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Saturday, 30 March 2013
Define your style
Tuesday, 26 March 2013
Define your style
This edition, we’ll take a look at another element in interior design known as style. This element plays a huge role in the interior designers’ ability to interprete the space to suit its proposed occupants. Recall, that the architect met the owner first and got a brief of what they need, he then went and turned these word descriptions of his client’s dream home into a drawing, which the builder now interpretes into the building that the interior designer has been commissioned to style .Pray tell me, at what point did styling come into play in this structure?
Usually, between the architect (conception) and the builder (Execution), design alterations would have occurred, some deliberately, others outright flaws. However, this is what the designer now has to work with to achieve a well appointed living space or work space. Never mind that the architect and builder thought they were building a residential house .Well, Mr. Lagbaja has just bought it and hired XYZ interiors to turn it into an open plan office ! Or the design of the house is very contemporary yet you get this desire to furnish it in a Victorian Style. After one such commission, I coined the phrase VICTORIAN CONTEMP! But I digress.
Style in interior decoration is akin to style in fashion, Depending on your body type (weight, height, shape, colour, occasion etc), not all dress styles will fit you. Same thing goes for houses, bet you’ve never thought of a house as having any of the attributes listed above.
When doing up a house, ideally, every fixture must have a reason for being and should function accordingly. For instance, why incorporate a cathedral style window in your house and then go ahead to cover it with fabric? A window that tall is to let in light so, why the cover?
There are quite a few easily recognizable styles in interior decorating namely classic style, global style, traditional style, contemporary style, country style, retro style, romantic style, minimalist style, etc
Each style has some features that stand it out e.g. the overall look, the key colours, the window dressing, the floors, the furniture, the soft furnishing and fabrics, texture and patterns of fittings and fixtures, etc All these must be strictly adhered to, in creating a style for a home.
This is why it is important to define your style ab –initio. Find out what appeals to you and why, match the style with the way you live your life currently before you proceed , Why create a formal room in your house when you don’t do any entertaining, much like installing a pool in your home when no member of your family can swim or plans to learn. In my opinion, a lot of people are lazy when it comes to defining their style; they tend to leave it to the designers. This shouldn’t be so.
Others do not believe that their individual styles can be realized and would not even try. This also is not right.
So, go ahead and state your style upfront. Remember, you are the one living in the house and the house should suit you! Do not encourage designers to do one- size- fits- all houses for you.
Till I come your way again, be home proud!
Colors for living.
Welcome to my world!
When furnishing a space, several elements must interact in that space to bring about harmony, please and benefit its occupiers. These elements include but are not limited to patterns, textures, styles, etc, but the most impacting is color. For instance, if the fabric choice is right and the color (hue) is wrong, you’ll get a wrong finish. There is a difference between red and burgundy and depending on the intensity or otherwise, it can either enhance or distort your space.
Yes, colors in the home are only surface decoration but they play an important role. Get the colors right and the house is looking glam, get it wrong and the house looks sick, noisy or weird.
Everything has a color that we can describe, so we need to know the makeup of a preferred color and how to best use it to our advantage when we are creating home interiors (and indeed all living spaces).
Did you know that you can use color to make a small space bigger, a big space smaller? Did you know that you can use color to make a space appear higher than it is or vice versa? Did you know that you can get hungry at the sight of certain colors?
I could go on and on but the fact is that it is widely believed that color has an important psychological impact on mood, well being, energy and motivation. Maybe now you can understand why you are unable to sleep in some rooms or why you feel happy each time you are in a particular place.
I loved to go to a particular jazz bar and I soon realized that apart from the nice music, the colors in the space energized me and always left me feeling so alive.
Some colors make it difficult for the body to relax into sleep mode, while some colors make you go out like a light. So what colors do you have in your homes? Why should all your rooms be painted in the same shade of cream? How many conflicting colors are in your sitting room area? When last did you do a color audit?
Before applying color to any space in your home in whatever form, as wall paint, wall paper,sofa color, accessories like lamps and light fittings, curtains, rugs, bedding, etc, give a careful consideration to what the space will be used for.
There is no point putting electric green color in the room where you want to sleep, it might make sleep difficult. You can have green alright but look to the cool hues. And this holds true whether you are talking duvets, sofas or blinds.
A proper understanding of color (known in professional circle as Color Theory) is a vital component of interior design and decoration and it is one of the secrets designers use to achieve balance, aesthetics and harmony in a space.
So, whatever size your space is, it is important to coordinate colour. Match or contrast them but please do not exceed three color tones in a given space.
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