As seasoned Insta-addicts ourselves, we have found that taking the perfect selfie has much in common with creating more space in your home. In many ways, both rely on illusion and so, taking inspiration from that well-known social network and selfie hub, Instagram, we have come up with five top tips to help you make your home feel much bigger.
We speak to Mark Stones, Projects Manager at Budget Blinds on how the hacks we use when taking the perfect Instagram ‘selfie’ can be applied to our interior design.
Work on your Contouring
When thinking about what colour to paint your walls, everyone tells you that you should go simple with neutral and pastel shades. This is obvious, as it makes the room automatically feel lighter and brighter, but it can also make a room look flat.
Taking inspiration from the much harked about contouring beauty trend, you should be using the same principles to take your room from boring to beautiful.
Shading can be just as effective as painting a wall in white gloss. It is also more imaginative and requires less paint! Using a slightly darker colour, paint window bays or doorways to create an illusion of depth. Just like when defining your cheekbones; where there is a slight indent add a darker shade.
Adding an ever-so-slightly darker window blind could also work if you don’t want to go down the re-painting route. So subtle, yet so effective - just like good contouring should be!
Practice your pose in the mirror
Every interior decorator worth their salt will tell you that adding mirrors to a room will create the illusion of space, but what they may not tell you is that positioning is key. Once again, let’s take inspiration from Instagram and work on the ‘pose’. A stunning selfie can go from ‘fat face’ to fierce, but it is all about the angle! Randomly position a reflective surface and you’re unlikely to get the desired result, but be clever and everything can change.
Add a full-length mirror to the end of a hallway or a long landscape version to the main wall. Experiment turning a full length mirror landscape, it will automatically make your wall seem longer and the room will transform before your eyes.
#NoFilter
Every self-respecting Instagram-user knows that lighting can make or break a good photo and yet the hashtag ‘#NoFilter’ is one of the most popular, being used in 144,087,276 posts at last check.
Natural light is key to creating an illusion of space so maximising its exposure is key.
If you are lucky enough to have numerous skylights and windows in your home, make sure you maximise their potential. Installing sheer or semi-sheer blinds will ensure that as much light as possible streams through - while maintaining your privacy from adoring fans!
Not everyone is lucky enough to have rooms that are full of natural light, so sometimes you just have to make do with whatever you have got. Make sure you’re not wasting any of this precious light by placing items up against your windows.
You wouldn’t put your thumb in front of the flash when taking a snap for Instagram, so don’t put a sofa in front of a window!
Monochrome is always classy
How many times has your selfie been transformed by monochrome? It removes blemishes, evens tone and always looks classy – it’s the same with your interior décor. Black and white allows the eye to move easily around the room, without distraction, giving the illusion of space and expanse.
Not only are the even tones pleasing to the eye, but the elegant calmness that the colour scheme exudes will trick the mind into thinking the room is larger than it actually is.
There is a reason Grace Kelly always looked flawless…
#TBT – Repurpose and Renew
‘Throwback Thursday’ or ‘#TBT’ is now a well-known and well-loved social media trend that allows us to re-purpose our favourite images and remember the good times.
Our final Instagram-inspired tip to create more space in your home is to re-purpose old furniture or décor and use it for additional storage.
There are some great DIY ideas on the likes of Pinterest which show how you can ‘up-cycle’ old shutter blinds to create nifty storage solutions instead; magazine rack, corner unit, table cupboard, coat rack, the possibilities are endless!
So there you have it, five ways that lessons learned from Instagram can inspire and create an illusion of space in your home! It just goes to show inspiration can be found almost anywhere, so what are you waiting for? Go out there and #Instaproof your home.