Finding your style and making the most of your time and budget
Read on to explore how you can achieve your dream home with some easy, impactful upgrades and how you can affordably solve some of your design challenges.
Cost is sometimes one of the biggest obstacles when it comes to transforming the spaces in your home, and if you have a limited budget, you’ll want to ensure that you spend your money in a way that will have the biggest impact on your home, and the joy you will get from spending time within it. If you’re feeling stuck with where to start, we’d love to help!
Image by Design@Studio17
Deciding where to start
If you’re looking to completely redesign your home, and are wondering which room to start with, creating a new design for a space in which you spend a lot of your time is one of the most obvious places to begin. Thinking about which rooms will bring the most valuable difference to your home life post-renovation, is a great tool to focus your thinking on. For some, it may be a bedroom design which will bring a space to retreat to, and enjoy relaxing in; whereas for others, it may be that a new kitchen design could be a better place to start, for those who enjoy spending time cooking, or hosting friends. It can feel daunting to have your favourite spaces ‘out of action’ while your redesign comes to life, but the end result will be so worth it!
Alongside thinking about where you spend your time, you should also consider if your starting point/s have any interdependencies or are linked to other rooms in which you wish to renovate. It may make more financial sense to tackle two connected spaces at the same time, if for instance, you have a need to carry out repairs, like solving damp, repositioning electrical points, or undertaking structural repairs.
Finding your style
Defining what you like (and what you don’t!) can be difficult to pinpoint without a reference point. Pinterest is a great place to go to look for design inspiration which will help you to narrow down your style. With just a few key word searches for things you like in interior designs, the algorithm will begin to show you things that are linked to your searches, curating you a whole host of images suited to you. You can create a Board within Pinterest to ‘Pin’ your favourites to, helping you to create a vision for the spaces within your home. Similarly, you can Save posts you find on Instagram to curate a mood board of design ideas too.
For those that aren’t familiar with Pinterest, we recommend creating a board for each room and an additional one for style, for any images you like that aren’t connected to a room, just add to there - this will start to help you lean into a design style preference. It’s important that there is a ‘thread’ between rooms so that the house feels cohesive even if the rooms aren’t the same, it could be the vintage furniture, styles of art, or planting that you choose, that can pull a whole home design together.
If you’re not sure what to search for to inspire your style, think about how you want your spaces to feel; if you like minimal clutter and calming colours, then you could search for this on Pinterest, and it’ll likely bring up some pins that are just what you had in mind. There are often notes on each image which hint toward the defined style, so you can then put a name to a style you like.
All Images by Design@Studio17
Your interior style should be about your story, how you live, and what you love – so you will likely evolve within your space over time. It can be tricky to define this if you are easily led by trends, but so long as you love any trends you pick (and not just because you think you should love them), your personal style will be timeless.
Making an Immediate Impact
If you want to elevate the design in rooms that you aren’t quite ready to renovate fully, there are a number of simple changes you can make to enhance these rooms, without eating into your budget too much.
Stripping out as much clutter as possible, there is a fine line between stylised and ‘busy’.
Removing or repurposing any outdated or damaged fitted furniture. Furniture can also be upcycled to give it a new lease of life.
Repairing walls so they are ready for painting, stripping old wallpaper and sanding and filling to get a smooth finish. For those that can’t do this, repainting and adding art to the walls can hide non perfect walls, and in old properties, wonky can add charm.
Repainting the woodwork such as skirting, architrave and doors.
Updating the light fittings and shades for inexpensive new ones, or pre-loved; or just adding a new lamp to the space can create a whole new atmosphere.
Images by Design@Studio17
Choosing some new accessories to freshen up the look of a space, some new textiles such as cushions and throws can really lift a space.
Images Left to Right: Vases via wheresaintsgo.co.uk | Amuse La Bouche Ruffle Striped Cushions via roseandgrey.co.uk | Napkins by MOONTEAstudios via etsy.com
Spending an afternoon browsing vintage furniture stores for new pieces, you can often find beautiful pieces at the fraction of the price, far superior quality than fast furniture and will last, and of course charity shops are a great way to find accessories – in her youth, our founder would buy frames and mirrors for very little and paint them all the same colour to create gallery walls at the fraction of the price.
Not-as-quick Fixes
Cosmetic makeovers to spaces that are functional, but not your dream style, can be done on a budget.
Staining / painting original floorboards if they are in good condition and often more environmentally friendly than new carpets.
Giving your old kitchen units a new look can be easily achieved without tearing it all out, and for a fraction of the cost of a totally new kitchen. You could simply replace elements of your kitchen fixtures, such as worktops, sink, taps and splashbacks for a fresh look. Little Greene have just launched a new paint, ‘Intelligent Paints’, which can be applied to almost any surface, doesn’t require as much surface prep work before using, is up to 15 times tougher than regular paint, and is of course, environmentally friendly. Using this one product, will save you time and money; find out more about it here.
Image by LittleGreene.com
Repurposing awkward or unused spaces, to define them for a task or activity; for example, you could have a space under a staircase, which you could convert to use as a reading nook.
Giving your outdoor spaces some TLC can go a long way in making them feel more usable and inviting. Weeding and feeding any lawned spaces and cutting back overgrown trees and shrubs, along with adding colour and interest with planting, are all achievable on a DIY basis (plus a little elbow grease).
Creating a perfect design for your home which is within budget, and that has the most impact is not always an easy feat but certainly not impossible. Here are some of our top tips –
owlandtheelephant.co.uk - Original vintage furniture and accessories for the home. Scouring charity shops or flea markets for pictures in frames, that you can swap out for your own choice of prints.
Image by owlandtheelephant.co.uk
andvntg.com - Mid-century, industrial and vintage furniture, lighting & accessories. They have an appreciation for well made, authentic, timeless pieces that are unique and have their own story and soul. They’ve stood the test of time, with many years still left in them.
Image by andvntg.com
vinterior.co - Vintage and antiques from the UK's leading pre-owned furniture marketplace.
Image by vinterior.co
If you have a vision but are unsure on how to make it a reality, our Creative Studio design service is there to help guide you. Interested in exploring this further? Please don't hesitate to reach out for a chat with no obligation.
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