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Embrace Your Space | Beth Shehata

Beth of @bethshehata has transformed her 3-story new build townhouse from basic to beautiful. When she first moved in, she thought her style was all white and chrome with glitzy light fittings, three years on, her home couldn’t be more different from that. The walls have all been painted in dark hues that give the rooms depth and create a cosiness that could never be achieved with white walls. There are so many stand out features of Beth’s home, but our favourite must be her bar. Beth is a keen gin connoisseur with is evident with her many bottles of gin that adore the walls of her kitchen. The prints and accessories that she has used to decorate her bar make it all the more personal and edgy, Beth is into the industrial feel, mixed materials and metals. She loves the eclectic look and combing things that other people might not put together.

Decorating a new build

Beth bought a lot of bits and pieces for her home before she moved in and before she knew her style. She’s subsequently had to buy things to replace those bits and pieces to reflect her style now. Her living room has been redecorated 4 times, it began with a bright yellow wall, which was followed by some silver shiny wallpaper which lasted a week before it was ripped down, Beth then painted the living room a navy blue which she still loves and so do we! Beth has recently self-installed a brick slip wall to give the living room more character and a New York loft style feel. Beth says, ‘it’s very hard to replace something that is essentially perfectly fine’. She wanted to add her own style which is where her focus came from for going down the industrial route.

 Living room

Beth’s favourite room in the house is the living room, it’s the only room that’s fully complete. She loves the hardwood flooring which adds a lot of character and the brick wall that was a labour of love. Beth’s stand out features of the living room is the industrial lighting which adds a Manhattan loft vibe. Beth started planning the living room renovation 18 months before it was finished. She started by ordering samples, she created a texture mood board by complying all the wood and brick samples and see how everything would look together. She planned to do the brick wall before the flooring went down but it didn’t work out that way. Beth used brick slips to create her brick wall, they are essentially a brick tile that creates the look of a brick wall.

 Bedroom

“My favourite part of the bedroom is the dark walls. I started by painting one wall in Marina Trench by Valspar, it’s a really deep aqua green colour. I just loved it, so I painted the rest of the walls. It’s very calming and almost feels like you go into a cocoon when you go to sleep – I don’t think I’d ever go back to having light walls in a bedroom.”

Shop Beth's Style:

Inspiration

“I’m obsessed with Pinterest but I don’t actually look at interiors, I look at bars. I look at the way they decorate them and the styles that they go with. The big trend in bars at the moment is the industrial trend, the raw finish which is me down to a T. I love Instagram, it’s great for inspiration and looking at how other people have put stuff together, so many ideas come from that for me.”

 Lighting

“Lighting for me is one of the most important things and I think people under estimate how much character it can add to a room especially with the use of neons or filament bulbs. They can make such an impact and add a point of interest. I think it’s easy to underestimate how much light you need in a room. I like to use different lamps to create a mood and have different tones, it makes it more atmospheric.”

 

Dark Walls

“People on Instagram always say to me, ‘I wish I was brave enough to go dark’ and honestly, it’s easier than you think to fix, it might take a couple of coats but it’s not permanent damage if you decide you don’t like it. Start with one wall and do a feature then see how you feel. Make sure you’re using it in a space that does get its own natural light, if you’ve got an en suite that doesn’t have any windows – it’s not a good idea to turn your walls black. Add lots of light as well and the natural light to manage the dark. I think people assume it will make the space feel a lot smaller, but it doesn’t do that surprisingly. Start with one wall and be brave, you can fix it if you don’t like it.”

 Advice

When renovating a house, Beth recommends keeping true to your own style as opposed to the current trends or choosing things that you think other people will like. She says to go with what you truly love, be patient, research a lot and consider your house value. Beth advises to not put more money into your new build that you want to be able to get back and consider what you want to your new build to look like and potentially ask the builders to leave certain bits our that you might want to do yourself like the flooring.

Next project

Beth is flitting between the idea of redecorating her office and her bedroom next. Her problem with the office is that she doesn’t know what she wants. But Beth has plans for her bedroom. She wants to make it lighter in places but keep the dark walls, add some hardwood floors and add some more artwork