement to accesories your home, the real key to giving a new build home its soul, is in fact, You.

The people who live there with all your habits, interests and loves, and your friends who visit to fill the rooms with laughter, your dogs, fish tank and book collections.

So fill your home with everything that fills like life – pictures, books, cookery items, cosy textiles, light and plants. 

And you’ll build a home which has depth, personality and soul.

For more help with your home design (new builds or period properties) , take a look at my Services.

From inspiring design schemes to full turnkey management of your entire project…the results are a home which feels like yours and one you’ll love for years to come.

Interior Design Services
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