Smoke on Mirrors: Fake it ’til you Make it!

In the world of interiors, there are so many ideas and much inspiration about. However the dark side of this is that it can make many of us feel a little inadequate. On Instagram we can be in awe at these beautiful and immaculate homes, with cream carpets and white walls. And it is easy to wonder how these homes manage to look like this when there are young children and animals living in the home. Well, many popular home interiors accounts admit to some of their posts being smoke on mirrors. It is unrealistic to think that in a busy family and working life that the home will look perfect all the time, and many interior bloggers and instagrammers acknowledge this.

So we have created a blog with our top tips on faking it ’til you make it and making your home photograph-ready for the ‘gram!

Set your scene

When taking a picture in your home you need to first decide what you want to take a picture of and then set your scene. Sometimes creating different content and scenes will involve moving things around which can create mess. Make sure to tidy the area, which can sometimes mean scraping mess to one side so that it is out of the way of the camera shot. A little thing that we do in our showroom when setting a small accessories scene is to change the background by using boards or getting a colleague to hold up a throw. Keeping it simple is appealing to the eye, and it hides any mess.

Camera Angles

Most accounts will tell you that their home shots are all about the camera angle. The important thing to remember is when looking at a photograph, you are only seeing what is in the shot and not necessarily the mess that may be present on the other side of the camera. So once you know what you want to take a picture of, practice many different camera angles and takes loads of pictures for you to go through later and select the best one! Be careful of reflections which may display mess in the background.

Filters and Edit

In the world of social media it is important what filter we use. Filters can brighten up images of the home, making them look lighter, cleaner and sometimes bigger. Every home account plays about with filters and lighting to make their pictures look as inviting as possible. Sometimes a nice bright filter is all it takes to make a dull stain on a wall virtually disappear. Some accounts even use photoshop/editing facilities which are commonplace and easy to access. This can allow blurring or editing certain things out of posts.

Strategically Placed Rug

Many home accounts are very down to Earth and happily show their followers how their seemingly-perfect homes aren’t quite so. Some accounts have admitted to things such as hanging pictures, mirrors or placing ornaments to cover up stains or discolouring on walls. It is also a risky business having pale carpets and cream carpets if you want to do things like paint your nails or have a glass of red wine. A home interiors account in the US admitted to strategically placing a rug over a large, red nail polish stain on her cream carpets.

Behind Closed Doors

Do you all remember that Friends episode where Chandler found Monica’s messy cupboard? Monica known for her dislike of mess and being a cleaning and tidying fanatic, had a cupboard where a lot of clutter and mess was thrown in to – it has to go somewhere, right? Walking into the New York apartment it looks neat and tidy, but you do not know what is behind closed doors. A home interiors account from Denmark, replied to a follower who was asking how she kept her home so tidy with three kids, saying that all the cupboards you see in her pictures are crammed full of toys, and that when you open the cupboards, it is like a toy explosion. She then added a video to her Instagram story showing her perfectly neat scene and then opened drawers and did a panoramic to see the mess that was hidden from the uploaded photograph. So, sometimes mess is in the picture and has been in the picture all along, it is just hidden from the eye!

Rare Picture Opportunities

You can spend an entire day cleaning and tidying your home, yet a busy family/work-life balance can see your home getting messy again in what feels like seconds. Some accounts will spend a day cleaning and tidying, and when their house is spotless they will take several pictures of it whilst they have the rare opportunity of it being spotless, to post through the week or month, when in reality homes can be quite messy more days of the year than it is not. Many of us are guilty of posting pictures that do not reflect current realities. For example, you may post a picture of your perfectly tidy bedroom whilst sitting on a messy unmade bed covered in laundry for example.

Be Realistic and Proud

Some home accounts have been emerging where people have been posting pictures of their messy homes with pride. They put emphasis on the importance of life being about having a busy, happy family and if that means less time to tidy then so-be-it. After-all we’ve all been kids once, coming home covered in mud and trampling it into the carpet. These pages seem to set-out to help people be proud of their homes, even if it doesn’t look like most of the ‘perfect’ looking homes online. They show that you can be house-proud and have a beautiful home even if it isn’t ‘perfect’. It helps people to stop feeling bad when their homes are a little messy and they have lack of time or motivation to tidy up. The reality is that even the most beautiful homes online get messy at times too.

Rounding-off

Every home is beautiful, even the ones more lived in than show-home spotless. In the UK we are so house-proud, but social media can sometimes make us forget that even the tidiest, most beautiful homes get untidy too. We hope this blog has been a bit of fun and helped you to not just get those great home-pictures on the ‘gram, but to see that mess and imperfections in the home are okay and all homes have them. Hopefully we have been able to provide you with tips in hiding these imperfections, how to accept them and an understanding that most popular home accounts use these tricks too. It’s all smoke on mirrors!

