How To Guides Essential Interior Design Tips

Date Published:

10/06/2008

Design Advice

So you fancy having a go at revamping a room? Or maybe you have a new extension on the way and so have a blank canvas to play with? Either way, and whatever look you're hoping to achieve, there are a few basic rules you should be aware of before you dive in there.

Interior designer, Clare Pascoe, director of Wimbledon based Molten London Ltd (see www.moltendesign.co.uk), says that when you first set about designing a room there are a 'multitude of elements' to consider simultaneously.

'You need to consider your own personal preferences, uses of the room, storage requirements, lighting requirements, the mood and so on. No one element is more important than another. They all have to be considered as a whole so we know they will work together.'

'To separate the elements and consider them one by one would most likely require you to go back, rework and update a previously 'completed' area because it did not fit in neatly with an element considered later on. Whereas there is a degree of re-working schemes because a scheme develops, morphs and becomes more refined, by considering all the elements as we go minimises un-necessary re-working.'

Plan Ahead

She says one of the biggest stumbling blocks when redesigning a room is not planning the space, in detail, in advance.

'All areas of the project should be considered on paper and thought through stage by stage by someone with experience of the potential pitfalls and how to avoid them, as it is far cheaper to solve problems when they're theoretical and far easier and less time-consuming to take evasive action before the team are on site.'

'There are a multitude of disaster points in any project - having an experienced designer on board can save you the time and cost of rectifying such mistakes; mistakes that would have been predicted, or foreseen by your designer before they result in potentially costly delays. Although clients may not wish to take on the 'added burden' of design fees, it will pay dividends in the long run.'

Design It Yourself

There are, of course, various pieces of software you can buy with in-built tutorials which allow you to draw up your dream room either from scratch or using variations of the pre-designed floor layouts included and lets you choose from scores of finishing touch accessories. (see, for example, www.smartdraw.com and www.designsoftware.com for some free downloads).

Design is purely down to personal preference - there are no great taboos. One man's heavenly colour scheme may be another man's idea of hell but as long as you're happy and the room is functional, who cares if you want wall-to-wall leopard skin!

Pascoe says: 'Although there are no hard and fast rules on how to design per se, the simple ideas are usually the most successful long term. When the design process is finished it is the client who lives with the design day in day out, so it's imperative that a client was happy with the design and that it matches their personal requirements, however quirky they may feel to the client when they initially vocalise them.'