Bloggers were encouraged to think up different ways to achieve great results and we were very impressed. We have taken some of the best ideas from each blogger and compiled a guide on how to makeover your desk like a blogger.

Signing Off

Picture sourced from www.ofbeautyandnothingness.co.uk

One way to really make your space your own is through signage. Simple and sophisticated, putting a sign that represents you, your space and your personality can really transform the meaning behind your space and the atmosphere in your space. Blogger, Heather Nixon from Beauty and Nothingness opted for a welcome sign above her desk. Making the space more open and friendly, a space of warmth and comfort.

Upcycling Galore

Picture sourced from www.secretdiaryofascavenger.com

This was a trend that many bloggers used and we were in love. When on a tight budget this is often the best way to reimagine a space. One blogger, Zoe-Lee Skelton from the Secret Diary of a Scavenger, was perhaps the most creative in turning an old plank of oak into a gorgeous cotton holder. Not only did this free up her space but also brought in a touch of her personality into her work space.

Another great upcycling project that we saw by bloggers is giving their work desk a complete overhaul with a quick lick of paint and a new papered top. For those who would like an even bigger desk makeover, this is the option for you. Keeping costs down to a minimal, all you would need is enough time to get the job done. Lottie Schmidt from Lottie’s interiors changed the whole look and feel of her work space by painting her desk a dark grey with a papered top.

Picture sourced from lottiesinteriors.blogspot.co.uk

Light It Up

Picture sourced from keepdreaming-13.blogspot.ie

In the winter months it can be easy to feel the dreariness of cloudy days and rainy outdoors. One great way to lighten up your work routine is with the use of warm lighting. One blogger who decided to change her desk into a fairy lit wonderland is Jordan from Keep Dreaming. Jordan opted for a string of copper, heart shaped fairy lights and salted caramel and earl grey scented candle for her desk makeover. Her style is rather romantic and her use of warm rich metals echo the autumnal interior trends that we are seeing this season.

Keep It Timely

Picture sourced from www.lisahh-jayne.com

Working from home more often than not can lead to distractions. Before you know it you’ll have watched an hour of daytime TV whilst just ‘making tea’. One of the best ways to ensure that you’re keeping on track with your daily schedule is by keeping a clock on your desk. This is what Lisa from Lisahh Jayne has opted for when updating her desk. Choosing a black clock in contrast to a white desk creates a dramatic yet understated look to your home office, you can never go wrong with a bit of monochrome.

Bring in Some Personality

Picture sourced from www.essaysandwine.co.uk

For so many people the home office is not a place where you spend your time bringing in your own personality. Buying décor that reflects yourself is often reserved for the rest of the house. It is very rare for guests to venture into your home office, and so most people do not see it as important. However, creating a welcoming and creative working environment is best done by spending some time bringing a little bit of yourself into the space. This is something that Emma from Essays and Wine has embodied when redoing her work space. By adding strings of her own pictures and flower fairy lights brings a little bit of herself to her work space and makes it a warm and welcoming space where the creative juices can flow comfortably.

Pick a Theme

Picture sourced from www.shelllouise.co.uk

One way to tie in a room’s décor is by bringing in a common theme throughout your décor. Michelle from Shell Louise used this tip when updating her work space. Michelle opted for the incorporation of owls throughout her desk and we loved the outcome. By tying her room together with this one pattern, she really elevated her space, making it her own.

Organisation

Picture sourced from fromalditoharrods.com

And last but certainly not least, as this was our winning desk, the best way to optimise your work space is by organising it. This is the basis from which everyone should update their desk and has been a common theme throughout the challenge. We love the simplicity of what Emma from Aldi to Harrods did to her desk, keeping it simple and her own she transformed her desk making it a functional haven.

Well done to all of the bloggers who took part in this challenge, it was no small feat. Make sure to follow their blogs and read all about how they updated their desks. They are sure to have some wonderful content coming from some beautiful desk spaces.

Macro trends emphasising mathematical and geometrical patterns, textiles and furniture pieces will be in the forefront this season, highlighting the deeper, darker and richer colour schemes. With an added touch of rich mixed metals, the darker hues of industrial trends will be subtly flowing through many households.

Black, burnt and bright oranges have also been in focus, blended with graffiti and notions of urban physicality, to create what Lisa White from Homebuildlife terms the Social Superhero’s macro trend.

In preparation for the new season, we take a look at how to bring these vintage inspired deep and dark trends into your home.

