Though the classic shelfie still holds undeniable clout on our social media feeds, recently there’s been a definite shift in the way we’re showcasing our interiors online. It’s as if our focus has zoomed outwards a little: stylishly arranged and usually featuring some variant of house plant, well put-together corners keep grabbing our attention. But are they as effortless as they appear on our Instagram feeds?
With this in mind, each week we’ll be asking one influencer to talk us through the most curated spot in their house. For our latest Story of a Corner, writer Laura Jane Williams has showed us how she put together her favourite nook in the home she's recently moved into...
The gallery wall
I love this corner of my house because the gallery wall adds so much character to the living room. The art is collected over the years, and all put in Ikea frames. There’s a poster from the McQueen documentary, because I went to the premiere, and a poster for The Bodyguard because it’s the best film of all time. To avoid the gallery wall looking too “flat” I added texture by hanging my Buddha head, that I’ve had since I was 18, and the stag’s head. My favourite piece is the blue Chicago skyscraper – I took it with my iPhone on vacation there, and my brother screen printed it in a class he took. The rest are from Wilder and Wren, Blank White Space, and the big naked woman is a De Lempika print I got online.
The furniture
The table is just Ikea, but with the velvet chairs I think it passes as more expensive. They’re an Amazon find! Which I’m thrilled with. The gold tray lets me have knick knacks around, but brings it all together. That’s fake Eucalyptus but sat in a clear jar with water in, and nobody ever notices.
The rug was La Redoute sale, and has the pink and mustard that the Ikea curtains do. The curtains are quite thin, so I got two pairs and have two curtains either side of the window to make them look fuller. That’s a great trick!
The personal touches
The face pot is Rachel Sender, and the candlesticks were off eBay. When I get cards or notes from friends I tend to leave them on the tray, as it’s a nice way to display a couple of them without lining them up on the mantelpiece like my mother does.
The colour scheme
My house is rented, and was an awful magnolia colour when I moved in, but I got permission to paint it white, and with the wood floors it’s bright and feels airy. This corner is quite a concentration of millennial pink, so the rest of the living room has vintage furniture in more muted colours to balance it out. But this space always photographs well, I get a million questions about it, and is so good I even use it as the backdrop to my videos in my online writing classes.
Follow Laura on Instagram @superlativelylj