If you’re redecorating your bedroom and you’ve always gone for a safe and classic design in the past, you might want to try something more modern this time around.

One of the hottest trends around is feature walls – they’re a great way of adding a bold colour to the space, or just an interesting pattern. The best thing about this is you don’t have to redecorate the whole of your room to make it work. If you just want to move a bit of your bedroom furniture around, you’ll be able to get to work on one of the walls in the room. You can either use wallpaper or paint to do this, depending on what style you’d like to go for.

Those of you who have decided a patterned wall is what you want should use paper to achieve the right look. Unless you’re an amazing painter, this is definitely the way forward. Even though you want a modern design, you could try to put a twist on something classic when you’re redesigning your bedroom. Why not go for a black and white theme? It’ll never go out of fashion and it’s so easy to find the right accessories and complementary bits and bobs to make the look work.

Once you’ve chosen the right design for your wallpaper – or you’ve perhaps created a stripy monochrome wall to go in your bedroom – you can put it up then start buying some great things to go in the room.  It’s best to go for an uncluttered look in your bedroom, so you might want to have sofa beds in it, and then you’ll be able to have a seat and a bed all in one – a fantastic space-saving idea.

You could add state-of-the-art things to your room as well to really modernise the space – why not find a stylish music player which can be the centrepiece in your room to finish it off?

The bedroom walls are covered in sample splotches of last year’s lilac paint colours (it seemed like a good idea at the time!), the 15-year-old nylon carpet laid directly over the floorboards by the previous owner is shedding tufts of grey fuzz, and the living room chimney breast that your partner excavated last winter is still awaiting its reclaimed Victorian fireplace. It’s not that you haven’t got ideas, but somehow last winter turns into this, the summer holidays fly by, the well-intentioned DIY Bank Holiday weekends end up at the in-laws, and you still haven’t managed to decorate. What you need is someone to help you get organised, someone to focus your ideas, someone to tell you how much it’s all going to cost! Maybe it’s time you talked to an interior designer.

Yikes! Isn’t that going to be expensive? What if they take over and convert my Edwardian house into nouveau American rodeo ranch style? What am I committing myself to with that first ‘phone call?

Don’t worry. Interior designers are professionals. They are there to offer you, the client, a service. Many offer first consultations free of charge. This means you can dip your toe into the interior design water without any risk whatsoever.

So, what can you expect at this first meeting? Your designer should, by talking to you and looking at your existing environment, diagnose your taste and pinpoint your favourite interior design style. Show them the room or rooms you want decorated, and if you have any photos of styles you like or dislike, show them to the designer. They should ask you about your hobbies, your family, your colour preferences, your pets, whether you entertain at home, whether you frequently have overnight guests. By learning about you and analysing your requirements, the designer is putting together the first building blocks of the eventual design.

At the second meeting, often charged at an hourly rate, the designer should have a package of ideas to show you. This may be presented in any number of ways; a sample board of fabrics and pictures of furniture is one option, sketches and swatches of fabric to discuss is another. Whichever style of presentation the designers choose, find out in advance what you will be paying for it and what happens if you don’t like what you see. Many designers will “go back to the drawing board” until you’re happy, free of charge or at a nominal fee.

A client once told me that a design was “just what I wanted but didn’t know I wanted”. Interior designers have the training and resources to explore design options. They can often help you see a room in a whole new light, just by the addition of some built-in furniture, a new colour scheme, a different curtain design, or by re-arranging the furniture. A designer is adept at combining elements in total harmony with each other while staying within the guidelines of your initial brief (no matter how simple or how bizarre that brief may be).

For example, I once designed an exhibition room-set at The House and Garden Fair in London. The brief was to design a dining room based on the theme of “Fire”. I suspect that very few people who saw the room would commission it for their own home. But that wasn’t the point. The purpose of the room set was to show that the combination of furniture, wall finish, lighting and accessories, when carefully considered and sourced, will please the eye and satisfy an aesthetic need.

