Need ideas to decorate my house. Who can I ask / contract to do this?

[DrizzleHair]

No idea if this is a stupid question but... I have no imagination, and want to make my house look good. Who can I get to give me ideas?

I've heard of interior designers, but I don't want to pay someone to source bits and do all the work, more someone to say eg:

• x y z paint colours would look good in that room
• a sofa like bla could work
• rearrange the furniture like this
• add some bright cushions to that corner

Etc etc

I need advice and maybe some sketches or rough plans, some semi-designs. Ideally someone who I talk to for a bit and they can understand what sort of things I like

I was hoping to pay in the region of £1k for this for say 4 rooms. Is this ridiculous?

I have no idea where to start!

Thanks in advance for any pointers

And a v cheeky request if anyone has good ideas... This is my living room, what can I do to make it less bland? I like colour. This pic is from when I bought it a year ago so I have different furniture, but it still looks fairly similar

Pick a colour

I'd agree, pick a colour or 2 to go-do you need the curtains? I'd remove them or change if you're very overlooked. Our curtains are rarely pulled so unnecessary for the most part. Is that a bbq? Do you like wallpaper or pattern? Plants, or any hobbies or ornaments you love? Often best to look at your most treasud things-you can work a scheme around them

Do you like the fire-is it an open fire? The TV is very prominent-try pulling the sofa out from the wall so you walk round it & it's a bit less like a corridor to outside iykwim?

It is a lovely room. You could paint the wall with the chimney in a navy or a dark grey and go for a gold mirror and the rest in a neutral colour.

I would buy a few home magazines and just copy

And the garden looks lovely- clear the view & draw the eye towards it, trim hedges outside & add a large houseplant at that end of the room

Can you put the sofa at right angles to the fireplace to face the windows?
Paint the fireplace wall a dark grey to match the curtains.
Get a new brightly coloured rug, bigger than the one you have there, with some dark greys (to match new paint and curtains) and then put four or five cushions on the sofa picking out some of the bright colours from the new rug.

Like this. Would work well with existing flooring as that's expensive to replace

Oooh some really good ideas here! I might post a pic tomorrow if I manage to tidy showing what it is like now with my furniture, to make some suggestions more relevant - eg I have different curtains. However the idea of painting one wall navy is very exciting.

I'm also keen on ideas about paying someone to come and do this for me though, what sort of person do I want if they exist?

You want an interior designer to do a colour palette for a room / number of rooms. You don't need a full project where they project manage the painters etc and buy you bits and bobs for the rooms. Ask locally for recommended interior designers.
Some independent "posh" fabric and paint shops will work with them so would be a good place to ask.

You don't need to pay someone - seriously you need to buy a few mags and look for things you love and go for it

So if you like navy - go to a wallpaper shop and look for navy wallpaper, or a cushion shop or fabric and look for a navy .... any whatever pattern you like and use those colours in your room (you don't buy the material!! Just copy the designers idea)

Look for different fabrics, knitted cushions, printed cushions, tassels, long ones and smaller square ones

Look for texture in curtains

Scour the secondhand shops or TKMaxx for navy or buy a mix match silver and white candles

You need to get some photos on to canvas or look at poster shops for some wall art (posters are cheap and cheerful, look at vintage prints or movie prints)

Look at seating moving the sofa because it looks like a walk through or buy a checked winged chair

I've recently had a farrow and ball colour consultant come round. They charge £195 for 1 hour and they'll do 4 rooms in that hour. They discuss colours and what will work where, i'm so pleased with what we decided together and would definitely recommend it.