We're going trans-Atlantic today with a reader design tour in the United Kingdom. Lisa and her family moved to their Georgian style home in York three years ago; but while this home is the perfect period place, Lisa has an amazing eclectic aesthetic that makes it entirely her own!
Lisa first started sharing her home via Instagram several years ago, and needless to say, mutts of all kinds were immediately drawn in!
From Lisa:
“I am totally addicted to thrift, vintage and recycling and love mixing old and new together. The juxtaposition of the two makes me really happy. I adore midcentury furnishings and styles and this is reflected in many of my rooms. I would describe my style as eclectic vintage with a bit of London cool.”
What I love about Lisa's home is that it is just. so. her! Now of course I only know Lisa through the magic of the interwebs, but I can feel and understand her when I look at this space. Do you all feel it? Can you all see what's important to her? The spirit of individuality, the authenticity of self? It may be "just design," but that's not to be overlooked!
“I feel that the only person who should dictate a trend in your own home is yourself. My home is filled with things that I love - if I don’t love it, I don’t have it. So my style reflects my ideas and personality. I don’t bring things into my home based on whether they will ‘match’ or blend and I like to clash and mix textures. It’s taken years for me to realize that you should just go with what you like, whether it’s ‘on trend’ or not. ”
“Via my Styling Workshops, I encourage other interior obsessives to go with their gut instinct when choosing decor and furnishings. If you like it, have it. We’ve moved on from the ‘matchy matchy’ colour themed interior design standard viewpoint and especially in our post Brexit economy, people are more inclined to recycle and buy vintage than they ever have been before.”
Lisa practices what she preaches - listening to what you want, reusing found or vintage materials when you can (hey, it's financially responsible and it looks pretty cool too!), and making your home into something you really, truly love. Her best illustration of all of this is her kitchen, which she renovated on a simple couple hundred dollar budget.
“I revamped my kitchen myself on a super small budget. My favourite piece in here is the steel neon above the cooker. It’s a Pink Floyd track called Shine On You Crazy Diamond and it was made by an amazing local artisan called Light Up North. My dad died unexpectedly eight years ago and he was a guitar player in a band, this was his favourite song so I feel that even though he never got to see our home that there is always part of him here.”
Now, I'll leave you with the one statement Lisa aspires to be - and which I think she's totally nailed.
“Rock chick cool art mixed with vintage pieces and midcentury thrifted finds is my idea of perfection.”
Follow Lisa along on Instagram @_lisa_dawson_ or via her blog.
