Home Decorating Tips and Inspiration

Just moved into a new home?  Or tired of your home and want a change?  Where do you start?

It’s said that the most difficult part of any house to decorate is the hallway and stairs, so you can either start there and get it over with or leave it until the end by which time you’ll be so much more skilled with a brush or wallpaper from all the practice elsewhere in the house that it’ll be a doddle.

Decide which rooms you’re going to work on and in what order and then start looking around for inspiration and ideas, from friends’ houses and magazines, and get some colour charts together.  Pick up a few paint samples or wallpaper samples and slap them on the walls – don’t be afraid to cover quite large areas in this way, since you’ll get a much better idea of how the finished effect will look than if you paint tiny patches of paint on the walls. 

Then buy the materials you’ll need for each room.  If you’re wallpapering a room, it’s better to wait until you’re almost ready to start that room before you buy the rolls because if you buy too few you’re more likely to be able to buy another roll or two with the same batch number on them to match perfectly.

If you’re thinking of buying new furniture to go with your newly-decorated home then have a good look online (having images on your laptop of the furniture you’re thinking of buying is an easy way to see if those items will co-ordinate well with your décor), or go out and take photos of furniture you like.  For example, if you’re looking to buy a new bed then there are so many beautiful beds to choose from that it might be hard to narrow it down.  Knowing, though, that you’ve chosen a very delicate, pale pattern for your walls in your bedroom you might decide that a French bed will be perfect.  Then all you have to do is choose which of the many available French beds you’re going to buy!

If you’re planning on upholstering any of your furniture to give it a new look or revive the existing piece of furniture then choose plenty of fabric swatches to take home and drape over the piece of furniture until you find the one that’s just right. 

Finally, before you start decorating, make sure you invest in some large dustsheets.  These are a really good investment since you can use them time and time again (you can store them in your shed or under your bed when not in use) and are much more effective at protecting your carpets and furnishings from paint and paste splashes than polythene sheets.  If you can’t stretch to buying those then look out for cheap duvet covers in pound shops, which will do the job just as effectively.

The Sleeproom sells  contemporary upholstered beds , fancy  French beds  and French bedroom furniture; tables and wardrobes. They have recently extended their repertoire to include sofas and armchairs. Which not only look good, they’re also very well made, are very good value and most importantly they sell furniture which is really comfortable.