How to create a space that is functional and stylish this winter Season

How to create a space that is functional and stylish this Winter.

By Lindiwe Mabizela, interior decorator, Signatureroom

Signatureroom was recently featured on Design for You on the Home Channel where Lindiwe showcased a beautifully styled contemporary home with a vintage flair to it. Take a look at the clip and see how she worked her magic!

Our design philosophy is that a successful design is capturing any design style in a functional and tasteful manner. A home is one of the most important investments for anyone, and it must be worth every cent you have spent on it. It should be a comfort haven, and should leave you feeling inspired and should always leave you feeling inspired and rejuvenated.

In order to successfully get all of these things, your home should be decorated in such a way that it tells a beautiful story of you, accentuated by the things you love. Optimizing on your space, whether big or small, is key! Always begin with the shell (walls, floors & ceiling) of the home. It’s important that 90% of the walls in the home be treated in neutral. Only feature walls or floors should be spared for a bit of “play”.

Always measure the space where you would like to place furniture. It’s very important that you allow space for movement between pieces. If you cannot find furniture to fit the space, rather have it custom made as it always works out best that way.

If you have limited space in your home, there are ways of making it look bigger. This can be achieved by bringing in more light into the room by adding a few mirrors, placed adjacent or opposite a window, so as to bounce the light off the window and into the room.

Bigger spaces, on the other hand, are always exciting to work with and you can easily be tricked into overfilling them with clutter and end up with a lot of confusion. Bigger spaces allow you to use bigger pieces of furniture to separate sections of the space in the home in a clever way. They also allow you to play with darker colours, especially darker furniture as it is easily absorbed into the space instilling the feeling of comfort. Be careful of the use of strong colours though, as they can be overpowering in a large space. Allow colours and textures to flow into each other tastefully to create harmony.

Remember the quote “less is more”? When it comes to decorating your home this quote is so fitting. Whatever it is that has inspired the style chosen to decorate your space, avoid cluttering every corner of the space with too many elements of that style. This can be very overwhelming and can easily kill the significance of it.

It is also important to invest more in the larger furniture pieces of your home and to keep them in a neutral tone. This is your first step to giving your home a timeless feel because when seasons change, so do the trends. Keeping a neutral base will allow you to evolve with the trends by simply changing accents. This is also a cost-effective way to bring the excitement of change into your home each season.

Winter has arrived and we need our spaces to feel all warm and cosy. Textures, textures and textures!! That is the key word to bringing in warmth and liveliness into our spaces this winter. Use textures in the form of velvets for scatters and throws for your bedrooms and living areas. Try using Jacquard as it brings in that chic luxurious feel for your window treatments, while bringing in that desired warmth to your space. Also play a lot with fabulous winter colours like navy, mustard, green, burgundy and cream for all your accents in your home.

Happy Decorating!!!!