Geometric Designs

Picture sourced from www.apartmenttherapy.com

Geometric finishing’s are making an appearance this season. By incorporating mixed mediums such as dark wood and rich metals, bringing a statement piece into your home is an easy way to incorporate this trend without redesigning your whole house. Room 4 love this trend for the office. Bringing in a rich textured statement home office desk to act as the anchor for your work space can really bring some warmth to an otherwise cold room. Adding extra décor elements such as a soft woven carpet can really make this a cosy working space for the winter months.

Cushioned Inspiration

Picture sourced from www.simplygrove.com

Perhaps one of the easiest ways to transform your home on a budget is with the addition of feature cushions to rooms like the living room and bedroom. For the winter months, adding scatter cushions with rich fabrics and patterns can be a great practical way to bring in both comfort and warmth into your home. This season, the plusher the cushion the better. Darker hues like navy blue and gunmetal grey are easily accessible and very on trend.

Refreshing Vintage

Picture sourced from www.etsy.com

A major trend this season is the updating of vintage items such as chest of drawers, lounge suites as well as décor items such as lamps, clocks and even old suitcases as storage units. Although this is nothing new in interior design trends, it is something that we will be seeing a lot more of. Not only does this trend speak to the upcycling movement sparked by green initiatives but it also mimics the general trend towards brining those outdated vintage items previously owned by older generations into the present.

Metal Opulence

Picture sourced from www.decoist.com

A mixture of warm metals will be making more of an appearance this winter, with a turn to more opulent metals such as gold, rose gold and copper. Mixing warm metals through furniture, décor items and frames is a great way to bring some industrial warmth into your home. Christmas will also provide for the perfect opportunity to experiment with this trend, dressing your home in golden Christmas decorations could never go amiss.

Autumn / winter for 2015 promises to be a warm and cosy season with opulent and luxurious interior furnishings and décor. We look forward to a warm winter.

The Perfect Desk

The base of every good university work space is the desk you work from. As one of the very few items of furniture that you will be able to fit into your room, your desk will become one of the centrepieces. If you are amongst one of the lucky ones who get to bring their own desk with them, why not take the opportunity to incorporate your own style. Getting a great home office desk can be a perfect way to get a desk that can follow you even after university.

Get Creative

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Since you will be spending hours staring at the wall behind your desk, you might as well make it a good wall to look at. We love the idea of making a collage of photo frames, posters and hooks to hang items such as stationary filled mason jars to add that personal touch to the space above your desk. Adding some personal inspiration quotes may also help you ignite that spark you need to get through those endless projects.

Get Quirky

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One great way to break the ice with your new roommate is with quirky desk décor. Nothing says, ‘I’m friendly, I promise’ quite like a gold peace sign. Decorating your desk with unique items can get the conversation flowing and make those first few days much more bearable. Not to mention making a dreary university room a much brighter place to be.

Light It Up

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One of the great joys of being young is being able to hang fairy lights wherever and whenever you like without side glances from those more discerning visitors. So why not take advantage and dress your desk area in strings of fairy lights. Although they may not be the best light to work with at night, they will bring a cosy and enchanting feel to your space.

We would like to challenge bloggers and writers to a desk makeover. With just £20 could you find creative, stylish and modern ways to transform their desk? Be that by upcycling your old office folders to bringing summer indoors with a quirky desk plant and flower design stationary, the possibilities are endless and we would like to see what you can do.

So you like the sound of the challenge but how do you enter?

You need to be a blogger or a writer to enter. You must use a desk for your day to day work at home. If you fit this profile please email blogger@room4interiors.com with your website URL and contact details. Once you have been approved you would need to take a picture of your desk before and after, post it onto your blog telling your readers what you did, how you did it and how much it came up too with a link to Room 4 Interiors as the challenger. Remember to share your before & after pic onto Twitter with hashtag #Room4DeskChallenge.

All contestants will get £20 to spruce up their desk as well as a 20% discount on the Room 4 website for those who wish to purchase larger office items. The top 5 bloggers will each receive a Room 4 social post with a link to their article whilst the blogger with the best desk will be featured on the Room 4 website.

The person with the best desk and the winner of the challenge will get a £15 voucher to spend at Chroma Stationery on their own personalised blogger notebooks, a Dog and Pen paperweight from Qwerkity and a Terrific Weekly Desk Planner for all important blog planning.

The competition will run until the end of August with voting opening on the 1st – 13th September 2015. Voting will be done by the public via Twitter. Voting is done through retweeting bloggers competition posts, each retweet is a vote. It’s a simple as that.

We would like to change the way desks around the UK are decorated, are you up for the challenge?

