There are so many great things that come with buying a new home. But perhaps the most exciting is getting to style it yourself to give it a personalised touch. With so many different styles, colours and furnishings available, how do you go about creating an interior that suits your home?
HAUS Interiors’ Brad Carmen, who helps style the showhomes for Avant Homes, has provided his expert advice on how to make the best of your space through interior styling.
Q: When it comes to creating a look for a room, what is it people should think about first?
Brad Carmen (BC): “I think when it comes to designing your house, it comes to what the functionality of the building will be for. It’s all well and good to take your own look, but you have to make sure it works for the family or the couple who will be inhabiting it”
Q: Is there a common mistake people make when it comes to dressing their home?
BC: “A common mistake is people falling in love with a piece of furniture which is too big for their space – so what they will do is put the furniture into the space and try make the room work around it. Space planning is key when it comes to designing, you need to get items which fit the room properly and keep the room’s functionality.
“I’m a great believer that a house should be a home and shouldn’t just look like a showhome. Every house needs to have its own individual personality.”
Q: Which one item of furniture you would say is worth spending that little bit extra on?
BC: “For me, it’s the dining table. It’s the heart of the home, where you have your friends round to show off your new home, where your children do their homework and where you can relax once they’ve gone bed.
“Especially with houses these days, the social aspect has come through, so having a kitchen/dining area with a good table is key.”
Q: What’s the top trend tip on colour?
BC: “At the moment, it’s pastel colours. It seems to be light pinks, blush pinks and a soft mint colour and off blue. A big trend this year is a mix of Japanese and Scandinavian, so you’ll have a soft pallet of pinks with a nice wooden table and perhaps a rattan bench.”
Q: What would your advice be to someone who is buying a new home around interiors?
BC: My biggest piece advice would be not to rush it. Nowadays, too many people see Pinterest and other social media platforms and just buy a load of items and try put them together, making it look a bit ‘hodge podge’. You should take your time, think about the design that you want and buy things when you can to steadily build the home you want it to be.
Q: What are your top tips for getting an interior on trend and current?
BC: “Every home is like a blank canvas. I’m a great believer of a softer pallet with a strong accent colour, so if a colour goes off trend in a couple of years, you just have to change the colour of your sofa, a few cushions or a bed spread.
I think sometimes you can go too much ‘on trend’ and after a year it’s old hat so you have to start all over again. So, I think having little touches of what’s on trend at the moment is the best way to go.
Q: What are the most challenging and enjoyable parts of designing an Avant showhome?
BC: “The challenge is making sure your designs fit the space and also allows the house to breathe how it should do. Avant has really good floor to ceiling windows, so we have to make sure we keep them in focus at all times. When it comes to individual rooms, we make sure we lay the room out to show what Avant is trying to sell.”
Q: Where do you get your inspiration from for styling showhomes?
BC: “After 20 years of doing this, personal preference is something you have to take out, as everybody has different ideas on what contemporary is, or what eclectic is. As a company and a designer, what I try to do is visit as many shows as I can do. Recently, we’ve been to Paris to the Maison&Objet, which is the largest interior show in Europe.
This is four days of walking around seeing wallpapers, fabrics and sofas, and finding out what trends will be coming through over the next two years. What we then do is try get those trends into the showhomes which are coming up.
Explore Avant’s developments over on our “Find your new home” page today.