Home Is Where
Your Story Lives
Mcloo was built for real people who want real results — practical, budget-friendly home decor ideas that actually work in the spaces we truly live in.
Discover our story 2014
“A home does not need to be expensive to be beautiful. It just needs the right idea at the right moment.”
From a Small House
to a Big Idea
I grew up in a three-bedroom house in a quiet town where money was never in excess, but warmth always was. My mother had a gift — a truly remarkable one — for making every room feel intentional. A repurposed crate here. A thrifted lamp there. A hand-stitched cushion cover on a chair that had seen better decades. Our home looked curated because it was curated, just not with a credit card.
That was my first lesson in home decor: it has nothing to do with budget and everything to do with care.
“I spent years decorating on a shoestring and realising that the homes I loved most were never the most expensive ones. They were the most thoughtful ones.”
After moving five times in twelve years — a student flat in a rainy city, a newlywed apartment with mismatched furniture, a family home that needed to grow with two kids — I had accumulated something more valuable than a Pinterest board: real, tested, honest knowledge about what works and what doesn’t in the spaces real people actually live in.
I launched Mcloo in 2014 as a simple blog. No studio lighting, no sponsored partnerships — just me photographing my own living room and writing about what I’d learned. Within the first year, thousands of readers were writing in to say: this actually works.
That’s still the goal today — every idea we publish has to actually work. Not just photograph well. Not just sound clever. Actually, genuinely work for someone with a real life, a real budget, and a real home.
Three Things We
Never Compromise On
Every article on Mcloo is written, tested, and published according to these principles. They are not a mission statement — they are a daily practice.
Every idea we publish has to be executable by a real person with a real schedule. If it needs a contractor, a warehouse delivery, or a degree in interior design, we don’t publish it. We test everything ourselves first — in actual rooms, with actual constraints.
The best rooms are never the ones bought whole from a catalogue. They are assembled with intention — a vintage find here, a DIY project there, something repurposed from somewhere unexpected. We champion the mix, the imperfect, the personal.
We write for people who want beautiful homes without financial stress. That means we always think about cost, always suggest affordable alternatives, and always celebrate the win of a gorgeous room that didn’t break the bank.
Your Space Shapes
Your Life
We spend more time inside our homes than anywhere else. The colours on our walls, the comfort of our furniture, the way light falls across a room in the morning — all of it quietly shapes how we feel, how we work, how we rest, and how we connect with the people we love.
Home decor is not vanity. It is an act of self-care. And everyone deserves a home that feels like them.
- 01 A well-decorated home improves your mood every single day
- 02 Small, thoughtful changes make even the smallest room feel bigger
- 03 An organised, beautiful space reduces stress and sharpens focus
- 04 Your home is the one environment you can fully control
- 05 Great design is about smart choices, not large budgets
“Beautiful homes aren’t built by decorators. They’re built by people who pay attention — to what they love, to what they need, to the small details that make a space feel like home.”
— Lily Carter, Mcloo
Our Home Is Also
Our Kitchen
Life in our home is a mix of love, laughter, and a whole lot of good food. I’m a mom to two sweet and energetic girls who keep me busy, and when I’m not rearranging furniture or planning the next room makeover, I’m in the kitchen — cooking up meals that bring comfort, joy, and maybe just a little peace to our crazy days.
That’s why I also run JustWorthi.com — a recipe blog where I share the food that fills our home with as much warmth as the decor does. Because a beautiful home isn’t just about what it looks like. It’s about what happens inside it.
The recipes, the stories, the flavours that make our house smell like home. Comfort food rooted in real family life.
The photographer who makes every dish look as good as it tastes — and the mastermind behind our drinks and desserts.
Lily Carter
Founder & Interior Enthusiast · Mcloo.comMy love for home decor started long before it became a blog. Growing up in a small house where every corner was carefully arranged with love and intention, I learned early that a beautiful home has nothing to do with money — it has everything to do with care.
After spending over a decade decorating my own homes, helping friends style their spaces on tight budgets, and endlessly sketching room layouts on whatever paper I could find, I launched Mcloo as a place to share everything I had gathered along the way. Real ideas, honest advice, and inspiration that works in the real world — not just in a perfectly lit photoshoot.
Away from the blog, I’m a mom to two energetic girls, a home cook who believes food and decor go hand in hand in making a house feel like a home, and the co-creator of JustWorthi.com, where my husband and I share the recipes that feed our family every week. He shoots, styles our dishes, and handles every dessert and drink. I cook, write, and try not to eat everything before he photographs it.
“I believe your home should feel like the best version of yourself — warm, thoughtful, and entirely yours. Not your neighbour’s home. Not a magazine spread. Yours.”
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Your Home?
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