Rasa Pelham Cafe Life, Planning

Big Changes, Babycinos, and a (Probably Christmassy) July

The last time I wrote on here, it was January 2021 — deep in lockdown, deep in morning sickness, and very much not bouncing around the café. We were trying to keep the café afloat, homeschooling Lukas (while toddler-wrangling Tomas), and quietly preparing for the arrival of baby number three later that year. Since then? Well, life happened — in that intense, beautiful, chaotic way it does when you’re raising three kids, running a café, and doing it all without family nearby.

We came out of Covid hopeful but tired. Then came the energy crisis, the VAT registration (that was a party), and long evenings crunching numbers at the kitchen table. Some days it felt like we were flying; other days I wasn’t sure we’d make payroll. But we had something most businesses dream of: community.

I can’t tell you how many stories we’ve heard over the years — on Instagram, in person, little notes tucked into tip jars — from people who said the café was their lifeline. Especially mums. Apparently Friendly Nettle was a bit of a sanctuary, and I consider that one of our biggest wins.

We didn’t always get things perfect. There were burnt toasties and last-minute scrambles, and in 2023, some real financial wobbles. But then came Thomas (Shortstown’s very own budget guru), who sat with us and shared his wisdom on managing tight margins. His help — and all of your support — helped us turn the tide and actually become profitable. Honestly, it still feels wild to say that out loud.

And now, after all this… we’ve decided to say goodbye.

This September, our family is moving to Lithuania for a year — to reconnect, slow down a little, and be with people we’ve missed for far too long. It’s bittersweet. Friendly Nettle Café was our third baby — the only one with an espresso machine. Lukas and Tomas were already here before we opened the doors, and Heida arrived after. So yes, it really has been a family affair from the beginning.

Selling it wasn’t a decision we took lightly. But it’s time.

So what happens next?

We’re selling the café as an asset sale, which means someone else will take over the space, equipment, and probably the name too. It won’t be our Friendly Nettle anymore, but it’ll still be here — hopefully still warm, inviting, and full of stories yet to be written. We’ll be making our final decision on the new owner after this Thursday. Whoever it is, we hope they’ll carry on the spirit of what we started, while also bringing their own energy and ideas to Shortstown.

And I can’t talk about this chapter without mentioning the team behind it. My lovely staff — past and present — have been the absolute backbone of this café. Through lockdowns, shortages, the random fridge & freezer meltdowns, and all the in-between moments, they’ve shown up with humour, care, and calm in the chaos. I couldn’t have done it without them. The best part? They’re staying on. So whoever takes over will be lucky enough to work alongside a crew that truly knows and loves this place.

And yes — we really hope they keep the Shortstown shortbread, the famous coleslaw, and the weekly sourdough bakes going. They’ve become a bit of a thing. No pressure, new owners. 😇

In the meantime?

We’d love to see you. July will be full of final events, goodbye lattes, and even a gift & stationery clear-out sale (yes, Christmas bits might be involved — you’ve been warned 😅).

Pop in. Hug us. Take photos. Tell us your memories. This is your café too, and we’d love to celebrate this chapter together before it turns into the next one.

Oh — and if our blog disappears for a bit, it’s because the “Friendly Nettle” name might stay with the café. We’ll keep you posted, but we might pop up under something like pelhamadventures.com for a while until we settle in creatively on the other side.

Huge thanks as well to Anet Kava Photography for beautifully capturing the essence of the café over the years — from birthday balloons to crumb-covered kids and everything in between.

No café plans for now. But something creative is brewing. Just not quite ready to share yet.

With love,
Rasa x

Rasa Pelham Organisation, Planning, Reading

How I stay focused through the year

I often get asked how I am getting on with our current cafe project. “You must be very busy!” they add. I then simply answer that I am just getting on with it. People seem to expect me to be stressed and panicked. But the truth is that I don’t believe panicking is useful or a sign of productiveness (Joni would agree with me on this). I learned to manage my life a different way.

Now if you met any of my old friends they would tell that I never been an organised person. I actually struggle to manage my constantly wandering mind! But in return I have been very passionate about goals and productivity. Over time I learned how to be focused. I tried many methods: I tried filofax, google calendar, and wall calendar. You name it, I tried it! But I came to a conclusion, strict routines never work and tight schedule is a recipe for a disaster.

