Be your own Interior Designer

The best interiors are often done on a shoestring, it's a matter of paint, proper lighting, a few decent pieces of furniture, elbow grease and imagination.

Be proud of your home
Decorating is about self-respect: our surroundings reflect what we think of ourselves. Surround yourself with the best you can afford. Even if you live in a shoebox, honour your presence in it. Maintain it. Hang a beautiful textile on the wall to inspire you. Even if it's a one-girl party for dinner, set a place for yourself. Keep it clean. When I see a really dull room - a sofa, a coffee table, some framed school photos and a sagging potplant - I want to leave in an ambulance.

Develop an eye
If you don't think you have any taste, start learning. Even if you can't afford to shop at the best places in town, go to see what it's all about. Develop your sense of what looks good. Learn to recognise quality, in any price range. Most people who don't know how to live aren't poor - they just have poor taste. The key words are elegant, classic, well-made, generous, understated, good proportions, integrity and character.

Get involved
It's your house, not the decorator's. There's nothing worse than a house that has been decorated by the best and then photographed so the cleaner puts everything back in the exact same place. You end up with a house that has no soul. The owner has to be involved.

Nothing makes my heart sink faster than a shrine to high design with no personality. You've got to live in your house.

Colour it right
Paint is the fastest way to bring a room to life. Use it like make-up, with strong colours as highlights. The big mistake people make is using too-dark colours on walls - be careful with strong dark reds and greens, they can kill a space. Keep your walls subtle. Off-white is better than white - who wants to live in a science lab? Colours must flow through the house - tones of the same shade work best. For beginners, use the same colour throughout. It's an old trick, but it works.

Think of others when you arrange furniture
It's all about practicality and common sense. Some people have a dining room for 12, but can only sit eight in the sitting room. The idea is to arrange furniture to promote conversation. Don't put your chairs and sofas around the edge - chairs need to talk to each other.

Don't be shy - think bold and think big!
It's better to make no gesture than a half-baked one. It's like dressing - you can carry anything off if you have confidence. If you love a colourful fabric, don't use it on a cushion. Cover a whole wall or a sofa with it. Go for it! Use huge artworks or cover a wall with loads of small paintings: there's nothing worse than one tiny postage-stamp painting on a huge wall.

Small rooms look great with big bookcases or big sofas. It gives the room the dimensions it doesn't actually have. Don't do things by halves. Make sure your cushions measure at least 60cm x 60cm. Nothing smaller, ever! It's too mean and a dead giveaway that you have no idea.

Mix it up
Have an interplay of fabrics and colours. Mix affordable cottons with wonderful silks, linens and velvets and down-filled cushions. We don't decorate by numbers. The idea now is to collect - have something French, something English, something Chinese, and something bad taste. A piece of kitsch often helps a room, as does a slash of red.

It's all good
Good glasses and plates should be your everyday stuff. Don't spend so much on your house that you have no money left to decorate, and have to live with the furniture you had in your student days - beanbags or sofas you have to be forklifted out of. Factor the cost of decorating into buying the house - keep a good amount aside for the sofa, dining room chairs, the beds, your china, glasses, cutlery, your down-filled cushions. It's nothing in the scheme of things and will improve the entire quality of your life.

  source: home-dzine.co.za