Tag: summer interiors

Need a Refresh? Start Here

Are you thinking about a redesign in your home? Even when you’ve got that niggling sense that a room could be better, it can be hard to know where to begin — and easy to jump straight into buying without a proper plan. Whether you’re planning a big renovation or simply want to refresh one corner of your home, we are going to help you turn those ideas into something you can act on while avoiding some common mistakes that can derail even the most exciting design plans.

What’s the Trigger?

Before you reach for the paint samples, take a step back. What’s really prompted the desire to make changes?

Is it something functional — poor lighting, not enough storage, or an awkward layout? Or is it more emotional — a space that feels flat, cold or uninspiring? Have your needs changed? Are you working from home more? Have the children grown up? Are you craving a space that feels more ‘you’?

Tuning into this trigger is important. It not only helps you identify what needs to change, but also makes sure your updates solve the right problem — not just treat the symptoms.

And just as importantly, think about what you want instead. What’s the feeling you’d love this room to evoke? Calm and welcoming? Energising? Luxurious? Cosy? These emotional cues are where great design begins.

It Pays to Plan

It’s so tempting to jump straight in — to start browsing paint colours or ordering furniture. But without a clear sense of what the space needs. To start creating a plan that works for you:

  • Build a realistic budget considering whether you like to invest timeless pieces or prefer more affordable pieces you can switch more regularly.
  • Prioritise what will make the biggest difference.
  • Measure all spaces and new furniture to avoid costly mistakes.

A Summer Project

If you’re thinking about tackling a home project over the summer holidays, it can be a brilliant time to start — especially with longer days, better light and fewer interruptions. But it does come with a warning, to make sure that the design will work all year round, not just for the season.

Natural light can transform a room — and in July, it’s at its strongest. But ask yourself: how will this space feel in winter? Will your chosen colours feel dark in the low light of January?

The answer is to think multi-seasonally: to consider how the space will feel, not just now, but throughout the year. That might mean:

  • Checking your paints and tones at different times of the day and in different corners of the room, what looks good next to a bright window may not look so good in a dark corner.    
  • Choosing layered lighting so the room works on gloomy days too.
  • Making sure window treatments suit both brighter and darker days, consider roman blinds with sheer curtains overlayed for the best of both worlds.  

Designing with the full year in mind means your space will feel right all the time — not just on a sunny afternoon. For more ideas around lighting, read our blog – Maximise the Light in Your Home All Year Round.

A Note on Trends

We love to follow the trends, seeing what’s coming in and going out, new colours and the desirable designs — and they can be a brilliant source of inspiration. But we don’t follow trends just for the sake of it, and we don’t recommend that our clients do either.

Designing your home purely based on what’s in fashion now is one of the fastest ways to end up with a space that dates quickly — or never quite feels like you.

Instead, we start with you: your style, your lifestyle, your light, your space. From there, we might incorporate on-trend elements that work for the room — but only if they genuinely suit the feel you want to create. The result is a design that feels timeless and personalised to you.

Working With an Interior Designer

If you’re not sure about tackling a redesign project on your own, then it might be time to work with an interior designer. We can work with you throughout the project providing as much help as needed, from a full design to simply sourcing the perfect side table or sofa.

If you’re not sure whether a design service is for you, click here to read about the benefits of working with an interior designer.

Remember you can follow us on Facebook for more interior design ideas and inspiration, and contact us if you’re ready to kick off your design project.

Summer Feels with Interior Design

Interior design gives you the opportunity to express yourself and create whatever look and feel suits you and your home. It might be summer outside, but you can also embrace it on the inside and give your interior a warm glow all year round. The influence of summer will evoke feelings of relaxation, tranquillity and joy; things that we could all do with feeling more of. The season outside has inspired us to share with you some of our favourite things to create a summery feel in any room.