A good designer will nudge you further along pathways upon which you may have already placed a tentative step. But a good designer will never impose their taste on your environment. Designers are there to work for you and to help you to achieve your design goal. If you’re not happy with something, always remember you can say no.

Unless you’ve been lucky enough to build your house from the ground up, you will at some point be stuck with somebody else’s ideas of interior decoration. You may decide to live with the royal blue living room and daisy wallpaper in the kitchen, or you might feel a sudden urgent desire to paint the house magnolia. Neither solution is ideal, as in neither case are you permitting your own style preferences and creativity to find expression. But just how do you pinpoint your style?

One way is to turn yourself into a sponge. Absorb everything you come into contact with even if it doesn’t seem relevant at the time. I was once asked to design a bright, colourful and “fun” kitchen for a family with young children. I poured through design magazines, and visited countless design shops for inspiration. But it wasn’t until I found myself watching a 1950s Tom & Jerry cartoon on television that the idea struck. The turquoises, blacks, yellows and pinks of the cartoon looked fresh and fun. A 1950s-style kitchen with all mod cons was the answer!

There is very little in modern interior design which is completely new. Most interior design styles and changes in fashion are amalgamations, adjustments and improvements on previous designs and trends. Today’s stream-lined contemporary look harks back to 1930s modernism combined with a dash of 1960s spirit. And, yes, today’s turquoise, yellow and pink toasters, kettles and lemon squeezers have the 1950s to thank for their design. No one should blatantly copy the work of others as this is an empty exercise, but rather mulch together sights and sounds from your environment to create the style that suits you. Actively seek out inspiration from museums, stately homes, art galleries, show rooms, furniture catalogues, magazines, books, films, TV programmes and nature. Remember the colours, sounds and sights of your last holiday. Why did they make you feel happy? How can you use these elements to recreate that contented feeling in your own home?

Start a file in which you can put magazine cuttings. Take photos or buy postcards of places, buildings, furniture, beaches, sunsets… anything that inspires you. Carry a small notebook in which you can sketch ideas. Often the secret to why an architectural feature works is hidden in the proportion of one part to another. Photographing or sketching this accurately will be the only way of reproducing this later. The ancient Greeks were very keen on geometry and used it extensively in their buildings. Try to analyse why a particular room or building looks and feels right to you. What are the proportions? Is it symmetrical or asymmetrical? Are there a lot of decorative features, or is it very plain? By finding answers to these questions, you are finding your own style.

Once you have a store of inspiration, you are then ready to source materials, chose colours and buy furniture that fits your style. Perhaps you’ve been inspired by a holiday on the English seaside. You’ve taken photos of the flint houses with their maritime blue trim, the long stretches of sandy beach with its tufts of marsh grass, the colourful beachhouses lined up along the shore. Translate these images and feelings into your own environment by sourcing sofas and chairs in a relaxed design, upholstered in sandy neutrals; paint your walls with a creamy wash; let the sun stream into the room with modern voiles, linen blinds or plantation shutters; accent it all with those beautiful sea blues and greens. Keep your accessories natural – wood, stone, shells, flowers. If you stay true to those elements which gave you a sense of pleasure on your holiday, you will create a happy space in your home.

Kona Residence is a home displaying a dramatic and intriguing architecture in Hawaii. Its location couldn’t be more privileged, as the home is not far from the ocean while at the same time having unobstructed views of the surrounding volcanic mountains. According to TwistedSifter, this stunning building designed by Belzberg Architects was completed in 2010 and stretches over a surface of 8,000 sq ft (743 sq m), Here is more information regarding the structure of the residence from the architects: The program is arranged as a series of pods distributed throughout the property, each having its own unique features and view opportunities. The pods are programmatically assigned as two sleeping pods with common areas, media, master suite and main living space. A central axis becomes the organizational and focal feature for the entire house, connecting each of the pods through an exterior gallery corridor. Together with stacked and cut lava rock, the two materials form a historically driven medium embedded in Hawaiian tradition. 3-D modeling and digital fabrication through CNC machinery was incorporated to further enhance traditional elements in a contemporary arrangement. Local basket weaving culture was the inspiration for the entry pavilion which reenacts the traditional gift upon arrival ceremony. (Photography by Benny Chan )

