With open-plan living being popular today, many renovators are eager to knock down walls willy-nilly. But, there are a few things to keep in mind when you are trying to create a more open design.
Too few walls
The most common mistake I see is when homeowners are so enthusiastic about open-plan living that they have not left enough walls. Of course, you have to ensure your design is viable structurally, but that’s not the only reason to leave walls in.
You also have to think about furniture placement. If you’ve got too many windows in the design and not enough wall space, you can have problems with how you layout your furniture, fixtures and fittings.
To avoid making this mistake, it’s a good idea to draw up the shell of the house with all the walls in it. Then draw it up again minus the walls you want to eliminate. Block in your furniture and fixtures, making allowances for wiring and power points
Bad furniture placement
If there isn’t a lot of wall space, make the most of what you have by placing some furniture centred in the room. But, you can’t just plonk furniture anywhere and hope it’s going to work. Each of the individual spaces that form the open-plan area need to be anchored.
For example, if you put a dining table and chairs in an open dining room with nothing to anchor it, it will feel a bit like it doesn’t belong, or that you’re not sure where the dining area ends and the kitchen or lounge begins.
Forgetting to anchor
Anchoring defines each space without detracting from the open-plan look, feel and flow. In the dining room, you can achieve this by hanging a pendant light over the top of the table and adding a decorative feature on top of the table.
Another option to help define the space is to place a rug under the table, but this is not always practical if you have small children. Whatever you choose to do, a good rule of thumb is to aim for two out of the three suggestions here.
In the living area, you can use a rug to anchor the lounge furniture and, if you have a coffee table in the middle, you can put a decorative feature on top of that. This will help create a focal point in the centre of the area.
The kitchen needs less anchoring because it is such a solid entity in its own right, but you can define the space from the rest of the open-plan area through the use of lighting. Not only do pendant lights over the breakfast bar look great, but it gives a line to say here’s the kitchen and there’s the dining room.
Many people planning their renovation begin by gathering pictures from Pinterest and other online resources and from family, friends and neighbours.
While this is a great way to get design ideas, it can also be the perfect way to make your home look like mutton dressed as lamb.
I recently helped some clients with this exact issue. They were about to renovate their bathroom and kitchen and had shown me photos of a renovation their friend had done. They loved the renovation and wanted a similar result.
The friend’s apartment was built in the 1960s or 1970s, and she had done a beautiful job renovating it in a way that perfectly suited the architectural style of her apartment block.
My clients, however, own a Victorian terrace house, so copying their friend’s design was never going to work for their style of house.
One of the key design concepts you should always consider when renovating your home, is to take the original style of the house into account.
This doesn’t mean that if you have an 1980s-style house that you have to renovate it to match the 1980s. What it does mean is that you modernise the majority of the spaces with contemporary colours and materials while subtly linking back to some of the design choices of the era of the house.
It’s essential to the longevity of your renovation to consider the era and style of your home. If you do a super-slick modern bathroom or kitchen in a house that doesn’t have a super-slick and modern style in its bones, it won’t work well design-wise.
It’ll probably look great in the short term, but down the track you will find it stands out because it doesn’t gel with the style of house. You want it to be modern, but also have a “nod” towards the architectural style of the house.
With my client’s house, I ended up using a Victorian-style patterned floor tile and heritage-style light fittings, then juxtaposed these with modern wall tiles, vanity, shower, bath, mirror and accessories. The overall look is modern but there is still a link to the heritage of the home.
No matter what style of home you have, you can avoid the mutton-dressed-as-lamb problem by following this one simple rule.
Have a look at the photos in my Facebook group and you’ll see that I’m creating a contemporary look, but also injecting some of the flavour of the architectural style of the house at the same time.
When it comes to interior design and renovating, there are a few trends and features that designers can’t stand. If you’re planning to work with a professional on your next project, here are a few things to be mindful of.
Design
Designers can’t stand it when rooms are designed independently of one another without considering the effect on the entire house. For example, you might copy the design of a bathroom you’ve seen at a display home, then reproduce a kitchen you fell in love with while watching The Block and style your laundry based on a picture you’ve seen in a magazine. While each room might look fantastic in its own right, as a whole they don’t appear to belong together.
What we do like: Designers like it when you use forward planning and have a cohesive design that flows from room to room. Although each room does not have to match in every aspect, elements such as colours, materials and/or lighting should have a level of consistency and link together in some broader way.
Colours
Most designers despise cream-coloured paint on the walls. There are a number of very popular cream colours that Australians tend to use, but if you ask any designer they will tell you that cream went out in the 1990s. Anything that is cream-coloured or derived from cream is out!
What we do like: We like whites, warm greys and beige colours. Also, pops of darker bold neutrals and accents of timber.
Window dressings
Designers loathe vertical blinds and patterned curtains.
What we do like: The types of window dressings that designers recommend these days are quite linear, such as plantation shutters, wooden blinds, roller blinds or sheer curtains.
Floor tiles
Designers detest terracotta floor tiles, white floor tiles or tiles that are any smaller than 500 square millimetres.
What we do like: We like larger format tiles in a neutral colour.
Splashbacks
Designers generally do not like mirror or glass splashbacks. Glass splashbacks look flat and plain, and both mirror and glass splashbacks show up stains very easily.
What we do like: We like a splashback that has a bit of texture (even if that comes from the grout lines) so that it adds interest to your kitchen.
A common perception is that interior designers are costly and will only give you expensive ideas that they themselves love.