Walls

A quick and easy win is to use a summer-inspired colour on your walls, such as sunny yellow or ocean blue, or for a more striking effect a summer wallpaper could be the way to go. We love Topiary Wallpaper by Cole & Son sourced from Jane Clayton. The green gives a wonderfully fresh look and the pattern is stunning. The Highveld wallpaper in ochre from Photowall is a great way to add a floral element to your home. These are both highly patterned wallpapers and would be well suited to use as a backdrop to shelves or in a smaller area like a hallway for an update.

Artwork

If you’re a regular reader of our blog, you’ll know that we love the versatility of artwork for transforming a space. With so many options to choose from – the variety of colour, subject finish and framing – we know that there is something to suit any home. Desenio is one of our favourite suppliers for artwork with great choice and budget range. While you can choose 1 piece at a time, their Calm Art Gallery Wall creates a fantastic feature and fits in perfectly with a summer feel. You could use this as inspiration to create your own wall of art with separate pictures and paintings. 

For a completely different type of art feature, look at the work of photographer Slim Aarons. His photographs are outstanding, and he is best known for his “photographing attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places”. Aarons photographed guests enjoying the sun and pool at the Hotel du Cap Eden-Roc, Antibes, France in “Eden-Roc”, available from Enter Gallery; such a fabulous example of his work.

Textures

Natural fibres and textures epitomise the essence of summer and can be elements within most furniture or accessories. The Samaï Fibre Ceiling Light from La Redoute is a fun and distinctive way to add that natural feel. We also love the Hadlow Woven Rope Stool from Abigail Ahern, which can be used with your existing furniture to complement it.

Indoor : Outdoor Décor

If you are worried about investing when the British summer is notoriously short, then don’t worry as there are many accessories that you can use in your garden for outdoor living, and also indoors to enjoy the summer feel when the sun has disappeared!   

Soft furnishings are always a good way to easily change the theme and feel of a room, and this selection is no different. All of these cushions can be both outdoors and indoors and are a great investment.

The Burlington Outdoor cushions from Andrew Martin has a lovely range of colours.  Similarly, the Gypsum Tropic Outdoor Cushion, also from Andrew Martin offers a different pattern and range of colours.

For additional options, the Pompano Grass Outdoor Cushions from Designers Guild come in a variety of colours and are made of a dual toned jacquard weave combined with a printed canvas.  The Rosita Grass Cushions from Decoralist give a pretty burst of green and come in a variety of sizes, with or without fringing, bringing extra interest to your indoor or outdoor chairs and sofas.

Lastly, a side table is always a good partner for any seating solution, and the Mabel Indoor / Outdoor Side Table and the Indigo Striped Ceramic Stool, both from Anthropologie, are suitable for both indoor and outdoor use and come in fresh colours.

We hope that you enjoy a summery feel in your home, however you choose to embrace it, and remember that you find more of our thoughts by following us on Facebook.

Bring the Outdoors In

This is a hot trend at the moment, and we don’t want you to miss out. Here are some ways that you can bring the outdoors in and create a beautiful space in any home whatever your budget.

Real vs Faux

When you’re thinking about plants and foliage you can opt for either faux or real, both have their advantages.

Faux

There is a huge range of faux plants and foliage to choose from. For the best outcome get the most realistic looking plants you can find, they don’t have to be super expensive with shops like Dunelm and Homesense stocking a large variety. Where possible we’d recommend looking at the plants in situ so that you can select the best ones more easily.

When you’re choosing the plant disregard the pot it is in, that can be changed to suit your tastes and theme. Go for a large pot for a high-end look – slip the existing pot into the new one and fill around the edges with moss or small decorative stones like these stone available from Amazon. By spending a little more over all you achieve a lux look for much less than if you had purchased something equivalent from a high-end store, plus it can be exactly as you want it to be!

For the most authentic look, choose faux plants that would survive in the area where you would place them if they were real, for example in a hot garden room or conservatory you could choose something more tropical whereas in a shady hallway something like a fern would be more appropriate.

These are some of our favourites available in Dunelm at the moment*. You can mix and match these to suit what you want.

