Home Made. Easy + Beautiful Home Styling Ideas.

How to make a house a home? Whether it be a noisy family home or your own sanctuary, you want it to be a space that suits your personality and where living is easy. FOUNDiiD introduces some fundamentals to interior design and styling which aim to help you achieve just that.

In Living Colour.

Colour is one of most important elements of interior design. Everyone from interior novices to design gurus knows how much colour dictates the mood and the soul of your home. In fact Colour in many ways epitomises the changes in interior styling through the ages. Think of the 70’s and home interiors and your first picture is probably a living room or kitchen boisterously painted in shades called Peace and Love -yellow, Moon Landing-blue and Mystique –soft brown.

Colour taste has moved on since then, with recent years seeing the dominance of neutral and more subtle colour choices. However the Colour pendulum is definitely swinging back in the other direction. We are moving away from the white and beige only homes to richer and more personal statements. Yes neutral foundations, but completed with beautifully idiosyncratic and fearless hues.

So how exactly do you embark on selecting a Colour scheme for your home? Essentially there are two approaches. The first is very much a rational and schematic approach. Get your learning hat on, find The Colour Wheel and study how Colour functions in realising a design vision that represents your lifestyle and your home.

The second approach is an organic route. It’s the one that FOUNDiiD generally prefers when working with our clients. We feel it brings a more personal dimension and a stronger emotional tie to home design and styling. All that is required is switching our eyes to a ready visual standby-mode. Look and notice everyday moments. You are on a quest to locate those colours, tints and shades that stand out and that connect.

Then use your smart phone camera. Snap and save. Once you start your inspiration-journey you will be enthralled by the subjects that will excite; David Attenborough’s Blue Planet II, Cos’s shop window or a local farmer’s market vegetable stall. A bedroom Colour scheme of one of our residential projects was inspired by both a TV and in-real-life moment; a glimpse of a model’s sublime red shaded suit on a broadcast fashion show, and a sculptural collection of garment cut- patterns in a shop on Redchurch Street. Our two vivid found-images were the anchor for the bold fabrics and textures choice in the darkly lit master bedroom.

Repetition Vision.

The role of Repetition and Rhythm in interior design and styling may be less recognised than that of Colour, but for us at FOUNDiiD it is just as important. But what is it exactly?

Repetition is the repeated use of similar visual shapes, forms, textures, objects and colours throughout the same space. Rhythm is the connected visual movement that is encouraged by design elements such as Repetition. It all sounds theoretically complex, but in practice is a pleasure to realise. One of the main reasons we use R+R so frequently in our design and styling is that it brings beautiful unity and calm to rooms.

As with our Colour process, our eyes are ever-readily looking for inspirational Repetition and Rhythm in the real-world. Examples that influenced our work included an extraordinary iittala wall of glass tumblers, and a quietly perfect brass floor pattern in an underground tube station. The tumbler wall shaped our choice of calming black-framed white tiles for a Clerkenwell apartment project. And our tube-discovery directly influenced our use of the handsome Marylebone Orange soft furnishing range to help create a timeless ease in a stylish living room.

The FOUNDiiD Studio.

Our design purpose is simply to make life easier and more beautiful for our clients. So whether you are considering a large spatial design or smaller styling project, message us info@foundiid.com or call us on 0207 729 2786.

Loucas Louca. Creative Director.