Whether it be making your house summer ready or generally updating your interior, summer is prime time for redecorating. The sun’s out, everyone’s happy and the kids are off, so why not use decorating as an enjoyable, fun activity to get the whole family pitching in and doing something together.

Decorate their bedrooms

One sure fire way to keep your kids entertained and having fun over the summer holiday is to get them involved in decorating their bedrooms. Redecorating with your children is a great way to get them excited and off the sofa, doing something fun, engaging and new. Allowing them to help decorate and have a say in the styling of their rooms will get their creative juices flowing and help them to learn new skills over the school break. You can even create a unique and fun study area with our home office furniture .

In the midst of decorating is often when you find that your furniture is also in need of an update. Whether it be a bed, dresser or cabinet, giving your room a new lease of life inevitably makes everything else look old and tired. Splashing out on a nice new matching bedroom set for your room will finish off the fresh new look, putting the cherry on top of all your hard work.

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Decorate the dining room

Since it’s summer and the sun is blazing, the time has come for playing host. Inviting friends and family round for barbeques and a ‘few’ drinks is a frequent occurrence this time of year, so why not use this as an excuse to breathe some new life into your dining areas just in time for your guests. This along with the fact that school is now a distant memory means that the next 6 weeks will be packed with plenty of friends visiting and staying over, providing you with even more incentive to give your dining room a new lease of live.

The dining room is the social hub of the household so it needs to be fresh, fun and inviting. This is never more important than during the summer when every man and his dog seems to be dropping by for one reason or another. Investing some time and money to keep it looking smart will make you feel great about having guests over, along with giving you and your kids something fun to do during the school break. New furniture is a great place to start when updating your dining room, with the table obviously being a massive focal point.

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Getting the whole family together to help decorate is a great way to spend some time together. Keeping the kids active, learning new things and most importantly having a good time is what the school holidays are all about, so why not re-decorate with them and kill two birds with one stone.

Take a look below at our top tips to get your house feeling summery and ready for the warmer months.

Patterns & Palettes

Summer is a time to get rid of the old and bring in the new. Patterns designed to stand out and bold colours can create an interior that offers an elegant and enjoyable place to relax. Floral designs, patterns and feature walls can be mixed and matched with wall colours, flooring styles and simple furniture to great effect. The more creative the better!

White

Adding white into your room can instantly make the room feel brighter and bigger. Bringing in clean, fresh, white furniture or decorations will open up the room and make it feel more like summer. White rooms tend to reflect more light, making it feel brighter and more natural, even with artificial bulbs.

Source www.fourwallsandaroof.com

Natural Lighting

With longer days and warmer evenings, inviting natural light into your home will result in a brighter more summery feel. Big windows and strategically placed mirrors mean that you can enjoy the warmth and brightness of the summer sun. Adding mirrors to your walls is a great way to reflect the natural light around the room, along with helping to make it feel and look bigger. Pull back the curtains, throw open the windows and let the sun stream through your home.

Along with maximising natural light it is also a good idea to try and minimise artificial light. Artificial lights can create the feeling of warmth and heat and is best to be avoided during the daytime where possible.

Source www.cupofjo.com

Bring the Outdoors Indoors

Summer is all around us making the perfect excuse for homeowners to garnish their homes with flowers and plants. Whether they’re freshly picked from the garden or found at a garden centre, plants and flowers can bring life to any interior. Adding bright, fresh colours to your room is a great way to give your home a summery feel without having to do much work. Indoor plants give your home an outdoor feel and aroma especially when placed near windows where they can flourish in the summer months.

Flooring

Laminate floors have grown immensely in popularity in recent years. Laminate is a cost-effective, low maintenance and durable solution to summer design. It’s perfect for a floor that can protect against those inevitable ice cream and drink spillages. Laminate floorings practicality coupled with the fact that nowadays they recreate the look and feel of natural flooring, tiles and panels with flawless effect.

Remember to keep it simple as there’s no need to completely redecorate, small touches can make a huge difference to the feel of your home. With these guidelines you can create an interior design that is unique to you and your home, leaving you more time to sit back, relax and enjoy the coming summer months.

From the 13^th June to the 21^st,, during National Picnic Week, you have an excuse to whip out your picnic basket every day and enjoy the spoils of Summer right in your very own home. In celebration, we are taking a look at how to make your conservatory a glorious picnic spot to be enjoyed all year round.