Real

If you are choosing real potted plants some of the same tips apply. Choose your pots independently from the plants. You can either put the pot directly in or re-pot the plant while making sure that the plant container is the style you want. We’d recommend choosing something hardy that doesn’t require too much watering if you are after something lower maintenance.

For a statement look, you may be tempted by a living wall or a green wall which is a self-sufficient vertical garden attached to a wall. Although these can look incredible, they are typically hard to pull off particularly on a budget so we would recommend considering getting professional help and either get the real thing with beautiful organic planting or finding a specialist to help you create an authentic looking faux one suitable for the location.

For a versatile and budget-friendly way to add greenery to a wall we would suggest contemporary hanging planters such as these metal plant hangers from Amazon. They bring life and colour to the wall but in a more subtle, affordable and ultimately changeable way      

Tips

  • Use natural fibres, textures and patterns
  • Floral wall patterns and rugs can be used for the botanical element
  • Use natural, earthy colours
  • Use decoration elements that are found in nature, for example, shells
  • Make use of natural light
  • Introduce scents from outdoors using scented candles and diffusers.

Follow us on Facebook for more interior design inspiration and help.

*Links to our featured products:

London Black Framed Planter

Artificial Bonsai Tree in Pot

Ceramic Curves Planter Silver

Trailing Plant in Ceramic Pot

Artificial Fern in Black Pot

Green Plant in Black Pot

Seasonal Ideas for Interior Design

Interior design trends change throughout the course of a year, taking inspiration from the seasons and while you may be influenced by a summer or winter colour palette, you can also add updates throughout the year.

At Interiors at 58, we believe in ensuring each of your key pieces of furniture is the best quality available for your budget as these are an investment for your home, and these won’t change. You can however add accents and accessories to transform a space easily. If there is something that you love, simply store it while you’re not using it in a décor scheme, and bring it out again when you’re ready. Although we follow interior design trends, we whole-heartedly believe that you should love your interior, on trend or not.

Here are some spring trends that you can introduce to your house for a quick refresh.

Biophilia

Choose a plant or foliage that you like, match with a pot or container that fits in with your colour scheme, and that’s as easy as it can be. If you’re not green-fingered, you could choose faux foliage instead.

Our top tip when it comes to faux foliage, is to purchase the plant and not worry about the pot as typically they are quite basic.  Re-pot the whole plant, pot and all, into a new container and fill with decorative stones for a higher end and more special look

Next have a lovely range of artificial plants, like this palm plant. The variety of pots and stands that come with the plants are great too, and you certainly won’t need to re-pot these.

Statement Florals

With the trend for statement floral wallpapers there is a wide choice. Make a feature wall but try to blend the wall with the rest of the room by using one of the shades within the paper for paint for the rest of the room – for example a blush pink flower or green leaf within the paper could be picked out and used as a paint colour for the whole room. If you want to make the look a truly summer only feature look for removable wallpaper.

Ellie Cashman Designs have some gorgeous floral wallpaper, with a range of designs, colours and finishes.

Florals are more versatile than you might think, and this floor lamp from notonthehightstreet.com is a wonderful statement piece. Pair it with floral decoration, or add some luxury to a plainer room, either way, it will look stunning.

Garden Rooms

With summer just around the corner, remember your outside space. Interior design works in your garden too, and you can create a cheerful, uplifting garden space to relax in now that the evenings are getting longer.

Our top picks below can be used both indoors and out, giving you the flexibility to add a summery feel in the garden or in your home. You certainly won’t want to be hiding these away during the colder months when you can use them all year round.

Snuggle up with a book and cuppa in the Indoor Outdoor Hanging Chair from Cox and Cox. Add the Malaysian Palm Outdoor cushion from Dunelm for a splash of colour while the beautiful Nkuku hurricane lamp creates ambience indoors or out. Perfect for enjoying the summer!

Remember to follow us on Facebook for more Spring trends and interior design ideas.