THE INTERIORS NEWSLETTER 04
Issue 04: Regrets, refining rooms & the red trend
REGRETS
Because of how things worked out with this house renovation, we have had a lot of time to think and rethink things.
It means decisions feel very good now, and I am confident in them.
It makes me realise why people need interior designers.
The thing most of us are afraid of is making the wrong decision and regretting it, and having spent a lot of money on things that can’t easily be undone.
People hire interior designers to avoid regret.
In this process, I’ve learned that a) it’s much harder to make decisions for yourself than for others.
And b) I’ve learned that you should never trust your first idea.
It should just be a jumping off point and you shouldn’t be too attached to it because you may iterate, iterate, and then realise just when you’re about to pull the trigger that no, you actually don’t like ranges and shouldn’t buy one.
I’m going to do a deep-dive into some big house learnings/regrets we made in our first home (featured on Home of the Year 2023!) as well mistakes I almost made in this reno.
REFINING ROOMS
When you work on an interior design project, furniture layouts are done quite early on so that electrical plans and joinery design is informed by large items such as beds, sofas and tables that need to be a certain size.
While I did the same for our project, things can get very loose and revised very quickly!
As partitions are up and plastering is commencing this week, I’m starting to be able to visualise the spaces more than ever before, and seeing opportunities for little tables, pieces of art, shelves, that I hadn’t thought of yet.
It’s important to jump on these opportunities and research them before things get closed up. For example, you can ask your builder to add grounds (pieces of timber) to affix things to before walls are closed up.
We are planned a recessed curtain track, for example, that needs grounds, and I am considering a floating marble shelf down the line over a radiator, so we had to chat about its feasability.
There is often also leeway to move sockets, or reposition a washer/dryer slightly.
Takeaway: go on-site as much as you can and close your eyes and envision what you need that hasn’t been thought of yet!
WHAT IS WITH ALL THE RED?
I am obsessed with trying to figure out if I really like things or if a trend has permeated my taste.
This is probably because interior design is my second career, and I’ve made mistakes in the past.
I feel like red is everywhere right now. Vermillion, oxblood, maroons…
We’ve moved away from the rusty oranges, olives and mustards to more opulent jewel tones it feels like.
If red is you, amazing.
But as I discussed on a recent podcast episode with fashion and interiors writer, Sarah Macken, learn to read trends and re-interpret them through your lens!
Red is 100% not my thing. I am reminding myself of this as I observe a gorgeous high-gloss red staircase on a designer’s Substack, which is amazing for her style.
Would I ever do red for a client? If it was their thing, I could see myself doing a subdued tone of red as an accent in fabric, but I can’t imagine saturating a space as we’re seeing these days.
So a reminder to be on the look-out to what feels very “now” and ask yourself, is that you?
Until next week! X
TANYA