Top 10 Styling Tips

Simple Styling Tips… Lets start with the basics!

It's no secret that we love styling and our styling tips are no secret! Sit down, grab a cuppa and read on so you too can make your house the next front cover of Home Beautiful……… well that might be a little extreme but it's good to have goals!

1. De-clutter – seems obvious doesn’t it but for some reason it is so hard to do? Well that’s because “most” of us have lives that dictate otherwise. Whether that be because we are time poor owing to well just life, have children that just refuse to throw out the last 4 years of happy meal toys or us just hoarding keep sakes like an Imelda Marcos shoe collection. Whatever it may be if it’s time to style to sell or stay you have obviously made the clear decision to change the way your home looks … right? So, lets bin, store or gift on some of these items that are simply stopping us showcasing the beauty of the home and what it has to offer.

2. Keep it clean – De-cluttering whilst good will also if done right highlight all those areas that have been gathering dust over the years. But, clean is so good for many reasons when styling. Here is what www.lifehack.org suggests will come of a clean space:
- You discover resources that you never knew you had
- Tidying the space will tidy your mind and allow your creative juices to flow
- You save time each week as you don’t have to navigate through or clean nearly as much
- You become more social! And why wouldn’t you want to show off your newly styled property
- A peaceful and ordered place with no clutter around, you will feel less stressed and less distracted and overall healthier.

3. Discover your style – Ok now the workspace is clear and clean we can start getting into the nitty gritty.  Interior styling works best when you choose a style and then stick to it throughout so the property looks more completed and a little less hodge podge. So tell me your style…………Hamptons, Boho, Shabby chic, Luxe, Modern contemporary, mid century, Coastal, Scandi, Urban, Industrial???? Confused yet, well you aren’t on your own. Chances are you know what you like when you see it but unless you see it those styles just mentioned sound more like a Kardashian child’s first name than anything else. https://www.curbly.com/10-best-interior-design-style-quizzes has some awesome little quizzes to help your work this out – go on head on over, find a quiz and discover your style.

4. Get inspired – Cool so you know your style now it’s time to get inspired. We are so lucky to be living in a day in age with technology where all our visual inspo can be contained within our mobile devices. I mean could you imagine being of our parent’s era of having to trip around to display homes in the local area or traipsing through waiting patiently in the news agency for the next edition of house and garden to be published to get the latest ideas! Here are some of my favorite places to search styles: -

- Instagram through # or following interior designers
- Pinterest
- Google
- Style sourcebook

5. Start with the art – So the big-ticket items (with the exception of the fixtures) in your home are the furniture and the art. Generally, unless your purchased quirky patchwork lounge or a dining table that is made of beer kegs then by simply introducing artwork, soft furnishings and décor you can easily achieve your desired style. Artwork is so important in this process as it will create a focal point to your room so you need it to be interesting and unique to your style. There are so many funky places to check out art but I recommend a visit to www.artloversaustralia.com.au which showcases over 500 artists and more than 10,000 different artworks.

6. Mix and match is out (complimenting is in!) – Gone are the days where you needed to match your red lipstick, with the red nails, red stilettos and thin red belt with your favorite new dress. Get with the times and recognize instead of pairing colours, compliment them instead. Look at your artwork and find the less dominant colours within or associated tones and use these to guide you when choosing your decorative touches.

7. Don’t overwhelm the senses – you might get excited that you have found your style and been inspired online but it’s so important not to get yourself back to step 1. Purchasing too much decorative items and soft furnishings can simply overwhelm so I suggest buying either key pieces but if you randomly  find yourself at the K-Mart checkout with 2 trolleys full of items be mindful not to allow the clutter to creep back in – swap items in and out as you get bored instead.

8. Go with the seasons – Put simply if its cold then introduce warmth and if its hot introduce cool. In winter textures like fur, velvet or wool work well particularly in deeper darker tones. Summer will welcome linen, cottons or even …….. will bring in cool especially in lighter more neutral tones.

9. Embrace the light & life of the home – Breathe a bit of extra life into the property through both natural and artificial light. Open the curtains and turn on the lights when presenting your home… and oh one of my best tips is making sure the light bulbs are the same colour and actually work! The other way to introduce life is through greenery either live plants or artificial ones. If you are a green thumb and can keep a plant alive then make them a welcome addition inside your home. But if you have a tendency to neglect your flora never fear as there are great fakies out there that can create the same ambience.

10. Have fun – And last but not least… .Styling can be very subjective and not everyone will like what you have done. However its most important that you like it and have fun in achieving your desired results!

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