When you have some DIY or decorating to do, are you tempted to give your parents a ring?
That’s the case for a third of people, according to a recent survey by Homebase.
Despite the fact that over half said they are not happy with their current décor, when push comes to shove they are not willing to get in there themselves.
You’d think that the TV home improvement shows, which inspire 40 per cent of us, would encourage people to get involved but it seems not.
In fact 15 per cent keep their lack of input secret, embarrassed about their skills (or lack thereof).
However do not fear, help is here.
We’ve had a chat to Naomi Cleaver, interior design consultant, who has given us a few helpful tips which will hopefully help persuade you to give decorating a try.
Q: So were you surprised that many of us aren’t completely happy with our current décor?
Yeah, I’m really, really amazed. The research that has been done by Homebase proves that over 50 per cent of us are not happy with our décor.
That is incredible because it means many people are still really interested in décor but they don’t have the skill or confidence to realise their decorating dreams.
Q: Why do you think so many of us are part of the ‘call out dad’ generation?
Clearly these DIY skills just aren’t being transferred from generation to generation. I’m not quite sure why that is.
I would speculate that this young generation had more distractions when they were younger so they would much rather be playing computer games than doing DIY.
Q: What are your top tips for getting inspiration when we are looking to redecorate our homes?
I would say that inspiration is all around us and most people these days have a camera on their phone.
So whether you are walking through the city, you are going on a country walk, if anything jumps out at you and catches your eye, forget about whether it is relevant to your home or not.
If you just like the look of it, take a picture of it, that’s number one. Number two, go to galleries, go to museums, visit historic houses.
I know in certain cities, especially in London they do this open house thing where you can go to all sorts of buildings that aren’t usually open. Those are a rich scene of ideas and then just amalgamate everything that you see into something as simple as a scrapbook.
I often find that people who think they are not creative at all suddenly realise that they are actually quite creative, that they do have a taste and you will see things emerge.
That is your taste and you must use your taste in your home because in that way you are going to create a home that is honestly and truthfully and an expression of who you are.
Q: So you’d say definitely go and buy a scrapbook rather than painting a room and then picking the accessories based on the colour of the room?
I would say that yes. When you’re designing a home, there are two key areas. There’s the design bit and there’s the build bit. And in each case preparation is absolutely critical to success.
When it comes to design, the more you do before you start slapping colours around, tiles around, wallpaper, the more successful your scheme is going to be, so yes, a scrapbook.
Also test out your ideas, this is important and people often don’t do this. As a designer I use a computer aided design tool, however there is a brilliant tool which is just like it which is much easier to use, called the Create Your Own Look from Homebase.
What you do is take a picture of your room, you upload it to this tool and then you can decorate your room digitally, kind of artificially with any kind of paint, any kind of wallpaper, any tile, any kind of flooring and see exactly how it’s all going to look, not just the pieces individually but altogether as well. And if you make a mistake who cares as you can start all over again.
Q: Do you think there should be consistency through each room or do you think each room can be completely different?
My personal feeling is that every room can be completely different because I love design and decorating and I’m the sort of designer who thinks that expressing your creative personality, what I call your creative DNA, is really important and really valid.
Personally I can’t bear the idea of good taste that’s simply very bland and beige. You’ll find a lot of other designers talk about flow and often that gets translated as suggesting a homogenous space – everything’s one colour and everything’s one particular palette.
I’m not saying it’s wrong but I just think it’s really boring when you’ve got the opportunity to create lots of different environments and just because you’ve got lots of different looks in different rooms it doesn’t mean to say that they can’t be harmonious. So I’m more of a harmony girl than a flow girl.
Q: Light colours or dark colours when it comes to a small room? We’re always told if you paint a small room a dark colour, it makes it feel smaller.
Yes well it does make it feel smaller but it also makes it feel cosy. And I just think first of all you’ve got to establish what you want to achieve.
If you’ve got a small room and you want to make it feel bigger, then obviously a light colour. If you’ve got a room which happens to be small but you want that room to be really cosy, don’t use light colours, use rich colours.
So that’s what it’s all about and I would say it’s balancing the kind of atmosphere you want to create against functionality as well, it’s getting a good mix of those two.
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