Quick Tips For A Great Interior

Interior decoration is a skill that can be honed over a number of years and some people have a natural gift for turning a blank canvas of a room into a warm and inviting space. However, if you haven’t been blessed with natural design tendencies, there are plenty of little tips and shortcuts that you can use to make your house more appealing.

Adding value

If you decide you want to sell your property in the future, any redecoration work you’ve done could well add value. At the very least, more people will be interested in a newly decorated and carpeted house – you’ll be showing your property off at its best and giving potential buyers a good first impression of the house, which could help with that all-important sale. And then it’s just a case of packing up the boxes and finding a good moving services company. But, if you’ve done a really good job of the interior, you might well find that you’re happy to stay where you are and enjoy your newly improved property for yourselves.

Neutral shades

If you’re not sure about which colours to paint your walls, or you and your partner have very different views about the finish you’re looking for, then it’s best to stick to a neutral colour scheme. If you choose a range of similar shades, you can use these as a theme throughout your house and then add some contrast with key focal colours and pieces. For example, shades of cream and beige will look warm and cosy but an accent colour of red or raspberry can help to lift the room and add another dimension to the design.

Test before you commit

Once you have narrowed you paint choices down, it’s a good idea to do some testers. Try out the paint in different areas of the room as the light and location can make a big difference to how a colour looks. Make sure you look at it at different times of the day when the light and atmosphere changes.

Prepare the walls

Whilst it’s tempting to get on with the painting once you’ve chosen the colours, there’s no point painting over an uneven wall, or half stripping off old wallpaper. If you want a professional finish, you need to prepare the surfaces properly and that could mean a lot of hard work. You could hire a steamer to help get rid of unruly wallpaper, or use an electric sander to get a smooth finish on uneven walls. An undercoat will help to get a nice even surface and then you can apply your paint. Once you’ve finished, you’ll appreciate that all the hard work and the preparation is well worth the extra time and effort that you’ve put in.

Carpets

Once again, it’s best to stick to neutral tones when it comes to carpeting your house. Dark or bold colours can shrink a space and make a house look very dark. A lighter carpet will brighten a room. Many people opt for darker carpets, as they believe them to be better at hiding stains. But these days, there are so many options for stain resistant carpets on the market, that there’s no need to limit your choices. Carpets can also be treated with a stain resister, prior to them being fitted. Stick to a shoes-off policy inside the house and you could add years to the life of your carpets. Of course, you might remove the old carpets and discover beautiful original floorboards underneath. In which case, you don’t need to get any new carpets, simply sand and varnish the floorboards and put down a few rugs to keep your feet warm on cold evenings.

Finishing touches

Once you’ve painted and re-carpeted your room or your whole house, it’s time to think about the accessories. You might want to rearrange existing furniture, or buy new pieces to really update your home. Flowers, paintings and photos will all make a big difference to the finished look of the room and will help to give it that homely feel. You can personalise your room as much as you like but try not to make it too cluttered, or you’ll take away that sense of space that you’ve created with well chosen wall colours and carpeting.