Top home decorating tips from an interior design expert

Interior designer Emma Blomfield is the director of Emma Blomfield Studio, a boutique Sydney-based interior design atelier focused on creating beautiful and meaningful spaces for their clients to enjoy.

Ms Blomfield has published multiple books focusing on design and has worked for clients both corporate and bespoke all over the country.

Working on both Design & Styling for Toplace, Emma and her team have provided their styling prowess on multiple developments, Emma has provided the following top 10 tips to make an apartment sparkle.

1 Light bulbs – When choosing light bulbs for the lamps in your home, keep them consistent in colour. We always use warm white bulbs rather than cool white because it’s a more flattering colour for the room and not as harsh on our skin tones, that is – you look better in warm light than cool light.

2 Cushion inserts – Want to know how designers get that plush look for your sofa cushions? We use feather inserts rather than polyester fill inserts and always go up a size with the insert so they’re extra fluffy for longer.

3 Avoid the matchy-matchy look by curating your furniture purchases from different stores. Just because it’s easier to buy from one place doesn’t mean you should. A beautiful room with interesting things to look at takes time and comes from a variety of places which then gives each piece its own story.

4 Oversized sofas are a no-no – Measure your space carefully, map out your sofa purchase beforehand with newspaper laid on the floor to mark out where the sofa will go. Live with it like that for a few days to see if you feel confident in the size you want to commit to.

5 Undersized lighting – When choosing dining pendants or kitchen bench pendant lights, go bigger than you think you need to. It’s suspended in the air and will hang above you so it won’t feel too imposing if you go big.

6 Hoarding is easy to do when you’re in a space for a long time but it impacts your ability to decorate. Do a six-monthly edit of your cupboards and be ruthless with throwing things out. Often, you don’t actually need more storage, you just need to throw things away.

7 Hanging art – Centre your art to 150cm-160cm from the ground up. This is the average person’s eye level so it’s not too high up the wall and makes the rest of the room look out of proportion.

8 Rugs – When buying a rug, go big. Rugs help zone a space so you want at least the front feet of your sofas on top of the rug, rather than finishing right at the edge of the sofa.

9 Don’t be afraid of colour – If you’re scared to match too many colours together, stick to the same tones. For example, if you have navy blue in the room, add a touch of sky blue or lilac. These are similar tonal hues that will complement each other nicely.

10 Budget – A boring one but necessary. Be realistic with what you want to spend and what you want to do first and what you could do in stages later. It’ll also help give you an overall plan to achieve.

By achieving the right balance between lighting, colours and furniture, it is possible to get the best results for your space enhanced by items such as cushions, art and rugs all within budget.

For more details on Emma Blomfield Studio, visit emmablomfield.com