Designing your dream home from floor to ceiling

Even if you don’t have any plans or money to move to a new house, it’s always nice to dream up ideas for your perfect dream home. But when you start filling up Pinterest with your favourite ideas, quite quickly, you realise that your style is, well, very varied. The trick for planning rooms in the house is to start from the bottom and work your way up from the floor to the ceiling.

Flooring

Flooring often goes unconsidered when planning a dream home because we’re all so focused on furniture and cute furnishings. Flooring is an important thing to think about, as it will frame how the rest of the room looks. Also, when you start looking, there are a lot more options than carpet or laminate floors! Now there are vinyl, tile, concrete, and even cork flooring choices. If you like natural styles, hardwood floors, or laminate are common and long-lasting choices. You can then layer rugs on top to create a cosy, homely feel.

Walls

There are so many ‘Insta-worthy’ interiors these days that seem to be neutral or white–walled. But just because social media suggests this is the only option, walls are the perfect space to get creative with galleries, murals, or just some featured wallpaper.

Furniture

Once you’ve planned your floors and walls, you can see how your favourite furniture will look within a room. Everything from the sofa to storage choices is another way to add your personal style to your home. Whether you want to use exposed shelving in the kitchen or keep everything hidden behind closed doors in the lounge, it’s good to gauge a feel on how different furniture would work together.

Accessories

The easiest part is accessories and décor. With the furniture, flooring, and walls in place, accessories can help tie all the colours in the room together or provide a splash of colour if you’ve chosen all neutrals so far. Everything from cushions to mirrors and ornaments will help add personality to your home.

Lighting

And finally, the ceiling! Or at least, lighting which will probably hang from it. Different levelled lighting can make different ambiences in the house – from cosy, to fresh to party! Combining floor lamps, ceiling lighting, and – of course – fairy lights will make any home feel like a snug retreat. And that’s how it’s done! By planning each room of the house from floor to ceiling, you can tie the whole aesthetic together. It also makes organising much less overwhelming as you’re not buying anything before you know it’ll work in the space.

Additionally, to ensure your lighting choices perfectly complement both the style and function of each room, consider hiring an independent lighting designer near you. They can guide you through creating the perfect atmosphere for any occasion, helping you achieve the ambiance you desire while ensuring that your lighting setup is both beautiful and functional.

If you like several different styles, creating mood boards is a great way to organise your thoughts and visualise how things will look together for your dream home. Most interior companies will offer free or cheap samples of things too, so if you want to be cheeky, you could request samples of fabrics, wallpapers, or tiles you like the look of and get creative – even if you have no plans to move anytime soon!