Many people have seen the pandemic and its resultant disruption as an opportunity to enact change. And with many of us have spent more time at home in the past two years than we might usually have, the crosshairs have, for many, fallen on the home as a subject of that change. In this piece, we’ll help build your anticipation for the changes you’ve envisaged for your home, mapping how, where, and why you should make changes to your home’s interior to make it the ideal place to live, work, and play.
North Star
In an age before accurate maps, ships used the bright North Star to help them navigate, keeping them aligned with their planned route. When planning your route to a new home, it also helps to think of a North Star as your jumping-off point. So, what’s your fixed point of reference that’s going to guide your decision-making over the weeks and months of your home redesign? Here are some questions to kick off your thinking:
- What is it that you love about your home’s interior right now – and what have you always wanted to change?
Which room currently reflects your home interior aspirations the most? - What kinds of colors and which type of furnishing do you enjoy the most in the homes of others?
Already, the answers to these questions will begin to show you what you want your home to look like in the aftermath of your redesign. Online research, property websites, and interior design blogs can also help you complete your vision, your North Star, for how your home should eventually look.
Set Parameters
As well as the North Star, those undertaking ambitious expeditions often do so, having set red lines and boundaries they know they’re not going to cross. You should, too: and the key parameter we’re talking about here is your budget. There will be a level of expenditure that you’re simply not comfortable with, and it’s worth setting this at the outset of your plans so that you know when you’re reaching the limits of your finances.
As well as a budget, it can help to set a timeframe for your design efforts, so your household revamp doesn’t drag on and on, causing disruption in your home. And it’ll be important to make plans for when there are builders in your home or when you need to dispose of your furniture or furnishings. Again, making plans now will save you headaches down the line.
Recreate Your Rooms
With your parameters and your guiding vision set, it’s time to look at individual rooms. It can be difficult to imagine how you can change your interiors, especially when they’re crowded with your current furniture. But it’s impractical to move everything out of your room too. As such, more and more homeowners are choosing to use professional quality digital room mappers, which can help you envisage new interiors without heaving furniture around constantly.
These apps and programs are now so advanced that you can build a representative picture of the space that your room represents and the types of furniture you’re interested in buying, and the colors and patterns you’ll be using. This is an exciting phase in your home redesign and one that it’s worth pondering over and experimenting with for some time.
Shopping Around
Perhaps the most exciting phase of your home redesign is the research and shopping phase. Now that you know what you’re looking for, you can begin surfing the web for the most appropriate furniture, wallpaper, or fittings for your home. Take your time and enjoy the ride: you’ll always come across gorgeous items within minutes, but this process is about refining and considering exactly how you want your home to look and feel.
Don’t be afraid to order samples and swatches to ensure that what you see online works when it’s delivered to your home. Be careful, when buying furnishings, to purchase with a money-back guarantee. This will help you return items you decide don’t actually work very well in your home. It might take some time and error, but eventually, you’ll land on the perfect new additions that’ll make your home look just how you imagined it to look.
Labor and Change
With all the above set in stone, now you’ll need to set about the complex but exciting process of enacting the change in your home. If you’re planning on renovating as you strip back your furniture and create a new interior, this is the moment to find the laborers and builders to work on your home. On the other hand, if this redesign is more cosmetic, you’ll want to plan how you and your family will deal with the movement of furniture and the painting of walls.
In essence, this is a logistical challenge. For example, if you have a home busy with children, it can be disruptive to have your living room out of action for a couple of weeks. Or, if you’re painting your bedrooms, you’ll want their occupants to have somewhere else to sleep while the paint dries and those paint fumes work their way out of the window.
Finishing Touches
As you complete your home’s redesign, you’ll feel that the pieces are slowly falling into place to realize the dreams you had at the start of this journey. It may have taken some time, research, and planning, but now you’re left with a home you can be truly proud of, reflecting who you are as a person and how you wish for your family to live.
Still, there are always little finishing touches – the cherry on the cake of your home redesign. These can be as simple as a new light fitting to bathe your new-look room in a different quality of light or new door handles to match the metal furnishings in your rooms. Whatever it is, don’t neglect the power of these finishing touches to bring everything together in one satisfying, cohesive whole.
There you have it: the key tips you’ll need at each stage of your home redesign journey, making your interior reflect your personality and that of your family.
