Today I’ll be chatting through my four favourite ways to make a visual impact with interior design. All can be adapted to be budget friendly and can be interpreted to suit any style or theme, and all are concepts I’ve used time and time again when designing my home.
1. Prints, prints and more prints
It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of artwork around the house – from photographs to posters to graphic prints. One of my top tips for personal artwork on a budget is to do it yourself! It’s really easy to create on apps such as Adobe Illustrator or even Canva using custom fonts like this fancy fonts collection from Font Bundles.
Whether it’s a special lyric, date or quote, why not get creative? Design, print and frame them – and you’re good to go!
My favourite space to see artwork hanging out is a gallery wall – we’ve been building on ours since we moved into the house over two years ago and are always mixing, matching and adding new pieces. Some of my top tips that have helped me get going are:
- Don’t plan: Now, I know this sounds crazy but for a large scale gallery wall, it’s best to go one by one in adding artwork, creating a gridlock type style.
- Be sentimental, creatively: I love to include nods to our favourite happy times – from special dates to lyrics that mean a lot to us.
– Don’t be afraid to mix & match: Of the photos we’ve included on our wall, we’ve played with colour and black and white, size and orientation. Here I’ve got photos of my dogs along with some our our favourite wedding photographs.
2. Go bold with a colourful sofa
Interior ‘rules’ would suggest that green walls and a green sofa shouldn’t really work together but in my book, it’s a winner. I can never remember which I picked first – whether I fell in love with our green velvet sofa or whether I wanted a jewel green living room and searched for a sofa to suit.
Either way – I love the finished result – the sofa connects the rooms together and gives the downstairs living area a really cosy, connected feel.
Whether you’re shopping for a brand new at a sofa showroom or picking up second-hand online, there are so many great pieces to be found!
3. Get creative with colour
One of my most asked questions here on the blog and over on Instagram is ‘how do I add colour to my home?’. Adding colour should be something that comes naturally, so I’d start by asking yourself a few key questions such as:
- How much natural light does the room get? For bright rooms, I gravitate towards equally bright colours that will really pop, and for darker rooms I tend to stick to duller colours. I would ALWAYS recommend testing samples first – and leaving them up for a few days to see how the colours look at different times of day and in different weather conditions.
- How big is the room, and do you want to keep it comfy and cosy or create the illusion of more space? For our smallest room (the office), we had lots of light so I decided to go bold with an orange shade on the walls – however, I only took this around 3/4 of the way up the wall to create visual height.
- How do you want the room to make you feel? The inspiration for our living and dining room came mostly from some of our favourite hotels, bars and restaurants – they were places we felt we could relax and unwind with a book or a glass of wine in hand, and we wanted to recreate a similar vibe in our home.
- What other textures will be in the room, and what colours will complement these? For the dining room, we already had the exposed brick alcoves so I considered what would work well with these tones. The earthy browns of the brick paired with equally earthy green and in the kitchen, I knew I wanted copper accents so thought about the warmth of the copper when selecting the pink shades.
Finally – think about what feels right for you, your home and the people who live in it. It’s okay not to want to go big and bold with a bright yellow room – perhaps you want to try something a little more understated like a single coloured feature wall, or even a piece of stand out furniture against a neutral back drop.
Remember, it’s only paint and it can always be changed – so have fun and express yourself. Worst case scenario, you’re only a tin of emulsion away from starting again!
4. Add plants
I’m a self-confessed crazy plant lady, and I’m a firm believer that no room is complete without a plant baby (or three). I’ve recently overhauled my plant collection to make sure that everything on ground/low table level is pet friendly (for my cheeky little puppy Otis), and have ended up with more plants than ever before.
A good plant makes a great accessory, and not only does it work aesthetically in a room, the presence of plants can bring so many benefits to your living room, your bedroom, your home office – the list goes on!
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