Interior styling mistakes you need to avoid

Styling your home isn’t always easy, and if you’re lacking in knowledge when it comes to interior design, you could be making some mistakes.

A room is a blank canvas just waiting for you to unlease your creativity

Let’s take a look at three decor blunders that you need to avoid in order to create your ideal home.

1. Skimping on the finer details 

While it’s vital to ensure that your home is filled with essential pieces of furniture, it’s just as important to pay close attention to the finer details too.

For example, soft furnishings can help tie just about any room together, so you may want to focus on these home accessories first.

You could keep the room neutral and add a splash of colour using cushions and curtains as accents

Whether you decide to swap your shabby looking window dressings for some stunning eyelet curtains or ditch your drab duvet cover for a luxuriously soft and stylish bed linen set, you should find that there are a whole host of high-quality accessories available that can help improve the look and feel of each room.

With so much choice available, there is no reason why you should skimp when it comes to these finishing touches.

2. Failing to think about arrangement 

Regardless of whether it’s your bedroom or kitchen, failing to think about how the room is arranged could be seriously letting your home down.

Every room in your property has a different use, so it’s important to make sure that the way in which you organize each space is fit for its individual purpose.

For example, it’s likely that your living area is where you like to relax and occasionally entertain guests.

Add your personality with some quirky accessories

With that in mind, you could position your sofas to create a communal seating area, and perhaps place a coffee table in the center and add a couple of side tables for extra convenience.

No matter which room you are arranging, it pays to give careful thought to how you can make the space as comfortable and practical as possible.

3. Having too much on display 

From vases and photo frames to ornaments and candle holders, the chances are there are a whole array of home accessories that you want to show off.

However, having too much on display could be making your home appear cluttered and chaotic, creating a disorderly and distracting vibe.

Too much clutter creates a discordant atmosphere

It’s important to remember that less is more when it comes to trinkets and knick-knacks. To solve this issue, you could simply remove a few items, keeping your favourite pieces in prominent and visible places.

If you’re guilty of making any of these interior design mistakes, taking this advice on board should enable you to create the stylish home you’ve always wanted.

*collaborative post

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Will Doing Up Your Kitchen Help To Sell Your House?

The old saying is very true. The kitchen really is the heart of the home - even if, in our case, it looks like we've been hosting one very long party.  

But, does renovating your kitchen pay dividends when it's time to sell? Will it really add value to your home? Will it help to sell your home quicker?

Image credit:  By Mocolocco

It's very easy to get 'kitchen' envy.  I love reading homes and gardens magazines and planning my dream kitchen which would include a new oven, beautiful granite worktops, one of the floating islands for us all to sit at in the morning and drink our freshly blended juices whilst sprinkling chia seed on yoghurt and sharing our family goals.

Yes I jest.  A bit.

We put a new kitchen in the home I inhabited as a singleton with my overweight and sadly deceased cat Samson and we paid around £7,000 at the time.  There were no new white goods, just cupboards and worktops.  That was in 2008.

So, when we came across a showroom for one of the top kitchen manufacturing brands, I was intrigued to know how much a brand new kitchen would cost.

We wandered in whilst praying Ieuan didn't fall off the precariously high breakfast bar chairs and Caitlin didn't place an order with the staff for us (it's been known).

We need to rip out the suspended ceiling and rethink storage

I admired a white, Shaker-style set of units together with gleaming double-oven, wine rack and those clever corner units which allow you to reach all your pots and pans without dislocating a shoulder. The sales lady helpfully calculated the cost for me just so I could have an 'idea of what to budget for'. I nearly fell of the nicely padded stool  £25,000 with fitting on top.

Much as we love our current home, we are hoping to move up one more time in the next few years to a house which has a bigger room for Ieuan so I can't see the point in a whacking great investment like that when we are likely to leave it behind in the relatively near future anyway.

I used to think that adding a decent kitchen to a property might increase its value, but whilst it's certainly one of the most popular home improvements, I'm not sure that's true these day.  Basements, loft conversations and extensions seem to be more popular improvements, together with adding extra light.

Either way, to install a brand new top of the range kitchen with a view to recouping the cost on the sale of the property seems to be risky. A better approach would be to make some minor upgrades such as replacing unit doors and tiles.

Stuff everywhere - it might need more than just a few minor adjustments to the design

Luckily there are some great sources of information online to help you with your kitchen design such as Homify which cleverly combines design ideas with products, professionals and even a community forum where you can discuss your renovation plans.  You can even search by style and popularity and create your own look book so that you can really keep up with the Jones'!

The most important thing, I think, is to create an atmosphere where everyone is comfortable and which caters to the need of the activities you undertake the most frequently.

The Dormy—Kitchen/Breakfast Room by Jigsaw Interior Architecture

I love the light, airy spaciousness of this kitchen, but the rustic cosiness of the one above.  Light, neutral colours really open out the space.

by Studio Maggiore Architettura

The space should really be set up to encourage the family to spend time together.  Even though this space seems quite narrow, it is still welcoming.  That table would be a great place for the kids to do their homework after school.

Bent Kitchen by Diane Berry Kitchens

I love how the splash of lime green makes the space come alive.

Sentosa Beach House by Design Intervention

I love the detail in the worktop and the light shades.

The great thing about sites like Homify is that they help you to crystalise in your mind what really works for you in terms of design.

You can then carry on your research and carry out your project management according to the budget you have set aside - even though if the TVprogramme Grand Designs is anything to go buy, building in a safety net of an extra 20% or so would seem to be a good idea.

Our starting point is to get rid of the suspended ceiling and then we will start our redesign.

Just one of our many DIY projects this year.

*collaborative post

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