Nicole Franzen
It can be a struggle thinking of innovative new looks for a space, these short tips will hopefully help you find that mix of your personality and what's trendy, giving you a look to be proud of that represents you!
1. Make it your own.
It's great to follow current trends however you should always leave a little space for you and let your personality shine through, good interior design should be on trend but also practical and homely. Newcastle based trend forecastors Trend Bible are a good shout for keeping up with upcoming trends in colour and design.
Trend Bible
2. Use a Mood Board
A great way of making sure that your space doesn't just become a showroom is to have a mood board. You could use a physical mood board where you stick examples of things you've seen out and about but often nowadays a more practical alternative is Pinterest. Pinterest uses 'boards' and 'pins' to enable you to create digital mood boards. Using their app or their extension in your browser you can 'pin' things you have seen across the internet to your virtual mood board, this is a great way of having different boards for different rooms too! Best thing is, it's free!
3. Consider Colours and Fabrics
Nowadays people are generally much more considerate of colour, choosing wall colours that suit your soft furnishings for example is a pretty good start but don't forget accent colours. Good use of accent colours on things like lampshades, bedsheets, curtains and cushions can really bring a room together.
Gino Traveska
4.Try Before You Buy
As the cost of paint is increasingly exponentially at the moment it's even more important to be sure about your colour choice before jumping in and buying the big tins, hence, tester pots. Not exactly a new concept and everyone has used a tester pot but for the best results paint patches a minimum of A2 size on both the lightest and darkest walls of a room. This will give you the fairest idea of how it will look in different light conditions.
Frank & Helena / Getty
5.Scale Up
Big room? Think big furnishings, big sofa, big footstool, big sideboard etc. Equally however, interior designers agree that a small room will often benefit from a large statement piece of furniture. This could be an oversized headboard or fire surround. A nice balance of large and small items can transform any space.
Castlery.com
6. Take Your Time
When you decide to redesign a room it can be tempting to get everything you need at once, often from the same couple of shops. When you do this however you increase the chances that your space will just look like it's out of their catalogue and won't represent you. Using our tps above but also taking your time to shop around and find the small bits you like wil help add diversity to your home and make it represent you.
@mrcigar
7. The Final Bits
You may design a room around a special piece of furniture that you have, which is great, and leaving the accent bits, like lamps, lampshades, ornaments and cushions to the end is best, you don't really know for sure what will suit your room until it is painted after all, and hunting for these items is the fun bit after all!
Flea Circus