What really works is writing things down! I am currently reading “Big Dreams Daily Joys” by Elise Blaha Cripe and the way she describes the benefits of writing things down, could not be better said. Elise in her book explains how writing down to do list temporarily clears your mind from thinking about uncompleted tasks. Tasks that are written down are more visual, it creates a bigger picture and makes it easier to see when and how they are going to be completed (basically stops the chaos in your head). Lists also make it easier to collaborate as you can have a shared record of what has been done and what is left to do. Finally, lists saves time! When you find some time you can quickly refer to your to do list and jump to the task without much thinking about what needs to be done to begin with. Another good book on this topic is “The checklist manifesto” by Atul Gawande.

Now about organisational tools. Different types of tools fit different types of people of course. Some people use apps, some love bullet journaling (I tried that!) and then there are some that use wall planners (that is me!). It took me a while to realise, but once I did I started creating wall planners myself. Why? That’s because I could not find a wall planner that fitted my organisational process (in fact there is not much choice out there at all). I will explain later my pros and cons for using a wall planner, but if you are interested to get one for yourself that really works for me then visit our etsy shop.

Now pros and cons. Like everything else in life, wall planners have some good points and bad points. Which is why it is best to weigh both and see what fits best for you as a person.

PROS

  • It is visual. You can see it all out there on a large layout all at the same time. It’s always visible (which is why I keep mine on our fridge), therefore it keeps you focused most of the time. This pro is good for people who work at one location most of the time (like me).
  • It’s not a distraction! Unlike technology tools on your phone or laptop, wall planners do not overload you with notifications and e-mails.
  • It’s good for teams (or families). Since wall planners are visible to everyone, they can simply contribute to your planning or even get few tasks done as well. I find it helpful when Joni records evening events on the planner so I know when I can’t go out and need to stay at home to look after our kids.
  • It won’t let you down. Nope, wall planners are not powered on batteries therefore it won’t die on you when you need to check what time is your meeting. Also it will definitely not get lost. It’s always there on the wall when you need it :-).
  • it is decorative! A very important pro for me, I love how it looks when it is hung on the wall!

CONS

  • It does not travel with you. Yes, I get it. This must be annoying to anyone who travels a lot for work. But I don’t, so it’s ok! I occasionally get asked on my availability, but then I simply reply “let me check my diary and I will let you know”. Also when I travel I record tasks and events that come up (on my phone, I use a notes app). When I am back, I simply go through the list and transfer everything on my wall planner.
  • It won’t be automatic. When you get an event confirmation by e-mail it won’t be able to transfer the date onto my wall planner
  • It won’t call/notify you. Wall planner just don’t have that ability to call you or play a ringtone when you are about to reach a deadline.

So how does my planning process work you may ask. It simply starts with writing down some goals at the beginning of each year (will write a post about this later). These are not wishy washy new years resolutions. These are realistic goals backed up by tasks. These tasks (not very strict at this stage) get transferred onto our monthly planner together with some events as well (if you have any planned).

Eventually after the year starts I start planning more detailed tasks one week ahead. This is where our weekly planner comes in useful! While still keeping an eye on the bigger picture (goals) you can clearly how things plan out through out the week. I just love to take some time on Sundays to plan the week ahead and I tend to create meal list on Mondays since this is when I find its best to do shopping (our local supermarket is almost empty on Monday evenings!)

Finally I have some tricks up my sleeve for success (Ha! You did not see that coming!)

  • Don’t overcrowd your planner with too many tasks! These have to be all realistically timed. All the events and other external factors need to be considered as well. Nothing is more off putting when uncompleted tasks by the end of the day!
  • Don’t let the unexpected to throw you out of balance. Because sh** happens! If the task is not completed by the end of the day simply move it forward or cancel it all together (if it is no longer relevant of course). Don’t feel guilty, just move on! It is better to address the task (cancel or reschedule) then get panicked over uncompleted tasks.
  • Give yourself some rest! If you are feeling tired, clearly you are not going to be your most productive self. Therefore it’s ok to move some tasks to the next day and it’s ok to cancel some. Just take a bath or whatever else you like to do to relax and when tomorrow come it will be much a better day.

Most importantly have fun with planning and share this with someone else who you think needs to hear this. Here are the wall planners again if you are like me and enjoy jotting down the tasks on the wall ;-).

Rasa xoxo

Rasa Pelham Planning

Our big news!

