This post has been a long time coming, but it’s one of my favourites (mainly becaue it’s with one of my favourite humans!) I have followed Lissi (@oxfordone) since I first set up my Instagram account, her energy, creativity and kindness never fails to make me smile, just like her home. With a whopping 62k+ Instagram followers, clearly you all feel the same too!
Hi Lissi, for those that may not have been fortunate enough to have met you yet can you start by telling me a little bit about you?
That’s so kind think you! I’m Lissi, Mummy, Wife, Primary School Teacher and lover of home interiors and DIY.
And how about your house?
We bought this house almost 6 years and have renovated and extended the back of the house to create our open plan living space. It was originally a barn conversion and the house had been rented as two dwellings when we moved in so we had two kitchens, living rooms, bathrooms etc. Over time we have reconfigured these spaces to work much better with our family life. The layout is unusual and it is mostly on ground level with an upstairs guest bed and bath.
It’s no secret that you are the queen of colour – nobody can look at your home and not feel happy! Have you always decorated so boldly?
Ahh I love that thank you! No, not at all. Before we bought this house we had rented for years, this was the first house we owned, the one where we could actually paint walls and not just talk hypothetically about it. I think we were so overly concerned with what other people would think of our new house we overlooked what we actually wanted and liked and played it very safe in order to quickly put our initial stamp on the place and delete the magnolia. Over time, we began buying our own furniture where previously this had come with our rented flats and this started to shape our taste for more colourful and quirky surroundings.
You always have such quirky pieces in your home (I have such a soft spot for Geoffrey) – Where’s your favourite place to shop?
I’m glad you like Geoffrey too, he’s definitely a marmite piece! For the most unique finds I love to trawl antique markets and charity shops, I love instagram for finding independent businesses like Audenza and Luxeology to mix in with pieces from the high street such as Zara home, H&M and IKEA.
How do you plan decorating a room?
I tend to start with a colour combination either from a piece of artwork, wallpaper or collection of objects then plan a mood board around that. I like to see how a room is going to come together but almost always make changes along the way!
Do you have any interior décor regrets?
Yes, not ‘going for it’ when we first decorated! I had always said I wanted a home that made people talk and then we played it so safe and did quite the opposite, I wish I’d been braver!
I know you make or upcycle a lot of pieces; what’s your favourite one and how did you do it?
I love pieces with history and a story to tell and am forever spraying and repurposing pieces but i think my most triumphant upcycle is the kitchen, which was tiled in lime and black tiles when we moved in with light wood cabinets. I painted over the tiles with white tile paint and then the cabinets in a darker shade for the bottom units and an off white for the top. It transformed the space on a budget and has given us a few more years before needing to replace the whole kitchen.
Lastly tell us a secret, what’s your next project?
The next project is the only room we haven’t touched since moving in which is our shower room, Mr Oxfordone has claimed it as his so expect something with less pink than the rest of the house!
Thank you so much to Lissi, if you want to be inspired to add colour to your home, and make some fabulous pieces please check out her account!
