So you’ve bought you’re house or decorated your room. You’ve decided on the colour scheme, You’ve planned your window coverings, chosen your furniture and the flooring is down. Everything is in place but it doesn’t feel like home. What’s the last thing that always goes into a new house or a newly decorated room that makes it feel like home? It’s the personal bits and pieces - the bits you put on your shelf that make you smile or the art that you hang on your wall. Now THIS is the bit of building a home where my heart lies.

For me, when you walk into your home, you should have that wonderful feeling of total comfort. I always describe it as being the same feeling as when you put on your favourite pair of comfies. Complete perfection in the comfy stakes (but hopefully looking a bit better than me in my comfies, they are NOT for the outside world). Now I have two kids, so very rarely do I come home to a tidy home, in fact very rarely do I come home to a house that even resembles any form of order but it’s MY mess and MY total disorder and I love it.

I love a home that is packed full with things that tell the story of the people who live there. By doing this your home takes over your family’s unique personality and can really make your home feel special. Your four walls start to tell the stories of your family and I love that. Think of it as your very own game of through the keyhole. “Who lives in a house like this?!” Me, me ME!

Express Your Shelf (sorry!)

Built in shelves offer a great way of adding your personality to a room.

When I was about eleven my Dad used to travel all over the world for his work and bring me back lots of random bits and pieces. My favourite was a mini, exact replica of a Heinz Tomato Sauce bottle (complete with ketchup!) that he had got with his room service burger and chips in New York. I loved all the ‘too't’ he brought me back and used to put it all on the shelf above my bed, all styled like an art collection. And why not, it all made me smile. Fast forward just a few years and I’m pretty much doing exactly the same except now I try and veer away from anything actually food based!

Start At The Very Beginning

Shelves are a perfect blank canvas on which to show off your collectibles. Built in shelves are great for filling in your exact space and are quite simple to build. If your DIY skills don’t stretch that far then I’d recommend getting a quote from a carpenter rather than a built in furniture specialist as they’ll be a whole lot cheaper. Shelves don’t have to cost a fortune. I recently made a shelf from an old fence post that my husband Rob was chucking out and a couple of old Ikea shelf brackets I had in the garage. You don’t need to spend a fortune…just make sure they’re straight!

So what goes on the shelves? Your collectibles. Anything that makes you smile. As a kid if I was ill I used to have a day at my Grandma’s. As soon as my Mum was out the door the biscuit tin used to come out. It was a huge, old cough sweet tin, but was now full of the best biscuits on the planet. Not long ago I walking past our antique shop in the village and I saw it. an identical one. The memories made me so happy. It wasn’t for sale but I found one on ebay right near my best friend’s house who picked it up and sent it to me. It makes me smile everytime I see it on my kitchen shelf.

My corks are another thing that make me smile. I bought a bit glass fish bowl in my twenties and every time I’d pop a cork to celebrate something I’d write what it was on the bottom and sling it in the vase. It’s now (unsurprisingly!) full but I figure each one is a happy memory. Every now and again one of the kids will pull one out and ask about when it was from. And off we go down Memory Lane!

One of my favourite places on the planet is Croyde Bay in North Devon. We got married there and it’s one of the few places I go that I can feel my shoulders relaxing as soon as I arrive. This year on our holiday I picked some beach grass from the sand dunes where I had my wedding photos taken. I dried it out (very professionally by tying it up with a hairband and hanging the bunch upside-down in my tent!) and I now have it framed in my bedroom. A piece of my favourite place at home.

So you see, anything that makes you smile can go on a shelf.

The Frame Game

A really easy way to fill your house with happy memories is to frame your photos. Get them off your phone and into a frame. The older I get the more nostalgic I’m getting (in case you hadn’t noticed!) and I’m loving getting some old photos out. I’ve found some great photos recently that used to make me cringe and now just make me smile. If they don’t make it to the heady heights of a frame they usually make it to the fridge door for a while at the very least. Be creative with how you frame your memories, there are lots of options to shake it up and some great really cost effective frames so you don’t have to spend an arm and a leg doing it. A mixture of black and white photos and colour is always nice. Don’t be afraid to just print out your photos in a standard 4 x 6” either, be brave and go big, then each one becomes more a piece of art that just a small framed photo.

Prints are becoming more and popular online and are a great way of adding things you love into your home. My lovely friend bought me a gorgeous framed print from King and McGraw for my 40th which I love. It doesn’t however have to be one off prints and expensive pieces of art that you frame. Framing cards or postcards can often be a great way of framing things you like. I’ve also blown up cards that I found in a newsagent in London once for my living room wall and really liked. I’ve framed film posters (the Goonies is in our playroom - I knew it was serious with Rob when he told me it was his favourite movie) and some old paintings that I nabbed to remind me of my grandparents from their houses. It’s amazing what a new frame can do to liven up an old picture. More recently I’ve framed pictures that the kids have drawn which always make me smile and make them feel like superstars, they love it.

It doesn’t have to be a classic piece of ‘art’ though that you frame. Some collectibles lend themselves very well to a frame and box frames now are easier than ever to lay your hands on. I’ve got a piece of the Berlin Wall that my Mum chipped off herself just after the wall came down in 1992 which I really treasure - my own little piece of history and I love what it stands for. Through my twenties I collected matches from everywhere I went and got myself quite a collection. I framed them not long ago and they’re in my kitchen - each and every one tells a funny story and I love them. I also love it when people come round and used to go to the same bars - it’s like a (bit of a shady) walk through my twenties!

One of my oldest framed favourites is a Lagans Brasserie menu from October 1989 when my parents took me for a special birthday dinner in London and we sat behind Roger Moore. Yes people Roger Moore. Who only went and signed my blooming menu!!! Pride. Of. Place. and my one and only proper show off piece!

So get digging through those old boxes of things you kept because you loved and see how many of them you can get on your walls. You could create a gallery wall in the kitchen and through them all up there! If you’re not so much into the nostalgia as I am then maybe use your art to inspire you and getting you motivated. Frame album covers of music that makes you smile or pictures of places that are on your hit list to visit. Just see how they make you smile.

Totally retro - but its in my utility room and I love it!

Adding Your Personality To Your Home- And Why You’ll Never Regret It

Express Your Shelf (sorry!)