"That is so 'you'."

Studio Ashy

Styling is important and not easy. Firstly, knowing and naming your style is helpful. Successful home styling is to marry styles with your personality. Therefore, it will be a concoction of flairs because personalities are complicated. Consequently, getting it right for you will make you feel happier, and communicates who you are. But alas this shouldn’t be intimidating, on the contrary – it simply means that with thought and tips you can’t go wrong.

A smart place to start is looking in your wardrobe where you should find what you feel good in, or so I hope. You may literally drape your clothes over your furniture to help understand if you’re drawn to pattern for instance, and whether that may work in the space. Exercises in knowing your style and taking note of what feels good to be in and around helps you purchase forever pieces, and edit down what you already have successfully. Try to make the lens objective by checking yourself when you are imagining what you expect the fans to like.

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A vignette is a small arrangement of objects or furniture and a huge part of styling. With care to not create a shrine (not cool unless intended), such areas reflect personality and can show your interests. Typically, you will have numerous vignette opportunities in one room, counting surfaces and groups of furniture and they must not compete. The best way to do this is spread the love; spread the colour and don’t miss out spots. Vignettes working individually AND cohesively is the key. Examples of these are reading nooks, coffee table, shelves, sofa side tale, bar chart. You may have underestimated the decorative accessories here, even if you are opting for minimal. If you have struggled for some time to make an item work, it probably won’t work, sorry.

The sofa is a huge purchase so there is an understandable tendency to fixate on this, but it is the dressing around it that makes it you. Therefore, go for something simple here to give yourself the opportunity to restyle or rebrand.

Contrast is a buzz word and crucial in styling. As a rule of thumb, more contrast equals more energy. Therefore, choose the amount of contrast that is right for you and how you want to feel. If you are not sure, experiment with higher contrast in the rooms you use less, if any.

EM Design

Now this is the hottest tip, which could sound cray cray; if you like colour then go neutral on your walls and vice versa. Keep the foundations of the room quiet if you are likely to select colourful art, soft furnishing and accessories, in order to avoid a hecticness. And if you love calm simple items, I would strongly suggest going for a colour on the walls, the foundation will inject the life so you can shop using your neutral instincts.

Please don’t be afraid to mix styles, it will work as long as you stick with your palette, and the bonus is, that it will keep you in safe distance from theming.

The first tip I learnt – three is the magic number. Group things in three, and you will understand. Ideally these three, will have a different structure to create a depth and don’t sit them too close.

Think about balance, in terms of colours and quality of items. If something just doesn’t feel right, this could well be it.

When getting a rug, go as big as will fit.

If these tips aren’t cracking the code for you - give us a ring.