How to quickly and easily update the interior: Designer Tips
Sooner or later even the most favorite interior can get bored. If there is no opportunity and strength to make a full repair, well-known methods come to the rescue - change pillows on furniture, throw a new blanket on the sofa and change curtains. But what to do if all these options have been tried, and everything is loving you? We asked designers and architects about interesting and unusual ways to freshen up the home environment - and, if possible, get by with little means.
Have you noticed for yourself that you should finish the repair, and after a while you want to update it, improve it or redo it altogether? Surely yes. If you have already tried changing pillows, curtains, or repainting walls, and you still have the feeling that something is missing, these tips will be useful to you.
Bored sofa or chair is very easy to update, changing the upholstery. For a sofa, choose a bright monophonic fabric, and for a chair - an unobtrusive print, and your interior will sparkle with new colors. Repaint or replace the baseboard and trim, make them contrast with the door leaf and walls. Be creative with your children! Take brushes, pencils or felt-tip pens and paint the wallpaper. You will easily update the interior (albeit briefly), and your children will be delighted. And it’s very easy to replace a boring patterned surface by re-gluing the wallpaper.
Do not forget about the little things. You can upgrade doors or kitchen fronts by simply replacing the handles. More colors! Paint the window slopes in a color contrasting with the walls. Remove one upper cabinet in the kitchen and replace it with open shelves; on them you can place jars with spices, small indoor plants and dishes. The most important thing - do not be afraid of changes, change the interior as often as you like, do not avoid colors and experiment!
The easiest and fastest way to update the interior is paint. But repainting the walls in a neutral shade is boring. Experiment: make one accent wall or color ceiling. Create a print with two colors of paint and masking tape. By the way, dark ceilings, contrary to popular belief, make the room higher. Or focus on the furniture - repaint old chairs in bright colors. One picture or large poster can save the whole room. Put a large canvas on the floor or hang it above the sofa area. Be inspired by Pollock and create a masterpiece of modern art yourself.
High skirting, as well as high cornice, make the interior more noble. They frame the space. With the help of a molding or a wooden plank, you can enlarge an already existing baseboard and paint it all together in a color contrasting with the floor (white is the easiest option). The same applies to the ceiling eaves, it can be "increased" in the same way. The interior will only win if the color of the plinth matches the color of the door trim. The old wardrobe, doors and even the kitchen can just as easily be transformed with the help of molding and wooden linings on the facades. Replace the handles and paint or paint. Try to remove the wallpaper and bare old plaster. If desired, it can be toned with a brush and diluted paint in the desired shade.
Rezoner space, create an additional "place of power", such as a false fireplace. On the Internet you can find many ways to make it from any materials. If you do not go into excessive creativity, drywall is an inexpensive and proven material. Lower the chandeliers below, they will beautifully highlight your face and visually lift the ceiling. Make it better over the dining table, sofa group - where they do not interfere with the movement. If you did not manage to build up the wire beautifully, put a textile cover on it. Receptions in the interior, correctly borrowed from the classics, have never been harmed.
One of my favorite techniques in architecture for me is working with light. Unfortunately, in most of the apartments in which we live, the solutions are standard: a chandelier in the center of the ceiling and a pair of standardized windows. The situation is easily reparable: changing the lighting in the apartment, you can completely transform the space. It's easier to start with artificial lighting. An easy but costly way is to buy a pair of floor lamps and table lamps. If you're on a budget, pay attention to the long fluorescent lamps that are sold at Leroy Merlin or at any other major building store. They can be placed on the floor near walls or on other horizontal surfaces (dressers or tables) or placed vertically in the corner. A more laborious, but no less spectacular way is to hang these long lamps on the cables, attaching them to the ceiling with hooks. If you use a fabric wire, you get a good designer lamp.
Enhance the effect with the help of mirrors. If you have shelves or open shelves in your home, place small mirrors near their inner walls and place long fluorescent lamps at the base. The same works with ordinary floor mirrors. Since it is not so laborious and expensive as buying furniture or repainting walls, do not be afraid to experiment: use colored lamps or put a colored film on a flat lamp, get garlands or stick LED strips on horizontal surfaces. If the budget allows, you can replace conventional lamps with LEDs that can change color, the effect will be fabulous. The main principle to be followed in order to change the situation is to do the opposite. If you have a chandelier with a warm light, use lamps with a cold one; if most of the lamps are on the ceiling, place the lamps on the floor or on low furniture.
