Fostering creativity in your living room through decor

Bringing the fun into your interior design

Your home space is often the only space you have to be creative.

You might have a full-time job and do more creative work in your spare time. You might have a family and are looking for ways to instil a strong sense of creative play in your little ones.

Creativity-seekers of the world: this post is for you and your interior design. We’ve been chatting on ways we invite inspiration into our homes and today we’re sharing our top advice to you.

Imagination can come into all styles of interiors and be found in all kinds of places. Minimalist interior design, for example, may well be your jam, but that doesn’t mean it needs to be boring or stifle your creativity.

Some people have misconceptions about interior design, thinking that it’s expensive and unnecessary, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Your interiors don’t have to be deluxe to be lovely or even to get those creative juices flowing.

Note: all images found on Pinterest.

Let nature and the light in

Plants in the office can increase employee creativity by 45%, according to a study done by the University of Exeter and the visitors to the Chelsea Flower Show. If it has this effect on the workplace, imagine what it can do for your home!

It’s a sad fact of life that with more people than ever before living and working in urban environments, we just don’t get out enough these days. Bringing the outdoors inside can go a long way towards meeting our needs for nature, purifying our air and relaxing the mind.

That goes for light as well. I know that the chances of remodelling your space are slim enough no matter whether you live in a rented apartment or a house you own, so let’s leave that to one side, shall we? For spaces with big windows: great! Open those blinds! For darker spaces, it’s more difficult, but still doable, to bring a feeling of lightness into your life.

Our top tips for dark homes include:

• Painting or covering the walls in lighter shades & limit the accent colours (but that doesn’t mean you need to cut them out completely)
• Paint the ceiling white. If you’ve just moved in, paint it again anyway: it’ll brighten up your space!
• Replace overhead lights, which can be pretty harsh, with perimeter lights or lamps
• Mirrors (and other shiny surfaces like metallic accent pieces) are your friend. They’ll reflect and refract any light you have
• Light-coloured furniture. If you already have a couch or a favourite chair, why not reupholster it with (shameless plug coming) FibreGuard fabrics? Our wide range of more neutral tones will help you in your quest for light and get those creative juices flowing.

Use your hobbies to inspire your interiors

There’s no need to relegate your hobbies to the shed or the garage. Bring them inside for a whole new look at creative decor. Plus, if you display the fruits of your labour proudly, it’ll keep your efforts at the top of your mind and inspire even further creativity.

There are loads of ways to incorporate your fun times into your decor if you think outside the box. Here’s two I found on Pinterest (which I was totally on for research purposes only while writing this blog post, I swear).

Personal and inspirational objects, totems, colours, souvenirs, etc.

Looking to be inspired? Place the inspiration right where you can see it. Some items to add in include things like plants and hobby projects like we mentioned above but inspiration can come from anywhere. Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Sentimentally meaningful objects, like photographs, concert tickets or a painting by a loved one
• Personal totems, sacred objects, anything that you feel you have a spiritual connection to - even something lucky!
• Favourite colours
• Souvenirs

Mix it up

If you want to nurture your creativity, get creative with your interior design and redefine your idea of working space vs living space.

Depending on the kind of work you do, you might be better off sitting on floor cushions and be better able to think freely when not at a desk.

Why even sit when you can stand?

Fun with surfaces

We all want to be that creative genius writing on whatever surface they can, and we’re here to tell you that this can be you.

Yes, there’s a non-permanent marker for glass surfaces.

For other surfaces, there are whiteboards of all shapes and sizes, blackboards. Stick huge sheets of paper to the walls if you don’t have either of these. Get those ideas down.

Decor doesn’t have to just be functional

If you’re scrolling to the end just to hit that share button and get this post out there, thank you. Here are some key points to recap, especially for you die-hards out there who’ve read this far:

• Your interiors can be whatever you want them to be
• Your interiors don’t have to be expensive to be creatively stimulating
• Bring your life into your home with hobbies, personal objects, favourite colours and more
• Look to the lighting
• Keep checking this blog for more posts

Thanks for reading! Hit us up on Facebook or Instagram and share your ideas and tips for what keeps you creative at home.