Back in 2021, we bought this sofa secondhand on eBay. I knew that the secret to getting an expensive, stylish, quality sofa on a budget was to go secondhand, so I set up alerts for a Conran sofa and bagged this one for £150; the buyers were selling their property so wanted a quick sale, and organised a pick-up via Shiply (this cost a further £90).

And then the sofa sat in our living room for 3 years. We haven’t really used it as our living room has been a makeshift warehouse for the last few years with matches and office storage. It was in an okay condition, some marks and a few tears in the fabric, but I knew I wanted to do something with it that felt more ‘us’. I’d been eyeing up striped sofas for years, I always loved Lucinda Chambers’s striped sofa and Sophie from Cote de Folk is often styling dreamy multi striped cushions and sofas.

We had to wait until we had enough money saved, but also time to research if we wanted to do it more affordably. I was quoted roughly £1,000 for the stripping and upholstery, but then fabric would still be on top of that. I still think this is decent value for a ‘bespoke’ sofa that no one else will have and the point of reupholstery is making something last – it’s still more economical (and environmentally friendly) than buying a new sofa, however, we needed to shop around.

I decided to look further afield (mainly outside of London) and came across Collins Upholstery based in Haywards Heath. I remembered Jess Hurrell used them a few years ago and they came back with a quote of £550. The quote was without fabric and there would be an extra collection and delivery cost (I would add here that this was a standard quote – we contacted them anonymously, not as an Influencer and didn’t negotiate price through offering coverage). The great thing about contacting an upholsterer first is that they can give you a rough estimate of how much fabric you’d need; we were told roughly 12-14 metres, which helped us budget the next step.

I started to research fabric. I adore brands like Colours of Arley and Designers Guild but at £75 – £125 per metre I had to keep looking. I decided that the sofa is a great shape, and the stripe will be a statement in itself, so I needed to trust that it would still look good if it didn’t cost the earth. And realistically: I’ve never not liked anything striped in my home or wardrobe! I went classic and found St Agnes wide stripe from Just Fabrics – it was £19.51 per metre. I then bought 14 metres to be really sure we had enough.

Disclaimer: I did not check if it was suitable for sofas and to be honest the site just says suitable for curtains and cushions – I waited to see if the upholsterer mentioned anything but all I heard was how good it looked when it was finished! We didn’t get it restuffed or anything, I think from just putting it all back together it looks plumper, but they did fix one of the wooden feet which had come loose.

And all I can say is how much I LOVE IT! It makes the room feel pulled together and brighter (I find velvets suck light out of any area!). I know it’s not super practical with kids but I try not to get myself too worked up about it. The fact I look at it every day and love it outweighs my worry for it to get dirty –  I’d rather use and stain something I truly love, tbh.

I never do things by halves, do I?! This area of our hall is lovely, but I felt it could be more lovely. It was originally an under stairs cupboard, but had such lovely tiles underneath we decided to show them off. I don’t regret this decision but it did mean we had a) less storage in a hall that already lacked storage (!) and b) it is quite dark under here. 

I added this Dunelm light last year but it still needed something, and I love the idea of wallpaper in small spaces (see our downstairs loo here) to add texture to a space. Realistically, to buy the quality of paper I wanted to, I would need to do the hanging of the wallpaper myself. And actually, it would be nice to learn a new life skill at the same time!

I browsed quite a few brand options and loved CommonRoom wallpaper, but it was just out of my budget; I’d only need two rolls but it adds up quickly. I looked at Dunelm for more affordable options but didn’t find anything I loved, so ended up buying Sophie Robinson’s range with Harlequin. The site had a discount so it worked out as £63.20 a roll. This is the ‘wiggle’ wallpaper in Lapis/Sky colour. 

I had recently painted the latticework in our hall a bright blue so wanted to introduce brighter/lighter blues to the hall and thought this would go perfectly without introducing too many new colours.

I cleared my schedule for a few days and watched this tutorial (I was quite impressed they showed a woman doing it!), bought all the tools like a complete novice and got to it. In reality, it would’ve taken me around 6 hours altogether but I decided to film and work around kids pick ups, so it took me a few days working in 4 hour chunks. I must admit, once you finish your first wall it feels so satisfying and you can move on (as opposed to paint – waiting for it to dry and you just never really feel like you’re done!). I do believe that good quality paper is key to being able to do this efficiently, as I could easily peel back the paper and start again if I needed to, without it ripping.

