plan a scheme from scratch
It’s time to be brave – bring a blank canvas to life with our top styling tips
Aroom with no predetermined starting point can feel daunting to decorate. But before you give up due to indecision or make any hasty furniture purchases you may live to regret, put in the groundwork to ensure your new look is a success.
Suss out your style
Browse some interiors magazines or set up an online mood board on a website such as Pinterest. Spend a few hours tearing out (or ‘pinning’) images that draw your eye, making notes on what you particularly like about that image as you go. Continue until you’ve built up a collection of visuals, then analyse them as a whole. Chances are you’ll notice common themes emerging, be it a colour palette or a decorative style. once you’ve honed this down, start to think about how you can translate this so it works within your particular room.
Work up the scheme
Make a list of everything you want and need for the room, from furniture and fittings to artwork and decorative accents, then check if this seems realistic against your proposed budget. next, sketch out a rough floor plan to determine where the main pieces could go and to help envisage the space and ensure you can accommodate what’s on your wish list.
once you’ve begun sourcing your key pieces of furniture and accessories, allow these to gradually form the starting point for your colour scheme and the patterns you’ll use to decorate. if you’ve chosen any bold or heavily-patterned prints for your room, such as a detailed floral wallpaper or an intricate chevron sofa, pick out a few tones from this design to bring through into accents such as cushions, lamps, mirrors and wall art. This will help tie the whole look together. and remember, paint comes in an array of colours, so it’s much easier to match this with an ornate floor tile you love than to find a tile to match your paint.