Helen’s Top 10 Ingredients for Styling your Home – Helen Turkington

Helen’s Top 10 Ingredients for Styling your Home

Helen’s Top 10 Ingredients for Styling your Home

People often ask me what are the most important elements to styling a home. To simplify it, I have put together 10 items that I believe are absolutely essential and the goodness is you will already have most of them! When you think of a house you admire, it is very rarely individual items that stand out. It is how all the elements come together to create an inspiring space. A common theme to all these diverse homes is the following styling elements.
6.29 minutes read

Helen's Top 10 Ingredients for Styling your Home

1. Books - I love using books all around the house in every room as a styling item. There are so many ways you can use books. You can coordinate them with your decor (spines of books in your chosen colour) or choose books with interesting topics. While I love books on photography and interior design, it is really important to choose books on topics you love as it makes the space authentic and reflects the homeowner's personality. Books are also very useful to add layered height, for example they can be stacked on their side with an accessory on top or stood vertically with bookends. Depending on the size of your footstool or coffee table, you can have three or four piles of books. They don't have to be big books or expensive hardback books, you can also use smaller paperback books or personalised photo books or photo albums. 2. Vases/Flowers - Whether it is a console table, coffee table, hall table, dining room table, top of a piano, fireplace, flowers and vases are the most brilliant way to bring light and freshness into an area. There are so many combinations to choose from: a large stemmed vase is beautiful when creating a dramatic effect. I also love pairing bulb vases for smaller flowers and placing multiples alongside each another. The signature floral arrangement at Helen Turkington is a goldfish bowl filled with tulips, which are fantastic because the smaller opening at the top means you don’t need as many stems to make it look full. 3. Fresh foliage like fresh eucalyptus not only looks great but smells absolutely divine but good quality faux foliage is always a handy year-round styling accessory.

Helen's Top 10 Ingredients for Styling your Home

4. Hurricanes & Candle Holders- Space dependent, I will usually style hurricanes and candle holders in pairs. While one is pretty, two is dramatic! Even a small clear glass tealight holder can completely transform and set the mood of a room. I particularly like to style them in threes on hall tables and consoles. When using fresh foliage, say in a table centrepiece, our artificial pillar candles are invaluable as not only are they sustainable but they are safe as they keep the flame from the leaves. 5. Trays- I love trays on a coffee table as apart from being a lovely styling piece in their own right they are a great way of giving you a base, especially if the surface you are placing them on is soft, like a footstool top. A mirrored glass tray is great for candles as it reflects the warmth created by the flame. Single stem vases work particularly well on a tray and again add that pop of colour and brightness. 6. Picture Frames - These are a non-negotiable must-have styling element for me. Having photographs of family and friends is a great way to make a house personal and act as constant reminders of those you love. 7. Objects - Objects of art or things you have picked up while travelling or on holidays act as great conversational pieces and help create an interesting, layered look in your home as well as telling the story behind the people that live there. 8. Ceramics - The perfect place for a ceramic is on a hall table or the centre of a round table. Chose a big, statement piece such as a ginger jar or a vase as an excellent starting piece for your decor or smaller items like decorative ashtrays to add warmth and function (excellent for keys or jewellery). As well as providing extra seating, a ceramic footstool is a beautiful styling piece in its own right and makes a lovely alternative end table. 9. Cushions and Throws - Nothing can transform a space as easily and relatively inexpensively as new cushions and throws. They can instantly add colour and texture and change the style of a room from formal to casual, country to coastal. I always swap out my cushions and throws according to the seasons and my mood! 10. Lamps - The importance of lighting cannot be underestimated in a room. Overhead lamping and task lighting are important, but nothing creates a warm and cosy atmosphere like lamps. I particularly like styling a pair of lamps on a console table in a hall for a warm welcome. Lamps and lampshades are such an important styling accessory as they can introduce wood, ceramic, metallics, texture, shape, colour and drama to a scheme.

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