Pick 5 colours & Repeat 
Your house should have a consistency of colour. Pick 5 colours. This could be a white for the walls, trims & ceiling, a timber for the floor, grey sofa, & then 2 pops of colour in the cushions & décor. This basis of colour allows you to add décor in those hues. So you can have timber furniture to match the floor or white accessories to match the walls.
If you like more depth of colour in some areas of your home then you can add one of your ‘accents’, like the cushion hue to the wall paint to give impact. Then team the other 4 colours around that.
Add Emphasis
A focal point in a room is a grounding space. Traditional homes use fireplaces or decorative drapery to highlight the room. In modern houses this can be the glass splashback of a kitchen, a feature wall of wallpaper or even a large decorator item like a clock or wall mounted shelving. Having a focal point draws the eye to it, so make it an area you want people to see – don’t highlight a mess.
Have a style
Most homes have an eclectic mix of items or styles due to the years of gathering furniture & décor, or renovating over decades. This can create a mismatch in style. Do some research & find what style you like. This could be sleek Modern, relaxed Bohemian, clean Scandi, Mid-Century Revival furniture, or elegant Hamptons. When looking around you will find you gravitate to certain eras or design elements & this is a place to build off. Find the items in your home which follow that theme & highlight these. Keep that design style in mind when purchasing new pieces or find ways to distract from the items that must stay but don’t quite fit. And that brings us to…
Misdirection
We all have those items or areas in our homes which aren’t pretty. However these areas are usually quite functional, so they are hard to change. Misdirection is the best way to ‘hide’ them while still being able to have a useful space. Misdirection is all about drawing people’s eye away from the problem. For a cluttered kitchen, you could add a large colourful artwork or clock to a wall which grabs attention (emphasis), for a messy children’s play room once again a large colourful artwork will draw the eye up from the cluttered floor to the wall space. Make sure not to put an attention grabbing piece in front of a messy space, make it the opposite wall so the occupant has their back to the clutter.
Think Function First
As a Designer, everyone thinks it’s all about cushions & colour, but it is more about function & flow. An area has to work properly otherwise it just gathers mess. You need to be able access all areas of the home otherwise you have wasted space & potential. When there is an area of your home that isn’t working, take a step back & think – why? Is the storage not correct, is it hard to access, not part of the natural flow, bad lighting or poor ventilation? When you nail down the problem then we can add a way to fix it which is also attractive in the space.
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