A while ago I was asked if I’d like to take part in sampling a new service, Swatch Factory*. It’s a decorating inspiration service to help you if you’re unsure of what to do or just need a little bit of inspiration with your plans. At the moment I am mentally decorating the big house we’re buying, and if you follow me on Pinterest you’ll know I have one or two or maybe seven interior design boards that are full of beautiful, but conflicting images of how I’d like the house to look, so I thought there can’t be any harm in getting someone else’s thoughts on what to do with some of the space.
I chose to ask for inspiration for our living room. It’s about the only room, when I imagine it, that I just can’t picture. I think that’s because everything will be new in there. We’re not taking our old sofa’s with us and don’t yet know what we’ll be buying, so there is nothing for me to build a vision around I guess.
As we don’t have our own pictures of the rooms so the guys over at Swatch Factory had to make do with the RightMove pictures I have, but I tried to give them as much info as I could and then directed them to a couple of my pinboards for some more ideas on what I liked. It’s all pretty straight forwards, nothing too complicated, just a few thoughts on what you’re interested in.
And then a few weeks later, after a couple of emails from the lovely Charlotte at Swatch Factory, a little box, about the size of a Graze box, popped through my letter box filled with samples of fabric and pieces of wall papers and a note explaining the choices. It’s all very nicely put together, with a glassine layer between the 2 elements. All the samples come labelled so you can go out and find them yourself too, which means even less messing about.
The one thing that struck me about a few of the samples was the metallic-ness of them. I’ve never really looked at metallic materials which is surprising really as I am a magpie normally, and definitely would pass a shiny wallpaper by in the shop thinking it wasn’t what I liked, but having it pushed under my nose like that, has made me reconsider. Certainly on the fabric front. They’d also included a couple of patterns that I’ve seen before and thought ‘oooooh’ about but then not pinned or recorded anywhere.
I do have to say I was a little disappointed how closely the guys at Swatch Factory had stayed to my ‘obsessed with greys in the house thing’ especially as I’d commented on worrying about ending up with a big grey house (is this a bad thing though?). I was hoping that they’d push me a little further from the yellows and turquoises that I always seem to pin – but then again I did link them to the board populated with grey, yellow and turquoise room pictures so I maybe shouldn’t have been. And they did point me in the metallics direction!
But it was a fun exercise to get some more inspiration and it’s not massively expensive to do either (it’s £25 per box). But if you fancy having a go then there is a 20% off discount for readers. All you have to do is click here and enter the code ohgoshblog20!
*I wasn’t paid for this but did receive the service for free.
This is a brilliant idea!! And so much nicer to do in your own living room than traipsing around shops.
And you can't go much wrong with shades of grey! My husband came home the other day with some purple cushions, he's a bit out there….
M x Life Outside London
I painted our living room purple to match some purple sofa's me inherited. I hate them though (and I kind of hate the wall now). I can't wait to move so we can get a new one….
This is a really cute idea! I think I may well have to give this a go for our bedroom as I'm still feeling a bit lost.
It is really great to get some little bits of inspiration, especially when you're feeling lost!
If we ever get into a position to buy I will totally check out this service as I know I will want to do some serious decorating.
Your Pinterest boards tell me that your house will be amazing. Serious swoonability there!