Professional home styling

Tag : Colour Curtain
Professional home styling Deanna Delamotta
21/ 7/2008

AS the property market stutters, and the credit crunch bites,staying in is the new going out.

But looking at those four peeling walls, not to mention the dodgyArtex ceiling, is not exactly therapeutic. So householders areturning their attention to sprucing up their homes, the prevailingview being that if you've got to stay put you might as well likeyour surroundings.

But, despite a generation of interiors programmes from tackyChanging Rooms in the 1990s, to trendy Grand Designs of thenoughties, many of us are still stuck in an interiors rut.

Take me, for example. Shopping for day-to-day clothes that reflectmy personality is easy. No-nonsense black trouser suit and whiteshirt or a flash of colour when the sun comes out.

Blank canvas

Shopping for a smartly dressed and comfortable home is anothermatter. When I moved last summer, I had a blank canvas - everythingneeded doing up. But, despite watching myriad home makeoverprogrammes (albeit with a glazed expression), I didn't know whereto start.

Fearful of the enormity of the task and my lack of interior stylecredentials, I decided to have a go at the living room and diningroom with only a couple of guidelines in mind. Rooms to be keptseparate - the long-standing fashion for open-plan living has notgrabbed me. And, an old-fashioned girl at heart, I wanted to stickto a traditional look without the chintz.

I like Laura Ashley stuff, being the proud owner of a (battered)brown leather armchair that my mum bought 10 years ago.

So, as I browsed around one of the retailer's many stores, in turnadmiring, then wincing, at the hefty price (even when discounted)of curtains and sofas, I read about the design service. For £100,one of their team helps you decorate two rooms.

Clearly, these people work for Laura Ashley so they're not going torecommend a table lamp from Habitat or a bookcase from Ikea, sokeep that in mind before booking. My expert was Cath McCubbin, whois based at the Knutsford store.

She came along with car boot stacked full of samples and swatches.She started off by asking me about me, my home priorities (lowmaintenance), my likes (duck egg blue), dislikes (pelmets). Thistook about an hour as I ummed and ahhed through the variouspropositions.

Spectacular

The chandelier was one of many conundrums. I like chandeliers butaren't they a bit OTT for a tiny terrace house? Cath assured methat I wouldn't be the Hyacinth Bouquet of my street if I bought acouple. She recommended an eight-arm cream chandelier (£150) formy living room and a similarly-sized lighting spectacular for thedining room.

When it came to the colour scheme she suggested cream curtains witha duck egg blue pattern to complement a two-seater sofa in myfavourite shade that I'd already bought.

In the dining room, where the only furniture was a beech diningtable and six chairs, her suggestion of a black/yellow floralwallpaper combo was too "out there" for my tastes.

As she soon realised, I'm on the right side of conservative ininteriors matters.

Instead, she proposed a subtle version on the floral theme andencouraged me to be a bit more elaborate in my choice of windowdecoration.

Having made her recommendations, Cath went off and created two"mood" boards with bits of her suggested curtain fabric and piecesof wallpaper, together with pictures of mirrors, candlesticks andcushions to give me flavour of what could be achieved.

Sold! - to the clueless lady on the duck egg blue sofa. I boughtthe lot.

It's cost me £1,100 so far but it's rather fetching and I'vepicked up some core tips which will stand me in good stead fordoing the upstairs. Or perhaps I'll just call Cath.