At Home With Victoria @thegablecottage

This week we are at home with the lovely Victoria. The flower obsessed glamour loving lady behind the popular instagram account @thegablecottage where she shares images of her beautiful 1920's home which she has been renovating for almost 8 years. Read on to discover more about Victoria, her home and family

 

Tell us a bit about you

I am a 39 year old wife and mother of 2 boys, and 3 cats .   We moved here almost 8 years ago! We live in a town (a very small town) on the Essex/ Suffolk border so we have the beauty of feeling like we are in the middle of the countryside but we aren’t actually.

 

Tell us about your home

Our home is a 1920 built gable cottage. Only three family’s have lived here in the whole of that time.

 

How would you describe your home? 

I think our home is modern country style with a bit of glam! 

 

Which is your favourite room in the house?

My favourite room in the house has to be my dressing room which was completed in October 2020 just after the first lockdown! Living with only boys in this house I longed for a girlie space and I got my pink room of dreams after 7 years.

 

How does your home reflect any passions or interests?

I think most people would say that my home has a little glamour, and I am all about the glamour!  Candles lit most days, I just love the way a candle makes a home feel. I love a chandelier and fresh flowers and there is not often a week where fresh flowers don’t adorn my home. They make me smile! 

 

What are your favourite items in the home?

One of my favourite items is my hallway chandelier, it’s a real focal point when you enter our home and it was like it was made for our stairway. 

 

 When you moved into your house was it the finished article or was it a project?

I wish it was the finished article.  No it was most definitely a project and it is still ongoing.  Our kitchen renovation is next.

 

What renovation or decorating have you done and learnt any new skills?

We have done almost every room apart from the kitchen and utility.   One thing I did learn from past houses was not to rush.

When we moved in here I hated the traditional oak panelling that ran throughout the hallway and staircase and everyone told me I would get used to it. I didn’t. We had it painted all white a couple years back and it was the best decision I made.  However it’s good to live somewhere and get a feel for it before you make any big decisions. You don’t want to make expensive mistakes. 

As for new skills, my lovely pops who does a lot of our decorating taught me how to panel walls.

 

Have you had any DIY or styling disasters?

Yes! We used outdoor wood stain/varnish for our hallway and stairs thinking it would be more hard wearing for such a heavy traffic area! Huge mistake. It stayed wet for about 4 days so we couldn’t actually walk on it.   We had to move to my parent’s house temporarily.

 

What is your top home styling tip?

Display things in odd numbers. I love threes.  Things in odd numbers look great. 

 

Is there anything in your home that you couldn’t live without?

Shutters. I love shutters on the windows.

 

They say that every home tells visitors a story about who lives there. What do you think your home says about you?

I think it would tell a story of a family who likes to have fun and adventures. Our drinks trolley is a great feature in our home and always stocked up. There are plenty of family photos around the home of cherished memories and holidays. And I think it would say that whoever lives here likes to make things look pretty. Candles and flowers in most rooms. 

 

The Home Edit

 

Lived-in look or showhome?

Ohhh that’s tough but I think we definitely look lived-in

 

If you could only paint your walls one colour, which one would it be?

Charleston grey F&B 

 

What is your pet hate when it comes to your own or other’s homes?

People not taking shoes off

 

Favourite front door colour?

Black.  Sounds boring but I love a classy black front door with gold hardware.

 

Carpet or Floorboards?

We have a mixture of both but floorboards if I had to choose

 

Kitchen table dining or formal dining room?

Kitchen table

 

High gloss or rustic?

Rustic

 

Wallpaper or Brick Walls?

Now this is tough because I love exposed brick but I am a sucker for wallpaper so I am going with that 

 

Want More?

If you enjoyed being at home with Victoria, you might like to take a look inside other popular home styling accounts on instagram and find out more about the people behind them. You can see more of these "at home with" articles here

You can catch up with Victoria's beautiful instagram account here It's well worth a look!