Don’t forget ceilings when it comes to planning a scheme
Of course in lots of cases a simple off-white paint is great, but you can add another layer to the decoration of a room with a more adventurous choice. I love a gloss ceiling in robin’s egg blue or a butterscotch tone or a wallpaper like Fornasetti’s ‘Clouds’. The amusing faux plasterwork papers sold at Merci can add another dimension.
Do always add a cornice to a room
Even the lowest room can benefit from applying a moulding to the junction of wall and ceiling. If you can’t run to a cornice then trim out the room with a tape or a gilt fillet that you buy from a picture frame supplier.
Be honest about how you live and how you want to use your house
Don’t follow the crowd, experiment!
Be brave with paint colours
Paint large samples (three coats minimum) onto lining paper so that you can review them at different times of the day and night and in different lights. I’m never keen on a feature wall though...
Do make sure you have enough storage
Storage is vital for a civilised life - it’s not possible to exist in chaos.
Do buy the best bed you can afford
Add a mattress topper and do not even consider going without a bed base valance.
Always plan your rooms on paper
Plot out where you want your furniture so that you know what will fit and you can get the lighting right.
Do avoid short curtains…
…unless you have only dormer windows or live in a showman’s wagon. Curtains can be made from the simplest of fabrics but should be long and break into the floor by about an inch and a half. Preferably they should hang from a pole with a gathered stand-up heading.
Do embrace gallery walls
A gallery wall can allow you to hang a disparate collection of paintings and prints or photographs and make sense of it.
Do make dark rooms darker and more glamorous
You will never succeed in making it light so embrace deep colour. I’m always attracted to coca-cola-coloured lacquered walls,
Always scale up
Roger Banks-Pye taught me that, but do double-check access before buying that large L-shape sofa.
Flowers, plants and trees in baskets bring a lot of look to a room
I’ve just discovered Plants for Shade, the most divine paper pelargoniums and snow drops in terracotta pots, that even the least green-fingered ones of us can’t finish off. My record with houseplants is not good.
Do buy brown furniture
It’s a bargain for such well-made pieces and it doesn’t need to remain brown after all. Syrie Maugham pickled everything back in the 1930s, and ebonising or painting can transform a chest of drawers or cupboard. I introduced my god-daughter to chalk paint when she wanted to improve a junk shop table find–now nothing is safe from her brush.
Do paint the flat of skirting boards in a dark colour
This helps ‘anchor’ the room.
Don’t ask for advice from a professional if you are not going to follow it!
It's a waste of everyone’s time!
