Interior Design with a Blank Canvas — Where Do I Start?

If you've bought a property, built your dream home or recently completed an extension project, you may have the fabled 'blank canvas' to play with when decorating and furnishing it.

Firstly, it's worth noting that this kind of interior design opportunity is rarified air — a chance to really put your own stamp of personality on a space and arrange tones, textures and materials to your exact specifications and tastes. It doesn't come along every day, so that makes it extra important that you really think carefully and plan for success.

We work with clients across commercial, retail & leisure and residential — on big and small projects across Scotland and the UK — and we love to help advise these clients on interior design choices for all kinds of spaces.

So, whether you've got clear ideas in place about what you want or total flexibility and openness to every idea imaginable, there are a few places we always recommend you start.

Here are 5 quick tips for approaching interior design in your home:

• • Learn the Space – A simple piece of advice but a crucial one. If you have just moved into a new home or extended it, live in it for a while before you make any major interior design decisions.
  
  You'll be surprised by how the light changes as the seasons pass, and you'll be much more confident in your choices. A short period of time spent in an unfinished space is worth it in the long run.
  
  
  
• • Wait Before You Paint – A little addendum to the above. Getting the rollers out and beginning to paint the space might feel like a natural first step to get your project off and running, but it's a time consuming job that will only become more lengthy if you realise you need to repaint.
  
  Before taking the plunge and putting your overalls on, take your time to ensure the shade chosen complements the decor, furniture choices and accessories in your space.
  
  
  
• • Be Ready to 'Kill Your Darlings' – Ok, maybe that's a dramatic way to put it, but it's good advice, all the same. There may be things you have your heart set on, and we always try to work with clients to make sure they fulfil those must-have features — but sometimes if it's not going to work, it's not going to work.
  
  Having a professional on board to advise throughout and give you the 'kind truth' is often helpful in this process, and Team TINTO are on hand to assist.
  
  

• • Trusted Advice is Golden – A follow-on from the prior advice. Whether you employ a professional firm like TINTO or canvass for opinions from close friends and relatives, make sure you are taking advice from sources that understand you, have a good idea of the space(s) and have experience in doing something similar.
  
  From our perspective, we always try to take as much time as is needed to get to know a client before advising them on big decisions on these matters — our understanding of them guides the decision-making process and leads to great results.
  
  

• • Design for Your Lifestyle — Practicality is not a dirty word. It's essential to the long-term viability of your interior design choices at home. For example — a particular set of chairs may be a beautiful and distinctive addition to the space, but what about the two toddlers that will be crawling (and eventually walking) around at leg-level?
  
  Whether you've got a brood of little ones (or four legged friends) or none at all, the bottom line is that when making these key decisions, lifestyle matters. The aesthetic choices you make should always have one eye on the future and how sustainable they can be for everyday life. Making decisions based on the purpose of each space is a great way to approach this.
  
  Also — storage is your friend. The less clutter there is, the more your personality and design choices will shine through.

These quick pointers are just the tip of the iceberg, of course — but they're tried and tested and based on years of collective experience across Team TINTO.

Whether it's part of a new home design project, an office revamp or new business venture, working with clients on interior design direction remains one of the things we get most excited about at TINTO.

If you're curious to know more about how we can help advise you on interior design projects, get in touch to start the discussion.

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