WHAT I LEARNT

No matter what area you are doing, it will be tricky! Granted, I picked a tight corner with sloping walls, wonky Edwardian surfaces with dado rails and skirting boards (also uneven) but there will always be something. The plug socket was surprisingly easy (as long as you turn the electrics off, of course!). 

My entire body ached – all those stretching, reaching and brushing motions!

Patterned wallpaper is very hard to match up. As well as considering angles, I would spend hours trying to replicate the pattern of a swirl, only to lose my place and have to start over again. These walls all go in different directions, too! But the great thing about a particularly busy pattern is that it’s quite hard to follow and see where you’ve made mistakes!

There is also quite a bit of waste if you are focused on matching the pattern at every angle – I’d find a missing piece in the middle of the roll and have to cut into it to use.

There’s a lot of guesswork and cutting random bits to stuff in gaps, but it all worked out okay! My love for Jigsaw puzzles really came in handy here, I (almost) relished the challenge.

Honestly, it wasn’t as time consuming as I thought it would be, once you’re on a roll (pun intended) it’s quite quick! And as I went straight over dark paint in some areas, it was quicker than painting it white (as I did with the rest of the hallway) – one layer and it was covered.

Did I enjoy the process – yes! Would I do it again? Maybe…but it’d have to be a square, neat room all prepped with no windows, sloped walls or plug sockets.

It has been so long so we did a home tour (our last one was Kemi from Cottage Noir 3 years ago!) and I have really missed them! This time we visited the home of Liv Madeline, her journey has been one I’ve been following on social media and adore her home and style aesthetic of expensive looking neutrals and great basics.

Tell us a bit about yourself….have you always loved Interiors?

I’m Liv , 29 years old and part time midwife and a content creator. I’ve always had a passion for interiors ever since I was a child, I always remember I’d get quite hands on in decorating my family’s home. When it came to picking my career path I chose midwifery because I am deeply passionate about supporting women and families during the beautiful journey of childbirth. I believe in providing personalised care, empowering women to make informed choices, and being a source of strength during this transformative time in their lives. It’s really nice how things have worked out because I’m now doing 2 jobs I completely love. 

How long have you lived here?

I’ve lived here for almost 1.5 years, prior to that we were renovating for 18 months. The flat needed a complete remodel and it took us a few years as we were funding it ourselves and the pandemic didn’t make it any easier i.e sourcing materials, finding contractors and also working fulltime in the NHS during COVID.  Both mine and my partner’s family homes are 5-10 mins away from our current flat so it was very easy to commute back and forth.

What drew you to this particular property?  Could you see the potential straight away?

I didn’t straight away to be completely honest, Rob worked in real estate at the time and this property had been on the market for a while and he saw all the potential it had, I didn’t see it for a while. He joked about us buying it and I just remember thinking ‘no way’, we’d just finished university and I personally didn’t think we were going to get a mortgage in London due to our age and income (at the time we were both 24 ). Thankfully we had some money saved, went to a mortgage broker one day and the process began. 

You did a lot of work yourselves, what would you say was the hardest part and/or is there anything you wouldn’t do again?

Yes we did, we hired an electrician, plumber and plasterers etc but everything else we were completely hands on, installing the floors and painting walls. It was hard work but it was also during lockdown so instead of going out socialising on the weekends we’d be in the flat working after work during the week and on the weekends. Personally I don’t know if I would be as hands on next time – I definitely enjoyed it at the time but looking back I don’t think we gave ourselves breaks and it definitely affected my mental and physical health.

How would you describe your interiors style?

I would describe it as contemporary/modern. I really enjoy mixing antiques with modern items. I would also say I also enjoy a neutral palette but I’ve been enjoying adding pops of colour in certain areas.

What are your favourite brands/stores to shop for interiors?

There are so many: Heals, Nest, Ferm Living, Glassette, Nordic Nest. The list goes on!

Where do you buy your prints from?

Current prints are from : @theposterclub and @wallofartcom.

Any tips you can offer to anyone contemplating or embarking on a renovation project?

Don’t feed into the pressure of social media, I definitely did that – seeing loads of home accounts renovating their homes very quickly and constantly comparing to why we can’t do it up as quickly. In retrospect the best thing is to take your time and the renovating never completely finished we still have a little snag list of things that need doing and our garden is in need of desperate help we are planning on starting the garden after our wedding. 

What do you enjoy about social media? 

I really enjoy being creative – it’s the perfect outlet for me. I use Pinterest a lot for interiors inspiration too.

Thank you so much for having us, Liv!

