Improve the appearance of your home with these 8 professional design tips
When it's time to renovate your home, you can choose to call in (expensive) experts, or you can try doing some (cheaper) DIY.
In the latter case, however, even DIY experts may need some advice from experts about current furnishing and decor trends. Once upon a time, we consulted trade and fashion magazines for this information; today, we can find all we need online.
There are some general tips that all designers recommend when considering renovating a house, and these tips can be really handy when the project gets going.
If you have decided to renovate your home yourself, check out these 8 design tips from professionals first:
1. The basics first
Often overlooked during renovations, floors are essential elements in the furnishing of a home and can help create the right decorative atmosphere. Wood flooring is great to convey charm and warmth, but vinyl is an excellent alternative option when you have a limited budget.
2. Decide on your color palette
Dramatic transformations can be achieved just by using paint in varying colors. In fact, extraordinary results can be achieved simply by recovering and/or repainting furniture and walls. But it is critical that you decide on a color palette in advance and stick to it to get the best results. So, chose your color combinations in advance and use this palette throughout your home.
3. The right lighting
Lighting is another important element to consider and can be used to make your rooms appear larger, more airy or warmer - depending on how we use the lighting. If your rooms are quite small, you can make them feel more spacious simply by using lighting: take advantage of the natural light that enters through the doors and windows and install light fittings, wall sconces and place floor/table lamps in strategic positions.
For a cozier and more welcoming atmosphere, choose warm lamps rather than cold-white LEDs.
4. Renovate by using wallpaper
If your furniture or appliances seem bland and bare, rejuvenate them quickly by using wallpaper. Simple to hand and to remove, wallpaper can give a new look to all the furnishing accessories that you want to uplift.
The use of wallpaper can also be an excellent solution for decorating and furnishing bare walls, especially if the house is not yours and you cannot get permission to repaint the walls: wallpaper is easy to hang, relatively cheap and can be removed with very little effort.
5. Functionality
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Before proceeding with any renovation work, stop and think: what function will the room you are about to work on serve? Will it simply be a transitional space or will it have some specific purpose? Will it need to welcome and host your guests, or will it be a working area? Answering these questions is essential in establishing the look you give the room: a place for entertainment and relaxation must have a more aesthetically pleasing decor than a working area (which should focus on functionality, instead).
6. Height to increase space
Theuse of tall furniture not only maximizes the space available to you by allowing you to use all the walls all the way up, but will also help make your rooms seem bigger and more airy.
7. A neutral base with splashes of color
Choose a neutrally-colored base for your furniture and liven the space up with carefully placed splashes of color: soft furnishings, wallpaper, artwork on the walls or a single, colorful piece of furniture in an otherwise neutrally-colored room can exude originality and creativity.
8. A fusion of old and new
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Artwork and antique furniture can be expensive but items like this give off a timeless charm to the areas they decorate; learn to blend the old with the new to create an original and timeless atmosphere.
Which of these tips will you adopt for your next home renovation project?
