These tips work great whether you want to bring your home to life again, plan to rent, or stage your house for selling.
Theme the scheme
Begin your styling project by creating a general mood board on digital platforms such as Instagram or Pinterest, or even using magazine cuttings. You could also create specific mood boards for each room or for different features (eg lighting, paint colours, etc).
Preparation is key, particularly if you plan to make permanent changes such as painting the walls, wallpapering or installing lighting – because these renovations would be costly and time-consuming to redo if you’re not happy with the result.
Find your focus
Look for your three USPs (Unique Selling Points) and invest in them. Keeping the USPs in mind, choose simple styling options. Look at each room and space and ask yourself: ‘Does this have a USP or not?’ For example:
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- If the property boasts a superb view, invest in window features
- If the property has a magnificent livingroom, focus your styling there. Accessorise the other rooms, but invest the most in the best room(s) to keep costs minimal
- If there is a garden, invest in plants and outdoor seating to accentuate the outdoor space
- If there are spare rooms, style them as a home office/playroom/exercise area and accessorise accordingly
Clear and clean
Remove any unwanted furniture and make sure the space is spotless! Hire cleaning teams or clean as you go to save time and prevent delays at the end.
Paint and paper
Re-paint the entire space if possible, or paint key areas or structural features. Apply wallpaper to feature walls and work to a theme centred around this. For a simple design, opt for neutral colours such as white, off white and cream to help make the space look larger. Alternatively, choose on-trend colours or wallpapers in key rooms to make a statement.
Recycle, reuse, reinvent
Purchasing furniture is fun and usually a good investment, yet it can be costly and time- consuming, particularly when furnishing entire homes. Think about recycling and reusing some of your existing furniture pieces. For example, wrap your wood furniture. Or reupholster fabrics. Both can save costs and restore beautiful, aged pieces. You can avoid a costly kitchen renovation by wrapping or respraying the cabinets in a new colour. This will reinvent the space in keeping with your new theme and make it look new and modern.
Always add art
Art is at the core of all design. Every project space is a ‘gallery’ to curate. For interiors projects, choosing the right art is fundamental to the project’s success. Staging projects depend heavily on art. Getting it right can affect the sale of the home for agents and clients alike. So, find your local gallery, visit art and trade fairs or research online. Every space – from small apartments and unique architectural spaces to large homes over multiple floors – can be greatly enhanced by art. The art, photography or sculpture you add to the space will work to connect each room and create a unified design throughout.
Extracted from The Step by Step Guide to Designing & Styling your Home by Natasha Rocca Devine. Published by Orla Kelly Publishing (from €17.99) in March 2023. For more see @natasha.rocca.devine