I’m always looking for great places to buy affordable art – a great print can really make a room and doesn’t have to be super expensive. I find lots of prints on sites like Fy!, Etsy and carboot sales (read more on where I buy prints and get them framed here) but I must admit, none have been quite as easy (and stylish) to browse than Wall of Art. Originally from Stockholm, what sets it apart is the curation. Featuring art by carefully considered Illustrators, photographer and artists, you know straight away that every piece (starting at roughly £35 for a print) has already met the very high standards of the site.

No browsing for hours over 5718 pages of pieces that wouldn’t work for your home – and it’s a great place to find new artists to follow, too!

‘SUNDAYS.’ by Anna Florén

‘so the party is over’ by Jiashen Han

They also sell frames too (but if you’re after a mount and frame combo, I would still recommend easyframe.co.uk).

Okay, so this *might be* a little soft sell to our product, but it’s not really….it’s more that if you did get our matches, here are a few ideas on how to reuse them!

Obviously we produce all our products with longevity in mind, but the worst case scenario? They are all recyclable. Remove/rip off the strike strip and pop into your at-home recycling – all of our packaging is also recyclable (and we use recycled paper within our packaging), even the stickers!

Want to add a little more life to your box? We sell refills of matchsticks so you can reuse your pack.

For kids, you can remove the strike and use as little beds for toys! Inspired by the ever cute Maileg Mouse, who sleeps in a matchbox.

Image via @the_wisos Instagram Image: Eva K Salvi

Bought one of our Limited Edition artist matchboxes with Frances Costelloe or Simone Brewster? Try framing it as art in your home – I can recommend Easyframe for affordable frames and mounts.

Finished your mini matchbox set? Try using as gift tags – the great thing about them is they’re not ‘too’ Christmassy, so labels like ‘Love’ will work all year round.

Let us know if you reuse your boxes!

Two years in the making (not that we’re perfectionists or anything!) and we are so proud of these.

We started chatting over two years ago and are so excited to have Simone Brewster onboard for our second matchbox artist collaboration. Simone is a London-based artist and designer who creates large scale, statement, sculptural furniture, objets d’art, and jewellery. As part of the African Diaspora, her work marries the European influences of her education with an aesthetic understanding of her Caribbean heritage, bridging the gap between these two histories.

This matchbox design is based on artwork originally created with inks and acrylic on paper and canvas, these expressly abstracted paintings conjure the beauty and complexity of the female form and psyche.

These matches are made from 350gsm card with long turquoise tipped black matchsticks and signature double strike.

And just to say a big thank you to everyone for supporting what we do! When I told people I was launching matchboxes a few years ago, I got some strange looks! But it really is such a joy creating a product I want to buy and use, as well as produce them sustainably and ethically. Hopefully more to come! Shop matchboxes and meal planners here.

Here it is: our garden in all it’s summer-time glory! It’s not perfect (don’t look at the damaged soi – we’re working on it!) but I think it’s quite close to our original plans (watch our IGTV discussing plans here!). We tried to do most of it ourselves – Chris laid the grass, tiled the terrace and we dug up the flower beds, painted the fence and laid the sleepers ourselves. We got an expert to lay the patio at the back and finish the side alley, and then I planted the flowers – weirdly I love the gardening aspect!

We’ve attempted to ‘zone’ areas, I found it especially helpful in a smallish garden to make it feel bigger and more ‘useable’ and then spent some time planning the areas around where the light hits.

The left side of our garden is in shade from around lunchtime so we decided to put the kids’ play area (with bark) here – the bark absorbs all the mess and they immediately understand it as their area. It also solves the issue of the trampoline, which has to sit on a soft surface, but the grass underneath it always dies!

The mud kitchen and sand table (from Plum Play – it has a cover so can be used as a standard picnic table too) are probably the most used items in our garden (our Mud Kitchen is from Chad Valley via Argos – but I’ve seen a marginally cheaper one from Wilko here, which looks great too!). We’ve since planted a climbing jasmine to grown up the trellis and we have some meadowy plants in the ground so it feels more natural (and pretties up the trampoline!).

The back right corner is our relaxing area and the spot for the 4pm onwards sun – we went for Indian Sandstone tiles (from Travis Perkins) leftover from the front garden and used cobbles to soften the edges. We had a few leftover which we managed to sell on Gumtree to help buy more plants! We also went for the Aldi sofa which I can easily fit on with both kids. We move the outside table up here for eating on sunny days, eventually we will invest in one that lives there permanently (with bench seating, to save space).

