People who are good at interior design

[lugeforlife]

I need to redo my bedroom. We need a bit of minor repair in there which means we will essentially have a freshly reskimmed box - floor and all. We are also looking to replace all the furniture. So a totally blank canvas.

My issue is that I am crap at decorating. I have no massive sense of what goes and how to pull things together. I spend ages looking at Pinterest and insta but I then struggle to replicate - something always looks off or slightly wrong or I get because it will 'do'. DH and I have broadly the same taste which tends to the minimalist and plain.

So where do you start? Is it an aspect eg like pick some curtains or a lampshade and work from there or do you pick a colour scheme?????

Those who have the knack what do you do?

I'm not into interior design as such but I start with the most expensive item and see if I can get one I love cheap in a sale. So probably carpet, if you need that. Or curtains/bedding.

Then I get the cheaper stuff to go with it. Paint is my last choice because it's cheap and you can buy any colour.

I have no clue but would love to know too!

When my daughter moved out we found some really fab furniture that was white and about 60 percent off. We started with that, then a beautiful grey carpet in the sale. The rest we bought to go with that...

I tend to start with one thing I find that I really like and work from there - but my tastes are more eclectic maximalist than minimalist.

So I've got one box of this wallpaper that gives three drops in our bedroom, for the chimney breast only, then Dulux Vanilla Sundae (dupe for Farrow&Ball Dayroom Yellow) walls, and white Pax wardrobes

www.beut.co.uk/mind-the-gap-tsuru-indigo-wallpaper.html

I also like reading magazines on home decor and get ideas from there. My favourites are Home & Antiques and Country Living, but they might not be yours if you prefer minimalism.

Kitchen, Bathroom Bedroom Magazine is good for more modern minimalist ideas.

www.kbbmagazine.com/

And I tend to surf around John Lewis home website - great for ideas and then look around.

For a bedroom, I would find a really lovely duvet cover or curtain fabric I liked and go from there. Pick out a colour from the fabric for the walls or find something to tone with it or complement it. The colour wheel can be really helpful for this.

I had the curtain fabric for ours, bought plain bedding in the background colour and then painted the walls in a colour that complemented the fabric.

We got some fabulous (and expensive) curtains as the main feature in our bedroom, then built the rest of the room around them - white bedding and touches of pink, blue and green throughout. Turned out great I think and is my favourite room in the house! I’ve tried to be more experimental with clashing colours lately also - so looking at the opposite colours in a colour wheel and trying to bring some of those touches into the room. Also mixing metals can work really well - so pick a dominant meal (either gold and silver) and add small touches of the other metal sticking to either cool or warm metals. If it’s out of your comfort zone to mix gold and silver, gold and bronze also go well together or gold and rose gold etc. In a completely blank room I’d start with a dominant colour (for majority of the room) then add 2 more colours - one being the secondary colour and the other an accent colour. Maybe dominant being white (for example) then the accents being teal and pink. So think a teal feature wall and the rest of the walls white, a rattan bed frame, white duvet, white curtains, gold beside tables, gold ceiling lamp, beige fluffy throw on bed, an Aztec style rug with all the colours in it (bringing them all together) a teal chair in the corner and pink cushions on the bed. May not be your style but trying to show you how you can add a different colours and textures and bring it all together. I’m not an interior designer either just took more of an interest during lockdown when I decided our house was too uniform and boring!

Just coming back to this thread. If you want it look really put together and luxurious, mix textures in the fabrics and things you put in the room.

I would buy needing you love - Then as suggested get a colour wheel (fairly cheap on eBay) and decide - complimentary or clashing?

Use a colour in the bedding for the walls and a toning color for carpet.

I agree looking at statement bed or headboard, then go for a mix of fabrics, looking at soft pillows or cushions, lampshades, bead spread or blanket, work your way round.

in a bedroom lighting is important, table lamps, main light and over head reading lamps build ambiance and a nice sleep environment.

How do you know the order to do things in? This is what I find overwhelming, even before the colour choices! Do you replace the carpet before painting, or the other way round, stuff like that. I wish there was a step by step guide to it all.

So, I do the opposite of what some of the other posters are suggesting. I choose a wall colour or wall paper first. If you have a bit of plasterboard left over or some cardboard, paint it white with some base coat and then put your paint samples on that. (You paint it white first to get the closest match to how it will come out on the wall) Move it around the room from wall to wall and look at it at different times of the day. The natural light coming into a room makes a HUGE difference to how the colour looks in real life. I've found this is the best way to get something that actually works for the room, rather than just what you take a fancy to in the shop.

Then I base, carpets, furniture and window coverings from that. I always buy the best quality plain white bedding I can afford, then add interest from cushions and throws. It is a cheap way of changing the look of a room when you get bored too, by just buying different cushions.

I've also found lighting super important than you realise at first. I recently put a lamp in an awkward corner of my bedroom that didn't have lighting before. Totally transformed the area, it now feels like a cosy little nook in the room whereas it was totally ignored before.

The most powerful interior decorating rule is the 60:3010 colour rule.

60/30/10

Start with picking colours, then pick EVERYTHING according to that scheme.