1. The Perfect Picnic Table

   

Picture sourced from www.housetohome.co.uk

The table is always the centrepiece for any picnic occasion, be it a blanket on the grass or a long table in the conservatory. With the ease of a picnic, the worries over perfectly placed knives and forks and colour coordinated napkins can be kept for the dining room table. Picnics call for relaxation, easy foods and most importantly good company. Items such as the Coast to Coast Extendable Dining Table allow for you to picnic with a number of people, with expandable table ends to accommodate everyone.

2. The Comfy Picnic Chair

   

Picture sourced from www.vintagerosegarden.tumblr.com

Picnics are for spending long afternoons lounging around, watching the sun set over the blossoming flowers. They are for watching your kids run around the garden while you catch up with a long last friend. They are not for sore bums and aching backs, thus in order to make your long afternoons better, the perfect comfy picnic chair is required. Great buys such as the Stanford Ladder Back Dining chair provides great back support, topped with colorful patterned cushions, your picnic lunches will be some of most comfortable yet. Ideas such as these are also great for those long days behind a home office desk, creating a great home office solution for those aching backs.

3. The Picnic Sideboard

   
   

Picture sourced from www.tinkerbell2477.tumblr.com

A great sideboard can do wonders for your conservatory. It is the perfect place to store plates, bowls, cups and glasses as well as a great spot to lay out your picnic fair. Everyone can help themselves to food, serve their own drinks and find their own spot around the picnic table. It can also be a great décor item for your conservatory, taking it that one step above. Items such as the Portobello Side Board is a great buy, large enough to store all of your crockery as well as your picnic baskets, cushions and blankets.

From the 3^rd to the 11^th May 2015 Grand Designs Live took over four exhibition halls of the Excel centre London.

The exhibition is presented by design guru Kevin McCloud, and based on the hugely popular Channel 4 series Grand Designs.

The exhibition offers you a unique opportunity to gain all the advice, inspiration and materials you need to build your very own grand design.

With areas dedicated to interiors, technology, kitchens, bathrooms, build and gardens, plus live sessions from leading interiors experts and TV personalities, there’s inspiration for every room in your home. And, with over 500 exhibitors, you can shop from a comprehensive line-up of leading home brands, all under one roof.

Room 4 Interiors went along to the show to find the latest trends and accessories to fit with our furniture as well as listen to some of the theatre talks.

Here are our top interior design tips from some of the very best known designers in the industry.

NSI Design is owned by Nicholas Sunderland and works to redesign interiors globally. Here are some of the top tips from Nicholas himself:

• Before you make any changes to your home think about the value it will add. In the UK one square foot of space is worth £450 in terms of added value to your home, with the same area worth up to £2,000 in London. If you are looking at reducing or extending sq. ft. then weigh up the cost of the development against the value added per sq. ft.
• Developments costs are not just in building or structural work but also the small fiddly hidden expenses. For example: if knocking two rooms together check the ceiling heights match, do floor levels match?
• LED lights are a great way to change the mood of a room. You can use a plain paint canvas on the walls and use the lights to add colours.
• Large mirrors reflect light and are great for small or dark spaces that do not have a lot if any natural light like bathrooms, hallways etc

Image source: https://www.room4interiors.com/p144246/round-gold-isabella-mirror.htm

• Placing mirrored Perspex on to the base of furniture like kitchen islands and units, bookcases or dressers can give the illusion the furniture is floating
• When using LED lights in the kitchen it is advisable to user ‘pure white’ lights not colours on work surfaces or under units and counters for the best lighting for preparing food
• Pocket doors are a new trend, these are also known as cavity doors and slide into the walls rather than open outwards. They save space and can allow for greater configurations in rooms.
• The kitchen is the most expensive development of any home, as the biggest spend take your time and make adjustments
• With the kitchen being the most expensive element you want it to last. If you want a bright kitchen consider white units but accessories in colourful kitchen wall paint, splash backs, and flooring. Things that can be replaced at a lower cost than the whole kitchen but can change the entire look.
• The same applies to other rooms in the house, add colour, texture and interest by adding cushions, re-upholstering chairs, covering footstalls etc
• Crystal lights reflect the most light in a room, there are plenty of crystal chandeliers and modern lighting available on the high street

Image Source: www.luxurylighting.co.uk

• If you have an old piece of furniture like a fire place it can be expensive to replace so why not consider ‘colour washing’. Here is an easy guide to how to Colour Wash online http://www.designsponge.com/2010/09/before-and-after-basics-whitewash.html
• Do not be limited by the items you already own. You can modify these as well. Changing the doors or handles on a wardrobe, or the surface on a table or padded seat on a chair can make a huge difference.
• If you are using patterns like stripes consider mixing things up, lay the pattern horizontal and vertical, the same with fabric. You can make great texture in patterns from laying weaved fabric horizontally and vertically and it can give a 3D effect.

