HOUSE ABOUT IT
DO YOU get tired of your home feeling cramped and want it to look more spacious?
Interior expert Alex Dauley from Channel 4's The Great Home Transformation helps a family-of-four fall back in love with their tiny Swansea home on tonight’s episode.
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In the show, full time nurse Lombe and her scientist husband Greg find themselves frustrated with their cramped three-bed semi, after their two adult kids move back in.
Lombe jokes: “We’ve sort of lived in a manner where we’ve just tolerated each other really.
“Having four grown adults under one roof is chaos.”
Thankfully interior design expert Alex Dauley is on hand to help the family.
On the show, she says: “I believe passionately that clever design at home can make your life happier and easier.”
With the help of hosts Emma Willis and Nick Grimshaw, Alex uses clever tricks to make their home feel bigger, and they could help you too…
Change the size of furniture
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Alex said you should analyse the areas of your house that don’t actually get used and consider getting smaller furniture.
In the show, the interior expert says the family’s huge dining room table hardly gets used, and they should utilise the space better.
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She explains: “The dining room is not really used, is it? You tend to dine in the living room.
“The table is underused, we’ve stolen a little bit of space and made the dining table smaller so it will work much better in the space for you with the flow.”
Add a door
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While open-plan living spaces are desired by many households, often they don’t work if you have many family members living or working at home in the same area.
Alex advised adding a door or a divider to make your home feel like it has more private areas.
After the transformation, Nick shows how the family’s home has been divided up so the lounge and dining space are now separate.
He says: “Now the dining room is a beautiful, multi-functional space.”
Emma adds: “Alex’s bi-folds stylishly zone it off, shutting off noise distractions, once and for all.”
Clever storage
Greg’s gaming consoles prove to be a tense topic in the family, with wires spilling over the floor.
Alex says you can instantly make a room feel more spacious by tidying away wires.
She explains: “You like to play video games, consoles and wires were everywhere.
“Storage - keep it nice and tidy but really organised and ordered.”
Change the colours
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Lombe and Greg’s white-washed “claustrophobic” home is painted in “cool, calming” blue colours so it feels more “stress-free”.
Alex explains to nurse Lombe: “The colour before was making you feel down wasn’t it.
“You work really long hours so it is important that you come home and feel instantly calmed as you walk through the door.”
Removable wallpaper
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Many people renting homes feel frustrated at the lack of freedom when it comes to changing the design of their home.
Alex advises that removable wallpaper can be a great solution.
Impressed, Emma says to the interior designer: “You have to scrape it off right?”
Alex clarifies: “Not this stuff, it’s perfect for renters.”
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The family breaks down in tears when they see the finished result, with Lombe saying: “For the first time I’ve seen smiles, it feels like home.”
The Great Home Transformation airs on Channel 4 on Wednesday at 8pm.