Whether you’re a first-time homeowner or looking to give your current home a new splash of life, designing your own space can be frustrating!
If you don’t have a natural eye for design, repainting walls, sourcing furniture pieces, and choosing rugs can get easily stressful.
In an ideal world, we’d be working closely with a professional interior designer when attempting to make our dream home come to life, but that’s an option not everyone can afford.
To sharpen your home’s design on your own, start by doing some basic interior design hacks!
Here are some interior design tips to help you pull your space together without asking for professional help.
1. Layer your lights
You’ve likely heard of how crucial lighting is in modern interior design.
Not only can it make or break the mood, but good lighting can also make a space feel bigger and more spacious. When a room is properly lit, our eyes get tricked into thinking that the space is more open and airy than it actually is.
You can add more lighting to your space through simple choices such as opting for sheer curtains.
Instead of adding another ornamental table lamp, try installing lights to your ceiling (or getting ceiling lights) instead. These can help save counter and floor space and let you spread light evenly inside your home.
Indoor lighting, when done right, can turn a room into a warm and relaxing space.
2. Invest in custom storage
Storage solutions are important to keep your home organised, but let’s be honest, looking at them can be an eyesore sometimes.
Opting for custom storage means being able to match your drawers, shelves, and countertops with the design and structure of your space. It’s a practical way to arrange your space without compromising its aesthetics.
Investing in custom storage makes it possible to organise your belongings while staying true to your envisioned design, without having to deal with storage boxes that stick out like a sore thumb.
3. Go multi-functional
Another major interior design tip is to fill your home with multi-functional furniture pieces.
For example, there are living room couches that double as sofa beds and study desks that function as cabinets when not in use. When you’re purchasing a furniture piece, it’s worth asking yourself how many uses you can get out of it.
A dining table could be used as a makeshift office desk during the day. Meanwhile, a coffee table could double as a communal dining era.
It’s up to you how you’re going to use every piece of furniture inside your home, but simple considerations like this can help you save a lot of floor space.
At the end of the day, modern interior design is all about how to turn your home into a functional space with as little clutter as possible.
4. Don’t ignore the colour white
In the process of (re)designing your home, you might find yourself wanting to change its colours or exploring other interior design styles.
We often ignore the colour white as it looks too plain or boring. We see it as a colour that’s incapable of bringing life and our personality into our space.
However, using different shades of white is the secret to getting the most out of this colour.
For lovers of neutral colours and decors, using multiple shades of white through wall paint and furniture pieces adds a certain depth and dimension to your space that no other colour could achieve.
5. Mix and match
If all else fails, don’t be afraid to mix and match furniture pieces to give your space a new dash of life and personality, without breaking the bank.
Oftentimes, when we don’t know how to move forward with our home’s design, we resort to taking inspirations from interior design magazines, which can make our space seem straight out of a catalogue.
Unlike other interior design tips, you don’t need to brush up on your DIY skills when mixing and matching. It all comes down to what works and what doesn’t according to your own design preferences.
Our suggestion is to take the time to curate furniture pieces from different sources, including second-hand stores. This is what will make your space unique and stand out.
6. Pick the right rug
The right-sized rug is another thing that can make or break your space. There’s no doubt that rugs can add character and pull the space together, but only when it’s of the appropriate size.
According to interior designers, homeowners often make the mistake of picking a rug that’s too small or big for their homes.
When the rug is too small, furniture crowds around it, making the room seem smaller and more cluttered.
If the rug is larger, it fills the room and all your furniture can sit within its boundaries, making the space look wider.
Decorating your space on your own
Designing a home without help from a professional interior designer is a nerve-wracking venture. Knowing a few handy interior design ideas will come a long way!
Try to follow these design hacks to help you build a home that looks as good as it feels to be in it.
Get in touch with us if you’re interested in adding a custom rug to your home, or just need more interior design ideas! We’ve done all sorts of rugs for different types of homes in Singapore so we can definitely accommodate your design preferences!
