Renovating and designing your dream home can be such an exciting yet overwhelming journey. This week’s blog is a collaboration with interior designer, Tandi Cornelissen from Hatch Design Studio, who outlines 5 essential tips to help you get started with this process:
- Create a mood board
Pinterest is such a great source of inspiration, however, we often come across too many great ideas! The challenge when designing a space is to narrow the ideas right down. Creating a mood board of your summarized selection will allow you to see how elements work together and help form a design brief and foundation for your project.
- Layout and Flow
Layout and flow are essential and therefore one of the most important things to get right when designing your space. Try to look past what currently exists and treat the space as a blank canvas. You can often make a huge impact with small changes.
- Create a focal point
Create a feature in each room that draws your attention as soon as you enter it. This can be done by feature wall finishes, such as colourful or textured tiles in your bathroom or kitchen, and an accent colour in your living room. A beautiful piece of furniture or art can also be used as a feature element.
- Use the 70/30 split
A 70/30 split means decorating 70% of the space in one way and the remaining 30% in another. Your home should be a reflection of you and your personality, so the 70/30 split rule is perfect because it means you can add in everything you love. Create a neutral 70% backdrop and the remaining 20% to 30% provides accents and pops of interest that add character to the space.
- Be careful of trends
It’s easy to fall in love with trendy finishes and design pieces. Trends look so attractive because they are hot at that moment. When selecting finishes, especially flooring and decorative tiles, rather choose timeless finishes that you are really going to love for a long time and then dress it up with trendy décor items or paint finishes that can be changed more cost-effectively down the line.
Using an Interior Designer to assist with the design of your home sounds like an expensive exercise. However, there is so much value to seeing the space in a 3D form before the building work commences. This allows you to have a clear vision from the start but also allows contractors to prevent costly changes along the way.
[Contact Tandi directly at tandi@hatchdesign.co.za /+2784 640 0011]
