Six tips to help you to think like a designer

Getting your interior space right is an important part of enjoying your home. Without the space working the way you want it to, you’ll feel on edge and ill at ease – the opposite of what your home should achieve – so SigmaLondon have some ideas to help you get what you want from your interior. But first of all you need to step back and look at your home dispassionately…

1. Analyse the Space.
Look around your home, the same way you did when you were buying it and identify the best features; the things you don’t like quite so much and the bits that are just plain nasty. Make a note of which way the room faces – does it get a lot of sun, or mostly shadow. Now look at how many electrical sockets it has – enough for your needs? Do a sketch floor plan and note the door swings and number of windows.

2. How is that Room Used?
Does the area assigned to a particular room offer enough space for the way it is used? Would it actually make more sense to change the room sequence around to take advantage of more or less light? For example a room that is used for watching television benefits from not having direct sunlight, but a kitchen without good lighting is hard to work in. Consider then, if moving the space around will give you a more flexible home and one that works with the natural features you already possess.

3. What is the Most Logical Layout?
Some properties simply don’t allow the flexibility to add an extension. In this situation you’ll need to be clever with how you use the space to really achieve what you want. Look at the current locations of the rooms and decide if it really makes sense to have a bedroom beside the reception room. Some rooms are better grouped together – that space would be better used as a kitchen or dining area – it keeps the ‘public’ spaces together and gives the bedroom a quieter location. Grouping bedrooms and bathrooms together is also practical because this type of zoning allows for a calm and sensitive handling of the more intimate spaces. It will also enable you to create a suite of rooms around your bedroom area.

4. Note the Position of the Services.
Kitchens and bathrooms need easy access to drainage – which generally runs down an exterior wall. As part of the process of considering the layout of your home, make sure you take note of this because any building work that involves reconfiguring the layout, will involve pipework being moved and this cost will only be practical if the structure of the building allows the work to be done easily.

5. Are the Rooms Overlooked?
Depending on the location of your house, some parts of it are likely to be overlooked by your neighbours. For the more public areas of your home, this is easily solved with window treatments or plantings that screen the room from view. Sometimes though a bedroom will end up in a location that is less secluded than you’d like – because that is the most logical place for it – and this highlights issues of privacy that using a window film for frosting the glass can solve. You’ll need to consider your views on this before you decide that this layout is right for you.

6. Check that the Furniture Fits!
Planning your interior space is like doing a puzzle, everything has to fit in its proper place before the job feels complete. If you allow your heart to dictate what you purchase, you’ll end up with a home that is overcrowded and not thought out. Never buy the furniture before you know how you want to use the space and always take the measurements with you when you go shopping – if something doesn't fit – don’t buy it. And keep in mind, if you live above the ground floor, how will you get the furniture into your home?

Getting your interior space right will allow you to relax within your home. It will feel welcoming and well planned. Sigma London believes that this is vital to any interior scheme and that you will benefit from the improvements you make – because your home should be your haven.

SigmaLondon – Interior designers in London. You can find them on Facebook.

Transforming the dining room with chair cushions

via Decoist

It’s often the smallest of changes that get noticed. This is especially true in a dining room, where an entire room is otherwise based on few pieces of dining room furniture. The accents, accessories, and decorations all go a long way to change the feel of the room.

Chair cushions are often ignored and viewed as tacky, but they definitely have their place when done right. Chair cushions are not just the typical tie-knot cushions that hook to the seat and the back of the chair. Sometimes they just come in the form of padding for the seat. This works especially well with metal chairs, but it can be pulled off even if the chair is wooden, wicker, etc.

Right now you’re probably clueless as to how you can make this look stylish. Take a look on Pinterest to get an idea on the different chair cushion looks. This may help with understanding how dining chairs can have cushioning without seeming tacky. Of course, there are a few ‘bad’ designs in the bunch but that’s to be expected. You want to think of a way to incorporate cushions to your dining chairs while adding, not taking away, style and flare to the room.

How to Incorporate Dining Chair Cushions

You will have to use your imagination a bit to figure out what the best look would be for your particular dining set. It will depend on a number of factors such as the color, material, and even the tone of paint on your walls.

Complementary Chair Cushions

Of course, your dining room will already be stylishly themed. This gives you an advantage as you merely have to find a complementary color, such as the color of your wall paint, to use as the basis for the chair cushions. This allows you to maintain the current theme while adding an extra layer of depth to the room’s design. It also adds comfort for your family and guests.

Eccentric, Eye Grabbing Chair Cushions

You don’t always have to keep things calm. You can use the chair cushions as a way to capture attention in your dining room. This is a very good choice if you have a strong white them. The chair cushions can then be any color and have any pattern and they will get noticed. This doesn't take away from the theme of the room, but it can help set the tone.

Reupholstered Chair Cushions

Sometimes what’s holding back a dining room isn't the furniture, but the upholstering. Dining tables can be refinished and transformed to something incredible. The same can be accomplished with dining chairs by reupholstering their cushions. If you have chairs with cushions, it’s a good idea to consider whether reupholstering may improve the look of the chairs and the room as a whole. You can learn how to reupholster a dining chair online too, it’s not difficult at all!

What’s best for Your Dining Room?

This is a change that needs to be looked at on an individual basis. Take a look at your dining room and get a feel for what would work. You can then start looking online for ideas at websites that offer DIY chair cushion designs. This is a better idea than just buying pre-fabricated chair cushions as you have full control over the design of the cushions.

You don’t have to worry about making these changes either. You can print off the design and put it on your chair to get an idea for how it will blend with the room. When it’s on fabric, it’ll just look nicer. You can even find a short list of designs that catch your interest and compare them the same way before making your final decision.