The Grand Creek Residence was designed by Heliotrope Architects and is located in Missoula, Montana. With a complex architecture developed in a contemporary manner, the house manages to take advantage of its natural environment while enjoying a high level of privacy. Here is the description from the architects: “Designed for an active young family, the house is a wood frame, cedar clad building oriented to minimize exposure to inclement weather from the north and maximize solar gain and views south across a larch covered hillside. A single, continuous copper shed roof shelters the building. Primary living spaces are located on the upper floor with sleeping, recreation and service functions below, partially submerged below grade, and open towards the creek, the pool and the spa. An open plan and ample natural light nurtures the modern family lifestyle through all seasons. A “tatami-box” inserted into the living room re-conceives the dining experience and pays homage to the client’s period of residence in Japan.” ( Photography Lara Swimmer)

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There is no such thing as the recipe for designing and arranging the perfect living room, Especially when we are talking about minimalistic living rooms. You can design such a living room by simply using your inspiration, taste and a few tips from us. But what is minimalist design after all? Well, it is defined by the name itself: it is minimalist. That means that you will have only the necessary things in the room, for example the chairs or armchairs, a sofa and a coffee table. The table must be useful, but not big, as you do not dine on it, but only have coffee or some snacks, so a big table might be out of place there. 

All the rest is optional. You can also use a bookcase or some bookshelves, a nice looking shelf for displaying decorations, a huge plasma TV set and maybe a plant. That is all. All the furniture pieces must be simple, without adornments and other things that might show bad taste. It is all about simplicity that generates good taste design. The most important rule here is to use only the minimum necessary, to use only one, two or maximum colors in designing the room and also to stick to the simple things. No floral patterns, different shaped , stripes or some other crazy or very crowded things. 

Normally this kind of room also includes the last minute technology, with huge TV screens, modern furniture and even the decorations are modern and simple like a vase in only one color and some spread round candles around. Glass coffee tables and futuristic chairs are a very good idea. The colors that are preferred for these arrangements are: black, white, beige, a combination of those or only one hot color like red or pink or maybe electric blue , but only if you combine them with the above mentioned colors. 

Cool kitchen from Made, a design firm in NYC.

Nowadays people prefer minimalistic and modern designs inside their homes and decorate them according to their tastes and money, of course. But sometimes, these styles just don’t fit your house and you have to find the perfect style that will both satisfy your view and be comfortable , too. Let’s take the houses situated near the mountains or woods or the little cabins you use only on holiday and, why not, the little towns houses and even the big ranches some of you might have. They simply can’t follow this line of home design fashion. And I think the most appropriate style for them is the rustic one.

The perfect rustic living room involves walls covered with wood and also furniture made of raw wood or at least having this color. It’ s all about comfort and being practical and suggests the old days when living was rough. The perfect cover for the wooden floor is a woolen rug or one that was woven with traditional patterns. Animal skins used to be perfect, but now the trend is to protect animals and use only imitations. Take a look at this gorgeous wood looking rug that fits perfectly this style.

Don’t go too far as to hang animal trophies on the walls, even if you are a hunter, as it shows cruelty. The fireplace though is absolutely a must for a nice looking rustic living room, whether it is genuine and totally functional or only decorative.

The floor can be covered with wood or stone and all the electronic gadgets that fill a modern persons life simply don’t fit here and you’d better save them somewhere else if you can’t live without them. The predominant color of the rustic living room is brown, but you can add some sweet shades of white, beige or crimson for making the place more lively. There’s no room for the tall chairs, but you should use sofas and small comfortable stools. Use only natural fibers in the room and you will feel closer than ever to nature.