My approach to interior design, and the joy of second-hand furniture

My first post about our house renovation in France

When I was a child I didn't really like playing with dolls. I wasn't interested in pretending to have a baby, or dressing Barbies - I found it all quite boring.
I preferred drawing, reading, and making house plans for the dolls out of Lego bricks. I would spend a long time figuring out all the details for each room, but when the house plan was finished I would lose interest and move on to some other creative pursuit.

So maybe it was natural that when I changed career in my early 30s I chose to go back to college and study interior design.

My fellow students loved playing with colour and patterns to create a type of décor that was bold, eye-catching, trendy, and also destined to quickly become dated and need replacing, in a way not dissimilar to fashion.

I suppose that's one way of creating work opportunities for designers, but I've never liked following trends so my approach is quite different.

I went to college because I wanted to learn how to design houses that were beautiful, functional, and timeless - interiors where people could be happy to live for a long time, without feeling the need to redecorate every few years.

I love helping my clients figure out their needs and taste preferences, and create a home that meets their requirements - not the latest trends.

For over 20 years my husband and I lived in rented accommodations, mostly furnished or half-furnished - places that we think fondly of, but that were often not to our taste.

Every time we moved into a new house we would ask permission to repaint all walls white or off-white, depending on the type of flooring.
We used simple linen throws to cover sofas and armchairs, hung white curtains, and bought inexpensive IKEA cabinets to create storage and hide clutter.

At the end of 2020 we got the keys to our first house, and the renovation journey began. We were both happy and excited to finally have a house of our own, to shape and decorate as we saw fit, and turn into our dream home.
We love spending time at home, and wanted to create a calm, uncluttered, comfortable, airy house, both beautiful and functional - a sanctuary.

The house needed new electrics, plumbing, flooring, a heating system, a bathroom, kitchen, and proper insulation.
The staircase was crooked and needed straightening, and there was no access to the garden from the living room.

Ideally we would have liked to use all eco-friendly, renewable materials, but unfortunately that wasn't always possible for various reasons, like technical problems, the pervasive use of plastic in the building industry, and, alas, our budget.

Apart from using reclaimed materials as much as possible, one thing we gladly decided to do was buy most of our furniture second-hand.

When we moved to France from the UK we didn't bring a lot of furniture with us. Apart from our bed frame and sofa, we kept a small second-hand cabinet we'd bought in Oxford, two antique chairs found at an auction, two tables and an IKEA sideboard that was still in good condition.

The mattress went to the recycling centre, and we sold or donated the rest of our furniture, which was quite old and would soon need replacing, and wasn't worth the international shipping costs.

When we arrived at our temporary rental we bought a new mattress and four dining chairs that I'd had on my wish list for a long time, and then started browsing second-hand shops, garage sales, local flea markets, and online ads looking for furniture we liked.

Old furniture is often made of real wood - not cheap MDF.
Even scruffy, tired-looking pieces usually have a lot of life left in them, and with a little TLC can be fully restored and enjoyed for a very long time.

Buying second-hand furniture is also a great way to reuse, stop things going to landfill, and cherish and appreciate objects made many years ago, often with beautiful craftsmanship and attention to details.

Searching for furniture of the right size and look, and then repainting it and restoring it, is time-consuming, but the final décor has a unique character that is hard to find in mass produced furniture.
The whole experience is quite enjoyable and satisfying, and aligns with my idea of slow living.

Our dining table is the first piece of furniture we bought, when we were still living in our temporary rental. We found it at Emmaüs in Limoges, a large warehouse full of any kind of second-hand objects.

The table is solid wood, cherry or oak I think, and it was probably made in the 1960s in Luis XV style.

The wood was covered in layers of varnish so dark that you couldn't see its texture. My husband cleaned it, painted the legs white with chalk paint, and with infinite patience sanded the table top by hand.

I love all the graceful details of the frame - the scrolls, curved legs, and shell design are elegant without being too fussy, especially painted white.

Our idea was to paint the whole table white, but when my husband's sanding revealed the beautiful texture and marquetry, we decided to leave it unpainted and just protect it with some linseed oil and wax.

I adore this table and I'm really happy to have it in our home. Sometimes I think of all the people who must have gathered around it through the years, sharing meals, laughter, and celebrations just like us.

We already have beautiful memories of sitting at this table with family and friends, enjoying the simple pleasures of life, and I look forward to more of them.

In the last few years we've found many second-hand treasures for our home - chests of drawers, wardrobes, bedside tables, cabinets, and a beautiful rocking chair that my husband loves and two of our cats strongly approve of.

I'll write more about our home renovation soon, talking about the whole process and our design choices, with before and after photos to see the transformation - here’s a “before” picture of the dining area : the difference is quite dramatic isn’t it?

BEFORE

AFTER