Well well well, this has probably been our best kept secret (ok, longest kept secret) for over a year and a half! And the secret was (some of you may have guessed it, or may have been told) that we are opening a cafe here in Shortstown where we live! I am also back to blogging (sort of) as I promised myself back in March that I will have a break from it while I prepare for this venture. I think it’s like having a new baby, nothing can really prepare you for this. As I collected the keys yesterday, I am still overwhelmed with the things we need to get done even before starting the fit out works. There is a lot that needs doing. We are taking this property on as a completely bare shell as you can see from the pictures below. No windows, floor, plumbing, or electrical wiring. Eeek, but I think it will be worth it in the end!

Now for those who are reading this blog for the first time here is where you can read more about us (I updated our About us page just for you). Hope you will find it interesting ;-).

Our plans as you can see here are basic, there is still many things to refine, like what food to serve, what hours to open, how many staff to employ and so much more. I expect I will do quite a few surveys involving those living locally very soon. Fun stuff is coming up ;-). Obviously if you have any suggestions already then please give us a shout!

You may have plenty of questions right now, please do not hesitate to ask! For now I will answer the questions that people (who I told about the cafe already) tend to ask most.

  1. When are you planning to open? Oh yeah! this is like the most important information I may have missed here. We are hoping to open sometime in January 2020.
  2. What type of food will you serve? I have not figured this out yet, but I will be posting surveys to find out what the Shortstown likes to eat.(Shortbread?)
  3. Shortstown has a lot of parents with little children, will it be kid friendly? Yes! We have young kids as well and I completely understand how hard is to have lunch with kids. We are planning on a separate area (on the upper side of the kitchen and toilet if you are looking at the floor plan above) which is going to be a kids corner with kid friendly seating.
  4. What are the opening hours going to be? Still don’t know, will have to see what Shortstown needs. For now I am thinking to start with 8:30am-4:30pm. What do you think?
  5. Are you still planning to continue with blogging? I think yes, but can’t promise. I imagine I will be pre occupied by cafe stuff, but for now I have few posts ideas and pictures that I would love to let out. So let’s see.

Hope you are as excited as we are 🙂
Rasa xoxo

Rasa Pelham Planning

My 2019 goals

I usually set my new year goals on New Years eve (or even before), but this time I waited… I was worried, because I was still not sure if the new venture is going to work out. What if it did not and then I would need to cross that goal off? I realised the unexpected often happens and even when you think all the goals you set are achievable, sometimes things just don’t work out in the end. I realised the simple truth that goals are there to guide you and keep you focused, not some commandments set in stone. So have you set your goals yet? I hope you are finding your 2019 planner very useful!
I have five goals this year, just like last year! However I can only share three of my goals. My first goal is to do with my new venture; I have been planning all last year, but can’t share it due to the fact it’s not signed off. My fifth goal is too personal to share. Here are the three goals I am sharing:
1. Upgrade Friendly Nettle website goal was on my mind for five years. In fact I just copied this over from last year’s bullet journal! Hopefully this is the year I achieve this.

2. Keep on gardening my goal is a follow up from my last years “Create child friendly garden” goal. I enjoyed gardening in the summer so much that I decided to keep on doing it this year!

3. Find a new personal style this goal is a totally new goal in my books. It’s born due to huge changes in my life (kids and loosing some weight) where my style just did not follow. This is why I thought I need to find a new one ;-).

Hope I am not too late to say Happy New Year again!!!
Rasa xoxo

Rasa Pelham Organisation, Planning

2019 planner + giveaway

After trying out bullet journaling I had an idea… to use this organisational system to create my own wall planner. And here it is!! Tam tam taram tam (intro music sounding)!! Hope you like it and I am looking forward to your feedback. But more about it later. Let me go through this wall planner so you can have a better understanding of it.
Like every year, I create my own planner that fits my needs, then following year I review it and make even better for the next year. Therefore 2019 planner does have a lot in common with the 2018 planner. The major difference is the fact that is organised like a book. And like any other book this planner starts with the index. Index page is is a very good page to come back to when you make different notes through the year and want to find it again later. I will show you how this works in just a moment.

But first I would like to talk about sweet nothings about the Year Goals page. This is my favourite part of the whole calendar! Identifying annual goals really helps me to achieve big dreams and stay on track with my bigger plans. I urge you my friends to set your dreams/goals on paper and review your set out tasks once in the while through the year. Tip: Don’t overdo with too many goals, you want to set achievable goals! 

