When it comes to designing your dream home, it can be hard to know where to begin. We caught up with our interior designer Emily to gather some tips on how to approach this process and create an environment that fits your lifestyle and brings your vision to life. Here are six things to keep in mind to help you design a home you’ll love.
Don’t rush it
If you’re looking to fill a space or need a piece of furniture for storage, don’t just go out and buy the first thing you see on a ‘need to have’ basis. Shop around a bit, do some research and don’t buy something just for the sake of buying it.
Find something you love, whether it’s from a store, from eBay or even from somewhere like Freecycle. Buying cheap doesn’t always necessarily mean buying twice, but don’t fill your home with furniture that is replaceable.
Flexibility is key
You can start designing any room with a style in mind, or around a piece of furniture, wallpaper design, art work, lighting, or fabric, but be prepared to be flexible. Sometimes function can take over from form, budgets can run over if not managed correctly, and your ideas might not be practical. In such cases as these, there will be other solutions out there; embrace them with open arms and you will still have a space that you adore.
Colour and texture
Good news, colour is in! Pantone’s colour of the year is a glorious pink called Viva Magenta and with the increasing popularity of maximalism in interior designing, this is not something to shy away from.
Think mis-matched patterns on your furniture and curtains, textured scatters, modern furniture tinged with some antique pieces, table lamps, floor lamps, foliage. The list is endless. There is, however, a fine line between creating a bright, cosy and comforting room and becoming completely overwhelmed. Back to our first tip – don’t rush it!
Find a focus
Gone are the days of having a feature wall against a backdrop of a bland and stale room, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t have a point of focus. This can be a piece of furniture, a trinket, a fireplace or a piece of art. It doesn’t necessarily mean that this should be the focal point of the room, but a focus for your design and idea and something that you can build around.
I am a very firm believer in more-is-more. As we go through life we accumulate stuff, trinkets, bits and pieces which each tell a story. These should not be hidden away behind sleek cupboard doors, but displayed with pride. Let your living space tell your story.
Fluidity
Things change, people change and circumstances change. Your home will change too. Designing for home life should be fluid. How many of us converted a spare bedroom into an office during lock-down? How many of us have had a beautiful living room turn into a playroom? Or even a bedroom into a home gym? These changes should be seen as an opportunity to embrace the new and to inject more of your personality into the future of your home.
Don’t neglect your bathroom
Bathrooms are so easily overlooked and many are a clinical and bland space even though they are one of the most often used rooms in a home. Altering your bathroom doesn’t have to be a scary re-fit. Simply painting a bath panel, re-tiling a splash back, changing a shower curtain for a screen, updating lighting or changing your medicine cabinet to a beautiful mirror can make a huge difference.
Of course, if you did want to completely re-design this space, feature lighting, colour and texture still play a huge part, whether it be through your choice of tile, window dressing or accessories. Bathroom design is not scary, it is the perfect combination between function and form.
So there we have it. Six things to think about when designing a home you’ll love. We hope these tips give you some food for thought! If you would like some expert interior design support for your project, get in touch with us today and we’ll be happy to help.
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