Making over a first time apartment

It’s makeover day! All part of my makeover month, with tips, tricks and a bit of insider knowledge that will transform rooms and take them to places you never thought possible. For my next Style Clinic, Gail sent in pics of her first apartment and I thought it would be fun to make it over.  The furniture in the image isn’t hers so it’s pretty much a blank canvas. Music to my eyes.

What I would do!

Revamp the colour palette:

Screen Shot 2015-01-13 at 10.14.14What doesn’t work for me (surprise surprise) is the bland colour palette. So that would be the first thing to tackle. Also the feature wallpaper wall is worth talking about. Many people go down this route, but it doesn’t often work. There is no point doing a feature wall that pretty much mirrors the rest of the walls because then it just isn’t a feature. Feature walls get a terrible rep in this industry – everyone hates them from big-wig designers to editors probably because they’re done so badly, and the trend-obsessed would tell you that they’re “over”.

I personally don’t mind them at all if done well, but I wouldn’t feature wall this space. Instead just paint everything out the same hue including the ceiling and the built-in bookcase, to make the most of the space. I know I know ceilings are a pain to tackle but no pain no gain right and it’s life changing! I don’t want to push Gail down a certain hue because colour is so personal but that said I would of course certainly go darker. Check out the palette on the mood boards.

Flooring:Screen Shot 2015-01-13 at 10.13.52 I have a particular dislike of carpet (personal obviously) so if it were me I would remove it and have rugs skimming the floor instead. Carpets sap the energy out of a room in my book but if you didn’t want to remove then I would overlay with something super textual like a sisal or sea grass rug.

 

 

 


Screen Shot 2015-01-13 at 10.14.21Lighting: 
The central pendant is way too small and itty bitty for this space so I would certainly either take it out all together or add something a little more ballsy and style worthy. As I continually bang on about rooms typically need 8 lights in them so consider the odd floor lamp, as well as table lamps.

 

 

 

 

Screen Shot 2015-01-13 at 10.13.22Furniture: I would float the furniture in the middle of the space and plop a console or skinny desk on the wall opposite the fireplace. Talking of the fireplace the mirror needs to be much bigger. Then it will expand the room’s horizons rather than making that wall look so squatty. Also this space needs more circular elements to break up all the straight lines so a round mirror would work a treat.

Windows: I’m not a lover of curtains but again this is so personal so again if it were me I would get rid of them and hang a beautiful blind, Luxaflex do lovely ones.

Finishing touches: All my usual pointers like adding accessories like plants and flowers, vases, art, the odd shot of metallic maybe and having oodles of textural contrast will also transform the space.

Like I’ve said before sometimes when you are faced with everything all at once it can seem a bit daunting so break it down. Nail the vibe first, I do that by figuring out how I want the space to make me feel emotionally, then nail the hue, then the furniture until suddenly everything comes together. Also from experience don’t think too hard when buying stuff, buy from the heart you will be surprised how it all comes together. I didn’t have an entire plan for how I wanted my rooms to look, they just grew to look like they do because every single thing in them I love. Simple as that.

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