Bonjour Deco Podcast

Happy new yaer to you all !!  In this episode, I wanted to do a summary of all the positive things that happened to me and Bonjour studio in 2020. And I announce you my 2 main goals for 2021, in relation with my big prediction for 2021 ;-) 

Here are 5 ideas for your Christmas presents that you may like very much  ! - Idea 1 : A voucher for a deco coaching  ! We all know someone who would like to change something at home but doesn't know how to do it ! So this gift can help him/her. I would come to his/her home and give all the necessary pieces of advice, tips and ideas to start new changes.  - idea 2 : A candle ! I have a selection of candles from Parisian inspirations regarding the scents. So elegant and subtle 

Many of you haven’t come yet to « l’appartement » and ask me questions about it and what I am offering. So I will try and explain you everything in details !

When we say that we need inspiration, that we are looking for inspiration, we mean we are looking for new ideasfor our home decoration.  There are several reasons for this but the main one is that we don't have time and don't know where to find new ideas, that we are afraid to make mistakes, not trusting ourselves.  In this episode, I give you 4 sources of inspiration and one last big advice which will change everything for you if you don't succeed in taking actions to improve your decoration !!

I would like to propose you not to take ourselves seriously this week !! I'm going to give you five ideas to have fun in your home decoration, to bring some surprising effects. So my proposal is to bring some sense of humour in your decoration. So, of course, for me, decoration must be elegant, very stylish and with good taste. But on the contrary, I think that having a few details that bring some sense of humour is really a good idea. # Idea 1 : a wallpaper # Idea 2 : a surprising fabric # Idea 3 : decorate the toilets # Idea 4 : an unexpected or surprising object # Idea 5 : to have fun on the walls  There are hundreds of possible ideas. Don't put any limits to your imagination.Try to be curious and don't hesitate to pick any object that you find attractive, that just strikes you. And if you, if you find it funny, it'll tell about you !!

We’re going to talk about electricity and why is it so important to make an electricity drawing, especially when you’re building your house, or renovating your house. So in these two cases, you need to draw a very precise electricity drawing. When I’m doing an electricity drawing, I have two things in mind, two questions.  My first question is to think how you live. How electricity and lighting will help you to live in a comfortable way, how they will support your lifestyle. And my second question is how lighting and electricity will help you to make your decoration even more beautiful. We are talking about functional aspects and aesthetic aspects. I propose you a guided tour of a house to tell you step by step what you should think of when doing an electricity drawing.  Analyse how you’re living in your house, try to project yourself on how you’re moving from one space to the next one. Think of your needs and desires, and this will be perfect for you !!

Today, the kitchen space is following our lifestyle and the kitchen is not viewed only as a space to cook but also as a living-space.  We are not designing our kitchens as before. We don’t have the same conception of cooking than our grandmothers (yes at that time men didn’t cook !!).  In this second episode about designing your kitchen, I tell you about the importance of creating and atmosphere and choosing carefully your materials and collours.  Materials are of course important : on the floor, on the cabinet and on the worktops & splashbacks.  From quartz and acrylic to solid wood, tailor-made worktops can be adapted to your kitchen. Regarding the colours, let’s say that they are two main possiblilities : choosing your kitchen in neutral shades ( white, grey, black, brown…) but add colours on details (splashbacks, accessories, a wallpaper ? ) or dare  a colourful kitchen because the rest of your atmosphere is more neutral.  Everything is possibe, it is just a question of balance and being comfortable with the quantity of colours you are bringing. Kitchen lighting One key element is lighting !! A good lighting makes cooking safer, easier and more fun.  My last advice is to ask for some professional help. Designing a kitchen is something complicated. It is difficult to think of all the little details that turns your kitchen into a really perfect space. Kitchen designers do it all day long, so definitely they have less chance to miss something. And don’t hesitate to ask for several proposals : each designer has his own sensibility and one may understand your needs better another. 

Today, the kitchen space is following our lifestyle and the kitchen is not viewed only as a space to cook but also as a living-space.  We are not designing our kitchens as before. We don’t have the same conception of cooking than our grandmothers (yes at that time men didn’t cook !!).  In this episode, I tell you about the technical aspects you need to be aware of when designing your kitchen. When you want to change your kitchen, the first step is to analyse the global space. Who are you and how do you live ?  Kitchen appliances choices will come immediately after ! In a kitchen we move a lot from one place to another, so check that the distances are satisfactory.  A kitchen must be very functional and easy to organize and tidy. 

