Emmeline's Illustrated Home: Big Steps, Interior Design Trends & A Collaboration With DFS

So this year has been quite a year so far, but after more than half a decade of living in a teeny, tiny studio flat, I'm pleased to say I finally have my first house! What?!

Freelancing and home ownership aren't usually ingredients you'd think of in the same cake; the prospect of trying to get a mortgage as a freelancer absolutely terrified me for a long, long time. But after a lot of work, a little luck, (and a life based far, far, outside of London); I finally have a place to call my own.



Our first week in the house was serious go-time, Andrew and his Grandad completely redecorated the living room, whilst I hulked-out a little and dragged up the long-pile bathroom carpet (whyyy) and painted, re-floored, grouted and even re-plumbed the bathroom 💪 We have a little veg patch in the garden now too!

It's definitely been a work in progress. Honestly, the number of times I've wished I could instantly decorate, fix everything and create the perfect furniture with my mind Sims-style has been ridiculous! It takes time, and sometimes it's frustrating having all these incredible design ideas, but lacking in the free time and budget to make it happen.



One room we're finally in love with is our living room! It's our space for relaxing, playing Witcher 3 on xbox, eating snacks, watching Twin Peaks, film nights with friends, playing music and reading books; our window to the outside world, and the first impression we have for visitors. 

We've completely shaken up the design from the previous owners, with a new warm-grey wooden floor, ghost white paint on the walls, a burst of orange with the curtains and some choice art prints (naturally!). But the thing that's really brought the room together has definitely been our gorgeous charcoal Zinc sofa and footstool from DFS. Seriously, after years and years of hand-me-down sofas disguised with throws, it feels so great to be able to curl up on one that actually looks amazing.



Working with DFS, we looked at the key trends from the Salone del Mobile design festival in Italy, and focused on the yum combination of burnt orange and the revival of the footstool! Okay, so you might not have instantly thought that's a footstool in my photos, because yaasss we've multi-purposed it into a little reading nook seat! 

We have a lovely big window in our living room, so Andrew and I thought about our space at different times of the day: during bright daytime, the far end of the room is the perfect spot for reading, thinking of creative ideas, and gazing out of the window; whereas at night we love cosying up in front of a film - so we needed our space to work for all purposes. We realised the footstool is perfect for that! With a few cushions on the back it works as a great little reading seat between the bookshelves - but can be easily moved over to the sofa for when we want to stretch out like big ol' starfish to watch a few episodes of Orange Is The New Black!

Speaking of orange; with the living room as it was, it was practically a Pleasantville-style monochromatic world; seriously, almost everything was greyscale! Once we'd moved in our book collection, and a curated a few of our favourite boardgames, we brought a bit of extra warmth to the room with a shock of burnt orange textile - and it makes the world of difference. The orange really brings out the warm tones in the floor, gives it that bolt of the unusual, and makes everything just seem that bit cosier. As an illustrator, colour is obviously incredibly important to me, and it's taken time to make sure everything is accented just right, and works wonderfully with the base greys and whites.



As I write this, I'm sat on the sofa in the living room, curled up with a cup of tea (and a cheeky biscuit), and gawd, I feel happy. Okay, so the house isn't exactly like the rose-covered thatched-roof dream home I sculpted out of clay in primary school, but right now it's everything I've needed, and I'm so grateful I've managed to get to this place. Things are finally coming together, one step at a time, and it's really starting to feel like home. 

A huge thank you to DFS for working with me on this blog post and letting me explore some interior design trends! The gorgeous sofa I chose is their Zinc Three Seat Sofa and matching footstool from the French Connection range, all in charcoal (very yum, and just a heads up that it's on sale right now if you're in the market for one) and you can see all the other colours and stylings through #MyDFS. It's not often I get to collaborate on a blog project which has such an impact on my life; there'll be an awful lot of films watched, books read, conversations had, and ideas dreamed on that sofa, and in this new house! Here's to taking adult steps!

Note! This is not a paid-for post. The sofa and footstool were kindly provided by DFS for me to explore the creative design trends of Salone Del Mobile, which is well worth checking out (hurray burnt orange!).