(Advertisement – this post is a collaboration with DK but, as always, words and opinions are my own)
When it comes to styling your home, knowing where to start can be the hardest part. But thankfully for anyone needing a little helping hand, there’s a fantastic new book out this week to guide you through.
Written by two of my Instagram favourites, the award-winning bloggers Emma Hopkinson and Robyn Donaldson, ‘All Up In My Space: How to Decorate with Feeling’, doesn’t focus on unrealistic ambitions or fleeting trends, but how to create a home that’s right for you.
Packed full of heartfelt advice, handy tips, as well as personal anecdotes, discover what you really need from where you live, and how where you live can improve how you feel.
Over to Emma and Robyn to tell us more:
Can you start by telling us a little about yourselves and where your love for interiors started?
Emma: I’m the quiet, beige one that Nordic Notes readers may remember from my home tour. The one that’s all about forever-pieces, and taking years to make a decision. Even though I’ve moved into a bigger space I always want to live true to my slow-home values (even when everything feels wildly unfinished).
Robyn: I’m the absolute opposite in pretty much every way. Even as a tiny dot, brought up in a family of extroverts, I was obsessed with theatrical things, and mainly because of Changing Rooms and Laurence Llewellyn Bowen, I like to make my physical spaces tell a story which my very tired husband will testify to.
What was the inspiration behind ‘All Up In My Space’, and what makes your book different?
Emma: It all started while writing our blog as we found people often made decor decisions based on an emotional response to a certain colour, item or style. Life’s not always a bed of roses and for both of us, home is our sanctuary. But, as one minimalist introvert and one maximalist extrovert, we go about creating these spaces in completely different ways, and we wanted to acknowledge that there’s no one right way to do home.
Robyn: People don’t really trust their own personal style. They doubt themselves or get sucked into trends, so we wanted to be the friends that sit you down and help you Identify your emotional need for any given space. Wherever you live we reckon there are ways to decorate that feel like you.
Which rooms in your own homes best represent your own personal styles?
Emma: All my rooms are in a state of unfinish at the moment, but I’ve big plans unfolding for the living room right now. It’s taken me 2.5 years to work out the right direction for that space, but now I have a moodboard as well as a list of new and vintage products and it’s on a one-way street to success.
Robyn: Every room contains facets of me and what I need from my home at different points in the day. That’s why we split the book up like we did, not by room but rather by use so you can lock into what you want them to facilitate in you rather than what function they serve. I think my home office illustrates that best, as it’s made to be a creative prompt for the day ahead, but it’s divided into different zones to suit the kind of frenetic worker I am.
If you had to choose one item from each other’s home to have in your own, what would it be?
Emma: Can I have Robyn’s entire kitchen? I can limit it to the dining table at a push. And the lighting above the dining table. And the floor it sits on. And the dogs.
Robyn: All her chairs, she does a great trade in sexy chairs.
Apart from reading your book, what would your top tip be to anyone about to start a decorating project?
Emma: Cast your inspiration net wide. Collect imagery and samples and see what themes recur. Sure, take inspiration from other people, but design with you and your real life in mind. When you’re surrounded every day by the things that make your heart sing, home and life feel infinitely more authentically you.
Robyn: Trust yourself. Your intuitions are leading you somewhere you want to go for a reason. Decor should be fun and so much of it isn’t permanent so take risks where you can. Planning is obviously key with big projects, but don’t lose the playfulness or wonder as that’s where the real interior magic happens.
Thank you so much to Emma and Robyn for chatting with me, I know this is one book I’ll be coming back to many times.
Want to know more?
‘All Up In My Space: How to decorate with feeling’ is published by DK and available to buy now.
If you would like to see more from Emma and Robyn, head over to their Instagram accounts, @thecrapflat and @around.robyn.
Images 1-3 by Nicola Capper, 4-7 by Emma Hopkinson, and 8-11 by Robyn Donaldson.
DK kindly gifted a copy of ‘All Up In My Space: How to decorate with feeling’ in return for this post.
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