September is like another January, with lots of new projects, decisions to take, it represents a lot of energy although it is this time of the year when our energy is falling down. I won’t change the weather, I won’t stop the Covid, I won’t avoid the economic crisis but I have one solution, one tool to live better with these difficulties. Of course a growth mindset is important, optimism is essential but even if we have an optimistic mind, sometimes we feel more depressed and pessimistic.  So my magical tool is colors !!!! Yes being surrounded with colors will help you face an eventual seasonal depression and avoid it, avoid feeling fed up. Please have a try and analyse how you feel ! Colour is a question of habits, of being used to living with them. We have forgotten this, but our inner self, spirit knows about this !  

I am myself designing my own bathroom right now, so I am going through all the necessary steps to design it from scratch.  Here are the steps to follow, in this order !! Step 1: analyzing your desires and needs Step 2: drawing the general layout of the space Step 3: Bring all your choices together in a mood board Step 4: place the orders and find the best craftsmen Step 5: the work itself Step 6: Accessorize your bathroom Our bathroom is viewed today as an important space at home so even it costs it is worth it !!

I would like to tell you about the importance of office decoration and the fact that it really should help you to increase the value of your company and your well-being ! Today, we find it very normal to pay attention to the decor of your home so that you feel well at home and welcome your guests. But people spend most of their day in the working place, or at least 8 hours.  So the working space has become a living space. So why not giving the same importance to decoration in our working place than in our homes ??!! The idea is to give dream and extraordinary to the employees in their daily routine.  Decorating working spaces is not just spending money to have nice offices, it is far much more than this. It should be part of a whole business strategy to increase the value of your company, both from a human and financial point of view.

I wanted to tell you about situations that I regularly meet. Very often it starts with a very motivated client who wants some help, admitting that she (yes very often this person is a  «she» !!) knows nothing about decoration, doesn’t have time to do things herself etc. She is also very often someone who needs to be reassured, has a lot of questions. So far, everything is fine, I find absolutely normal to have questions and doubts. But sometimes this person is facing in her inner self some blocking situations that she has difficulties to manage.  Blocking situation nb 1 : worrying about the others’ opinion.  Blocking situation nb 2 : wanting to go too fast and not planning !  Blocking situation nb 3 : staying stuck with what you already know, have, did etc.  Very often, we face blocking situations because of our fears. Fear of judgment, fear to be wrong, to make a mistake, fear to change, fear to regret, fear of having too many colors… And this is precisely when the fear leads our decisions, our actions, that there is a blocking situation !   Trust yourself !! Learn how to listen to your deep desires, dare something new ! I propose you it will change your life, or at least your home !!!

In this episode we are talking about French lifestyle !!  I give you my definition of what is French lifestyle for me : a combination of a long historical and cultural heritage, a natural know-how for receiving, food and wine, the famous Made-in-France quality. All these elements gathered together bring a strong influence in design and decoration.  And this is what I am proposing you to discover ! Daring a variety of materials, styles, colours to make your decoration unique !

I love saying that you should bring colours to your life and home ! And that I don't like white walls everywhere ! However I am using a lot the white colour and I think we can do nothing without it ! Here are many pieces of information that you should know about white as a colour ! What does white symbolize ? Which white ? You must never choose white by chance ! White and lighting So the idea is absolutely not to forget the colour white: we absolutely need it ! But it must be chosen carefully, thinking of the contrasts around.

Very often I see houses in which every single wall is left white. When walls are white it can be because the owners love white and feel comfortable with it but more often it is because people don’t dare having something else !! What is the problem with white walls ? Here are 4 solutions not to have only white walls ! 1- First solution to move away from white walls : wallpapers and wallcoverings 2-Second solution : paint the walls !! 3- Third solution : dress your walls with lightings 4- And lots of other ideas !!! 

This summer, we are probably going to stay in Iceland and travel all around Iceland. And we will very likely go more to our summer houses. What does your summer house look like ? Are you happy with its decoration and design ? Very often we mainly invest (time and money) in our main home and the summer house comes second. We don’t concentrate that much on its decoration, gather pieces of furniture that sometimes don’t match very well together. The consequence may be that you do’nt feel perfectly well in your summer house due to a lack of coherence. Here are 7 things to keep in mind ! 1- Think first of functionality 2- Storage as the priority 3- Modularity as an option 4- Ok for functionality but don’t neglect the atmosphere and the decoration !! Make your summer house beautiful 5- Think of your lifestyle ! 6- What about second-hand stuff in a summer house ? 7- Don’t forget the outdoor !

