Make Your Interior Design Shine

Make Your Interior Design Shine

So, the building work has been finished – on time and under budget. Perhaps you were extending your home with a conservatory or creating office space in a loft conversion? Or perhaps you were even building a whole new house? Whatever the project, now the work (beautifully designed by Greenway Associates, of course) has been completed, what next? Even perfect architecture can be improved with great interior design, so here are seven of our tips:

• Hang art at a sensible height. Resist the temptation to position artwork high on the walls in rooms with soaring ceilings. The effect might feel balanced given the scale of the room but what’s the point of a beautiful painting you can’t really see without a ladder? Measure your eye level and then hang your artwork so the centre (‘midline’) sits at that height. To help you out, many art galleries set the midline at 57-60 inches (1.4m-1.5m) above the floor, on the basis the average adult eye level is 57 inches high

• Consider light sources when choosing paint. For example, a colour that glows warmly in a room lit only by a light bulb might shine unpleasantly in a room flooded by natural light, and don’t rush into painting. Despite the logical temptation to paint your new space while the room is still empty, you don’t want to then find that all your furniture clashes violently with the walls, so plan ahead.
• Place mirrors thoughtfully. Mirrors are proven to help create a sense of space but clumsily positioned mirrors can be disorienting (and distressing if you look older than you think you do!). Frameless mirrors can almost go unnoticed as they bounce natural light around a room, whereas mirrors with large ornamental frames can feel imposing. A wall-mounted floor-to-ceiling mirror at the end of your front hall will give you a welcome sense of space every time you return home.
• Talking of light, glass doors and coffee tables will allow natural light to flow through a home.
• Focal points like fireplaces usually work best when positioned directly across from the entrance to the room, drawing you inside.
• Treat themes with caution. All those nautical images in the new ensuite bathroom might have felt like a good idea at first, but after a few weeks of seeing mermaids and yachts on the tiles every time you shower, the whole (possibly expensive) theme might feel unbearably ‘cute’.

• Ignore advice. “Hang on, your advice is to ignore your advice?!” Well, not quite, perhaps, but remember the only rights and wrongs of interior design are the things you love and the things you hate. Don’t let other people bully you with pretentious principles. You’ve spent good time and money on that bespoke architectural project, so fill the space in the way that works for you.

You’ll find many other great interior design tips in our blog posts, so why not make time to explore our website right now?

Here at Greenway Associates we have over 24 years’ experience, and work hard to keep abreast with the best in design technology and planning policy. Whatever you are looking for, please get in touch for more advice at Greenway Associates or call us on 01737 652737.