Monthly Log page is essentially an overview of the whole year. Did someone send you “save the date” card for their Wedding? Well this is where you can record. It’s so much easer to see the date in a bigger picture than scrolling through the whole calendar. I also like to put monthly tasks into one place and then distribute them weekly onto my Weekly Planner.

Now about the Week page. This is the main area where you will be actioning most of the tasks. This is where you set the timeline for every task.  Failed to complete the task on the set week? Not to worry! With symbol system this planner can be flexible and forgiving as much as you want.
Let me introduce you to the bullet planning symbols. Events are marked with “–” and located on the left of the Week page while tasks are located on the right and marked with “.“. When I complete the task I mark it with “X“. At the end of the week I review my uncompleted tasks and mark it with “>” if moving tasks to the next week, “<“if moving the task back to Monthly Log and I cross the task off completely if I decide the task is no longer relevant or needed.
Meals and Shopping List worked well past few years so I am leaving this tool here unchanged. First timers, check this out!

Finally if you have any notes, like recipes, party plans etc etc, all of this can be stored on the Notes page that is located after each Week page. These then can be recorded onto the Index page.

When you need to find a particular note (that you hopefully recorded) then all you need to do is look up on Index page. Amazing, right? You won’t need to search for it through the whole planner again.

Hopefully I got you inspired to be more organised/productive/and more for the next year? Then go get your printable planner here. I would recommend to get it printed by the printers as there are lots of pages and it is in A3 format.
Now if you like, I am giving away three planners to three lucky winners. All I need in return is your feedback. Be quick as there are a lot of interest already! Just send me a quick shout to rasa@friendlynettle.com
Rasa xoxo

Rasa Pelham Organisation, Planning

My review of bullet journaling

At the beginning of this year I tried bullet journalling, so how did I get on? Well… my opinion about it has not changed much. I think this system is best suited for a single person who loooooves stationary. However the system itself is cool and it can maybe be applied to a wall organiser. Or at least this is what I am hoping to do.
First I will start with positives of bullet journalling (need to be positive!).


1. I loved how this diary is like a book. It almost feels like writing a book! You know how they say that everyone has a book in them?  Well, here is your chance to sort of practice and write it. It has page numbers, an index page, and more. 

2. The BUJO system itself is very practical. It’s all about tracking your tasks, organising them in advance and moving them around to different time slots. The “future log” creates an area where you can store events and tasks that needs to be done sometime in the future. The symbols lets you identify if the task is completed, moved or canceled. If only I could somehow translate this system into the wall diary/organiser…. hmm.

3. My favourite part however is my new years goals pages. Although I feel I am slightly behind I feel splitting goals into tasks helped me to see the progress which itself is very uplifting. I know I know, if I do maths here I probably have almost half of the tasks completed, but only one third of the year left. So I am guessing I wont be able to complete all the tasks by the end of the year. But its ok, I can always review these tasks and forward some to the new year ;-).

Additionally to all the fab parts of bullet journalling, I can store project patterns,

detailed event hosting plan with drawings and recipes,

my cycle charts (embarrassed to say) and many more. Basically whatever floats your boat ;-). 

When it comes to negative points of using BUJO is that it is not easy to access for whole family. Yes bullet journal is perfect for storing personal stuff like charts etc, but other then that when it comes to family planning this needs to somehow to transfer to a wall organiser.
And btw, I mentioned before that I was very excited to use my fountain pen with this journaling business. However this proved unpractical as I often had to wait till my writing dries before going onto next page. Also I made so many mistakes that by now I am not too bothered about my handwriting in this journal.
That is it for now, hope you found my review useful
Rasa xoxo

