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Home Decorate

Renovating? An interior expert’s guide on what to prioritise

Tried-and-tested ideas by our interior stylist Lucy Gough.
Command

Undergoing a renovation is, without a doubt, a major task. From choosing a consistent interior style to furniture shopping, revamping your home requires a lengthy checklist. Especially when the small things — like clever storage and wall décor — are just as vital as the big-ticket items.

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To help you create your dream home, we speak to Home Beautiful interior stylist and author Lucy Gough for her expert tips to a successful home renovation.   

Get inspired

“Your first step should be creating a mood board or folder on your phone or computer to centralise all the creative ideas that you love,” Lucy advises.

“Scroll through Pinterest and save many, many images into a folder. It’s always better to start with a lot more pictures than you need, and then remove things one by one until you’re left with a few images that make your heart sing!”

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Once you have a starting point for your project, it’s much easier to approach an interior designer or architect with your vision clearly laid out.

Switch up the mood and aesthetic of any room with a powerful colour palette. (Credit: Command)

Choose an interior scheme

“Look around your home. Do you have a lot of green? A lot of blue? A lot of grey? There is probably a good reason for that: because you love it!” Lucy says. Once you’ve figured out your colour scheme, search ‘living room with green accents’ in Pinterest and see if there are any spaces that speak to you. “Be literal in your search terms,” she adds.

Another way to find interior inspiration is to visit the website of your favourite department store, like Coco Republic or Provincial Home Living, and look for online photo galleries. “They will often have a section full of beautifully styled pictures to inspire you. See if you like any and work the aesthetic into your home,” the stylist shares.  

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“Interior stylists are paid to create unique one-of-a-kind spaces, but if you aren’t a professional, don’t worry about reinventing the wheel. Just find a look that you love and copy it into your home. Those images are there to inspire you and help to make your home look the same!”

Use Command hooks to hang bulky items (up to 6.8kg) out of sight on a variety of smooth, finished surfaces.

Pay attention to detail

According to Lucy, “small details and the finishes you choose — like door handles, joinery, and tapware — are like jewels in a crown. They are the final touches that will help to make your home feel considered and beautiful.”

One of these details is wall décor, including artwork. “You can use artwork to warm up a space or help a room to feel calm,” Lucy says. “In terms of practicality, you can use Command Picture Hanging Strips to hang artwork wherever you like, and easily move things around your home (especially if, like me, you re-style your home regularly).”

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Artwork can also be used to create consistency, especially when a space features multiple colours. “You can use an artwork as the lynch pin to bring them together. Being able to use temporary hooks on any wall surface helps with versatility,” she adds.  

Clever storage solutions are easy to achieve with Command hooks, which are available in a variety of sizes and weight holding capacities.

Maximise your storage space

“Modern life can be chaotic and we often own more items than we actually require. That’s where storage comes in! Having all your things in an orderly manner can help to declutter your mind and streamline your daily routine,” Lucy explains. 

She suggests using  General Purpose Command Hooks on the back of a door to hang clothing or towels, or inside cupboard doors to store items vertically, such as cedar balls or the dustpan and brush. Install “coat and hat hooks near the front door, and hanging a sponge caddy above or under the sink helps to keep it muck free,” she says.

If you live in an older style home with a small number of plug sockets, Lucy also proposes Command Cord Clips to train your cable along your skirting board for a cleaner aesthetic. Above all, she believes: “Having order in the home also helps when tidying up, because if everything has a place it makes it easier to go back afterward.”  

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