Interior Design Tutorial: 5 Tips to Improve Any Space

Learn how to improve any space with these five tips from Office S&M architects

Don't let a lack of design experience hold you back from creating a beautiful space. Follow these five tips from co-founders Catrina Stewart and Hugh McEwen of Office S&M architects in London for improving any room with interior design.

Use Color

Catrina advises to use color as both a design tool and a building tool. Being both the least expensive tool that you use in a renovation project, it is also one of the most transformative. Considering the existing natural light of a room and then applying warmer or cooler colors can change how you experience a room. Using yellow and other warm colors such as pink and red can ‘warm’ a room. Color can change the way any space feels, as well as how it is perceived: Bigger, smaller and even more personal.

Remove High Cupboards

To create an extra feeling of space at high level in kitchens or storage areas, removing high cupboards can open the space up. This is an easy way to create space in rooms that are narrow or smaller.

Use Curves

Utilizing curved walls allows light to glide across a surface rather than creating harsh shadows that corners create. This also applies to furniture with curved edges which you can add to any room to help create a sense of light and space.

Use Mirrors and Reflective Surfaces

Mirrors and reflective surfaces near natural light such as window frames can help project light back into a room and create more light and warmer color tones. Hugh recommends particular materials such as polished terrazzo that help bounce light and can be retro-fitted to existing windows or other surfaces.

Hide What You Don’t Want to See

Hide what you don’t want to see and show off what you do. Keeping this in mind from the outset and factoring in practical things such as where you might store cleaning appliances (up high away from eyeline or increasing the depth of a wall for storage back into a wall) are critical in the design planning stage. Draw the eye away from things you don’t want to see and toward what you want to highlight, such as a coloured light switch which can be a fun and useful item in a room to focus on.

If you’d like to learn more about interior design, why not join our course on creating interior spaces that tell a story.

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