A lot of people find statement interior design choices intimidating, and they’re afraid to take the risk – what if it turns out bad? What if it’s too much?
Ah, but what if turns out great? Making bold choices doesn’t have to be as scary as it seems. You don’t have to be an interior design expert, either. Anyone can bring a little pizzazz into their space, as long as they make the right choices for them. Bold can be easy – just take a look at these tips.
One of the easiest ways to make a big difference is to simply give one of your walls a coat of paint. The paint colour itself can be bright, or the technique used can be unusual. Painting doesn’t take much effort at all and pretty much anyone can do it. The Decoist lists unique painting techniques for interiors that you might find helpful.
And don’t exclude wallpaper by any means. Wallpapers have come a long way and are available in so many different patterns and styles. You may be able to incorporate a rain forest in your bedroom or a library in your study, by quickly applying a couple of rolls of wallpaper. For this, you may visit for example the LondonArt and get inspired. A statement wall can act as a focal point for the entire space.
Why it’s easy: Anyone can paint and apply wallpaper (with a little bit of help from YouTube)! It’s a very simple and most inexpensive way to make a statement and play with colour.
Have you considered picking a piece of furniture with an unusual shape, or material? Furniture has become more and more unconventional in recent years, both in terms of design and in terms of material. Designers are more adventurous with their styles and they’re innovating what we’ve come to know as traditional, or go-to shapes.
There is a growing use of ironwork in furniture, for an industrial, but still, surprisingly elegant element. Coffee tables, chairs, dining tables, and even bed frames are made in interesting shapes or with unusual cut-outs that enhance or highlight certain designs. An angular coffee table, funky light fixture, or even an area rug in a cool, geometric shape can inject a bit of modernity and add an avant-garde edge to any space.
Why it’s easy: It’s literally just a matter of picking out the interesting piece. The rest doesn’t have to match it perfectly, but ideally, it should echo some of the elements found in this piece, in order to retain a cohesive look – for example, the same type of metal, or a common detail, etc.
A choice that is very much in vogue at the moment, colourful furniture – particularly sofas and other seating – is an excellent way to not only make a bold choice for your space but also set the colour palette for the room or even your entire house. Or if you feel that colourful furniture is too much of a statement, try to choose a colourful piece of art on the wall.
Picking an interesting art piece with vibrant colours, for example, is a statement; it’ll definitely immediately becomes the focus of your entire living room. Anything with colour will stand out beautifully against a neutral backdrop, whether you go for fuchsia pink, cobalt blue, or mustard yellow.
Why it’s easy: As the shape play, this type of colour play is sort of the easy way out, because you only need to pick out a piece in the colours you like.
People often think that they can’t introduce statement elements in bathrooms or kitchens, because they’re utilitarian spaces, but nothing could be further from the truth. There’s actually a lot of room to play with here, albeit in more subtle ways.
The previous tips about bold colours and unusual shapes still stand, but the easiest way to bring an element of visual interest in a bathroom or kitchen and break from the norm is to choose some interesting, patterned or colourful tiles. Or even just laying them asymmetrically will already create a statement feature. Elle Décor listed 33 tile ideas that we would definitely recommend for you to check out. Tile work can create incredibly intricate patterns that can become the focal point of your space. Whether that’s just normal floor or wall tiles or something like shower tiles or a kitchen backsplash, you can completely change the look or feel of a room with smart use of tiles.
Why it’s easy: You need tiles in these spaces anyway, so might as well make them fun, right? It’s probably even easier than in other rooms because kitchens and bathrooms tend to be pretty monochromatic or neutrally decorated.
Unusual decorations are in! You can really make a statement that illustrates your beliefs or what you hold dear, like recycling, ecology, etc., through your use of materials.
You can achieve extremely interesting and thought-provoking things by using recycled materials. Glass works, too! Art installations and sculptures made out of these kinds of materials are very in vogue because they tell a story and show us that it is possible to make something beautiful out of discarded items.
On the other hand, you can really make use of natural materials. Have you ever considered utilising moss as a decorative element? The latest IT thing in interior design is to have a wall covered in moss – or just a little piece, like a painting. It’s the ultimate blend with nature, and having living artwork is the ultimate bold statement. Interior gardens are one of the top trends this year as we covered in our previous article “Top 10 Interior Design Trends for 2019”.
And finally, it does not always have to be anything unconventional. You can always just update the upholstery or drapery to a more impact-making material or design, in order to make a statement in a room.
Why it’s easy: Whether it is a statement-making art installation or drapery, they are easy to incorporate into your home. You can let these decorative elements do the talking and you don’t really need to “match” them to anything else.
As you can see, making bold choices or pickings elements that are slightly outside the norm doesn’t have to be scary. Bold is beautiful, and it can be easy, so be bold!