Finishing and remodeling tips from the best interior designers

Individual needs, tastes and values vary from person to person. No home is perfect for everyone, which is why it’s so important to remodel your space to suit you! Whether you rent, own, have children, work from home, or like to invite outside guests, a little remodeling will meet your specific needs and what’s most important to you.

Cosmetic renovations can take several forms. Even if you’re not ready to embark on a major remodeling project, you can transform your space with just a few cosmetic changes. No matter how much time and money you want to invest in a remodel, the tips below will inspire you.

Decide on a style.

What do you want the space to look like? Here are tips to help you hone your style: look at your closet. Do you prefer tailored or do you prefer something looser and more comfortable? Are you attracted to a certain color or pattern? Another way to help you decide on a style is to think of keywords that define what you want the space to be. Traditional, formal, elegant? Playful, humorous, charming? Monochrome, wired, modern?

Notice design inspiration in every aspect of life. I often use them as a starting point to discuss helping clients and their home interiors when I get hired. Think about the hotel you stayed in or the restaurant where you had your favorite meal. Maybe it was a minimalist interior from your trip to Japan or a club bar in New York City with old leather chairs.

Find out what you hate.

It’s much easier for people to express what they don’t like. By including disgust in the equation, we can eliminate some things and narrow down others. Similarly, certain colors can trigger feelings of past design trends that you don’t want to repeat. These memories and reactions are very personal, but they also determine our tastes.

Working with small spaces

Cosmetic renovations are a great way to use more in cramped spaces. When renting an apartment, Apartment Therapy suggests finding smaller spaces and well-ventilated parts to minimize the visual weight of filling a room. Decorate vertically to make the room look larger, use reflective surfaces to add visual space and reflect light back into the room. If possible, you can attach the unit directly to the wall. Floating shelves leave the floor area free, creating the illusion of more space.

If you have your own home, you can do much more to redesign your small space. For example, if you want to make your small kitchen more inviting and functional, play around with a different layout. A single-wall kitchen will make better use of the space you have. Adopt a minimalist style and get creative. For example, you can use one side of the island as a breakfast area or create extra storage space above the refrigerator and overhead cabinets. These remodeling ideas are great for those who like to entertain but feel confined to a limited space.

Home renovations can have a big impact on your quality of life. Are you ready to transform your home into the living space of your dreams? Make a renovation project plan now! Due to the pandemic shortage, you may have to wait a little longer to get the materials you need, so the earlier you start, the better.

Take advantage of the space

Curated by Homes through Grant K. Jason. Courtesy of Katherine McDonald Grant K. Jesson

Spatial planning that affects scale is important. People often use fixtures that are too big or too small in area. I want to blame positive retailers for the scale objects that saturate interiors today. Build around furniture that is actually in your home. Think about the stability of the space. In a large room, think about creating an area for a specific activity, such as a seating area to help with conversations, all other areas for watching TV or a workspace with a table or nightstand for initiatives or games. Even though I like symmetry, when you make everything symmetrical, you can make things too intentional. Think about visible weight and distribution to stabilize our space. Proportion and scale are key to any design.

Taking paint samples

Choosing paint is one of the most important and cost-effective decisions you can make. Choosing the right paint brings the space together in a harmonious way. Think about the whole house. If you paint one room at a time, you risk creating a separate room. Think about how color affects our moods. Some colors make people happy, calm and even excited. I’ve been known to paint interior doors black to contrast with crisp white walls.

When considering your options, try the actual paint color of the wall. Observe them in natural light, morning light and at night.Standard colors that worked well in one project often don’t work in another project. What you can do in your friend’s house may not be possible in yours. A paint store chip is a useful starting point, but what’s good on paper may not translate into your interior. If you paint in white, try a few different shades on the wall and pay special attention to the bottom. They may be a shade of pink, blue or yellow. The outside environment has a strong influence on the temperature of the light. Vegetation and the sky can create reflections of green and blue on your interior walls.

A combination of high and low prices

Think of an “unknown” artist or designer and buy according to form, comfort and how the art or furniture fits you and your needs. Tiny can be the most spirited and the most beautiful. Don’t be afraid to mix high and low prices. Not everything has to be precious to be important. You can say the opposite, such as spending money on things you really like.

Start from scratch.

Design can be overwhelming. People often want to know exactly where to start. In any room, I usually suggest starting from scratch: decide on the flooring. Whether you want or have flooring, flooring, floor coverings, tile, stone or wall carpets. Thinking first and foremost about your floor will determine how other items stack up in the space. If you choose neutral tones or natural fibers that don’t have a lot of patterns or colors, you have more options for choosing colors or decorations.

If you start with an old-fashioned rug, you can draw color from the rug to create a color palette. It’s important to plan it all together. Otherwise you will see a circus effect. So many things happen without making the entire space work at the same time.

Starting with a sofa or an upholstered chair instantly changes your style. With dozens or even hundreds of options, there is more flexibility with something like a local rug. Here you can use this option and start layering pieces on top of each other. It’s much easier to make final layer-by-layer decisions first, and then layer-by-layer decisions later.