Interior designers are worth every penny they’re paid. Designers spend years in school, perfecting their craft and learning the tricks of the trade. While it’s always best to hire a designer when you can, if money is tight, you can still accomplish quite a bit like your own interior stylist. I often choose to buy things in sets, from clothes to interiors because they have been put together by experts! This benefits me as I don’t have a great eye for design! The last room makeover I did I bought the complete range from curtains, wallpaper, a rug and even the soft furnishings and prints! In fact I’d like to have a personal stylist and an interiors stylist permanently on hand!

Discover Your Own Unique Furniture Style

Whether planning to purchase new furniture or use existing pieces, it’s smart to determine which style is best for the room or home. Once the personal style has been determined, slipcovers, easy-to-make window dressings, and inexpensive rugs can make dramatic changes in style without breaking the bank. This approach can be used for all rooms including the kitchen or dining room.

If there is enough in the budget to purchase furniture, it’s still not necessary to buy expensive pieces to fulfill the vision. Antique stores and second-hand shops usually offer genuine period pieces at much lower prices than modern furniture stores, and online services such as E-bay and Facebook groups almost always offer furnishings and accessories at lower prices. If the new piece needs refurbishing, that will only add to the pleasure of making it a personal part of the design.

I often use magazines or Pinterest to find examples of what I like (clothes and interior wise). In the kitchen, I like the colours and style of Orla Kiely. I have been snapping up bargains as I find them reduced! TK Maxx is often a good shout for the brand. Once you have the utensils and furniture you can turn your attention to the walls and especially the wall art and prints that complement the look you have chosen. Desenio are my preferred prints provider as they have put together handy collections that complement each other and you can often get the prints in a variety of sizes and frames which makes it easy to personalise your room. I really like the coffee themed images and think they would look great in a kitchen.

Understanding What Patterns Go With What Styles

Whether having a piece of furniture professionally upholstered or just using a pre-manufactured cover or throw, it’s important to understand what fabrics and patterns go with what designs. Formal textures such as damasks, formal stripes, and brocades look best on elegant old European furnishings such as Queen Anne, Georgian, Victorian, and Louis XV and XVI styles.

Small floral prints should be used with Early American, French Country, and Cottage Victorian styles. Early English styles use fruit, leaves, and tree-of-life motifs. Colonial American also uses flower prints, fruit, and birds. Again, it is not necessary to break the bank to purchase fabrics. Shop the web and check the ads for great sale prices. Decide the look you are going for and then pull together different pieces.

Using the Correct Colours on Furnishings

Selecting the correct color for the fabric and style is important. Red, yellow, blue, green, and white look great on both Queen Anne and Georgian style furniture, but Queen Anne red looks best if the colors are soft, while rich hues look best on the more masculine-looking Georgian styles.

Changing the Look of a Home or Room Can Be Fun and Inexpensive

A quick trip to the library, or even surfing on the internet, will educate you even more fully on what colors and fabrics do best with which interior design styles. It is a fun and fascinating study and one that can offer rich personal fulfillment. Learning the art of interior styling and decorating is quite a bit like eating peanuts because once you start, it’s very difficult to stop!