The importance of a personal touch to your interior design
Hand made tiles by Caroline Egleston, Piccolpasso
With so many of us spending more time at home in the last couple of months it’s inevitable that we are thinking about home improvements. I’ve been using video calls so I can continue to give people advice and guidance for achieving their vision while remaining at a distance. What better way to enjoy lockdown than creating the space you’ve always dreamed of?
Putting your own personal stamp on a room or a design is one of the best parts of a transformation. For all the inspiration you find elsewhere, making a space truly your own is a very special feeling and gives you a sense of connection with your home that cannot be replicated anywhere else.
Sometimes a piece of artwork or furniture will form the starting point for a room and create a central theme that ties everything together. Planning all the elements to complement each other will make sure that you end up with a carefully curated collection of items that become the focal points in your home, rather than being drowned out by the many years of accumulated stuff around them.
Making it personal and using items that are special to you also means that you create a room or a home that reflects your personality too. If you are someone who gets energy from being surrounded by a riot of colour and texture; go wild and have fun with it. If you feel connected to one or two individual items and want them to stand out, that’s perfect too. As the saying goes; you do you!
As an example, let’s consider that you start with a painting. This could define your colour scheme and lead on to fabrics and the arrangement of furniture to ensure the artwork is displayed to its full effect. If you’re unsure how to tie all the different elements together, it’s good to start with the basic rules of using three colours and three textures, and then think about varying the tones.
Throughout my career I’ve found that it’s the finishing touches that really bring a room together and create that wow factor for people as they walk in. How you make use of accessories is important, whether it’s in an eclectic homely fashion or used sparsely in a contemporary modern space. Whatever your style, it’s the final elements that give a room a personality, which in turn should reflect the personalities of the people who live in or use the space.
If you don’t have any particular pieces that resonate with you already, why not consider what’s truly special to you in your life? Are there photos that you’ve always wanted to display prominently? Or perhaps you could frame a piece of your child’s artwork?
This artwork was commissioned by my clients to take pride of place in their newly refurbished living room. They had a stunning photograph of Brooklyn Bridge NYC, where they got married a few years ago. Talented graphic artist Graham Bell took their black and white image and recreated it on canvas, using their chosen colour scheme in bold blocks to create something beautiful they will admire and treasure for years to come.
Many people have special memories or personal stories behind the items that drive their interior design, and sometimes it’s those emotional connections that will help determine the theme of a room or space. It can be tempting when you’re on a holiday to buy everything that catches your eye, only to get home and realise that you don’t have the space for it or that it doesn’t really fit in anywhere. It’s helpful to really consider where you would put something and what it means to you.
When I was travelling across South Africa with my partner, we knew we wanted to bring something home as a momento of such a special trip and thought it would be some artwork. We had been keeping an eye out for a painting but never found anything we fell in love with, and then saw some beautiful carved wooden coat hooks. We were planning an extension and we knew there would be a wall space for coats, so we bought three coat hooks knowing exactly where we wanted to put them. By coincidence, further into our travels we came across the coat hooks again, this time they were in our safari tent! Every time I look at them now it brings back fond memories of that trip, and they bring a fantastic visual element to our hallway.
Perhaps you know that you want to add something personal to your room but don’t have anything yet. Sometimes the items you connect with won’t be found in a high street shop or online, or even from a holiday. I love helping my clients find ways to truly express themselves and I work with many local artists or furniture makers who can give your room a personal touch.
A while ago I worked with Charlene, to design and supply the soft furnishings and accessories for their new family room. One of the walls was crying out for artwork but it was important that it reflected something personal. We discussed her ideas, her love of nature, and in particular a beautiful local wildflower meadow. I put her in touch with Becks Porter, an artist who creates stunning floral pictures, and together they agreed on a series of three canvasses that flowed together as a single image and now take pride of place in her living room.
Charlene said: “I absolutely love it! Becks captured everything I wanted and more. I’m amazed that she was able to create what I described after only meeting me a few times, and it was really special being able to visit the studio and see the work in progress. Becci put us in touch after we discussed what I liked and now I have the perfect addition to our family room.”
These tiles from @PiccolPasso are also a wonderful way to add something unique to your home. Each one is hand-made and painted by the wonderfully creative Caroline Egleston. I’ve had the pleasure of visiting Caroline at her studio a couple of times to source tiles for projects. It’s a great way to add a bit of creative flair and individuality to your bathroom or kitchen.
I love being able to help people create rooms and spaces that they love to spend time in, and reflect exactly who they are as a person, or as a family. Using an interior designer can really help you find those special elements and feature them beautifully, using expert knowledge and suggesting ideas you may not have thought of, and using their contacts and resources to make your ideas a reality.