The black tiles are from Topps Tiles (suitable for outdoor use) and we have found them excellent, they fade beautifully and dry really quickly. Occasionally, they can be slippy for little feet from paddling pool water (especially mixed with bubbles!) so our kids wear their crocs outside (which they need for the woodchipping anyway!) and we lay towels down when using the paddling pool. The stone tiles are great, at first I was upset as they had stained from a nearby sycamore tree (mixed with rain) but I soon let it go – they’re natural stone, doing what it does. And in fact, after a few sunny days, the stains have almost disappeared!

We bought sleepers from our local timber yard and fitted them ourselves, we laid a membrane before adding the soil. Flowers we’ve used have been meadowy and a bit wild (which I love!).

I decided to not plan the beds, but plant some seeds and a few shrubs that I liked and would love to see in our garden. Will they survive? We’ll see. We’ve done some basic research and kept the fern in a more shaded spot, for instance, but I think trial and error is sometimes a good way to test hardiness – especially when gardens have different soil, drainage, sunlight. And as long as you use more affordable plants, it’s not a devastating loss (or you can move them if they’re not thriving – we’ve already moved some from harsh sunlight to shady corners!). I think sometimes all the ‘rules’ of gardening become a bit daunting and stop some people from just ‘having a go’. We used:

Leucanthemum

Lavender

Tree mallow

Salvia

Mexican fleabane

Ferns

Olive tree

Verbena

Scabiosa

Climbers:

Clematis

Jasmine

Hydrangea

Leucanthemum: How it started, how it’s going

At the moment we’re a bit overlooked so will be looking into bamboo in high troughs at the back to feel a bit more secluded (if you ever really do with London living?). Luckily we have lovely vines and climbers coming through on the sides (from our neighbours) as ours will take a few years to establish! I can’t believe this time last year we were probably still painting this fence and tiling the patio!

I’ve painted a lot of frames before, but thanks to Alex Beard I was recently inspired to try painting picture mounts in the same colour as the frame. And I have to say, it is a gamechanger!

Having saved all of our tester pots from the renovations I was *almost* ready to clear them out, but this is such a great use for them I’m really pleased I kept them. I’d had some Wilko frames for years and they were feeling a bit lacklustre, so they were ripe for a transformation. 

If you haven’t got any old frames lying around and don’t want to buy new ones, this makeover would work equally well on charity shop frames – I’ve also done this before with great results. Don’t be afraid to freestyle – if it’s not possible to take the picture out of the frame (sometimes they’re taped shut), paint comes off glass very easily, so don’t stress if you make a mistake.

The art below is by Poppy BH which I bought from the Studio Sale via The Auction Collective. Because it has raw edges I thought it would look better on top of the mount rather than hiding underneath it and I must admit, it looks as good as taking it to a framer! Here’s how I did it…

Step 1. Sand your frame

Step 2. Paint your frame – I’m using an old tester pot of Farrow & Ball ‘De Nimes’

Step 3. Paint your picture mount in the same colour – this took five coats

Step 4. Put it all together!

I’ve always been a sucker for packaging, which is why just a little ‘finesse’ can make even the cheapest tulips sing! First, cut their original packaging off (I usually use two packs, undo the elastic and mix the bunches up together). Cut a square of brown paper, fold it in half to make a triangle and place the flowers in.

Roll the left side of the paper over, hold and roll the other side over. For extra hold, I like to use some washi tape here (also because my Beyonce tape via The Cornrow is pretty special).

This is the perfect project to use up old ribbon (another tip is creating toy dog leads – kept P busy for ages over the weekend!). Tie a bow (probably better than mine) and you’re good to go – the perfect package to take to friends.

We have never had a garden before, and despite living here for five years we only really started using it this last year!

There were always more pressing renovations, like a bathroom, or the kitchen, and then we knew the kitchen would eat into quite a lot of our garden’s space so we wanted to wait to tackle it. And once we started we realised just how expensive gardens can be (especially if, like us, your garden consists only of brambles and you have to start from scratch). I now truly understand when people say it’s the largest room in your home!

Our journey has spanned 2-3 years so far. The pandemic really made us realise we didn’t want to have an unusable garden again, so we invested in some fence panels and laid some grass. We found all of the top soil on Gumtree for free, but be warned – by the time you hire a van (and have to split trips as soil is so heavy you have to do a few trips!) it’s almost the same price as to get it delivered to your home. We have been attempting to do as much of our garden on a budget as possible, saving money on labour by tiling the patio ourselves, painting the fences ourselves (read the post here), upcycling furniture (here) and building the beds out of sleepers.

So far, we have mainly just had plants in pots; some of the large pots were already in the garden full of old weeds, so we have re-used them for our larger plants and found some via supermarkets (our olive tree was found for £30 at Morrisons but I have heard that Aldi have their £25 ones back in stock!).

