So as I revealed back in October, we are in the process of working with Original Style to completely renew the awful paving at the front of the house and install Victorian Floor Tiles in a gorgeous pattern instead.

Now, let me assure you of something. I can be a TOTAL pain in the behind. I’m so particular about things and about what I do to my home (naturally, I mean you guys get this right?) that I can’t imagine how badly I’ve stretched Sarah from Original Style’s patience in getting this design down.

However, she has been wonderful and patient and helpful through the whole process. So I just need to mention that first.

How did I actually finally get to the point where I was happy with the design? Well, we started off quite simply by Sarah sending me a bunch of tiles in the post to understand the scale and colours of the tiles they had available along with a few of their brochures showcasing real life examples of work they’d done in the past.

I took my time deciding on colours and chose four I rather liked. The thing that weighed on me most heavily was that not only did we need to like the design but I had to be conscious of the owners of this home once we left. This is not a tin of paint that can be easily painted over, this was something much more permanent than that. It would probably stay with the house for many many years and while I wanted something that looked contemporary, it was important that it had roots in a more traditional design to go with the house.

No pressure then.

Once I’d had an idea of the colours I was happy with, I measured out the area out front and sent this drawing through to Sarah apologising for it not being to scale and just being rough (I later found out this was way more than what was required by them but I like to be thorough, what can I say)…

We then started looking at designs. Oh there are so many to choose from! It can be quite overwhelming because there is so much choice but Original Style were really helpful in helping me talk through what might work in my little patch of space.

She asked me first to identify colours and patterns I liked, combinations of colours that appealed to me, which patterns I preferred with which borders.

Here’s just a selection of styles that Sarah & I talked through…

Finally, after about 5 emails discussing various different patterns, Sarah sent this style to me which I really liked – but how would it look in my colour scheme?

Well, this is where their designer, Scott, came into play and he created this…

And also this one to give me a better idea of what it would look like installed – pretty nifty, no?

But something wasn’t sitting right with me. I felt even though I liked the pattern, there were too many variations of colour going on. So Scott whipped up a few more designs.

Ok, to be fair he whipped up like 10 different designs… is your head spinning yet? My head was spinning. I have no idea how Scott’s head wasn’t spinning creating these (this again is just a selection).

But finally, after much debate and talking it over with Wayne, we decided our favourite was pattern F above. Time for some renderings…

Scott amended the design to make it fit the sizes I had provided. We wanted the path to be slightly different so he worked his magic and created this version for us.

Now, at this point, I don’t actually know why Sarah didn’t tell me to just sod off and go bug someone else about tiles but something was still niggling me. I asked if we could lose the grey completely and take it back to monochrome. I know, after all that work, right? Thankfully, Sarah, with the patience of a saint, never once gave me any indication that I was inconveniencing them – they were just ridiculously accommodating.

So being the lovely, accommodating people that they are, Scott then came back with this…

Ohhhh yes. Okay, yes. I think that’s it!! Call off the search, we found our pattern!!

But it wasn’t it… oh no. To make it even easier, Scott created a scaled 3D rendering so I could visualise exactly what it might look like.

The property style shown is not an exact replica of my own house but viewing it like this made it so much easier and allowed me to see that the flooring won’t actually be viewed from above as we’ve been looking at it – only parts of the design would be visible at any given time of course. It made me realise that going for a graphic black and white pattern would be striking but not overwhelming.

So, this is what we decided to go for in the end! Whew!

I have to say that through all of this, Original Style have been ridiculously patient. They really do work with you and really want you to be happy with the final design. This was evident at every single stage. And I know I sound like a walking advertisement at the moment but I can’t stress enough how much easier they made the whole decision-making process.

The work will start early next year, weather permitting but we’re all quite excited to get started!

What do you think of the design? Is this something you would consider for your own home? Any of the discussed designs catch your eye? I’d love to hear what you think!

*Please note that Original Style does not supply directly to the public but works with carefully selected and incredibly talented retailers to bring the same kind of personal service that I’ve received straight to you locally. To find your nearest retailer, please visit Original Style.

I am working with Original Style on this latest project but as always, all words and opinions are completely my own. Thank you for supporting the businesses that allow me to bring you new content here on Swoon Worthy. That said, I only work with companies I really like and think you might like too.