You read these glossy magazines with photos of stunning rooms, with a feature piece and all of the other furnishings complementing this one item. But how to do emulate this sort of design in your own, more normal, home? Easy! You can centre your room on one gorgeous feature. The focal point should be the first thing you notice when you enter the room, this focal point should be something interesting to look at, something colourful or visually appealing.
Living Room
It is the hub of any home, a place that you want to be able to relax in, entertain, study or even dine in. It’s important that your living room works for you. For a truly versatile family room it helps to section the space into zones, and this can be done easily by using furniture. If you’re lucky you may already have a focal point in your living room, it may be an old fireplace. If not, why not select a bright coloured sofa, or position a coffee table, or show off a piece of art work, or cover one wall with patterned wallpaper!
If you are dealing with small spaces remember to try and keep a small amount of distance between the furniture and the wall, it create the illusion of space. Always avoid clutter by using good storage solutions because a messy space is a smaller space. To add a few more inches keep things off the floor, a wall mounted TV and shelves for books or frames will keep the whole room streamlined. Take pieces of colours from the focal point or even shapes or textures and reflect them back onto the room, allowing the room to flow and overlap.
Kitchen
Every kitchen has a focal point, whether that is the elegantly arched faucet, sleek steel, or possible an Aga or a Smeg fridge! For whatever reason people are drawn to that focal point, but is it for the right reasons? There probably was a time that you loved your kitchen, but it’s been a while I’m sure, so start by making an objective list of things that you think either need to be changed, removed or updated. With a little time and effort you can fall in love all over again with your kitchen, making sure people notice the focal point for the right reasons. Your kitchen is where you cook and eat every day, so it has be functional and since you spent a lot of time there you should make it a happy, harmonious place. Start by adding a lick of new paint, and colour is down to personal preference you can either go to extreme with bright bold statements of fuchsia pink or you can go pale with pastel colours for a more calming effect.
Bedroom
Your bedroom should be a space that provides calm and soothing atmosphere, and if you are looking to transform your current bedroom into a haven then you should start but taking a look at the space that is available to you and assessing realistically how much room you have to play with in terms of design. If you are looking for a new look or something different for your bedroom in order to make a real statement, chances are it is currently looking straight at you – whether it’s your existing furniture or your wall!
Most bedrooms have a certain feature in them that stands out, for me it’s my solid oak dressing table, but some may have a large bed frame, antique wardrobe or if you don’t then you still have your walls, so you will have a choice of at least four walls that you could have your feature on. For most people the wall against the head of the bed is the best to create a feature on, because it already holds a focus.
It is recommended that when you are deciding on a feature wall try not to use one that has a window or a door because this can break up the effect and distract the eyes from the feature. Similarly try to avoid choosing smaller walls as they can sometimes be portrayed as rather cramped and cluttered.
Paint has many advantages for being the substance for your feature wall, because it is something that you can do yourself and if you make any mistakes they can be easily fixed, you can experiment by mixing different colours and doing test patches on the wall. However wallpaper is an easy way to get a certain desired look, effect or pattern, get creative with funky wallpaper!
Another way to create a feature wall in your home is by accessorising your wall, creating a wall that draws the eye. Using photos, large printed canvases and mirrors are all great ways of both enhancing an existing and creating a new feature wall at the same time. If you have never considered a feature wall for your bedroom before then big thing to decide on is what type of feature would you like to see in your room, is your room modern and contemporary, chic and quirky or is it traditional?
