20 easy tips to style your home
“more dash than cash”
I designed this room for one of my clients. Photo by Grant Sainsbury.
Here are 20 simple ideas to style your home:
4. A funky wall paper on one wall will bring personality to the room. And don’t be afraid to use a large scale pattern in a small room. It adds depth.
5. One wall can become your art gallery with framed pictures, photographs, mirrors… lots of mirrors will reflect light and enlarge the place.
9. Don’t be afraid to mix old and new furniture. Good design is goo design, and can often be happily married. An antique object with a modern piece – and vice versa – can make them come to life.
10. Not all furniture has to match. Around a dining table I like an assortment of styles. And it’s easier and cheaper to pick a chair you like from a second hand shop, than a set of six.
14. As part of my training, I learned there should always be something – a colour, a piece of furniture, an object- which clashes with the rest of the scheme. It makes everything else comes to life.
15. Accessories are the easiest and cheapest way to give a room a quick fix- colourful cushions, rugs, vases or lampshades, can change the mood instantly and be replaced at little cost.
graffiti art
placed on an easel, your TV becomes Art
6. Wooden floors can also be painted. Very dark colours, as well as white are a good background.
7. Consider the position of your furniture. Because it has been there forever doesn’t mean items cannot be moved in order to create more space, or an easier traffic around the round, or to delimit a specific area, like a corner to relax, watch TV or read.
8. A coat of paint can turn any old piece of junk into a “work of art”. Be daring, try some bright colours, maybe a combination of different colours. White paint can also rejuvenate the most boring pieces. You’ll be amazed how great they suddenly look.
antique and modern, a happy marriage
11. Vintage trunks make beautiful coffee or side tables, as do old leather books.
12. Declutter. We all accumulate stuff over the years- family heirlooms, souvenirs purchased on holidays, bric-a-brac…
Then build around what you enjoy wearing.
13. Objects should be assembled like collections, according to their origin, category or simply colour. Place together, it will give them status.
Velvet cushions by OKA. John Lewis also have a great selection.
16. Chez Moi, I like to change the mood with the seasons. Without the expense of redecorating, you can remodel the furnishings by replacing loose linen covers in summer with woollen throws in winter. Introducing touches of white always feels summery. Get a few new cushions, put seasonal flowers in a vase. Et voila!
17. Light is important to create moods as well as illuminating a room. Ceiling lights are very cold and I never use them on their own. I prefer free standing lights. Ikea, Habitat, John Lewis all have great selections, reasonably priced.
imaginative storage
19. If you work from home, you need an area you can call the office. It doesn’t need to be a large room, even the space under the stairs might do, but it would be nice if, at the end of the working day, you could shut the door.
20. Your home should reflect your personality and make you happy. Use your imagination. Be bold. Surround yourself with beautiful objects. Start collecting from junk shops, brocantes, but also look out for new talents coming out of art colleges. Over the years I have picked up several paintings, and ceramics from end of year shows. They are among my prized possessions.
an old wooden tray can become a picture frame
18. Storage space is important to make your life run smoothly. Use your imagination to create fun shelving, and to transform some old containers into useful pieces of storage.
mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the prettiest of them all?
Nicole Berger
November 24, 2016 @ 7:09 am
I need to spend more time in my dressing room !