Rasa Pelham Practicing Art, Reflections, Planning

Why I'm putting my phone down for 28 days

So here is a good idea, how about we ditch our smartphones for a month?! This is what I thought when somebody I follow on Instagram claimed they did it last year. Back then I thought it’s not a good timing to do it, but I was definitely interested in the freedom (I presumed) I would get. So I decided February is best and not only because it is shortest of all months. It’s because February is least eventful I suppose (minus Tomas birthday and Valentine’s Day)! And now I am getting really excited about this idea!!! And here are few good reasons why:
1. Need some time off. Can you imagine how much time I will save if I stop using my phone? Loads! I must admit I am practically living on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest and often flashing notification really distract me from doing the really important stuff. I can’t highlight enough how much time is wasted on media and because I will be stopping the use of media I decided not to blog for a month too. Because let’s admit it, it’s ok to take a break sometimes and get the other stuff done that never really gets done. Why? Because I am doing day to day jobs while still going through Instagram feed and while putting kids to sleep (please don’t judge).
2. Refocus! I am hoping while I am not constantly plugged into media, I may be able to start realising what is more important in my life. Because of screen I have been ignoring my kids sometimes. Sometimes I am so deep into reading an article that I don’t see my own child trying to get my attention. Hopefully I will get inspired not by Pinterest pictures but by images I see outside my phone screen.
3. I need to rest my eyes for a bit. Because let’s be honest, my eyesight is not getting any better. Not that they are getting worst either. What I really mean, I just need rest, a true rest.

Ok, those were my reasons and here are my terms. How else would you know if I am not cheating!
I am actually going to read my texts and answer the phone calls! I am only ditching my smart phone and instead I am going to use one of those basic phones. We got one spare in case one of our phones breaks, so it will be easy to switch.
I will read e-mails once in the while on my laptop. And I might need to switch back to my smart phone when I need directions. I will try memorise google maps as much as I can or print out directions like in good old days.
And that’s it, hope I remembered to mention everything in here.

Do you want to join me? It’s not too late and it does not have to be in February (you can pick a month most convenient to you)! Hope I inspired you 😉
Rasa xoxo

Rasa Pelham Planning

How I started bullet journal + my New Year goals

So here we are, I am starting my very first bullet journal!! As excited as I am you should really know that it took me over a year to actually try out this organisational system. Initially I noticed my friend Jacolien journaling on the Instagram and then I read somewhere that this system lets you do more with less??? This could not fit in my head, how pretty page layouts with beautiful fonts would save me time and make me more organised? This is when my friend Jacolien explained that these layouts are completely optional and bullet journal can be whatever you make of it! So I decided to go with the original Ryder Carroll style (who by the way created this system after all) which is very simplistic indeed. May upgrade it later if my handwriting improves in any way. I will let you know how I got on, but for now here are my goals for this year that is already included in my bullet journal.
I may not set many goals last year, I am expecting quite a lot this year. My bullet journal is pretty full for the next six months which has not happen for few years. For each goal I listed tasks to help me to achieve it, some tasks have the deadline and some have been scheduled into calendar already.
1.Upgrade Friendly Nettle website goal was on my mind for four years. I think this year will be the year when I finally do it. I I will begin in February as this is when I am thinking to take a break from blogging for a month and from then on I will schedule once a week appointment with the website. Hopefully this will do.
2.Get arty, because I forgot how to paint or draw. This is why I decided this year to replace reading books to watercolour painting (the media I like the best). Like with books I will review my artwork here on the blog.
3.Reach healthy BMI as I am seriously overweight. I reached my biggest I have ever beed and I am feeling this is effecting my health too. Luckily loosing weight is not time consuming. All I need to do is reduce my meal portions, don’t stress eat and fast once a month. I think this should do the trick.
4.Make our house beautiful, because we still doing it up. Hopefully this year the cosmetics and decorations are going to be done. I am not actually thinking it’s possible to finish all the house DIY completely.  I have already set up some deadlines for some tasks, although this goal I am feeling least confident about sadly.
5.Create child friendly garden has been my dream for a while. I need to be confident that kids can play safety outside as well as growing a small patch of veg on the side. I am thinking to start in March once the preps for Tomas dedication/birthday party prep is over.

So how did I got on with bullet journaling so far? I think quite ok, I understood the system after reading about it on few blogs, but the video that explain it best is on bullet journal website. There are few pros and cons that I can see so far. But what does’t have pros and cons? So far I love that this system requires you to (1) handwrite (kind of con as well), you got to have a love for stationary! I even bought myself a fountain pen that I get so much pleasure out. The bullet journal itself is (2) very easy to set up, all you need is index, future log and a monthly log. From that on you just can start scribbling simple notes that are either to-do lists or ideas. As long as all those notes are attached to the right symbol you are set to go. Besides, you can (3) customise it as much as you like! I started using my BUJO (short for bullet journal) for personal stuff such as tracking my weight loss and recording my body temperature for NFP. So these are my positives.
Things that I am still trying to work out is (1) how to organise events between our family planner and my personal journal. I end up writing the same event twice, to the journal and then to our planner, this is often confusing and sometimes I wish all those notes synchronised somehow! The other issue I have so far is that (2) the bullet journaling is not for perfectionist (at least at the beginning). I already made many mistakes that can’t be erased. I guess I just have to look at it as a journey on improving my hand writing.

