Let the house style represent your personality

By Joan Salmon

Designing a home is more than painting walls, adding accessories or putting furniture in a room. It calls for a keen eye, idea of the overall look you desire and knowledge of how to mix and match the different elements.

Imelda Kasule, a homeowner is one that loves to get her hands dirty and as such, thought she would rework the look of their home. “We discussed the colours to put in the various rooms as well as some of the accessories to incorporate and we were set,” she shares. Buying all the things as per their list, Kasule got a painter to do what they perceived to be the biggest part of the work while she settled to do the remaining bits. However, while the house got a fresh look, it was not exactly pleasing to the eye.

“While I love a rustic feel, my husband is all for the modern look and I did not know how to balance them. Besides that, the colour of the sofas stood out like a sore thumb making it feel like I had just thrown things into the living room,” she shares.
Whatever style you desire to achieve in your home, be it modern, rustic, or bohemian, having a fluid flow will make it agreeable to the eye. There are particular points to look at to ensure your home decor is beautiful and speaks your style language in all the rooms.

Colour
Choosing colours carefully is one way to ensure cohesion in your space. “A simple way to create a consistent look in your home is to use a consistent paint colour on your walls to connect one room to the other,” Louise Male, a homeowner who learned through experience, shares.
When her paint work went amiss, with the living room having a totally different colour from the dining room and kitchen, making it look like a nursery classroom, Male learned that it is important to have a base colour as this will act as your backdrop in the main living areas of your room. “Using a consistent colour on the wall helps also create a flow in the different rooms, especially if you have an open space concept,” she says.

That said, Cissy Mirembe, an interior designer says one does not have paint all the rooms the same colour. “You can vary the tones as long as they are within the same colour family. That way, you break the flatness without compromising the space flow. For example, you may have a light neutral grey for a base colour while a dark neutral grey is the contrast colour,” she says.
Mirembe adds that one ought to think about the colours they will use throughout the house instead of choosing a plan for each room. “It is worth choosing a set of colours for your overall colour palette.”

It is, therefore, advisable to define the colour palette and style of the space first. “This way, we can warrant that the final product is consistent and pleasant because besides paint colours, the colour palette extends to all the other components of the room. Therefore, as you also have to bear in mind the colour of your textiles, furniture and accessories keeping in mind that each piece is a part of a whole composition. That is why making a plan is important,” Mirembe advises.

Choose a unifying base
The best unifying base would be the flooring material as it applies throughout the room. As such, using the same flooring will create continuity in the interior, especially for large open spaces. Ann Muema, a homeowner says that using the same flooring material makes each space part of the general composition as the material creates unity hence a fluid and continuous feel between the different areas of the home. “The flooring working as a unifying base also makes the space look larger and the overall look will not have interruptions owing to different floor materials.”
Mirembe adds that the human eye picks up changes in colour and texture automatically creating boundaries.

“Therefore, if you must use different flooring textures, do it carefully. For example, in specialised areas such as the kitchen, bathroom and laundry room, you may use flooring material that is different from the rest of the house. In so doing, you define the spaces and also get the chance to incorporate flooring materials that are more resistant to moisture seeing that there is lots of water in these spaces.”
While the flooring works as a unifying base, Mirembe says the textures should not be chosen independent of the colour palette to ensure harmony. “They should also go in line with your style for even more consistency.”

Connect elements
It is important to connect the elements through shape, colour and texture as you design your space. “Therefore, choose pieces that have similar details to each other. This will be visually make a communication between the parts. For example, when incorporating light fixtures, ensure that each is connected to the other in terms of the style, colour of the material or texture. If you pick a gold brass chandelier, make sure that the other lamps or decorative elements in the space have an element of gold brass as this creates unity, Mirembe says.

Letitia Luttu, an interior designer, shares that unity in design occurs when the elements in a space work together in such a way that the resulting look is balanced and harmonious and this is achieved through the use of repetition in the colours and materials used. “This way, you can visually connect and group the elements using their similarities. Remember, they do not have to be the same but have something similar that acts like a thread tying them together.”
Do not forget, when selecting the accessories, doors, and windows to incorporate your style and colour choice because these are the details that make the difference.

Introduce an accent colour
You can also use common threads by using a colour. “Use the chosen colour in an artwork, pouf, cushion or in any decorative item you prefer and sprinkle your accent colours into each room to create that cohesive flow,” Luttu shares.
This principle is known as rhythm and is important in creating cohesive spaces because those links will make your eyes flow in the space helping you connect the similar elements throughout the room hence a unified design.

Keep your style consistent
While the need to keep the style in mind has been said above, it is imperative that it is repeated because it is easy to veer off. “Therefore, as you design, have a style or mixture of styles and ensure it is vivid throughout the house. For example, you can have Japanese and Scandinavian styles where you have nature and clean lines throughout the home,” Luttu says. She adds that this mixture is better than having a totally different style in each room as this causes confusion. When working with mixed styles, use elements of each in all the rooms while finding proportions of each to ensure none is silenced by the other. “Proportion is best achieved by the 80/20 rule where 80 percent is taken by the dominant style while 20 per cent is taken by the secondary style you lean towards,” she says.