Clever design tips to make your interiors pop
Designing your home can seem like a daunting task, but with clever use of texture and colour it’s easier than you think to create a luxury finish.
Designing or redecorating your home can feel like a daunting task. But you don’t necessarily need lots of money or years of experience under your belt to get a great result. We’ve got some tips from interior designers in London on using colour and texture to create an inviting luxury look for your home.
Using colour
Colour is a critical element of any interior design project, and it can make all the difference to the look and feel of your finished room. To choose a colour or colours, you need to take into consideration the size and shape of the space, how much natural light it gets, what atmosphere you want to project and, of course, your own personal taste.
The colours you choose are totally down to personal preference, but as a general rule of thumb, try to stick to three colours or shades – a main colour for the walls, another shade for larger accents such as sofas and curtains, and a third colour for cushions and smaller accessories. By sticking to this ‘rule of three’ you can really make your interiors pop.
While colour is very important in interior design, to really achieve that luxury, professionally-designed look, you also need to add texture to your rooms.
Add ‘visual weight’
Experimenting with textures is a great way to add visual weight to a space. Put simply, ‘visual weight’ means that a space or individual object has the ability to draw attention to itself, and texture can play a key role in this process. The type of texture you go for can have a big impact on the look and feel of a room, with smooth textures offering a sleek, cool atmosphere while rougher textures create a grounded, more intimate aesthetic. Placement is also an important consideration. Placing different textures close to each other adds greater visual weight than if they are spaced further apart – so think about how subtle (or not) you want the final effect to be.
Create balance and contrasts
Another reason why texture is so important in interior design is that it helps to add balance and contrast to a room. If everything looks too similar, we find it difficult to maintain focus and can quickly get bored. Texture adds visual interest, and enables you to draw attention to your favourite or most important elements. The use of heavily contrasting textures is particularly crucial when you are working within a monochromatic or analogous colour palette, to avoid a flat, homogenous look.
How to use texture
There are a number of different ways you can introduce texture to your home, from cleverly placed rugs and cosy throws, to décor items, knick-knacks, and shadow boxes. Choosing furniture pieces with different finishes can also add interest, as can making a feature of existing architectural elements such as crown mouldings, tray ceilings or dado rails. Be careful not to overdo it with too many different textures, however. For a cohesive, luxury look, try to stick with just two or three texture variations in any one space.
Above all, when planning your design, be sure to consider the textiles and textures that best suit your lifestyle – after all, you want your home to be practical as well as looking great.
Good design can reflect the personality of the owner, and by giving careful consideration to colour and texture, you can create a beautiful, sophisticated space that is uniquely personal to you.