Great design is the combination of great taste, a keen eye and not being afraid to work with your space and imagination. There is a strong link between clothing designers and interior designers – after all, they are working on what could be, not always what is currently. If you aren’t very confident in your own abilities and need inspiration, look to people like Stephen Kenn, or Vivienne Westwood – bold, clean lines and always interesting to look at. Set up a Pinterest board and start collecting photos, color palettes, and inspiration of the type of art you might like to have on display.
First and foremost – pick a palette. You might like to go room-to-room in one swathe of rose, or you might want to change it up room by room. Whatever you choose, have it all written down and swatched up in advance. Paint some small squares on the wall – can you live with it, or were you just living the dream?
Don’t be afraid to add texture and textiles. Texture and light can make a very minimalist space exciting and homely. It depends on how you do it. Silks, velvets, taffeta, chenille, cotton, glass, tiles and marble. They all bring a different element to a room and can be used to give privacy or create the illusion of more light. Combining matte materials with shiny surfaces give plenty of exciting things to look at too. Throws and pillows provide comfort and class, they can help tie a room together or add explosions of color on a clean background.
Splash out on a few pieces. Every room needs some form of art. Invest in something that you love and put it on display. Your space should reflect you and what you are interested in, so don’t be afraid to be a little bit ‘showy’. You might like to put your own artwork up, or that of friends or family, or perhaps just something you’ve seen that hit a chord with you. Think of pieces of art like little plashes of your personality.
Metals have a habit of bringing a room from classy to luxurious. Copper, rose gold, and hammered silvers last a very long time if they are cleaned and kept well. You can mix and match to bring the eye to a particular place in the room, or just to play with light and colour.
Fake it till you make it. When it comes to space and light, we aren’t all lucky enough to be able to afford those skylight windows or the square footage that we’d like. You can fake both light and space with a few neat tricks. Mirrors bounce light around a room, making it look longer in the process. It works better if the mirrors aren’t framed, so the illusion doesn’t end at a defined point. Eradicating internal doors mean there are less closed off areas while replacing shower curtains with glass panels give a room more light and space too.
Love,
*This is a collaborative post