How I Rent: a tour of my minimalist home inspired by the seasons
I was so so excited to be asked by Medina from Grillo Designs to tour my home for her rented house series. I’ve followed Medina for ages and have pored over her other home tours. Anything which normalises and celebrates renting is so welcome and necessary as far as I am concerned and I was delighted to be involved. For this tour, Medina’s usual photographer wasn’t available, so Dave stepped in. We style and shoot together quite a lot so it felt really relaxed and fun, and it was really lovely to just hang out with Medina. I wish we had longer! This was filmed in October and released in November, then i got super busy with workshops and my e-course. But I saw that today the series is back, so I was inspired to finally hit publish!
We have lived in our rented house of dreams for 2 years. We love living here and have a great relationship with our landlord and lady. We also share similar taste. We inherited a house that had White walls, stripped pine floor boards and some gorgeous antique furniture. (the dream, like I said) So our own style fit in effortlessly.
My style values are: calm, spacious, minimal, natural, fun, storied (ie secondhand or antique) and ethical. In the white rooms in the home, we have layered in our own possessions keeping things minimal and calm. I adore plants and have them in every room, and have put up art and textile pieces. Many of our possessions are antique or vintage. It’s really important to me that my home has as little environmental impact as possible; from using a green energy supplier to buying secondhand.
I love our home and try to honour it as much as possible, even though it’s rented.
I could talk and talk about it but am going to stop there! The sources are listed at the end of the post.
You can see the video by Medina at the end of the post too. There is a full interview over on medina’s blog here. All photos are by Dave Bullivant.
Ok, on to the house (and maaaaany photos!)
Hallway
Hallway oh hallway. How I love you. Our last house didn’t have an entrance area at all so this feels so luxurious. The large hall table came with the house, and I’ve put up some antique fabric pieces on the walls, and a wreath.
The Lounge
The first room you come too, it’s really large with a fireplace and built in shelves in the alcoves.
Kitchen
The woodturner and large glass doors make this room the one we spend the most time in. In the winter, the fire is lit, and in the spring and summer, the doors are open to the garden.
Utility Room
My favourite room. That’s all.
Kids room
I recently updated the kids room. and wrote about it separately here.
Our bedroom
A calm beautiful sanctuary. I prioritised styling and dressing our bed room before the kids bedroom because I think it’s so important to have a calm restful space to sleep and relax in.
Studio
This is the biggest bedroom in the house, which we decided to use as a studio. It’s big enough to shoot in and I keep all of my styling props in here.
Bathroom
The fireplace. I know. An actual dream. We have filled this room with plants.
Sources
Hall
Hall table- came with the house!
Plants built up over years- some from Bloombox (part of a past collab)
Wreath made by me
Vintage quilt samplers from a junk market in Deptford 15 years ago that I had framed
Lounge
Small grey sofa on left- willow and hall
Medium grey sofa- French Connection at DFS- a gift as part of a previous collab
Dark patterned rug- Barrows antiques in Faversham
Grey patterned rug- Dassie Decor (gift)
Black pennant flag behind sofa- Faversham vintage market
Brass hoop- Workshop Ltd
White stars on mantelpiece – a vintage shop in Faversham that I can’t remember the name of!
Kitchen
White table- Heal’s but from eBay about 5 years ago.
Chairs- eBay
White glass fronted cabinet- came with the house
Low wooden cabinet- Faversham Vintage market
Vintage floral print – Etcetera vintage, Margate
Grey Lamp- Urbanara – (v old)
Wooden tray on table- H&M Home (old)
Utility Room
Glass Jars- Wares of Knutsford.
Cleaning ingredients from Summer Naturals. My recipes for homemade cleaning supplies here
Study
White Desk- IKEA (old)
Vintage school cupboard and glass fronted cabinet came with the house (I KNOW!)
Green desk chair of absolute dreams- Flokk . A gift from a previous collab. The best office chair ever!
Wooden hooks behind desk- H&M Home
Filing cabinet- found on street 10 years ago and painted grey
Brass Ring- Workshop Ltd
Dustpan and Brush- Objects of Use
Lamp- Urbanara (old)
Bedroom
We put the ply shelf up. On it are various prints given to us by friends or collected. Palm leaves from The Floral Madam in Macknade, ourlocal farm shop.
Fan- Facebook marketplace
The chest of drawers came with the house (I know!)
Wall mounted lights- Curious Egg (gift)
Brown bedlinen- An old white cotton set dyed Brown by me
Bedspread – actually a baby sling from Ali Dover Textiles that I turned into a bedspread when we no longer needed it as a baby carrier.
2 rectangular cushions- Dassie Decor (gift)
Kids room
Bear print on wall by Gerry Turley. I bought this from his home which I styled for a magazine photoshoot a few years ago.
Bed- A Facebook Marketplace bargain. It’s a Noa and Nani high cabin sleeper with a double mattress on the floor. It works really well for our kids.
Bedlinen on double bed is from Magic Linen (gifted)
Bunting- Magic Linen- (gifted)
Long rectangular pillow- Maud Interiors
Small rectangular blue floral pillow- Zara home (v v old)
Small stripes square pillow- vintage bought many years ago
Canopy- made by me (I really wanted one I’d seen in a few stylish Instagram homes but couldn’t afford it so made one myself.)
Frankies bedding-eBay but originally Asda Home
Knitted Moon- Twistle and Brown
Rug- Facebook Marketplace
Real Branch hooks-eBay
Dressing gowns- H&M home
Chest of Drawers- (came with the house- I knowwwww!)
Lampshade- H&M Home
