Celia Sawyer is once again in hand to help you with all of your interior design problems and questions.
Home and Garden on Female First
- My teenage son wants to up date his room and make it more grown up as its been the same since he was 8. He currently has a double bed and a chest of drawers and desk. His walls are white but he wants a really masculine look. I have to do this on a relatively small budget, how can I get the look? Claudia
Hi Claudia, ok first of all why don’t you change the wall colour and go a nice strong taupe/grey. It’s very masculine and also very 'in' at the moment. Grab some colour charts and mess around with the colours in that spectrum, as this will instantly make the room seem more masculine.
How about a nice faux leather headboard, in a deep chocolate or grey to work with the wall colour, there are plenty of companies on the internet that offer good value.
Finally if you have some cash left, get some funky desk lamps for bedsides, these are relatively cheap but have that 'cool' factor for a growing young man.
- I cant afford to put a fireplace in my living room but I have a hole in the wall where one could go. My boyfriend and I can’t work out how to make it seem warm and cosy but without spending much to do this apart from fake flowers, do you think they would look naff? Rachel Weston.
Dear Rachel, Please do not use faux flowers. It’s a dated look and doesn’t really give a lot of warmth if you are trying to create a focal point.
Go out and buy lots of candles in different sizes (make sure the surface you stand them on is flat) and light them in the evenings for a similar effect to a nice glowing fire.
You’ll be surprised how good this can look and it won’t break the budget.
- Celia, I want to make my dining room look bigger as the room is not very large. Is there any easy way I can do this? I have white walls and light floors already but my heavy table makes it seem really tiny?
A great trick in a small room is to use glass. If you have the budget, look for a glass table top (although you can get these made up relatively cheaply) as these make any space seem bigger.
Also if you can, use mirrors on the wall as they reflect light and give the illusion of more space.
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