So what works for you - visiting a Museum, a friend's house, a book or the Internet; how do you find inspiration?
For me, it is a usually from the myriad of interior design magazines that are available - personal favourites include Country Living, 25 Beautiful Homes, Period Living, Traditional Homes and Homes and Gardens, to name but a few. However, which style works for you?
Perhaps before we go any further, we should explore exactly what style constitutes? This is all about creating a look. Think of it as the ingredients that create the design you desire and are workable for you. Look analytically at your possessions or your mood boards that you have created to define the design of your new room(s), do they belong together because if not they will jar and the scheme appear messy and dysfunctional.
The three main components of style are: Country, Modern, and Historical
Country: This is a more cluttered approach, softer in tone; including decorations of dried flowers, perhaps stencilling and floral fabrics. But it is most definitely all about what is appropriate for your home.
Modern: This is simple with a clear-cut style. The look is more dramatic and bold as there are fewer colours used. Strong patterns are also in evidence. Furniture will be black and grey with leather as an obvious choice. If you feel your style lends itself to being modern, then please do check out the Scandinavian look as it provides a lighter touch.
Historical: This is simply a recreation of years gone by. But be careful there is a big difference between something looking outdated or recreating the look of a particular period in history. Reference points can always be sought from Museums, stately homes and television programmes like the Antiques Road Show, which highlight individual items that could be vital in any historical design.
Returning to sources of information, what about some of the beautiful interior design exhibitions that run during the year? Please check out Decorex, Country Living, and Top Drawer to name but afew.
In your search for knowledge, television of course has a part to play. One of the most recent and most inspirational programmes has been the Great Interior Design Challenge on BBC2. As it so clearly puts into context the range of things you, as the designer, have to consider creating a quality design that is appropriate for the style of the building, the size of the room and the owner(s) taste. So for example, a family of 3 rugby playing sons would not be comfortable in a delicately coloured, delicately styled family room, more appropriate for a single person or a mature couple!
A final source for information is shop catalogues. Perhaps a dying marketing ploy due to our paperless society mentality and the advent of the Internet but many companies, (you only have to think of Laura Ashley) have their own catalogues that you can send off for. Also worth checking out is Habitat, Ikea and Bo Concept.
Now that you are starting to consider what works for you, you are going to go into information overload. You will find yourself surrounded by paper cuttings, your notes, colour swatches, pictures. You become scissor mad, cutting out information - whether a whole article or picture, even just a small part just so that you have this aide memoir in front of you. May I suggest that you use a lever arch file to keep all these amounts of paper you will inevitably collect. Dividers with clearly defining sections with plastic pocket envelopes are vital for anybody trying to stay organised. You could even have a segment for Dreams - ideas and things you would love to do but for whatever reason are just not possible. Although not necessarily useable, this part can become very inspirational.
Another option could be a scrapbook where stimulating pictures appropriate to your designs and information can be stuck in. Addresses of suppliers you are interested in could go here for example. Don't forget glue sticks and scissors!
Having a new home design project can be stressful obviously - you only have to think of the issues raised on the television programme Grand Designs! But on the other hand it can be stimulating, fun, a real journey of discovery about you and what works for you. My advice to you is to take time to do your research; this is definitely the most fun part of the exercise. Enjoy and I hope you really do enjoy this process.
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