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Your Questions
ANSWERED
How do I give my
home a make-over?
by JASMINE BROCHET & GRAEME MAUGER
Where do you start and what is the most
JOINT OWNER/ DIRECTORS
Light and Shade. effective way of achieving your goal?
Generally, people start with the fixed decoration, wall contemporary colour or finish, or a contemporary design in
coverings, flooring and curtains. Furniture follows, with a more traditional finish or material, this allows for changes
lighting and then accessories being the finishing touches. around these items at a later date with more flexibility.
We advocate a different approach. It is not always possible The balance of colour against size is very important,
to find the correct furniture and lighting to physically fit into especially in modern homes with smaller rooms. Larger
rooms if a specific direction has been taken. Once the style pieces of both furniture and lighting can be used in pale
has been chosen, flooring, wall covering and curtains can colours, and glass allows light to pass through, giving the
be made to fit. This may not be possible with furniture, impression of more space. With crystal chandeliers,
lighting or mirrors. generally something larger than a metal equivalent can be
used, as the crystal does not appear as such a solid object.
With furniture items, certain styles will only work in Mirrors can also be used to enhance the feeling of space
specific size or colour configurations, different finishes can and once again the balance between proportion and shape
make a dramatic difference on the impact of a piece of is hugely important. Try to avoid too many parallel lines as
furniture in a room. Shape is important again, to the way a this can give the impression of lower ceilings and smaller
piece of furniture fits into a room, impacting on the feel of spaces.
space in the area, as can the position.
In more contemporary homes, injecting colour from light
Fixed lighting also, and to a greater degree, requires great sources can also be an interesting way of changing the
consideration. The basic criteria are style, illumination and look. This can be achieved with static coloured lamps,
proportion, achieving the correct balance between these through to programmable colour changing LED, allowing
three elements will result in the perfect result.Also placing cycling colour mixing and set static colours of your choice
new pieces of furniture or lighting in an existing room through a range of around 1 million different colour
setting can create a new look without having to change combinations. This can be achieved from the comfort of
each of the other elements. your armchair by remote control!! In addition to fixed
installations, table lamps and wall panels are available and
So, in the initial stages of giving your home a new look, one added benefit of LED lighting in general is the
start with the elements that need to be created to serve a extremely low running cost. With good LED light sources,
function, not those that can be made to fit. there are possibilities in commercial applications and areas
where access or heat are issues as they have an extremely
In terms of the economics of the exercise, you will probably long life expectancy and produce little heat.
spend a greater amount on a piece of furniture, and
therefore expect to have the furniture for longer (which You can easily refresh the look of a room by adding or
makes better financial and ecological sense), so you have changing around accessories. Floor and table lamps,
to look for shape and colour combinations that are not too pictures, sculptures, vases and floral arrangements can all
specific, so that they can be incorporated into future be used to give a subtle change to the look of a room and
possible changes to flooring, wall covering and curtains. can be used to inject some vibrant colours if the main
The same applies for lighting, you do not want to spend decoration is neutral.
money on a fashionable design that will date very quickly,
and therefore date the whole of your decoration. The days of one shape of dining table in one finish and a
fabric lampshade on the ceiling are thankfully long gone,
Contemporary classic is the key. For both furniture and you have a blank canvas and an infinite palette, get
lighting look for either a classic shape in a more creating!
20/20 forty eight
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