It’s harder to change the situation with natural daylight. In addition to the obvious curtains or colored blinds can come to the aid of colored glass. I really like the effect of colored windows: it is simple and impressive, it does not require costs and is easy to change. Remember, for sure you were in interiors with colored glass, for example in the already defunct Solyanka. I was always fascinated by how her yellow windows changed the feeling of the interior: even the light from a mobile phone or the light of a cigarette lighter turned purple.
This effect is easy to achieve at home. Buy a large color film. It can be easily cut with a stationery knife to the desired size and fixed to the glass: your room will change and change color, without having to repaint the walls. In addition, after some time, you can replace the color with another one or even remove it if you get bored.
The best way to freshen up the interior is to get rid of unnecessary things. Try not to clutter the space with travel souvenirs, non-functional items and other "dust collectors". They not only crush the room, but also interfere with the cleaning and life. Undoubtedly, the decor plays a special role: for example, you can hang a big picture or a poster above the sofa, which will be the dominant and visually add volume to the room. This technique works with small interiors.
Particular attention should be paid to the arrangement of furniture. Do not occupy space in the center of the room: furniture is better located along the walls and in the corners. It should be functional and simple in form, and in color, if it does not coincide with the walls and floor, then it should not be contrasted. We advise you to repaint the walls in one color - it can be pastel or rich, it all depends on your taste and mood. Bright colors can be made using textiles: bedspreads, pillows, curtains, carpet.
It is interesting to beat the interior with the help of lighting and additional lighting. We like it when the space is softly enveloped, as if wrapped in a shawl. To achieve this effect, use indirect, diffused light or position the light source at eye level. These can be floor lamps, wall lamps, table lamps or LED strip in a hidden box.
A good tool that always helps to visually push the walls apart is mirrors. In addition, they make the room brighter and brighter due to the reflection of natural and artificial light. Visually, the ceiling can be raised with the help of verticals along the walls, strips of wallpaper, or staining on the masking tape. Here, perhaps, it all depends on the room and your capabilities.
Even in the coolest and thoughtful interior from time to time it becomes boring. And in order not to become a victim of impulsive purchases at IKEA, "because these vases are so cute," follow the simple rules for decorating your house, which we use in each of our projects.
Light is probably number one on any list. A single pale light bulb or a lonely chandelier hanging from the ceiling can kill any, even the most successful interior - just like a pair of floor lamps in different corners of the room can change the atmosphere beyond recognition. If you find a place for a desk lamp with a massive base, it means that you have a coffee table or console, and this is a decent interior, even if everything is made of chipboard.
Mirrors Put a large mirror in the frame on the floor or hang a round one on the wall above the chest of drawers. Whatever you do with the mirror, it is almost always a win-win. Avoid plastic frames - this is probably the only condition.
Plants. Sometimes even a few branches of eucalyptus, which can be bought at most flower shops for 150 rubles, can cool a lot of space. And if you pick up a beautiful flowerpots and put something alive in it, the interior will surely get a breath of fresh air - in the literal and figurative sense.
Flea markets are also a good way to make your apartment more interesting. Of course, antiques are expensive, but until 1950, Soviet industry produced a lot of quality items, so prices are usually low. We once saw a pretty typewriter for a hundred rubles. These things have become boring to our parents, and you and I will seem very interesting.
And last in the list, but no less effective means - posters or photos. Even the most fashionable will cost around 3 thousand rubles. The British Museum and the Metropolitan Museum laid out in open access a total of about 70 thousand old prints and photographs. If you are at least a little friends with technology, you can download and print them at 50-70 rubles per copy.
Photo: XtravaganT - stock.adobe.com, Jusakas - stock.adobe.com, ykordik- stock.adobe.com, Photographee.eu - stock.adobe.com, stanslavov - stock.adobe.com, Mihalis A.- stock.adobe. com