I have always been a big fan of these industrial style glass partitions and I tell you why and also I give you ideas where to use them.  What is an industrial style glass partition? What are the advantages of having an industrial style glass partition? Where can we place industrial style glass partitions? I definitely think that an industrial style glass partition is a no-risk choice and you can be absolutely sure that your decoration will be a success with it ! 

So now you have general knowledge about home staging, we can go through more specific advice:  - The colours in home-staging - The materials - Lighting - Accessories  - Tips space by space ! If you apply all these tips, I promise you that your property will be sold much quickier !

Home-staging is real estate valuation : the idea to put your house « on stage » before selling it. So home-staging is to prepare your house so that you can sell it better.  What is the difference between home-staging and interior decoration ?  What are the general principles of home staging? The 6 steps of the home-staging ! Isn’t it better to sell the house empty ?  Be aware of the psychologic dimension 

This week I invited an expert, Stefán Jónsson, who is a landscape architect and a gardener and he gives us a lot of information about gardening ! He starts by telling us when his passion was born and how he became a gardener.  He first explains how to cope with the Icelandic weather.  He then gives us many and many pieces of advice about the different steps we should follow when we want to design our garden, the mistakes we should we avoid.  You will also know his « craziest » project and his biggest challenge !  I promise you will learn lots of tips :-) 

I keep telling you how important it is to create a personalized atmosphere at home. I always advice you to make it colourful, warm and cozy ! Today, I  explain you that you should follow exactly the same steps for your outdoors! 1- Create a coherent and harmonious atmosphere for your outdoors. 2- Choose your flooring 3- Select the material of your furniture 4- Think of adding fabrics 5- Bring the colours outside ! 6- Don't forget the lightings when necessary ! 7- Tips for small spaces 8- Don't forget your kids ! Even in Iceland outdoors are important so take the best advantages of them !!

There are of course a lot of ideas to create a warm atmosphere (choice of materials, colours etc.) but curtains, rugs and cushions participate largely in a cozy atmosphere ! Here are a lot of tips for each of them ! http://www.elitis.fr/en/accessory/   https://toulemondebochart.fr/ 

Materials are very often one of the first choices we are making ! And when you choose them, there will be here for years and years ! Although it is easy to re-paint a wall, you will not change your flooring every year, nor the tiles in your bathroom ! So choosing your materials carefully is important ! It is important to be aware of cold and warm materials. One common mistake is to have far too many cold materials at home and this prevents you from having a cozy and welcoming atmosphere. Space by space, we are talking about the best choices !

Lighting is really an important subject to feel well at home ! Lighting is always a balance between functionality and aesthetism ! The common mistakes are to have too much light or on the contrary not enough.  We are going to talk of technical (yes I know a little bit boring !! but useful) aspects, I will give you the positive and negative points on spots and decorative lightings.  And we will study space by space to see how we can optimize your lighting ! 

When our kids are more often than usually at home, we realize their bedroom is quite messy, they don’t have enough storage and that sometimes they don’t feel so well in their room. What could we do to improve their bedroom ? 1 – Create an atmosphere with nice colours! 2 – Choose adapted furniture 3- Help them to keep his bedroom tidy! 4- Don’t forget to make the bedroom cosy and cocooning! 5- Use paint to partition the space 6- Be sure there is enough lighting

For the coming weeks, our reality will probably be to be more and more at home ! The schools may all close and we will be asked to work from home. So we will have to organize our spaces to fit this new reality ! Here are some tips to help make the best of it !! 1-Organize a working space for your kids and yourself, either in bedrooms or using the dining-table  2- Create a daily routine ! 3- Don’t forget having breaks ! 4- Be careful of the mess !  5- Don’t forget decoration 6- Think of your colours choices 7- Make the lighting a priority Working all together from home will require new adjustments, collaboration,  some creativity and imagination to make it possible and bearable to everyone ! So let’s try and do our best, to keep some study times but also some fun times ! I am convinced that it is this balance that will help us to keep on going ! Of course as parents our role is to support our kids but I think we are also allowed to ask them to respect our own working space and time !

