Unless you’re an interior designer, it can be tricky trying to style your home by yourself. Numerous elements come into play when styling a home, including room size and orientation, wall colour, lighting, functionality and purpose. But don’t worry, we’ve put together an essential guide on how to style every room in your home.
How To Style Your Bathroom
It doesn’t matter if you have a modern or old-fashioned bathroom; the way you style your bathroom will be the same. Use accessories like matching towels, soap dispensers, toothbrush holders, and potted plants to make a statement. If you have a plain bathroom, choose colourful accessories and if your bathroom has a lot of patterns and shapes, keep your accessories simple to not overwhelm the room.
Plants really come alive in a bathroom, so make sure to include greenery in some form. Hanging planter baskets are a great way to incorporate plants without taking up valuable vanity space, while plant stands will make your bathroom seem more spacious as they don’t sit flush on the ground. Play with plants of different textures and varieties to make the most of your bathroom space.
How To Style Your Kitchen
Often referred to as the heart of a home, the kitchen is a high-traffic area, therefore, any styling decisions need to make sure the flow and functionality of the space are not interrupted. If you have an open plan area where the kitchen, dining room and living room meet, the kitchen should also take styling cues from these other spaces to create a cohesive style across your home.
Kitchens should be free from clutter, but that doesn’t mean you can’t display your favourite kitchen items. Hang cheese boards or your favourite coffee mugs from hooks and keep stylish kitchen appliances like electric mixers or cake platters on display on shelving or benchtops.
Adding greenery to your kitchen is a great way to bring it to life. Popular kitchen plants include philodendron which looks amazing hanging off exposed shelves or think about what herbs you like to use when you cook and add them to a small pot. If you don’t have a green thumb, use fresh or dried flowers to get the same effect.
Rather than trying to have everything in your kitchen match, play with different colours and shades to give your kitchen more warmth. If you have a mainly white kitchen, a statement fruit bowl or vase will add a much-needed pop of colour. If you have a dark kitchen, try and add light coloured accessories and kitchenware to brighten it up.
How To Style Your Living Room
As one of the most used rooms in the home, the living room needs to find the balance between functionality and style as well. Whether it is used as a playroom, entertaining area or relaxation space, you should style it in a way that doesn’t detract from its primary purposes.
It’s very easy to think of the television as the main star of the living room, but as a plain black box, it shouldn’t be the focus. Your focus in the living room should be around people interacting which means arranging your sofas or armchairs in a way that allows conversations to flow. You may be surprised with how much of a difference it makes when your furniture isn’t all pointed at the television. We recommend adding soft furnishings like cushions and throws to sofas and armchairs to bring a sense of cosiness and warmth to the space.
Storage is an important part of any living room, but that doesn’t mean it has to be boring. Adding a large buffet or entertaining unit can give you the storage you need but also acts as a display piece on which you can place your favourite mementoes or stylish accessories. To avoid making your room seem cluttered, play with negative space, display objects of varying heights together and stick with a colour scheme.
How To Style Your Dining Room
If you’re lucky enough to have a separate dining area, we recommend keeping it simple. When being used, the dining table will be filled with plates, cutlery and food, so you don’t want the rest of the space to look too cluttered, but at the same time, you might wish to storage space to keep special glassware and crockery. We recommend a buffet or sideboard which can also double as a servery, or a display case if you want them to be seen.
As well as downlights, a statement pendant over the dining table can be used as mood lighting. Just make sure you hang it at the right height. Too high, and it may look disproportionate. Too low, and it will interfere with the space when you’re eating at the table. The ideal height is around 60cm over the dining table.
How To Style Your Bedroom
Your bedroom should feel like a sanctuary where you can escape and relax. When you style your bedroom, start with the most important feature – the bed. The style of your bed will dictate the style of the rest of the room, so make sure you keep this in mind when selecting your bed frame. Choose luxurious bed linen that will help you get better sleep and add colour and texture to your bedroom. Layer your blankets, throws and pillows to create an inviting space that you’ll never want to leave!
As for the rest of the bedroom, use the colours in your bed linen to influence the art you choose, your accessories on display and your other soft furnishings like rugs. Choose a few colours from each piece to carry over into the next, so your room looks cohesive, but not too matchy. We love adding accessories like candles, pot plants and baskets to create a stylish bedroom setting.
How To Style a Kids Room
One of the best ways to style your child’s bedroom is to start with classic furniture pieces that will last as they grow, and then add playful accessories on top to create a fun room that will also be functional. Remember to have plenty of storage for toys, books and clothing too.
Creating a theme for your child’s bedroom is always a good idea. Whether they love ballet and princesses, space or the jungle, a feature wall paint colour or wallpaper can create a big statement and will help to set the theme of the room. From there, use soft furnishings, lighting and artwork to really bring the theme to life. Don’t go too overboard, though, as you might end up creating a room that is too distracting for them at bedtime!
How To Style Your Home Office
With more people staying out of the office and working remotely, having a dedicated home office space is more important than ever. It doesn’t have to be a completely separate room; even a study nook will do if you have limited space.
Your home office should be designed with productivity in mind, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be stylish. Start by finding a desk in a finish you like. This could be plain white or black, glass or some sort of timber. Add desk accessories like magazine holders and pen cups to give you that all-important storage but have fun with their designs as there are so many different prints and finishes available. Remember to think about other home office furniture you might need like shelves and drawers for important documents and extra stationery. Match these to your home office desk, and you’ll find your home office space will look more professional and stylish.
How To Style Your Outdoor Area
Everybody loves an outdoor entertaining area, and it sure does get a workout when the weather warms up. If you have a deck or patio, be sure to add outdoor furniture like an outdoor dining table and chairs, or outdoor lounge set to give you somewhere to dine and relax. If you just have grass, you can use an outdoor rug to create a dedicated entertaining area outside and place furniture or cushions on top.
No outdoor area is complete without a BBQ, so be sure to include one in your plans when styling your space. You can buy a freestanding BBQ or integrate one into your outdoor area to create an outdoor kitchen.
If you want to style your home, but don’t know where to start, Homemaker The Valley offers free home styling sessions. All you need to do is book your home styling session, bring along photos and measurements of the space and our expert interior stylist will spend time getting an insight into the space and your vision. They will then take you through our stores to show you furniture, soft furnishings and accessories that would suit your home.
Homemaker The Valley is the ultimate shopping destination for furniture and home accessories in Brisbane. With over X stores, you’ll find everything you need to style every room in the house. You can shop from popular furniture stores like Domayne and Provincial Home Living, and find the best home accessories from stores like Adairs, Early Settler and Howards Storage World. If you’re looking to furnish your new home, give your old home a makeover or find stylish homeware gifts for friends and family, visit Homemaker The Valley.
