Your exclusive little black book guiding you to the best places to style your interiors post-renovation

Renovating your home is an exciting time where you can create completely fresh feeling interiors. The advantages to renovations are endless, not least because you are likely to improve the value of your property if you are looking to sell in the near future. But, why move when you can redecorate and achieve the perfect home of your dreams? It's certainly much less expensive and stress-free than moving. Plus, after all, we're here to help you make your house a home.

With all the styles and choices available, the process can sometimes be a little overwhelming. So, we have created a free renovations guide full of inspiration to help you on your way.

Image Credit: Precision Painting

The Kitchen

There are so many options when it comes to renovation and it may be a struggle to decide where to start. Often, the starting point ends up being the kitchen. The heart of the home, a kitchen tends to be where you spend most of your time, whether it is independently or as a family. However, being the most used room in a house, kitchens can become tired quite easily. So, when you are looking to renovate, this may be what you are first area you are tempted to address. 

When it comes to colour scheme, generally kitchens are decorated following a fairly neutral palette. In recent years, some have looked towards a more scandi style through the use of black paintwork instead of the paler colours. Whilst these colour schemes do work well in kitchens (which are prone to becoming messy and messy needs to show up to be cleaned!), a recent trend in kitchen renovations is to plump for a coloured island. 

Image Credit: Interior360

With this concept sweeping across kitchens from east to west, the next big question is: what colour should I paint my island? A very easy way to solve this conundrum is to choose through your art. Every room needs a piece of art in it to set the tone, vibe and theme of the rest of the decor. For your kitchen, you may choose a coastal oil painting which would sit above the dining table or the living room could have one of our Original Paintings which would then transform your space and elevate your soft furnishings. 

When you have renovated your kitchen, be it an extension or just a shift around, the first thing you should do is choose the piece of art that will define the rest of the room. To help you with this decision, head to our buying guide. 

The Loft Conversion

Image Credit: Polly Eltes

Loft conversions have been a popular trend for many years now. What can often be just wasted space, particularly within townhouses, has the potential to offer up a whole new living area or bedroom (or both!). When it comes to loft conversions, you can generally go down most routes with the interior decor. 

Deciding this can be tricky, but it is often a good idea to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. What kind of space are you working with? Does it open up onto a small balcony like the above or does it just have a small window in the pediment of the roof? If the former is true, then you may be able to get away with darker colours and woods creating an earthier interior. But, if the room is deprived of natural lighting, then it may be wise to go down a lighter route with your decor and stick to whites and pale pastels. 

Artwork that would work well in loft and attic conversions varies depending on the space you are working with. It may be sensible to leave your room open plan to compensate for the lack of windows and wall height. If you do this, your conversion may be able to take a slightly larger piece of art as its centrepiece as opposed to a smaller one.

 

An example of a gallery wall created with a selection of our prints.

However, if your space does feel too small for a big statement piece, another solution is to have a theme of paintings or prints that run throughout. These would be individual and smaller in size giving your attic an altogether larger and more interesting dynamic. Depending on the size of your loft, you may be able to create a gallery wall and adjust the surrounding decor accordingly.

All of our prints come in various sizes depending on what you need for your space. They are also framed and ready to hang, in our signature handcrafted frames. Browse our wall art prints collection for more inspiration.

Garage Conversion

Image Credit: Architect Your Home

With working from home now a common reality, garage conversions have become increasingly popular for those looking for alternate spaces to work from. You may be wanting to transform your garage or outhouse into a home office, or you may just want another space that could be used for family members, guests or even yourself! 

Garage conversions offer the chance to let your creative imagination go further than you perhaps would allow yourself in your main home. Garage by name and nature this may be your opportunity to go down the modern (and even edgy) route. Decor might feature black ironwork or dark paint work with black metal interiors such as tables and chairs. 

Image Credit: @DeesHouseToHome on Instagram. Artwork: Abstract House

 

When finishing off your garage conversion, art is essential. Whilst other rooms and buildings tend to have character by nature, a garage will be a wide open space with few accents. This offers the potential to create gallery walls or invest in a larger feature piece to pull the room together. 

Using the philosophy of centring your interiors around the artwork on display works particularly effectively in garage conversions. Drawing the room together by decorating with a palette inspired by a central piece of art you have created an open plan set up,

If you are going for the dark theme with your interior decor, consider our black frames - you can browse all of our framing options here.

 

The Open Plan

Open plan living is a popular renovation project. Removing dividing walls can offer a lighter and airier space for living in, as well as a more communal environment for families or entertaining. 

Image Credit: Alex James

If you are looking to achieve this effect but are not willing to give up doors entirely, you can do a “half” open plan style. This may include transforming an open plan living and dining area but use glass door frames to close off the living room. This keeps the light impact of open plan but also offers the option of some privacy between spaces. 

Alternatively, you could leave up just one partition wall. This allows you to retain the cosy and private feeling of an ordinary lying room. You are also given more scope for decorating and hanging art. This dividing wall could make a perfect statement piece for your room depending on how you choose to paint it. For instance, if you have a neutral palette within your living room , you may choose to decorate your dividing wall in a brighter colour. Or, you could create a gallery wall featuring varying sizes of artwork. 

Image Credit: The Economic Times

If you are in the process of decorating your new open plan space, there are a couple of essential details to bear in mind. First, make sure you don’t devoid different areas of your space of individuality. If you accidentally create the same theme throughout the entirety of your living area, it blurs the lines between each “zone”. So, if you would like to have a particular TV/living space, the decor needs to be distinct from the decor in the dining space. 

A very simple and creative way to solve this issue is through your choice of art. If you refer back to our buying guide, you can explore what style would work best in each zone. By doing so, you can then create a colour palette for the interior decor of each space, instantly giving them their own unique personality. 

Artwork: Abstract House. Line Art Trio, purchase here.

Sorting the finishing touches for your home renovations is a far more important stage than it is given credit for. Tasked with pulling the rest of the room together, the artwork you display within each room must be carefully considered. That being said, it is also important to take joy out of choosing the art that will set the tone for each space. After all, the most important person to impress with the artwork in your home… is you!

We hope you enjoyed our home renovation guide. Get in touch if you'd like to find out more or discover our Free Art Recommendation Service if you'd like more ideas and inspiration.