Furnishing With Ease

With your colour palette and style type in hand, furnishing won’t be such a haphazard task. Your style and colour choices will help guide you towards buying suitable items for your home. The good news is, you don’t need to buy everything all at once.

Furniture

Large furniture pieces define each individual space – for example, a sofa set is usually the main element in a living room while a bed anchors your bedroom. Before you go shopping, measure up your rooms first, and then look into your budget for each of these furniture pieces. If you have the financial means, it’s wise to invest in quality products as you would want these pieces to last for a long time.

• Sofa And Coffee Table

When buying a sofa, ensure seat depth and sofa length fits into your space and lifestyle. There are also many types of sofa upholstery – for example leather and fabric like linen and polyester along with sofa styles ranging from modern to traditional. These features will set the tone and look for your living room. You would also need a coffee table, but you don’t need to get an expensive one. Many furniture stores now also offer full sofa sets that come complete with a coffee table and even a TV bench.

• Dining Set

Some people may forgo a dining table – that works if you are planning for a kitchen counter that also comfortably doubles up as a space to have a meal. If not, it’s a good idea to invest in a sturdy piece if you have a large family and you have meals together everyday. Like sofa sets, dining sets also come in many styles as well along with different types of materials. Wood is a popular choice as it provides a durable table that looks warm and inviting. Usually a six-seater dining set is sufficient. Make sure you have enough chairs that match the dining set.

BED

Beds are such important pieces in the house. If there’s anything you should invest in, it’s a durable bedframe and quality mattress as this is where you’d be spending most of your time in. When it comes to mattresses, find one that suits you well. Some research has shown that the best mattress for lower back pain is a medium firm mattress rather than a firm mattress.

Soft Furnishing

Now that we have got the ‘hard’ furniture settled, let’s move on to the “soft” ones. Soft furnishings help to set the tone of a room – whether formal or relaxed. They also offer the comfort factor in any spaces, giving your home a feeling of warmth, luxury and opulence.

• Window Dressings

Whether you are going for curtains, drapes or blinds, window dressings are important for privacy and controlling the amount of light that comes into your space. Curtains and drapes give rooms a cosy feel. Drapes are more luxurious and fit formal rooms. They also work better with larger windows. As for curtains, they are less “dressy” and offer a more casual ambience. The length of curtain and drapes is important and needs to be appropriate for the size of the window. To soften heavy or dark coloured curtains you can add co-ordinating sheers underneath. These are also useful for allowing sunlight into the room whilst giving you some extra privacy. If you are going for blinds instead, you can choose from many materials including wood, faux wood, plastic, fabric or bamboo.

• Bed linens

There are two things to consider when you buy bed linen: the fabric and thread count. Cotton is the most popular material used in bed linen fabric and is available in various different types including standard cotton and Egyptian cotton. There’s also linen which is made from flax plant fibres. While it’s heavier and stronger fibre than cotton, it’s efficient in conducting heat and does not retain any moisture, making it a comfortable choice. Some people also like silk sheets because it’s incredibly comfortable. Other than its fabric type, bed linen is often accompanied by a number with TC afterwards – this refers to its thread count. The higher the thread count, the higher the quality of bed linen. For example 600TC is considered luxury bed linen.

• Lighting

While lighting is not a ‘soft’ element per se, it often softens and cosies up a space, rendering it a must-have to create a dreamy atmosphere at home. Ultimately, lighting is for ambiance, aesthetics, tasks, and seeing better in your home. There are also different types: Direct or task lighting is focused in the space you are trying to work while ambient or indirect lighting is used for ambiance and for overall lighting of a space. Before choosing your lighting fixtures, think about the mood and function of each room .For rooms like the kitchen, bedrooms, and living spaces, multiple light sources will help you achieve a variety of functions and activities in that space. For formal spaces like the living room or entryway, you can consider using a chandelier to create a more opulent effect.

• Home Accesories

When you have the elements above firmly in place, you can now shop for accessories to complete the look of your home. Take your time as decorating a home is always a work in progress. Some people who travel a lot like incorporating things they bought overseas in their homes while art-and-crafty folks may choose to make their own accessories. Accessorizing your home is a wonderfully personal affair, so there are really no set rules to follow. Refer back to your chosen style and colour palette if you want to create a more cohesive look. Some of the home accessories that you may need to buy in the beginning would be dining ware, kitchenware, throw pillows and functional storage boxes. Decorative ones can come later. Art pieces are also great to create focal points, so place them strategically around the home.

Image from: Pressloft

The post Furnishing With Ease appeared first on Malaysia Interior Design, Home-living Magazine.