Love,

No5a x

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How to Go Out at Home

With current situations, many of us may feel like we are going stir crazy or coming down with cabin fever whilst stuck at home. Many of us miss going out to the pictures, for nice meals and socialising in general. In this blog we will give you some fun, light-hearted suggestions on how you can bring the excitement of going out to your own doorstep!

Restaurant Experience

Not only is it nice to have a night off cooking but there is a certain intimacy about being in a well-lit restaurant having great conversations without any phones or distractions that might be commonplace at home. We are here to suggest ways in which you can achieve this at home! Firstly choose a dining spot. This can be done by creating a new space to dine from in the home for a change of scenery for the night or you can tidy up and decorate you usual dining area. Once you’re happy with your spot you can put on a nice table cloth and decorate with candles and fairy lights – it doesn’t have to be over the top. Once you have transformed your dining area it’s up to you whether you will cook or get a carry-out. Either way make sure to look out the good tableware, bring the wine, dress up and bring the great conversation! You could even send invites to your ‘guests’ telling them where to meet and when and the dress code. And although this is a great way of having a restaurant experience at home, you can also be creative and have a little fun with it. You could do a murder mystery or Cluedo themed dinner with your party too. If you have children living with you, perhaps they could make the invitations or menus. There’s loads of ways to not just achieve a restaurant experience but how to be creative with it and have a little fun.

Home Cinema

You don’t have to have all this fancy cinema gear to achieve a home cinema at home. All you need to do is choose your movie and prepare drinks and snacks. It helps to make sure you have a nice tidy area with lots of comfortable cushions and rugs to do this and perhaps some small snack tables dotted about. And for that added cinema experience – switch the lights off, and enforce a strict no phones and no talking rule.

Some homes have even bought projectors to really get that cinema spectacle. You can buy projectors for reasonable prices online and they give you a little more freedom to change the scenery of your cinema experiences. If you are one of those lucky owners of a home projector then here are some suggestions on how to spice things up!

  1. Make an outdoor cinema. This can be done by taking out an old plain mattress protector or bed sheet to project your movie onto. You can make the outdoor area comfortable with cushions, blankets and lanterns.
  2. Make a drive-in cinema: with the use of a projector you could use the front of the garage/garage door to project the movie onto and sit in the car to watch.
  3. Move around the house: You can change your home cinema up by moving your projector and bed sheet around to different locations in the house so you’re not getting to used to the one place.

To make your home cinema nights extra fun, you could do costumed nights where you dress as a character from the movie or you could have themed cinema nights such as french cinema, nordic noir, bollywood, nollywood etc.

Finding Adventure

What most of our lives are lacking right now, is a little bit of adventure. Although it may not quite be the same, we suggest you can find adventure in the comfort of your own home! This can be done by setting yourself and your family goals and challenges to complete. For example, who can build a tower using marshmallows and straws, that can stay standing. There are also a lot of family friendly fitness classes online you can all take to doing together. You can get the family together to learn something new like music or art or taking an interest in someone else’s hobbies.

Holidays

Recently the sun has been shining and many of us have been enjoying the outdoors. Although the sunshine seems to be cheering us up a little bit amidst a pandemic, we can’t help but think about the holidays we won’t be going on. Well some of our customers, lucky enough to have a garden have attempted bringing that holiday feeling to their back gardens. And this doesn’t have to break the bank either! You can use plastic or deck chairs to sit out in the garden and you could buy a cheap paddling pool to dip your toes in. One of our customers has decorated their garden with hanging and light up flamingo decorations, beach balls, and flamingo floats and lilos to bathe on by the (paddling) pool. Another great tip to keep busy and achieve that holiday feeling could be to try and master those favourite cocktails at home. Many great restaurants and bars have released their recipes and expert advice to help us make great food and drink at home. So look those shades out, bring some magazines and headphones and prepare for some poolside vibes.

Parties and Gatherings

Socialising is an important part of being human and without it, many of us feel quite lost. Thanks to modern technology you can socialise and have a party or gathering from the comfort of your own home. Although it isn’t quite the same as the real thing, it is a pretty great compromise. With facilities to video call and apps like Skype, Zoom and House party, having social gatherings at home have never been easier, and not to mention no big tidying up operations afterwards either! With technology like this you can webcam in groups to chat and have fun. Many have created quizzes to do over video call, like a pub quiz. You can again have themed nights, or do fancy dress contests. Within the app house party, there are lots of challenges that you can take part in with your friends. Therefore there are lots of ways to have a laugh and some fun with friends without breaking any of the quarantine rules.

To Round Off

We hope you have enjoyed our little fun, light-hearted blog that suggests ways to bring the excitement of going out into your home. We understand it will never be the same as the real thing but sometimes small things like this are all it takes to make us feel little more human amidst these unusual and unprecedented circumstances. We hope we have given some of you some fresh ideas on new ways to have fun at home, and who knows, maybe some of these tips are things you can continue once things are finally back to normal!

Love,

No5a x

 

 

 

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