-
October 2011
Renovate or Relocate -
September 2011
Conservatory Chic -
August 2011
STYLING YOUR HOME TO RENT -
July 2011
FASHION FLORALS -
June 2011
UPCYCLING -
May 2011
BANK HOLIDAY BLITZ -
April 2011
Children's bedroom tips -
March 2011
SPRING CLEAN -
February 2011
HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS -
January 2011
OPEN-PLAN LIVING -
December 2010
FESTIVE TOUCH OF SUMPTUOUS SOPHISTICATION -
November 2010
CREATING A HOMEOFFICE -
October 2010
MAKE YOUR HOME A MORE RELAXING PLACE -
September 2010
SIMPLE RULES FOR ADDING TEXTURE TO YOUR ROOM -
August 2010
SIMPLE RULES FOR SELECTING COLOURS -
July 2010
HOW TO MAKE A SMALL ROOM LOOK BIGGER -
June 2010
MAKING A SAMPLE BOARD -
May 2010
MOVIE MAGIC -
April 2010
MAKE A COLOUR STATEMENT IN YOUR HALL -
March 2010
BLUE IS THE HOT NEW COLOUR FOR 2010 -
February 2010
GETTING TO GRIPS WITH GREY -
January 2010
IN PRAISE OF PATTERN!
Making
a sample board
If you are decorating a room in your home you will find that making a basic sample board will help you to make decisions about what paint colours, wallpapers, fabrics, flooring, furniture and accessories to buy before you start spending your money! It helps to remove any uncertainly about whether everything will 'go together' or not.
• Buy a piece of neutral coloured card e.g. cream (approx. A3 size mounting board) from an art shop, stationers or newsagents to attach your samples to.
• Now it's time to hit the shops and the internet to gather together samples of wallpapers, curtain & upholstery fabrics and Dulux paint cards. Remember you can order FREE Carpetright flooring samples here.
• Then cut out pictures from magazines, brochures and catalogues or print out pictures from the internet of items you would like to include in your room such as furniture, cushions, art prints, lighting, bedding etc... You can even take photos of things in your room that you are going to keep e.g. furniture.
• Now add your samples and pictures onto your board. A good starting point is to position the samples according to how they will be placed in your room e.g. flooring samples near the bottom of the board, wallpaper and curtain/blind fabrics nearer to the top and pictures of furniture & accessories towards the middle.
• Now it's time to hit the shops and the internet to gather together samples of wallpapers, curtain & upholstery fabrics and Dulux paint cards. Remember you can order FREE Carpetright flooring samples here.
• Then cut out pictures from magazines, brochures and catalogues or print out pictures from the internet of items you would like to include in your room such as furniture, cushions, art prints, lighting, bedding etc... You can even take photos of things in your room that you are going to keep e.g. furniture.
• Now add your samples and pictures onto your board. A good starting point is to position the samples according to how they will be placed in your room e.g. flooring samples near the bottom of the board, wallpaper and curtain/blind fabrics nearer to the top and pictures of furniture & accessories towards the middle.
• It also helps if you try to make
the size of your samples relate to
the approximate area they would cover in the finished room e.g. the flooring would cover approximately the bottom third, wallpaper and curtain fabrics should be similar in size, cushion fabric samples should be smaller than the sofa sample etc...
• Don't fix anything down permanently! You might want to move or swap samples and pictures around to try alternative combinations so use blu tack, butterfly fasteners and double sided tape.
• Now have a look at your sample board in the room you are going to decorate so you can see how the light in that room affects the colours of fabrics etc...
• Assess the board to see if the colours, fabric textures and patterns look balanced and if the furniture and accessories look good together. Consider if the overall look is too dark or has too many patterns or looks too plain or if colours clash. If anything doesn't work well then remove it and replace with an alternative sample until you are happy with the combination.
the size of your samples relate to
the approximate area they would cover in the finished room e.g. the flooring would cover approximately the bottom third, wallpaper and curtain fabrics should be similar in size, cushion fabric samples should be smaller than the sofa sample etc...
• Don't fix anything down permanently! You might want to move or swap samples and pictures around to try alternative combinations so use blu tack, butterfly fasteners and double sided tape.
• Now have a look at your sample board in the room you are going to decorate so you can see how the light in that room affects the colours of fabrics etc...
• Assess the board to see if the colours, fabric textures and patterns look balanced and if the furniture and accessories look good together. Consider if the overall look is too dark or has too many patterns or looks too plain or if colours clash. If anything doesn't work well then remove it and replace with an alternative sample until you are happy with the combination.
