Rooms by design

noelito
4 min readSep 24, 2024

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We moved home recently. It was the first time we’re buying a home and the first time we’ve experienced the excruciatingly drawn-out nature of buying a house. We’re very privileged to be able to buy a house, so I’m not going to complain. I want to discuss what I’m learning to make your home your own.

More and more people are watching home improvement programmes, from Location, Location, Location to My Garden Made Perfect. While we don’t have a magic wand or virtual reality to transform our house into the perfect home, we’ve picked up a few tips…and colour swatches along the way.

1. Make it moody

How do you want to feel, and how do you want others to feel when they walk into your home? You might want people to feel warm and welcome in the corridor, inspired and alive in the living room, bold and bright in the kitchen, relaxed and focused in your spare room or office, snug and intimate in the bedroom, and zen-like in the bathroom. That’s why it’s good to create mood boards that reflect these feelings and the ‘moody’ design concept, which is about creating a specific emotional atmosphere in each room.

2. Map it out

Empower yourself by using online tools to meticulously plan out how you want each room to look and where you’d put your furniture. This way, you can ensure your rooms don’t look too cluttered or sparse, and that it feels easier to navigate your home. Our tools include a 3D planner, a room layout planner, and a Morpholio board.

3. Colour it in

Colour brings to life the mood you want to create, but why settle on one colour when you can create inspiring combinations? Look to nature for ideas — the vibrant hues of plants, the calming tones of rivers, or the majestic shades of mountains.

You could also find the colour combinations in striking artwork you like, whether paintings you want to hang up, crosses from the artwork you like or even photos of memories, like a…

Breakfast

Starter

Then you can use a color picker tool on your smartphone to snap a picture of that painting and turn it into a color combination that you can use in your home.

4. Anchor it

Consider the critical piece anchoring your room when planning where to put your furniture. A dining table naturally anchors a dining room, as a bed does with a bedroom and a bath or…toilet does with a bathroom. But how about your living room? Will it be your sofa? A sculpture or painting? You can even use an accent wall as an anchor.

5. Light it up

Consider the natural light in each room and how you can use it to soften or brighten the feel. Then, think about how you can use other lighting to enhance the mood, whether it’s ambient lighting for intimacy, bright lamps for warmth, or decorative lighting. Even a glowing poster of…pumpkins can add a unique touch to your home.

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noelito
noelito

Written by noelito

Head of Policy Design, Scrutiny & Partnerships @newhamlondon #localgov Co-founder of #systemschange & #servicedesign progs. inspired by @cescaalbanese