Interior tips

Dec 08, 2023Kjersti Lamb

INTERIOR TIPS!


Our homes are a very personal thing. What is important in a home is different for all of us. For me, the interior is an important part of my home. I am not concerned with trends and the right colors at all times. I could not care less about that. I want my home to radiate my personality and be filled with memories and objects that mean something to me. I am a creative person and put my soul into my interior. Several interior magazines have over the years made articles from houses and cabins that I have owned. I have been restless over the years, and moved a lot - which in turn has given me the opportunity to create many new interiors. I have had 11 houses before I moved to where I live today!


For the past 12 years I have lived in the same house. You know what? I have never lived anywhere for so long in my adult life! For the first time I have put down roots where I live. I just love this house! A completely ordinary southern house on a small plot of land with a small garden. I have created charm and a home in this completely ordinary house in Kristiansand. It feels good.


Would you like to get some interior design tips from me and hear what I do to create a home?


I am passionate about reusing. When I'm going to buy something new, I always check finn.no to see if anyone is selling what I'm looking for used. It gives me joy to reuse things - then I feel like the furniture has a soul that can live on. So a tip from me is before you go out and buy something new, check if you can find what you're looking for on finn.no.


Mixing old and new

I like to mix old and new. Old furniture creates soul in an interior. My dining table is over 200 years old. It is the most magical table I have ever seen in my life! Where did I get this from? Yes, a friend had this standing on a barn, and she gave the table to me. This dining table has a life from a boat that sailed on the Oslofjord. The boat sank and the table was left floating in the water. Then the table ended up on an island outside Søgne on a farm. Over the years, the table ended up in a barn and now it lives on with me. So - how wonderful is it to eat from a table with this history?


I have several tables in my house and they are all old ones bought on finn.no. I have a coffee table that has had its legs cut off to get the right height. I have two work tables in my studio that are old and bought second hand. One of the things I like about old tables is that you don't have to be careful about spilling. Most old tables already have so many stains and signs of aging that a few extra stains don't do anything. It makes life easy when you use the table.


Grandma's rocking chair

My grandmother bought a rocking chair when she was young, before she got married. She paid 14 kroner for the rocking chair. I inherited this rocking chair. Guess I love this one! I remember the story behind the chair that my grandmother told me. She worked long and hard to afford this rocking chair and was so happy when she finally bought it. This chair will never leave my house. It is forever a precious memory and a reminder of a caring grandmother who no longer lives here on earth, but who lives in my heart.


Dare to use colors!

Use colors you love in your home. Don't think about what are trending colors, think about what colors you like. Surround yourself with colors that give you energy and joy.

I like to combine wallpaper and painted walls together. I use wallpaper that I fall head over heels for! Then they last for many years. I have lived in my house for 12 years and had the same wallpaper on the wall all these years - and I love the wallpaper just as much today as when I wallpapered. If I had chosen according to trends, I would probably have gotten bored. But because I have chosen with my heart, they still last.


How to hang pictures.

It's nice if all pictures have the same bottom line. It can quickly get a little messy if you don't keep a line. The top line can be more uneven, but the bottom line on all pictures is the same. Many people hang pictures too high up on the wall. Pictures should be hung at eye level. You should look straight at the picture, not up at the picture. If you have to look up to look at a picture, you've hung it too high.


Armchair or sofa?

I love an armchair more than a sofa. In one of my living rooms, I replaced a sofa with four good armchairs around a round table. We didn't use the sofa corner much. As soon as we replaced the sofa with chairs, this suddenly became the gathering place in the home. Now we sit in the armchairs and have many good conversations every day. We never did that on the sofa. The sofa we had was very nice and interior-wise correct, but it didn't invite us to a gathering place. I decided to make moves that suited our lifestyle and not what looked right. It's fun to discover that simple moves make such a big difference. Imagine that four armchairs around a table work better for gathering and conversation than a sofa!

Maybe there are some simple steps you can take at home if you think through what your needs are?


A good tip!

If you have an IKEA sofa or chairs, there is a supplier where you can buy new covers for your furniture. They have a much larger selection than IKEA, and have covers for old discontinued models. Check out www.bemz.com 

All my pulls are from bemz on furniture I have from IKEA.

Books

I like books as part of my interior. In the TV room I have put up Billy Shelves from IKEA along an entire wall and had a carpenter build them in. Cheap and pretty solution. I also put books as decoration on shelves and tables around the house.


I love textiles!

I have a great passion for textiles. I have a Bachelor and a Master's degree in textile design. Textiles are close to my heart. I use them a lot in my interior. I'm not lying if I say that I have at least 40 blankets! I don't use them all at the same time, I change them a little according to the season and mood, but I never throw a blanket away. Some of the blankets are probably 30 years old - full of nostalgia and good memories. I have the same relationship with pillows. The one pillow I have, I bought in Denmark for 5 kroner, and I love it. Many of the pillows are 20 years old and more. They are timeless and I have developed a "relationship" with them, so they will never disappear from my house until I disappear too one day. "Trends may come and trends may go, but my pillows will always last".


Cardigans

I use cardigans as part of my interior. I love knitting, and I have many beautiful cardigans that I think are too nice to just sit in my closet. Then I put them as decoration on a chair or bench in the house. See what you find in your closet and put it out as decoration!



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