4 fabulous reasons to get redecorating today

Fear is a big reason that people don’t live their dreams. It’s pervasive. Fear of failure, or success, or even just change, affects everyone and everything from side-hustles to career changes to creative pursuits (I’m too old! I’m not skilled enough!) to even just painting the living room that colour you really like this season.

This is a blog post especially for the intrepid interior designers among us who, for one reason or another, keep putting off their redecoration projects.

Interior design inspiration overwhelm

Yes, the sheer amount of interior design inspiration online can be completely overwhelming, but...

How often do you find yourself scrolling through amazing interior decorating ideas on your Pinterest or Instagram feeds until it all becomes a blur of information and inspiration and next thing you know it, you’re crouching on the floor, wrapped up in a duvet and eating caramel ice cream out of a tub in the middle of the afternoon?

The internet is pretty great, but keeping up with interior trends and fads and agonising over whether your scheme is ‘timeless’ enough is a serious impediment to people beginning at all.

Fighting interior design inspo overwhelm is a bit like fighting any other kind of overwhelm. It doesn’t matter whether you’re overwhelmed about work or a hobby project, the way to beating this horrible feeling is the same: micro-tasking. It’s like multitasking but healthier.

Micro-tasking requires that you break larger tasks and projects down into small parts, and get them done that way. Seriously, it’s possible to baby step your way to success.

How to tackle your redecorating project

If you’re planning a huge overhaul of your den, for example, you can instead freshen your space up with a number of tiny changes. What kind of small changes? Oh, let us count the ways:

1. Mirrors. Use mirrors to make a space feel lighter and even bigger. A mirror that hits the right stylish note can do more for your overall décor scheme than the splashiest changes.
2. Wall art. Switching your wall art around is the cheater’s way of creating a new scene.
3. If all else fails, go right on ahead and rearrange the room. It’s free and impactful, at the very least.
4. Décor accessories. We’re talking rugs, throws, cupboard handles, door handles, window fittings – anything you can think of. The beauty is in the details.

Redecorating on a small budget is easier than you think

Being broke is really hard in ways that people who aren’t broke can never understand. Not only does it affect your overall state of mind, but it also hits the small parts of your life, including whether or not you get to live in an environment you find attractive and comfortable.

Money isn’t everything, and it’s certainly not the answer to your décor woes. That big-ticket couch is not going to solve your existential dread, but working with more subtle, cheaper options just might.

All you really need to create a habitat that feels like home is imagination, patience and perseverance.

As we mentioned above in the ‘décor accessories’ section, it’s sometimes the smallest changes and improvements that can really bring a space together and make it feel warm and friendly.

“Style is in the mix of things,” said Cliff Fong, founder of the Los Angeles interior design firm Matt Blacke, said recently in the New York Times on this very subject. “It doesn’t take any imagination, or any level of taste, to go to a big-box store or an Italian design store and buy everything. That just takes deep pockets.”

There is a way to approach design on any budget. We suggest:

1. Get creative with your colours and change your entire atmosphere. Paint goes on the walls, yes, but if you think outside the box, we know you can do better than just that. Paint the doorframes in your accent colour, paint the floor with cool patterns, paint the ceiling.
2. Go ‘statement-level’ with your textiles. Change out the pillows, change your bedding, hang up new curtains. Did you know that we make not only lovely-looking fabrics, but that they’re also stain-resistant? Save money on all of those fabric protectors or fabric cleaning sprays, and start living the easy life today! We’re doing your budget a solid here, not to mention your peace of mind.
3. Second-hand shops are your friends. You need to be ready to spend time really poking around for that special piece. This suggestion helps in your wider life too because it will build up your patience levels and that will help you in so many ways.
4. This ties into our ‘wall art’ suggestion up above, and we want to add a caveat to that: your art does not have to be expensive. In fact, you can make it yourself, if you’re so inclined. If you have already made your wall art selections, and they’re starting to get a bit boring, just rearrange them on the wall and voilà.
5. Scent. While the tactile and visual elements of your interior design scheme hog the attention most of the time, we’re here to remind you that smell is also a sense, and it plays a big part in the overall ambience of a space. Find a room scent you love, whether in the form of a room spray, a diffuser, a scented candle, whatever. The scent of your space is the defining trait that gives your home a personality of its own.

Small-space interior decorating can be fun and even rewarding

Small spaces are still interior spaces that deserve décor and love! Clear the clutter – including whatever is on the floor, and your space will have a bit more, well, space to it. Mirrors also are your friends (see ‘reason one’ above).

The great thing about designing a small-space interior is that they’re constrained enough that every object or shred of fabric in it has to earn its place there. Don’t be tempted to squash oversized furniture into the space: let negative space speak for itself.

It’s going to be tough, requiring some hard decisions (which pouf will you keep?), but it will be completely worth it in the end.

Get the full scoop on decorating in tiny spaces in our two blog posts:

7 'small space' design lessons we've learned from the tiny home trend

Entertaining in a small space: the only guide you need

Fun fact: rental homes are still homes

This is a real joy-killer for many aspiring DIY interior designers out there. What’s the point in decorating if you don’t even own the place, right?

Wrong.

Just because it’s a rental property doesn't mean it's not home – but make sure to know your landlord’s ground rules for how much you can change, and work within those guidelines.

Update the lampshades and even the light fittings if you can, if the rental is furnished. If your rental home comes unfurnished, obviously you have much more scope to work with.

1. Wall art. We know. Just look at it, work with it, and let it work for you.
2. Hide ugly flooring with a big rug. It’s that simple.

Dress your windows. It makes a place feel more permanent, which makes you feel more at home. PS we make curtain and drapery fabric, FYI.

We also make hardwearing upholstery fabric.

All of our fabrics are easy to clean, durable and bloody good-looking to boot. Shameless self-promo over.

Click here.

Take what's useful and chuck the rest

Obviously, our tips can be combined in any number of ways. Broke and renting? Overwhelmed andliving in a tiny space? You see what we’re getting at here.

Note: this post comes sponsored by the colour blue, a colour we love and feature in many shades and variations in our fabric collections. That’s why all of the pictures in this post feature blue in them (well, and also because we thought it would be nice).