Irina Yazeva
Architect, blogs on Instagram.
This moment has come - you have the keys to your new apartment in the palm of your hand. Will you be renovating from scratch? Just moving things? Do you want to paint the wall and change the chandelier? In any case, you will have to decide how to choose a style for your home.
There is a lot of information: modern interiors on social networks, advertising of furniture centers, publications in the media. Beautiful, colorful, spectacular - there are a lot of materials. If you like everything and nothing at the same time, it is absolutely impossible to choose something that suits you. You are simply bewitched and paralyzed by this stream of stylistic decisions.
I'll break your spell - you can do whatever you like. Velvet pillows and concrete, stucco and raw wood, marble and patchwork - it was bad taste and an out-of-the-ordinary solution, it became an original interior, a living space tailored for you.
How to decide on preferences? When choosing an interior style, there are no laws, there are tricks and tricks. One of them will definitely work anyway.
Look into your wardrobe to choose your color scheme
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In fact, you have already made your choice. Open your closet and look at your wardrobe.
Do you wear plain clothes with bright accessories? Go for a monochromatic basic interior with color accents - patterned pillows, table lamps and other details.
Crazy for a romantic look? Are ruffles and flowers your everything? Light wood, light walls, and floral patterns will decorate the house. If you don’t have things in a predatory red color in your closet, then a Ferrari-colored kitchen is most likely not for you.
Use high-quality imitation of expensive materials
Modern technologies make it possible to create artificial analogues of wood, marble and natural stone without harming quality. In laboratories, specialists develop special composite compositions with the required characteristics, and then use high-precision printing to apply the design and texture of expensive materials to the porcelain stoneware.
Such imitations are more convenient in everyday life. For example, porcelain stoneware, unlike wooden parquet or marble, is not afraid of water. And you won’t have to regularly sand it, coat it with impregnation or varnish.
Marble or wood make the interior more luxurious, but such materials require special care. Estima porcelain tiles are a practical replacement for solid boards or marble tiles. Its pattern and texture cannot be distinguished from natural wood or stone. There are other options: imitation of classic Spanish or Italian tiles, concrete of various shades, textured brick or metal.
View the Estima porcelain tile catalog
Consider monobrands
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Are you indifferent to the color of the sofa and the patterns on the tiles? Do you need something strong, comfortable, neutral? Then pay attention to monobrands - furniture manufacturers or trading companies that produce collections of furniture and interior items.
It will be a little boring, but very solid. Buy basic pieces of furniture, look at the interior colors and placement of lamps in the catalog. Then, once you've settled in, add custom details. Accessories dear to your heart will warm this interior.
Free up space
Image: lilasgh / Shutterstock In modern interiors, which designers focus on, the central place is occupied by the space itself, not cluttered with unnecessary details.
In such compositions, each item has its own meaning and functionality, so there are no visual clutter or dust collectors. To achieve this effect, plan your renovation carefully. For example, thoughtful storage systems help relieve space. Out-of-season bedding and blankets can be stored in a drawer under the bed. For large kitchen utensils and dishes, make an additional tier of wall cabinets or pencil cases from floor to ceiling.
In a small bedroom, you can create a reading corner on the windowsill and place sections underneath for storing clothes and toys. Install neat shelves on the balcony, and a cabinet under the stairs for a vacuum cleaner, mop and household power tools.
To forget about the problem of storing clothes, if possible, it is worth including a dressing room in your apartment or house renovation project. This way you don't have to buy a wardrobe for every room.
Maintaining order
One of the important conditions for any interior created by designers is cleanliness and order. Even the most stylishly decorated room loses most of its appeal if it is “supplemented” with several dozen scattered things. Of course, everyone’s ideas about cleanliness are different, and some styles even welcome some creative disorder - this makes the interior more lively. But there are also opposite situations.
For example, you want to decorate your apartment in a minimalist style, but your family has small children. These factors don't compare well, and until children grow up to be able to consciously clean up after themselves, minimalism may not be the best choice. Theoretically, you can throw all your energy into maintaining order, but this is also not the most sensible approach, because... a new interior should bring joy, not additional worries. When choosing an apartment design, honestly assess whether you can maintain it in the same form as intended?
The designer’s tasks at the stage of choosing an interior style:
- Identify the real needs of the customer. Perhaps you, as a customer, like some ready-made examples in a certain style, but in reality you don’t need just such an interior. For example, you simply liked the atmosphere of the setting, the arrangement of the furniture, or the color scheme. Sometimes even the right lighting, which makes the interior especially attractive, can be such a key factor in the choice. Studying the ready-made examples you like, the designer isolates from them exactly what you like - and in the end, all these details, spotted in different projects, add up to the picture that is ideal for you. At this stage, the final decision on the choice of style is made.
- Adapt all selected ideas to the family’s lifestyle. This task is extremely important for the subsequent organization of everyday life, so that you do not have to make additional efforts to maintain the interior in its original form. Many styles and specific solutions that look beautiful in pictures can be difficult to transfer to real interiors in such a way that they remain as aesthetically pleasing in real conditions. The specialist will recommend those style directions in which all family members will be comfortable, and maintaining the aesthetics of the environment will not require any extra effort.
Select windows to match your interior and decorate window sills
Image: Photographee.eu / Shutterstock
White plastic windows do not add beauty to the interior and often stand out from the overall style. In addition, within 5–10 years they turn yellow and the fittings fail.
Fortunately, now you can find color options in stores and choose a shade that will exactly suit your interior. Choose windows with a narrow profile - this will increase the amount of light in the room. And don't forget about the window sills. White plastic can ruin even the most sophisticated designer renovation, so choose window sills made of wood or porcelain stoneware.
Install doors that won't have to be restored
Image: ImageFlow / Shutterstock
Modern materials like eco-veneer successfully imitate natural wood. And fans of the Scandinavian style and classics will love the enamel models. Such interior doors are inexpensive. They are easy to care for: just wipe with a dry or damp microfiber cloth. Many models are not afraid of water and are therefore suitable for bathrooms and kitchens.
But classic wooden doors dry out over time and are less resistant to high humidity. If the varnish is damaged, the wood will begin to absorb water and become deformed. Restoring wooden doors is not cheap, and most often you need to turn to specialists for this.
Add light
Image: Pixel‑Shot / Shutterstock
One chandelier per room will not be enough. Different areas in the room require different light sources. For example, a floor lamp near a chair is an ideal choice for reading or knitting, plain garlands for creating a romantic atmosphere, and directional light near a table for work.
It’s convenient if all the lights in the room can be turned off with one button - on the wall or on your smartphone. This saves time and makes the apartment more technologically advanced.
Summary
Choosing the optimal interior for your home is a difficult but interesting task. By following the described tips and rules, you will be able to look at this process through the eyes of a designer. Experiment, try, fantasize, and you will certainly succeed.
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