Making Our House a Home: Our Latest Homeware Purchases

It's been seven weeks (!) since we moved into our new home and I love it more each day. We finally had some time last weekend to explore the local area, which I highlighted in this post.

Today, I thought I'd share with you a little glimpse of what we've been doing to the house and the kinds of pieces I've been collecting to make our house into a home.

A few weeks ago, builders came and restored the original wood floors on the first floor (that's the second floor for all you Americans out there) by sanding and varnishing the existing floorboards, which you can see in the bottom left corner. They're nicer than I had expected and add a lovely, Scandinavian feel to the bedrooms and study.

We also rented a van and raided The Futon Company, which we've discovered to be the biggest and best wild card in the adventures of furniture shopping! The shop name is totally misleading, as they sell a lot of beautifully designed oak furniture, aside from futons. We picked up this leaning ladder shelf, a wonderfully narrow mirror, and a couple of these versatile bamboo stools in white and grey - all for very reasonable prices in the sales.

Although we've been avoiding buying too much from IKEA, it seems to be the real winner when it comes to lampshades. We found the pretty one above, which has a cut-out star pattern that casts dozens of star-shaped shadows on the guest bedroom wall for £14.

Also, a word of advice? Buy all your art frames at IKEA. Seriously. Their wooden A4 frames (with mount) are beautiful and start at £7. I bought three without even knowing what I'd put in them! Perfect for gallery walls and bigger prints.

But another terrific place to shop for frames is Paperchase. I found the beautiful copper one above to display a vintage photo of my mom. The copper hexagonal tray is from H&M Home, which has been another one of my favorites for textiles and decorative accessories.

For bed linen, I've been obsessed with The White Company. They have really luxurious thread counts and classic, elegant styles for reasonable prices - again, in the sales (I'm a total bargain hunter!).

Moving on to the kitchen, I've wanted a Glugglejug (the fish-shaped jug that "gluggles" as you pour!) ever since I used one at a restaurant in Islington. SCP in Shoreditch was having a major sale and I picked this one up for £28.

Finally, our newest finds have been an antique games table and antique French rug from an antique dealer near us called Maison & Mirrors (who are sadly moving to Dalston soon!). We've re-purposed the games table into a coffee table; it has some stunning, exquisite details, as well as panels that pull out from the sides so that you can hide remote controls and place glasses on them! We got it at a steal: £65. The runner rug is sitting in the narrow entryway and, at first, I wasn't completely convinced by it, but the more I look at it, the more it seems to really suit the house.

What personal touches have you added to make your flat or house your own? Where do you like to find interior design inspiration? (I've become a bit of an interiors magazine hoarder! I'm also addicted to Design Sponge like whoa.)