I like to give you details about what to do but today I would like to point out general mistakes I have often seen. It should help you not to do the same ones. 1- Copy-pasting exactly what you see in magazines, social medias or at your neighbours' ! 2- Having over-sized furniture 3- Too dark or too bright colours 4- Having too many pieces of furniture 5- Having messy spaces 6- Too white 7- Too much or not enough light 8- A house like a museum / not enough accessories 9- Forgetting the windows and the curtains 10- Letting walls empty Like us, our decoration does not have to be perfect !! But sometimes we are making a few mistakes and it prevents us from feeling really well at home ! So make a few changes and everything will be fine ;-)

After having my house shown in the magazine Hús og Híbyli, I thought I could use my own house and experience to give you avice and tips ! Advice 1: when choosing your home, focus on things that can't be changed or created. The negative things that can be changed and solved don't matter that much ! Advice2: do not hesitate to let your children participate and chhose their own colours, harmony and decoration in their bedrooms ! They will love it ! Advice 3: when you don't have the budget for a complete renewal, think of easier and cheaper  solutions and these can make a huge difference.  Advice 4: create your own colour harmony, don't keep the colours and atmosphere of the previous owners ! Make the house your home !! Advice 5: create a very cozy, cocooning and comfortable parental bedroom. Your couple will thank you ;-)  Additional tips: think of mirrors, storage and lightings !!

I think I should tell you what being an interior decorator really means ! My job is to bring different elements together to create a new atmosphere ! My job is to help you feel well at home and to propose you an amazing wallpaper, beautiful pieces of furniture or lighting. My job is to guide you with colors and make sure that all these elements are harmonious together !  10 reasons why you may need to call an interior decorator !!

This week, I had the pleasure to welcome my first guest : Hulda Jónsdóttir. She is an "arkitekt MA/FAÍ" in Iceland.  In this episode, Hulda tells us about her background and her experience.  She also explains us the diffrent steps of a project with her and how she is working. She confesses about her favourite projects and also the ones she enjoys less ! She also tells us what qualities a great architect should have ! And finally you will discover what an amazing vision she has for the future about architecture!! I really feel she is extremely talented and very sensitive to her clients and their projects so if you want to contact her, here are all her details :  hj@huldajons.com 00354 8650649  https://www.huldajons.com 

The sofa is definitely the most important piece of furniture in your living-room. It is probably the one you will use most ! It is also quite expensive so you'd better make the best choice for you !  Here are a few questions I advice you to ask yourself first ! 1- How many seatings do I need all together ? 2- What shape/size of sofa would I like ? 3- What material should I choose ? 4- Do I want my sofa to become an eye-catcher ? 5- Ligne Roset for a eye-catcher sofa !!! I have 4 different sofas at the studio so you can test them and I promise you it will be difficult to stand up again once you are comfortably sitting (nearly lying!!) on them ;-)

Behind this 'a little provocative" title, I just want to help you create an original atmophere for your living-room !! 

After talking about the entrance, it is natural to continue entering the house and we are arriving in the living-room. Your living-room is definitely the most important space at home because it is there we spend most of our time with our family and friends.  What are your needs for your living-room ? Do not hesitate to start by making a general drawing as if you were an architect and then you can think of the general harmony and atmosphere you wish ! 

The entrance of your home is the first impression and feeling you are offering to people who are visiting you. And as we say: we don’t have a second chance to give a first good impression !! As it is a circulation space where you are not staying, sitting, living for a long time, it is easy to neglect it regarding decoration. And this is a mistake !! We need not to forget this space. The entrance is a reflection of your personality. It is the very first message you are saying about you. It should be welcoming, with a warm atmosphere. I would like to give your 10 ideas to make your entrance personal, to make it special, to decorate it nicely. 1- Create an atmosphere, don’t let your entrance white ! 2- Use a unique flooring for your entrance 3- Decorate your entrance thinking of details and decorative accessories 4- Don’t forget wardrobes  5- Light your entrance up ! 6- Create a place to sit 7- One wall of frames, photos and pictures !  8- Use mirrors  9- Add a green touch 10- Think of your children

Learn about the the chromatic circle and colours in general and how to bring colours together.  Presentation of Our 3-hour workshop at the studio !! Sign up at studio@bonjour.is 

What do wallpapers look like today ?  How to choose your wallpaper ? Ideas where to hang your wallpaper