We’ve heard it so many times! “I know what I like but I don’t know how to pull it all together.”

The overall driving force behind building a lasting look for your home, and really understanding your style is good planning and conscious buying; placing needs before wants, buying quality rather than quantity.

By focusing on personal style, and your family’s needs you can create a room that brings you joy and doesn’t leave you flipping through the pages of magazines longing for someone else’s home. A parallel example is when you create a minimal or capsule wardrobe, which is about editing, getting rid of items that don’t make you happy to make room for things that do. Paring back to essentials and building from there.

Buy well, buy once, we always say!

Style outlives transient trends. Before we go any further, if you haven’t taken our style quiz I recommend you begin there. It will definitely start you off on the right foot! Click the link below the image to launch the quiz

The first goal to creating look that will last is to eliminate impulse buying. This kind of unconscious consumerism is good for the economy but bad for your wallet and for the planet, and is never going to give you what you long for – a beautiful home.

If you follow these steps and simplifying your buying habits you will minimise your accessory overspending and bring a sense of freedom; you never have to think about how to add fresh sparkle to tired decor. Style outlasts any trends. 

Timeless is key

If the idea of building a timeless room based on classics seems daunting, these five principles will help guide you to understand your taste better and develop a sense of style, and invest well. 

By following these steps and simplifying your buying habits you will minimise your accessory overspending and bring a sense of freedom; you never have to think about how to add fresh sparkle to tired decor. Style outlasts any trends. 

1 | Plan What’s Needed

Firstly, edit edit edit

When you declutter this will give you a firm grasp of what you actually love, vs what you have accumulated over the years. We all have this problem, Well-intentioned gifts, items purchased on sale, or on impulse.

Planning for what your room actually needs, means you will be less likely to buy things on impulse.

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Collect your accessories and accents together and clear the decks (so to speak). Put everything into one of three piles. Things you love, things to donate, and things to toss out. Sentiment doesn’t really need a voice here. We all hold onto things for sentimental meaning that really don’t work in our spaces. They just add to the clutter and hold us back from creating a truly lovely space.

Look over what’s left

Your main pieces of furniture will tell you a lot about whether to build on these or whether to start afresh. I always tell my clients that you are never going to get a room that you love starting with key pieces you don’t love. Make sense?

Think about what you like about the pieces you have decided to keep. Make a list of items that need to be replaced and plan what’s required to fill the gaps. Plan to purchase pieces that are timeless and versatile, which will work together as a whole. The main furniture pieces in your room should be investment pieces – just like in your wardrobe.

2 | Choose a Colour Palette

Neutrals are often a good choice for your main pieces of furniture but any solid colour has good potential here. If you are more attracted to vibrant colour, and lots of it, then a rich green sofa could be your neutral ground, or soft blue, or cinnamon. Just remember to consider the adjacent spaces and how the colours will flow from one space to another.

Neutrals are not boring when they provide a great backdrop for you art or favourite accents. Use them as a base for styling. I am a big believer in the little black dress school of design. You can dress it up or dress it down… or if it is my room, throw in a splash of vibrant colour to cheer it up. 

image of 6 pieces of pottery in pastel colours

3 | Buy the Best Quality

Buying the best quality you can afford is critical to building a room you won’t grow tired of. Do your research here. Things cost a fair bit more than you think they would if you want them to last. Pick investment pieces that are well-made. It is better to begin with a spare, minimal room with key items of higher quality. While we are talking about beginning, I don’t recommend purchasing anything until you have a plan – a big picture vision for what you want your room to look and feel like before you make a purchase that will lock you in. Gather photos together of anything you are considering and you will begin to see what works and what doesn’t.

Buy the best and only cry once” Miles Redd

It’s not always easy determining what furniture brands are worth investing in; high-end brands with great advertising and glossy catalogues don’t always have quality to match. They just have a good marketing team;) Time honoured methods, materials, and fabrics selected are more important than the price tag. Focus on learning which fabrics will work best for you, and learn about good furniture construction for pieces that will last. 

4 | Dress your Room to Make You Feel Good

Ignore all the magazines and their trend issues. You must have will seen that the furnishings industry has become as fickle as fashion and every year, new colours, new looks are launched to foster discontent and encourage sales. Trends are fleeting, style has longevity. So look for classic pieces that are timeless. You can play around with the “colour du jour” with accents and pillows if you choose. Better yet, choose a piece of artwork and let that inspire your colour palette and design direction.

5 | Accessorise

We often get carried away with accessories and yet, when used sparingly are the most powerful way to add emphasis. If you’re room is building on foundation pieces that are neutral, then accessories can completely change the look and feel of your room. For example, the design industry is finally emerging from a strong grey trend. Yet all those rooms in moody greys can easily be updated with accents. Remember to vary the scale when you are picking out accents and work in threes or fives.

6 | Take our Style Quiz

Here’s the link again to take our style quiz. If you don’t have a clear sense of your style, it will hep guide you. We provide lots of tips for you once we know your style.

Doesn’t everyone want a home they can be proud of? If you need help coming up with a game plan, give us a shout.

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