Jo Hamilton, Interior Designer, tops tips:

• When choosing big money items like sofas, kitchens, or bedrooms opt for neutral colours. Tastes and trends change, so it’s good to keep to a simple base that will stand the test of time.  
• It helps to create a mood board for each room, pulling out pictures from magazines, showing furniture styles and the illustrating the general feel you want to achieve.  Add colour swatches and fabric samples and you’ll find that your own style starts to emerge.  Take the mood board with you when you shop and make sure anything you buy works with your theme.
• A good worktop is like a good pair of shoes, it will really set the whole thing off and will make the room look luxurious.  Go for the most expensive worktop you can afford.  If your budget will stretch to granite or Corian that’s great but if not opt for a cheaper alternative that is made to look similar.  Add some punchy accessories for interest and you’ve got a great new look.
• It is important to have something to tie the whole look together and artwork can do just that.  Spend money on a couple of key pieces that you really love and pull out the colours from the artwork in your accessories.
• Give careful thought to how you want to light your rooms for the different moods you want to create during the course of the day – cleaning, cooking, working, romance, entertaining etc. and allocate some of your budget to each scenario.  It may be that your “romance and entertainment” lighting layer consists solely of candles and side lamps and that’s fine – you’re not looking for expensive solutions but it is important to consider it so that your home feels comfortable and welcoming.

Image Source: www.decoist.com

For a whole two glorious weeks the Ideal Home Show takes over Olympia Exhibition Halls in Kensington and show the UK the very best in home fittings, décor, kitchen and bathrooms, garden design, fine foods, fashion and beauty.

With over a century under its belt the show has seen the interior fads of the power hungry 80’s to the swinging 60’s and even as far back at the very art deco 20’s.

This year we went along to find out the next big thing in interiors from the experts, here are our top 10 tips for those buying, selling and developing their homes in 2015:

1. When designing your home think of colours as flavours and that will help you mix them in the most flattering way. For example: a beige or oatmeal sofa looks great in red room, it is like pasta and sauce or peppers and rice, and they counterbalance each other. When working with orange team with wood, think chocolate and orange, yum!

2. Do not mix greens, dark green and lime or light green and an earthy green clash
3. When converting anywhere in your house think about cleaver storage solutions- stools and coffee tables that can double as chests, in wall storage systems and utilise the full height of the walls

   

I’m sure we’ve all seen the minimalist design take over many a design magazine or blog over the last several years, whether its in a trendy city apartment or country mile, minimalism is bang and trend and we’re going to tell you some key pieces you can use in your own home to create this style.

Being minimal doesn’t mean you have to throw everything out that you already have, being minimal is all about key pieces that work for you, in terms of storage and your home and removing the clutter.

Light colours are also a must with minimal design. To create the effect of minimalism, clean lines should be your starting point. We always recommend picking out some pieces that pique your interest then use a design app or a good ol piece of paper to draw out your room plan, this will help you decide which items to purchase and which items don’t cut the mustard.

We will be looking at some key pieces of furniture which will work perfectly for a minimalist design.

Clean cut Sofa

Now, there is no hard and fast rule with which type of sofa you should choose, but we have found that grey, white, black and blue sofas are the most popular. They all have one thing in common, they are sleek with clean cut lines, they may not look like the most comfortable thing ever, however you can find a minimalist sofa that is just as comfortable as it is beautiful.

Functional Coffee Table

Wooden tables with high metal legs are a big trend in the minimalist design. Another trend is coffee tables which when unfolded can make a living room dining table, these not only look fantastic but provide ample storage, which will give you a chance to keep your clutter in check while sticking to the minimalist design.

Flawless Flooring

The style of your home will normally dictate what flooring you will have, however this doesn’t have to be the case. There are some truly breathtaking homes that appear to be one thing on the outside, yet when you walk through the front door you’re met with amazement because the exterior is the complete opposite of the interior so don’t let your home box you in, in terms of your interior design.

A popular choice in minimalist rooms is wooden flooring with a statement rug that will tie the room together. The wooden flooring can be painted white or even dark walnut, and the rugs are normally textured, this will bring another edge to your room while maintaining minimalism.

Another great by product of the minimalist design is that it gives you a chance to de clutter and start from fresh and you never know once you have sorted out all your clutter you may want to go minimalist throughout your home!