Hope you started 2018 well!
Rasa xoxo

Rasa Pelham Planning

My 2016 resolutions

Writing New Year resolutions is my favourite thing to do on New Years Eve! I love it more than celebrating. I did not even stay up till midnight this time, instead I woke up the next morning feeling it’s a New Year with new beginnings… exciting! After reflecting on 2015 and realising what worked and what did not I was able to create even better goal plan this year… or at least I hope so. I decided I need to be even more organised and make sure to keep it simple as my life have been turned upside down with little Lukas in my life ;-). This is why I decided to make 5 goals rather than 7. Here they are!
1. Upgrade Friendly Nettle website. Same as last year unfortunately, but I am more determined this year so I am still feeling hopeful!
2. Turn our house into home. As you know we purchased our first family home last year but after Lukas arrival did not have a time to do any home improovement on it yet. Hopefully 2016 is the year!
3. Learn to take better pictures. Again same as last year :(. I do have a better plan for it this year, you just wait and see!
4. Teach Lukas to Swim. Ok, I have few goals hidden in this one! First, I always dreamed of teaching my baby to swim but I also get to exercise with him. Hopefully this will help me to come back to my original shape which wasn’t great either after last year’s Christmas (I mean 2014 Christmas :-0). Secondary (which is not related to swimming) I am hoping to get into the habit of not overeating so that kind of helps me to get fit. Am I making any sense here?
5. Grow cucumbers 🙂. I know, this is the most random goal I ever had. This has been suggested by my wonderful mum in-law! At first I thought that’s silly, but then I thought it could mean more than growing cucumbers. It could mean doing a little bit of gardening! After all I HAVE a garden this year! Not making crazy transformations in the garden just yet (you know, focusing on my no.2 goal), but growing temporary annuals could be quite satisfying while not committing to big landscape changes such as planting perennials or shrubs.

I hope you had fun with creating resolutions for this year!
Rasa xoxo

Rasa Pelham Planning

A colour story for our new home

I want something exciting to say. We have finally exchanged with our house purchase last week! Anybody who bought the house before know what it means: we will have this house for sure and the date is set when we could move in. Yey!
Ever since we exchanged I have been dreaming how we are going to decorate the house and what alterations we are going to make. I have done this before and it was difficult and long process. But now I am not alone so hopefully we will settle much quicker, although we have baby on the way so I am interested to see how difficult it will be to do at least some DIY.
I have started planning the colours. Why? Because I really really want everything to “flow” in the house and right now I already need to buy few things that will match (such as sofa bed for my mum to sleep in when she is visiting her grandchild). I must admit last time I was decorating the house I did not put so much effort in planning the colour… because I went an easy way and chose neutral colours (mostly white). Yes, I did get many comments that it looked like a hospital to begin with, although I accessorised it with bold colours so it was cute at the end). This time I want to be braver and try darker colours (gosh, I am sooooo scared that it may make the place look small). But I so love those eccentric rooms that I see on Pinterest, so the challenge is on!
So how did I create this colour story? I am very lucky that I have gone to Uni to do fashion. During my course one of the things I have learned is exactly that, creating a colour story for a collection. It is of course very different to creating a colour story for the house, but the goal is the same: to create a set of colours that will be used through out the project (in this case the whole house). Of course I had failed many times before. One instance I remember quite clearly when my colour story looked like a rainbow just because I liked many colours and because I arranged them in colour wheel order. Another thing I learned is to identify what colours are main and which ones are for the accents. For better visualisation arrange the accent colours in small amounts that could be displayed in an item form (such as red lamp in the pic below).  

The third advise I can give is to look through some pictures of the house interiors and see what colour arrangement you like (Pinterest or Houzz have been a good source to me). For instance I like the feature wall colour in the pic below combined with bold colour picture display on it.

I like red as an accent colour but I might try this and paint bigger furniture in red as well. The pic bellow comes from Apartment Therapy.

Although black is not a main colour in my colour story I would love to have a black board wall where we could scribble things! The pic bellow comes from IKEA website as an inspiration.

And of course I would love to decorate the house with many plants! The pic bellow comes from My Attic.

I hope you found this useful 🙂
Rasa x