5 tips for redecorating your home this summer

You may recognise her from DIY SOS or 60 Minute-Makeover where Julia Kendell, is an expert on all things interior design and has an impeccable eye for style and trends. She is also the Celebrity Ambassador for Hammonds furniture’s new Harpsden range. A few weeks ago we had the pleasure of attending the Ideal Home Show, thanks to Hammonds, where I got to take some time to discuss with Julia some of the things she considers when designing her home and the story behind her flourishing career, all whilst thinking —  don’t you want to come to mi casa, if only for 60 minutes, to sprinkle a little of your inspiration, pretty please? Although that dream didn’t come true, our conversation was so insightful that I left feeling like I had gathered a refreshing perspective on how to implement a few key tips to redecorate my home and that’s exactly why we’re bringing it to you.

So without further delay here are the 5 things you need to know before spending time and hard-earned money spicing up your home and giving your space some TLC this summer.

What’s trending…

It seems the industrial trend is hanging around for a while, over the next twelve months or so there are no signs of this theme fading away. Think rustic chandeliers paired with reclaimed wood tables and winged button backed chairs with perfectly studded details. Strong, masculine pieces, rich in copper and rose gold with variants of metals. Very Winston Churchill meets Pierce Brosnan for a strong, rugged, yet classically polished, vibe.

Another growing trend that you can cash in on to add flavour to your room is mixed patterns. You need to make sure whatever patterns or textures that you use complement one another and, if done right, this technique can be very effective.

To splurge or not to splurge…

Sometimes we have those moments when we’ve realised we’ve over-budgeted for something — great problem to have. In those cases Julia suggests it’s best to invest in good lighting. It can often be one those areas that tends to get neglected. A great lighting scheme can be the wrinkle-reducing, under eye cream for a house. It’s costly, but the benefits will have it looking young for years to come. Lighting can also be just the thing to enhance architectural features and make those high ceilings, nooks and crannies and special spaces – pop!

Is a mood board worth it?

Yes, yes, absolutely yes. It’s a great way to save the moolah and make all the mistakes before a dime is spent. It’s crucial that you’re as accurate as can be when creating a mood board, the more precise the better result. So really put everything that you’re going to want to be in a room on the mood board. The key to this being a success is to make sure what you have represented on the board is the same sort of scale that it would be in a room. For example — if you’re only going to paint one wall a certain color, it’s pointless creating the entire mood board that color because it will skew what the end result is going to be. Always try to replicate the amount you’re going to use, the texture or colours, to the same scale as the board. After all of this ask yourself if this is going to give you the feeling you want in the room. If so, proceed with complete peace of mind.  Bonus — it’s also a great bargaining tool to convince those men in your life that you know what you’re doing AND that the pennies spent on all of the details will make the room come together.

What to consider when starting a fresh?

It’s important to consider the natural daylight that highlights your home. Decide whether the room is naturally a dark room or naturally a light room.  It’s normal to have a tendency to want to lighten everything up, but sometimes rather than trying to lighten up a dark room it’s better to embrace the natural mood of the room. By staying with a the theme of a darker room you can end up with a far more interesting scheme as a result. By understanding the hue of the daylight it can also reflect your palette options and paint decisions for a room. It’s also important to have a very clear brief for what you want to get out of a room and how you want it to feel. Never approach a design without a very distinct brief about what needs to be achieved both with the practical side of things like storage elements, and also the emotional side — the feeling it portrays and how it’s going to effect the personality of the people who are going to be using it. Decide how a space is going to work for you — do you feel energized or relaxed by it — what’s going to work.

Will the Made-In-Britian brand prevail?

While foreign importing brings prices down, the buying habits are beginning to shift. Recently there’s been a real move away from instant and easy buys and consumers are now valuing something hand crafted or built in the UK (same goes for the US). These products are something they can rely on from, a company or place, that they can trust where pieces are commonly built-to-last. People aren’t just decorating houses to sell them anymore, and doing it as cheap as possible, they want furniture that’s built to last. Something they can trust.

Now that you have a little advice from the expert, it’s time to go create something beautiful and make that home of yours everything you’ve ever dreamt it could be. You can catch Julia on a brand new prime time DIY show to air this autumn on ITV.