We have just started our flower beds and I must admit, I have found it very therapeutic – especially planting a lot from seed and watching everything flourish. I was daunted by a garden at first –  so many rules to follow – but I have found that ‘having a go’ is the best way to start! You’ll never know what can survive in your garden unless you try. I generally live by ‘if it’s meant to survive in our garden, it will’! Here are a few tips I’ve discovered along the way, plus some advice from the brilliant ecological home-grower, Poppy Okotcha:

Plant hardy flowers that are guaranteed to last

If you are worried about throwing money down the drain (as we were with a north facing shady garden!), plant some hardy plants that are more likely to thrive. Most garden centres label plants and list the type of conditions the plant needs – we’ve found a fatsia japonica loves a shady garden and geraniums are colourful plants that even I can keep alive – they keep blooming, can withstand *most* of our British weather (!) and are also great for window boxes if you don’t have outside space.

Poppy says: ‘For healthy plants and less stressful growing experience always follow the moto “right plant right place”. So if you have free draining soil in a nice sunny spot Mediterranean herbs are amazing. Thyme for example is brilliant for culinary creations, medicinal (it’s super soothing for sore throats, coughs or even in teas to help treat UTIs) and it’s also a wonderful pollinator plant when left to flower.

‘For a more damp dappled shade spot valerian (Valerian officinalis) is wonderful. A medicinal herb, the root is used in teas for calming nerves and inducing sleep. Again it’s is a beautiful plant in its own right with lovely soft pinky white flowers that hoverflies go crazy for (hoverfly larvae predate on aphids so they are very welcome in the garden!).’

Plant from seed

It may take a bit more patience but it’s a much cheaper way to get more value out of your garden (plus it’s so satisfying!). I love to plant bee-friendly wild flowers and have had great results.

‘On the whole I’d say cultivating our own plants from seed is a wonderful thing to do,’ agrees Poppy. ‘It’s cheap, we see the plant through its whole life cycle and often have spare to share! We are also able to choose to grow peat free, organic, reusing materials (like tin cans as plant post) and the plant is hyper local! This can significantly reduce the negative environmental impact that is attached to plants reared in industrial plant nurseries.’

Replant seeds and stems from your existing plants 

I haven’t done this yet but my dad is a big fan and has passed on loads of plants to us this way. ‘Self-seeder’ plants like foxglove and Japanese anemones can be easily re-grown – when they’ve finished flowering just shake the seed heads out where you want them to pop up next year. 

Remember to ask friends and family. Once we mentioned we were planning our garden, we had loads of friends offering us some plants and offcuts.

Try seed and plant swaps

There are lots of Facebook groups where you can swap plants and I saw that Emma Jo Real-Davies was hosting a seed swap on her Instagram channel!

‘Have a look on Facebook market place,’ adds Poppy. ‘People who’ve grown too much often give plants away for free there. Car boots sales are great for cheap, locally grown plants too! Community gardens often have plants sales. Or search for a local peat free, organic nursery.’

Secondhand marketplaces are also great for other garden stuff

People are always moving office/home and it’s a great place to find not only plants, but also terracotta pots and even used paving stones! We actually sold two large cactus plants on Gumtree last month as we were worried the kids would fall into them – they went to a good home and we made some extra cash, too!

Rethink weeds

Our garden was overrun with the wrong ones, but Poppy believes that when in the right place, weeds can not only be beautiful, but tasty, too. ‘A weed is just a plant out of place so it’s really personal preference which we allow to grow in our gardens. Personally I love to have my garden stocked with nettles (Urtica dioica) dandelions (Taraxacum officinalis) and cleavers (Galium aparine) (aka sticky Willy)! All “weeds”, and all very tasty and medicinal. Nettles and dandelions are brilliant for wildlife too, but I make sure to keep up with harvesting them so they don’t take over!’

Sign up to newsletters

Sites like Gardening Express and Dobies always put their best deals on their newsletter so make sure you’re signed up. I just had a really bad experience with Secret Gardening Club unfortunately so I cannot recommend them!

Find out about local nurseries or gardening ‘clubs’ which often have members prices

 Our local nursery had a plant sale last year and we picked up some bamboo for £5 (don’t worry, it’s staying in a pot!), and there are few places (such as Crews Hill) that charge a small membership fee but once you’re a member, prices are far cheaper.

And this isn’t so much a plant tip but a great saving tip in general and one I now do – whilst you run your kitchen tap for hot water, collect the cold water to use in your garden and pots!