How To Declutter Your Clutter Zones...Modern Country Style

Hey pumpkins,

Do you have Clutter Zones in your house? Those spaces that ALWAYS seem to have odds and sods lurking messily? My first top tip in this Getting Your Home Ready For Christmas series is this:

Use baskets in your Clutter Zones.

Boots 

Living right on the edge of the country means that we're often tramping across muddy fields....and then building up a pile of messy boots by the front door? Oh no, you don't! A large basket in the hall is the perfect Modern Country Style solution! 

{mine are rattan lovelies from Garden Trading...you can get them here}

Throws and Cushions

We often have a full house with various friends who come a-lounging. I keep extra cushions and throws in a basket so they are easily accessible for spending long evenings chatting by the fire...

Ironing

Now we get on to the real glamour of my life...Lugging large piles of laundry here, there and everywhere takes up lots of my time at the moment with so many littlies. I try and make the experience as lovely as possible by using...you've guess it...a basket! 

Craft

If you're anything like me, then you have a stash of pretty fabrics waiting to find their purpose in life. I've found that if they're out, but in a way that looks pretty, then I'm far more likely to do something with them, then when they're hidden in the depths of a cupboard...

Guests

I love getting a basket of goodies ready when we have guests to stay. Towels, toiletries and a hair drier all fit in just so! Baskets are PERFECT for open storage. I love the soft greige tones of these ones.

Magazines

Each month, I dust down my back issues of favourite magazines for that particular time of year and plop them all in a basket by my bed. Then I make a large mug of chai, and spend the most delicious evening flicking through. Chocolate may also be involved.

I guess the moral of the story is this: The clutter is there for a reason...you have to actually live in your home, after all, but it needn't look messy. And, in fact, with these gorgeous rattan baskets, those clutter zones can become a real eye-catcher.

To everyone over the other side of the pond, 

Happy Thanksgiving for tomorrow!

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Modern Country Bathroom

Modern Country Bathroom, I love you.

After so much of forcing you to choose between stark, minimalist Modern and little English country cottage from my The Holiday series, I thought I give you a treat.

No choices.

No tension.

Source: Unknown

Just. Pure. 

Modern Country Bathroom 

Loveliness.

Modern Country is always where I am happiest. 

It's not so much of a choice, as a feeling. 

I feel my shoulders drop and reeee-lax.

The last day of November.

Christmas is a-coming.

I can hear those sleigh-bells already.

Can you?

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Modern Country Style Part 3: Texture

Hey peeps,

I don't know about you 

but this gradual flip-flop from summer to autumn 

has to take one of the top spots 

in my book of weather-pattern-favourites.

{Not that I have a book of weather-pattern favourites.}

Honest.

I love the days of balmy warmth 

that September in England does so well. 

And I love the cooler evenings 

that call out loud and clear 

for snuggling on the sofa.

Speaking of snuggling, 

after my last post on hugging, 

it appears that we all speak as one mind when we say: 

Mr Photographer, you are missing out. 

Stop grumbling and get cuddling. 

All this talk of hugging and snuggling 

leads me on rather nicely 

to the cosy warmth of the next part of this 

Modern Country Style series, 

which is.......

Step 3 Texture 

{If you missed Part 1: Colour and Part 2: Robust Elegance, 
you can find them here and here}

Modern Country differs from Traditional Country in its limited use of pattern. But that doesn't mean a lack of visual appeal. Instead, interest comes from building up layers of texture. Simplicity is key.

   

Let's take a look at our Master Bedroom. 

I wanted to create a 'Princess and the Pea' feel to the bed. 

Remember that fairytale? 

So I bought an incredibly plumptious 

chocolate-grey velvet throw with a silk border. 

One of my favourite things in the whole world.

Modern Country Style at its languorous best.

Natural materials work so well: 

wood, velvet, cotton and linen 

bring the warmth of the Country 

to prevent the look from ever feeling stark. 

At the end of the bed, 

I've placed an old suitcase of my mother's, 

which is perfect for storing seasonal bedding.

 The battered leather contrasts with the sheen of 

our mahogany sleigh bed. 

Colour-wise, our Master Bedroom is very simple:

blocks of muted colour,with very little pattern...

but bring in so many layers of gorgeous texture 

and it becomes my favourite place to be.

Now...I feel a bit of a pause coming on. 

My children have gone back to school, 

and I think it's high time for a bit of crafting action, 

don't you?

Linking with my favourite link parties on the sidebar...

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Modern Country Style Part 2: Family AND Style?

Hello there, cutiepips,

Remember I said that my personal Holy Grail is 

creating a stylish look that works for a family? 

{Easier said than done, I think.}

I've never yet found a book I love

that deals with decorating tips for:

muddy footprints,

orange juice on the walls,

crayons on the wall,

flooding the bathroom.....

Yes, I've been there.

I've had to kind of muddle my own way through...

and it's one of the BIIIIIIIIG reasons 

why I love Modern Country Style....

Step 2 Robust Elegance

Modern Country Style is all about using items that are beautiful AND practical - no spindly fragility allowed - and, even for that reason alone, it's a cracker of a look to work with. When choosing how to decorate, we've tried to create a home that is beautiful to look at but also practical for daily life. Yes, it's a family home but it needn't be dull because of that. Everything should work beautifully well: both for us aesthetically and for day-to-day living with four young children.

It's a look that can stand up easily to daily living - dogs clambering on the sofas and children rolling on the floor. With four little ones of our own, I want a house that looks as good when it's messy as when it's scrupulously tidy. Modern Country Style offers just that in spades: robust yet restful. 

