Whether you’ve just moved house or you’re simply wanting to give your pad a fresh look, there are several insider hacks out there designed to breathe new life into the domestic space. And oftentimes it’s the smallest, finest details which can have the largest impact when talking interior design. Low cost, high impact; what’s not to love? So, let’s do this; here are 5 IDEAL design tricks to transform your home.
WINDOW SHUTTERS
Straight in at the deep end, we think. One of the best ways to improve the look of your home quickly and efficiently is by installing wooden window shutters. As sites like shutters.co.uk show, they not only add instant style to any home but also come in a choice of materials, allowing you to get creative with texture and tone.
From hardwood to basswood hybrids, finding a shutter that fits the mood you’re aiming for is easy. An added bonus, of course, is that they improve both the interior and exterior appearance of your house, and we think white shutters, such as these plantation shutters by Lifestyle Shutters & Blinds, look particularly sophisticated. A double win, that.
RUGS ON HARD FLOORS
Wooden floors are a design trick in themselves as they look fabulous and are easier to keep clean than carpets. The one drawback, however, is that they can look and feel a bit cold. To help soften them up those hard edges, consider adding a brightly coloured rug. Texturally, as we’ve already mentioned, this is a winner and one of those good clashes. A rug can also warm up a room, both metaphorically and physically. Result.
TEXTURES & PATTERNS
A home design hack often deployed by those in the know is to mix up the textures of a room, as well as favouring patterns over the plain. A classic interior design technique is to mix the old and the new in the same room, adding contrast and serving to highlight both pieces succinctly. Adding a touch of modern art to a room which is defined by antique items works really well, for instance. In terms of patterns, having one wall in a striking design and keeping the rest of the walls plain and one tone can look cool and confident for minimal effort.
GO GREEN
We all want to connect more with the great outdoors, to lay in a field, frolic amongst the long grass or climb a tree and stay up there for a little longer than is normal. We’re all also too busy to act on these desires; there are too many notifications to check, emails to reply to and selfies to pose for. Bringing the outside in, then, with pot plants, is that little nod to nature in times of urban suffocation. The benefits of using plants in your own home are myriad. Not only do they purify the air and balance out a house’s humidity, but they also smell great and have a soothing effect. That’s even before we consider the aesthetics.
KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL
There’s one narrative thread with runs through so many of the best homes; that the kitchen is the hub of the house. This is where bread is baked and broken, where families draw their faces away from screens for a short while and actually make eye contact. Relationships are nurtured and souls are nourished in the kitchen, so it’s a good idea to focus your design flourishes on this space if possible. The good news is that it’s also one of the easiest rooms to get right, simply by adding a few accessories. This could be as basic as putting in a hanging rack for utensils, or having your spice collection on display, to something more elaborate, such as replacing the cupboard doors with a new, confident colour scheme.