Daily Design Inspiration

It is often a struggle to begin your thought process about interior design in any space or area. This stage is the most crucial part of any project.

Interior design does not always have to be in regards to your home or personal space. It can also come in the form of designing an office, a showroom or a commercial space.

The struggle starts with your own ideas against the suitability for your audience. Personal preference often needs to be set aside so that you can clear your mind and start to think about what would work in regards to many things including the topics below:

What will make your product stand out? In regards to fabrics, colours and grabbing the attention of your customer. This particularly applies when designing a showroom or a commercial office.
What can you already utilise in the space? This is particularly important when working to a budget.
What’s the space that you have to work with? Consider tones to open up the space. As a rule of thumb, if the space is small with not much lighting, keep it light and open. If the space is large with a good source of light, most colour combinations would work. Dark tiles can be used without making the space look dark and have a feeling of “closing in on you.”
Get opinions, opinions of everyone. Family, friends and experts. You can never have too many. Often seeing other people’s point of view will broaden your mind and you may even find yourself liking ideas that at the planning stage, you never dreamed that you would have.

If you are designing your own personal space then this is a great opportunity to get your creative juices flowing! What do you like? What’s your inspiration? Colour schemes, materials and lighting.

Lighting is a very important factor when designing a space as there is much to consider. The positioning and type of light is crucial to really make your interior living space come alive.

Below are some examples of my personal opinion regarding lighting:

Spot lights are a great way to emphasise an area. To create mood light in a kitchen or shine onto an important feature in your space. Spot lights create a lot of light, so they are ideal for hallways and other smaller spaces.
Chandeliers are impressive, some are very impressive indeed. These are used to fill spaces and to transform a dreary room into a stimulating and striking space. Chandeliers should command attention without being over bearing. This all comes down to the size, look and the colour scheme of your room. Chandeliers are a great light source as the light reflects off the crystals, which is a typical characteristic of this kind of lighting.
Wall lighting is an alternative lighting source. I personally feel that wall lights offer a much dimmer light which results in a homely feeling if used in the correct room, a lounge or relaxing space.

Your wall and floor space is the largest area of any room and the decisions you make are crucial.

Below are some images that I personally found inspirational when completing my latest project. These wall and floor tiles offer a unique and quirky look. These images are from my Cementine Range of Italian Porcelain. I feel that this range combined with the basic ranges such as Moov, Link and also Back offer a modern vision of shabby chic.

The points to consider when picking your tiles for your wall and floors:

What colour do you want these to be? This needs to be a starting marker. Going back to lightning, do you want to open your space up or have a darker tone?
What material do you want your tiles to be? You need to consider durability and the different properties of different types of materials. Natural stone offers a traditional look however if Natural stone is not sealed then it can be easily stained due to spillages ect. Porcelain is great as it cannot be ruined by spillages. If you are accident prone like me then this is priceless!! Porcelain is a product that more often than not does not need to be sealed. Each of these types of tiles have their advantages and disadvantages. Please refer to an earlier blog and the content on my website to establish these differences.
If tiles are a chosen material, do you want these to be anti-slip or smooth? This decision should come from who will occupy the space. If you have very young children or any elderly living in the household or entering your space regularly, you need to consider that a highly polished finish may not be suitable.
Do you want a combination of materials such as tiles, paint and carpets? You need to consider the colour combinations and how the different materials will work together. Some people favour a homely, comfortable feeling with many soft furnishings, however on the flip side, other prefer open, airy spaces with a clean cut look.

I hope that the above points have made you start to think about what inspires you and think about what you are trying to achieve from your project.

Not two projects are the same, remember that. Each one you take on needs a fresh and open mind to begin the planning stage.

Please see below the pictures that have inspired me for a range of projects I have undertaken. Most come from various product ranges on RF Tiles – Wall and Floor tiles and also in addition, other people’s projects that have caught my eye.