It's all very well products looking fantastic in a magazine or on a shop shelf.....but I always try to imagine them looking a little more...errr....loved, before I take the plunge and buy.

I look for strong and sturdy gorgeousness...

And that's the only way it's going to work, my friends.

The only way.....

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What Is Modern Country Style Part 1: Colour

Hey cutie,

So many people have asked me to try and define Modern Country Style that I thought I'd do a proper series on it...just for you.....

I'd love to hear your thoughts....

To me, Modern Country Style is more about a way of life than just being a specific look. Not limited, by any means, to those living the rural idyll, the Modern Country ethos is all about taking the very best of Traditional Country, the warmth and comfort, the appreciation of hand-made crafts, and combining with the best of what Modern life has to offer.

A bit of background......

We moved out of London to an Edwardian house nestled in a small Market Town in the Cotswolds. I'm sure you've gathered that our home has needed a huge amount of renovating but by adding the right pieces and choosing the palette with care, we're able, in stages, to create a Modern Country look that I adore. 
Homely and relaxed.

Step 1: Use of Colour

Probably the most prominent marker of the Modern Country look is the delicious yet delicate use of colour. Think of, and be inspired by, winter seascapes: the gentle grey-blue-greens of a rough sea and the browns, greys and off-whites of smooth stones on a pebble beach sum up this palette beautifully. Yet it needn't look bland. By adding the odd touch of a stronger colour, in my case, I've chosen cherry red accents, a gorgeous surprise element is added. 

Just as important is the way in which colour is used. No fussy details are needed. Simple blocks of colour, highlighted by the crisp, sharp contrast of soft white woodwork. 

Our dining room is a perfect case in point. Painted a gentle, creamy green-grey (Gregory's Den by Earthborn)....perfect for a serene backdrop to not-so-serene family meal-times! 

On Friday, I'll be sharing my personal Holy Grail 
in Modern Country Style: Part 2..... 
creating a stylish look 
that works for a family.

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Belgian Style for Modern Country Interiors

Quick, quick. The Modern Country tour bus is leaving any second.

Tour bus, you say? What tour bus is that of which you speak?

Well, today I thought I'd take you on a little tour of my home.

You coming? Fantastic!

I was getting lonely all my myself.

Hop on the tour bus, and let's get this baby on the road.

Last time, here at Modern Country Style, we were having a chatteroo about the Belgian look, and how it uses a gorgeous, restricted colour scheme.

{Remember? If not, click here for a quick reminder}

I thought that the easiest way to show you

how I've taken that idea and

tried to make it work in our home is

to show you room by room.

I LOVE the colour scheme that Belgian Style uses: earthy shades of brown, greys, taupes, and off-whites, which draws your eye to the gorgeousness of what lies within the rooms.

But......and it's a biggie......

{Am I the only one now thinking of big butts? I am? Oh....}

....for me, it needs a bit more oomph. Not that I don't love the Belgian interiors I showed you but I prefer rooms where the walls speak to you, as well as the furniture.

I want to notice my walls, not to let them fade into the background.

The greys I've used have a smidgen of green and blue added, can you see? I think it helps to stop these rooms from looking too sombre.....

Sombre is surely never a good look in a boys bedroom....

I've used touches of red throughout the house, as an accent colour.

I love red. So cheery and warm and welcoming.

I completely adore the look that this palette creates.

{Please don't worry if all this talk of palettes confuses you, it's something I want to come back to shortly.}

Guess where I'm off to tomrrow? The Country Living Fair in London with my mum!

{And this time, I'll try to remember my camera. *blush*}

I'm linking to my favourite parties listed in the sidebar.

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Modern Country Hallway

This picture is so Modern Country. I love it. If you look beyond the details, it is possible to notice that the staircase is rather dated, the walls aren't smooth and are those plasterboard lines on the ceiling?

But you don't see that, do you? You see the Modern Country STYLE:

the mix of photos, cohered by the black frames and consistently black and white photography;

 the industrial vintage touch of the casually-placed printing block;

a tight colour palette:  black, white and the hint of gentle winter-seas on the tongue and groove door;

the use of the scrolled  metal on the mirror brings a little softness, making this hallway firmly Country....

Scrumdiddlyumptious.

image via Ideal Home

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Modern Country Kitchen: shelf reveal

Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce you to our completed kitchen shelves. Please try to avert your peeping eyes from the gorgeous paint colour changes....more on that to come! Never let it be said I don't spoil you. ;-)

Take a peek at the 'before' photo below. Do you see that corner with the ugly old boiler? That's the space I was working with for this project. What a huuuuuuuuge waste of potential, as well as a humungous eyesore.

We had the boiler moved upstairs to the bathroom airing cupboard. Then our lovely carpenter came and installed three beech shelves and upstands to match the existing beech worktops.

I've so enjoyed toying with ideas of how to fill this whole space. So, so, soooooooooooo enjoyed it. I loved the whole process. Loved, loved, L.O.V.E.D.....Should that go here?.............Can I fit that in there?.......................I'm not sure about those.............Aaaah, now that's more like it!!

Here's the shelf-by-shelf lowdown. Take it from the top......

And in second place...........

And, last but not least, the bottom shelf........

And, now, a serious moment, if you please. Here, revealed for the first time just for you, is the whole gamut of shelvery (that *so* should be a word):

To be honest, I couldn't really help but improve on the monstrosity that was there before but I really am glad we bit the bullet and got the boiler moved. It was an expense but soooo worth it! Look at all the space we've gained!


I've got lots of my favourite kitchen pieces out on show now, as well as practical items easily to hand. No more fishing around in the back of cupboards for the flour/sugar/ rice (not that my kitchen cupboards are anything but the epitome of organisation, you understand....).

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