Argos Transform Your Room challenge

A little while ago I was challenged by Argos, along with two other lovely interiors bloggers – Caroline of Patchwork Harmony and Jesse of Hecticophilia – to style a blank room completely from scratch. The Transform Your Room challenge was such a fun, utterly creative project and I’m so pleased to finally be able to show you the results now, not only of the finished space, but a video of the design process – my first venture into vlogging!

I think it must be an interior stylist’s dream (or perhaps nightmare, I don’t know!) to get their hands on a bare room that they can do whatever they like with. At first I was a little daunted by the task, I’ve styled bits and pieces at home and corners of brand’s shops for various blogger events, but never on this scale (and with a camera in my face!). Naturally shy, I’ve previously preferred to keep two feet firmly grounded behind the lens… But, in an exciting move, I had recently started advising friends, family and new-found clients on interior projects, so this was the perfect opportunity to test out my skills and create a genuine, homely space with limited budget and timeframe. Once the creative juices were flowing and I had picked the Argos items I wished to use, I couldn’t wait to get styling and creating my choice of room – a living room.

Each blogger was given a limited budget for home accessories (excluding the big pieces such as the sofa or bed) and a white room at the Argos film and photography studio for a day of shooting back in August. On the day we were given just 60 minutes to style and arrange the pieces we had chosen in our individual spaces, while a lovely, patient cameraman helped capture the process and results. Caroline created a bright, gender-neutral children’s room, while Jesse created a calm, retro-themed bedroom.

 

For my living room, I wanted to create a calm, cool, relaxed space inspired by the muted colours and light aesthetic of Scandinavian interiors. Think: white walls, cosy, grey sofas, soft textures and accents of duck egg blue – exactly what I would like in my own home in fact.

A lot of people don’t realise that Argos stock both Habitat and Heart of House among their ranges, so I wanted to show that even with a tight budget, you don’t have to compromise on style. You can get what looks like a Scandinavian piece of designer furniture without breaking the bank. My main aim was to elevate these pieces of furniture from slightly soulless objects you might see in a catalogue to create a real, homely space that you could actually imagine living in and feeling at home with. I wanted the room to feel light, airy and comfortable – a neutral space that could suit either a couple or a young family.

By carefully choosing key pieces that won’t date with time (i.e. you look at that sofa in ten years time and think why on earth did I choose that particular shade of bright orange?!) and sticking to a three-colour scheme, it’s easy to create a unified, cohesive scheme that will see you through fashions and tastes. Accents of colour and interest can be added, and also changed, with accessories, cushions, artwork and rugs.

For the Transform Your Room challenge I picked this lovely grey Heart of House Sherbourne sofa as my centrepiece. This was the first piece to be placed in the blank room, the rooms and the fireplace dictating where the rest of the furniture went. The grey and duck egg blue colour scheme was picked from the striped Habitat Agnes rug and the two Scandi-style Foley storage units that help balance the space and provide continuity. If you wanted to be a little bit bolder (not me, unfortunately), you could pick out the mustard yellow of the rug too.

Once the key pieces of furniture were in, it was just a question of making the space look lived-in and genuinely homely with the use of different textures. A velvety Heart of House armless chair was positioned by the fireplace, while a sleek Soho Retro tripod metal floor lamp overlooks the sofa to create a reading nook, and a cotton knitted pod provides a spot to rest your feet on. A small, white Habitat table  looks less formal than a big coffee table, and can be folded away if you need more space. While the two storage units are similar in style, I wanted to mix and match different pieces for the rest of the room. This can be seen with the grey sofa with the blue side chair, for example, because in reality that is how real homes are created – they evolve, develop, combining old and new into unique, individual spaces.

  

I added little floral touches in various sized glass vessels to create height and make the space look less severe and formalised – I always think flowers make a house feel like a home. Below is my lovely cameraman, Chris, who was wonderful at capturing a time-lapse of the process and all the close-up details, such as the niches in the shelving unit.

Get the look, a relaxed Scandi-style space on an affordable budget, with a few simple updates:

1: Soho Retro tripod metal floor lamp in black, a sleek designer touch at £29.99
2: Heart of House dipped earth 12 piece dinner set in grey, for a bit of artisan flair, £34.99
3: Foley 2 door sideboard – two tone, a super stylish way to hide all that clutter, £99.99
4: Heart of House armless fabric chair in blue, a cute, retro addition to a living room or corner of a bedroom, £229.99
5: Habitat Agnes flat weave rug, 120 x 180 cm, a hint of colour that won’t show up all the marks and stains, £65.00
6: Heart of House cotton knitted pod in grey, create a cosy nook with this soft pouffe, £38.99

Et voila… and here’s the final space! I’m really pleased with the result and think the space has come together as a lovely, light and airy whole. I’m genuinely amazed that all these pieces are so affordable, and that they come from Argos. I previously only thought of the brand for Christmas presents perhaps, the latest technology or garish home furnishings but this challenge has completely changed my mind. Now, creating a Scandinavian style interior need not be an unreachable dream, limited by budget or the furniture a pain to seek out and source. Their range could be perfect for a young couple kitting out their first home or a family wishing to give a new lease of life to a tired space. I know I’ll be keeping an eager eye on their ranges from now on, nice one Argos!

–> You can watch the video on Argos here and see how we got on! <–

Or read some more of my interior design tips on Argos too!

All images: Cate St Hill, plus cameraman Chris who helped out with some of the shots, such as above!

*This post was written in collaboration with Argos. All thoughts and opinions, as always, are my own.