This is very rarely the case, and most interior/exterior designers will give you a look and feel you’ll love for your home – within a fixed budget.
Although you can spend tens of thousands of dollars for design and architectural advice, you can often get minor assistance (for example paint colours) for as little as $500.
Here are some of the ways an interior designer can help you:
They will show you how to create cohesive spaces
Interior designers will show you how to create spaces that look amazing in their own right, as well as being one piece of a cohesive overall look for your home
It’s not too hard to renovate one room in isolation – but problems arise when you have more than one space to pull together.
For example, if you’re renovating your kitchen, bathroom, living room and exterior, these rooms should be cohesive, but not matchy-matchy. Often, renovators do not consider the overall effect of their individual room renovations, so the house ends up lacking a sense of flow and each room feels disconnected from the next.
They make sure your home looks good on the inside and the outside
Some interior designers will also give colour and design advice for the exterior of your home. This is extremely important because it assists with the “visual flow” from inside to outside.
One aspect of visual flow is physical – where the walls are located and how you move within the spaces. The other aspect is how the spaces feed in together visually (from outside to inside) by using the right blend and repetition of colours and products.
Interior designers know what things cost
You might think working out the cost of something is a matter of adding the labour cost and the materials costs. What you may forget, though, are all the steps (and additional costs) in between.
A large majority of home renovators blow their budgets because they underestimate the real costs for their renovation and end up spending much more than they’d anticipated.
An experienced designer will give you estimated figures for your renovation before you go too far down the rabbit hole – and pull you back on areas that look like they’re going to exceed your budget.
Interior designers have a sense of what will stay fashionable
Most home renovators are aware of what’s on trend, but the key is to create something that’s modern and contemporary yet will not date. There’s a fine balance between a look that is fashionable right now and a contemporary design that will last seven to 10 years.
An interior designer will help design your home in a way that ensures you don’t find yourself regretting certain colour or product choices down the track.
Spending a little bit extra on a good interior or exterior designer is well worth your investment and will ensure every part of your home looks and feels exactly the way you want.
Recently, I started working with a client who wanted to revamp the facade of his house. He built the house about 10 years ago but had come to regret some of the decisions he made back then.
While there is nothing wrong with the house in its present state, there is also nothing that makes it stand out.
So, where do you start when you’re doing up the facade of your house? Most people think that a new coat of paint is enough to freshen up the exterior. Giving the walls, windows and trims a paint job will certainly help, but there is much more to it than that.
It’s important to add something to the facade that will give the house depth. This can be done by using different textures and materials. For example, a bit of timber can add interest and warmth.
Creating balance is also important. This can be achieved by making sure that whatever is on the right-hand side is balanced out by something on the left. That doesn’t mean it’s mirrored or symmetrical, it means it is visually balanced. It might be a big garage door on the left and a big plant or window on the right.
Another thing to do is create a single focal point on the facade of the house. With the house in question, I added a detail across the parapet.
This client thought it might be a good idea to create a second focal point using the garage door, but I think it’s best to stick with just one. I love beautiful garage doors but, generally, they should be used to balance out other things visually rather than act as a focal point. Plenty of houses out there that have lots of focal points going on, but it’s rare that they work well.
You can also use landscaping to your advantage when doing up the facade of your house. If you have a visually heavy, brick house, use large, dense foliage to anchor it. If you have a visually lighter house, you can get away with plants with a more delicate structure.
So, if you’re doing up the exterior of your house, don’t just give it a coat of paint. Take into account design concepts like focal points, visual balance and landscaping to add that wow factor.
Contrary to popular belief, a beautiful renovation does not have to cost mountains of money. The reason a renovation looks great is because of how the elements, colours and products are put together – not because the individual components are expensive.
A design project’s success is often down to how the principles of design (focus, balance, cohesion, repetition) have been applied.
And the reason some renovations don’t turn out as planned is often due to ignorance of these principles, or a misunderstanding of “why” something looks good or bad.
A style that looks great in a TV-show bathroom or kitchen can look very different in your own home for a multitude of reasons – the shape of the room, or the lighting, or the architectural style of your property.
Good design is about cohesion
An interior/exterior designer will ensure each space looks different to the next and beautiful in its own right. They will, however, also make sure each room has visual and physical coherence.
A designer is trained to think about the layout and functionality of space
A designer has a perception of space in their mind’s eye that most others don’t, and can visualise how the completed space will look and feel before it has materialised.
A designer has a knowledge of trends, but also what is less likely to date
Most people are aware of what’s in fashion, but the key is knowing how to create something modern and contemporary that won’t date. There’s a fine balance between a home that is on-trend right now and a contemporary design that will last 10 years or more.
A designer knows what things cost
The real reason most new renovators blow their budgets is because they underestimate the final cost.
One example is tiling. You might think working out the cost a simple case of calculating the square metres of tiles required, multiplied by the price of the tiles, plus the cost of labour. That’s a start, but other aspects need to be taken into account, for instance, floor prep and waterproofing. What you estimate as being a $700 or $800 job is probably more likely to be a $1500 to $2000 job.
To get the best result from your renovation, learn about the principles of design and implement them, or call a professional to help bring your ideas to life.
Conclusion
Finally, a beautiful and effective renovation doesn’t require a big budget. The right planning, smart design, and the choice of appropriate materials can make your home look great, without increasing expenses. It all depends on your design approach and preferences.
With Hotspace Consultants, we turn beautiful and functional design solutions into reality within your budget limits. If you want to give your home a new look without spending a lot, start your journey with us and see that good design doesn’t always have to be expensive!
