Written by: Sejal Nagjee

Interior design tips to start the new year right!

When you walk into your home, you should feel happy, relaxed, and proud of the space you have carved out for your life. Your interior design can dramatically influence your mood.

In fact, research from the field of neuroarchitecture studies examines how the impact of light, space, and room layouts impact our psychological and physical health.

Here are a few interior design tips to get a kick start your home refit!

Start with the Basics

When it comes time to refit your villa, we suggest always starting with the basics. Think of the “bricks and mortar” foundational elements of your home, to include your floors, your walls, and your ceilings.

As you consider these interior design elements ask yourself whether these elements are functioning at their best, or could they use an upgrade? Essentially, if the basic elements of your home are not functioning and up to date, nothing else in your home will work.

• Flooring – Flooring can make or break the interior design of your home. Consider upgrading your outdated flooring to durable tiles. Not only will they last a lifetime, they also look fantastic. In fact, new tiles can be fitted on top of existing tiles by simply shortening your doors.
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• Regardless of the size of your room, tiles can inject a lovely updated addition to your home. In addition to flooring, larger tiles ranging from 60 x 120 cm and 100 x 100 cm to 120 x 120 cm and 130 cm x 3 m are also available for walls. Refitting from the ground up with tile flooring can make a significant difference to the overall look and feel of your interior design.

• Wall Enhancements – When it comes to refitting your walls, there are so many options to choose from. Whether it’s repainting, adding stone cladding to wallpaper or wood paneling, there is certain to be a wall enhancement within your budget and personal style. A few wall enhancements can transform your interior design. You can even get creative by combining these different options from room to room within your home.
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• • Ceiling Enhancements – Just as wall enhancements can transform your space, you can instantly add some attractive touches to your interior design with ceiling enhancements. As you plan your home refit, consider upgrading existing ceilings with an additional bulkhead, drop ceiling, wood enhancements, a fresh coat of paint, and/or custom lighting fixtures.

Enhance Your Interior Design with Furniture

Look around your home. Is your furniture dated? Do you wish to upgrade your furniture? Whether you want to add a few new pieces or completely redecorate a room, furniture is a great place to start.

When it comes time to select your furniture for your interior design, we recommend selecting your design theme before you purchase your furniture. Once you choose your home theme, you can choose your furniture to line up with your interior design theme (i.e. modern, traditional, naturalist, etc.).

Fabric upholstery can be a very interesting addition to your décor, as there are endless choices for colors and textures. You can even mix and match colors within the same room. For example, you can pair neutral grey or beige sofas with one or two colorful accent chairs. A few pieces of well-placed furniture can really enhance your interior design.

Light Up Your Space

Lighting can play a huge role in transforming your interiors. Is your lighting updated and modern? Does your lighting scheme work to enhance and highlight your home to its fullest potential?

Not only can lighting make your space more functional, but it can also be used to create a certain mood. For example, adding soft, concealed LED strip lights in ceilings can create a relaxed and inviting mood. How about some amazing standing lamps? You would be amazed the impact adding modern chandeliers to ceilings or walls can make.

Artwork and Decorative Accents

Art can make or break your interior design. Adding a few small pieces of art to a large wall really will not create much of an impact. However, larger inspirational and intriguing artworks can really make an impact to transform your space.

As you decide on what art add to enhance your walls, be sure to consider what colors will work best with your room. Additionally, you can use different mediums for art, such as wood, metal, tile, marble, pebbles, and 3d works of art. When used in the right combination, these various works of art are very intriguing.

Once you have the walls squared away, take a look around your various rooms. How are your carpets and rugs looking? Updating your carpeting or adding lovely accent rugs can really transform a room. For example, you can use rugs below your bed or near the seating area for an instant change. Experiment with color, shades, and textures. You’ll be amazed at the difference this simple change can make.

Typically, a bed occupies a large space, so accenting this area of your bedroom provide an instant, cost effective change to your interior design. Bedspreads and throw cushions provide home owners another simple way to update their interior design. When combined with a lovely bedspread, colorful throw cushions create a welcomed change to any room.

Add Some Life with Plants

Plants, weather real or artificial, instantly invite an added charm to any interior design scheme. Weather it’s a living wall, potted plants, or a vertical garden, plant life can play a significant role in your space.

You can even start simple by adding greenery or flowering potted plants, multiple pots in a cluster, or placing similar pots on a pedestal to bring life and harmony to any wall.

At the end of the day, the best interior design elements are the items that make you the happiest while enhancing your space. Combined, these items will place the final touches of happiness into your interior design scheme.

Here at Milestone, our design team wants you to feel comfortable in your home. We encourage you to visit our show villa or to contact a member of our team to schedule your free design consultation.

Sejal Nagjee

 

Sejal Nagjee, Milestone’s CEO and Creative Director is a gifted designer. Regardless of the project scale or scope, from homes and offices, hotels and restaurant, to gardens and exterior living spaces, her distinctive style injects a fresh and vibrant perspective to every living space. With over 30,000 hours of hands-on experience, across a wide breadth of interior and exterior design and build projects, Sejal has the skills, passion, resources and industry connections to get the job done on time!