Interior Style Shortcuts - revealed!

By Alex Brooks

As a child, I would wistfully wonder whether I could move in with someone who really knew how to put together a home. Properly. Someone like Martha Stewart or the Australian Women's Weekly interiors editor Babette Hayes. I loved ogling well thought out rooms with ingenious ideas and inspiring interiors. And I never really grew up. So here are some of the secrets I've learnt from all those years of ogling, reading and wistfully wondering.

1. Find your inner chromatic base

Remember back to high school art classes? They probably taught you about monochrome and polychrome. Monochrome means black and white and shades of grey, which is all very useful for those who like a bit of design impact without too much effort. Polychrome is the mixing of many colours. Neutral is all about beige. Top interior types tend to abhor beige for its mundanity. I personally think it's good for people who can't trust themselves with many colours.

Finding your own sense of colour scheme and style takes time and experience. Oh, and if you have wild ideas of adopting your own inner polychromatic scheme, then think twice - it really takes extra panache and interior ability. If you have an artists' eye for mixing colours, then go for it - if not, stick to working from monochrome or neutrals.

Use your inner chromatic when choosing basics like wall colours, soft furnishings and furniture. Lash out and go wild with colour when it comes to choosing accents like cushions, wall paintings or ornaments.

2. Embrace the power of contrast and opposites

Think retro and modern, shabby and chic - when it comes to interiors, stark contrast can be the key driver of a room's decorating success.  .
To the uninitiated, opposites are scary and seem all-too-weird ... and that's perhaps why they work so well. A great interiors whiz knows that you can take an important element in a room - such as a fireplace or ostentatious light fitting - and force it to share the space with another element that encapsulates its opposite quality. It's about delivering a creative tension that makes a room more interesting.
Think of great designers like Marc Newson and his gorgeous armoured chaise longue, think of those kooky Alessi whimsies or Tricia Guild's wild use of colour - it's all about embracing the power of opposites.  There are all kinds of contrasts to play with - high and low, black and white, retro and country, textural and smooth, brights and neutrals, old and new, oversized and small. Opposites play perfectly against one another, with each element working to make the other all the better for the magical pairing.
Like many interior secrets, this one relies on finesse rather than muscle. In other words, less is more and it's  best to ensure no more than one pair of opposites in a room. Get in, do one well, get out. The most beautiful thing about opposites is that this look can't be bought wholesale from a store - which makes it all the more fun.

3. Collect what you love - and show it off with style

Collecting is one of those things that can become a compulsion. Especially if you think you need to build a whole house just to show off that Royal Memorabilia tat you've been collecting since you were six. Or some kooky spooky doll collection that you hand-stitch the costumes for. But normal people - those that love, say, Murano glass or vintage china or old farm tools - can create an interior that sings by showing off what they love. Yes, even if your collection is only a few photos from the olden days (you know, photos that you printed and framed as opposed to transfer to one of those Harry Potter-ish digital photo frames) then you can lift your home from average to passionate.
Some collectors need to save the unloved or unusable - read my story here and find out about those people that collect things like Smurfs and Pez. The very clever collectors are motivated by the desire to possess an exclusive item of which, perhaps, only a handful are left in the world. It doesn't matter what you collect, but find great ways to show it off - dedicate one wall, a shelf, a room or a space to your collection and give it pride of place. Group like items together, but also embrace the power of opposites (read step 2). Just show it off with the same passion that made you start the collection in the first place - after all, it's personal passions that really make an interior sing.

4. Make blank walls fabulous

A wall feature - rather than a block colour feature wall - can really inject an interior with that thing called pzazz. YOK, so it borders on the wildly tacky, but it can be easily removed or painted over or turned into something else if it really stinks. And you don't need something breathtakingly beautiful or indecently expensive to make a blank wall look right.

Sometimes a room needs a king hit of the totally irreverent or the slightly absurd. Places that lend themselves well to this kind of treatment include kids' rooms, play rooms, living rooms and informal dining spaces. Stencils, decals, vinyl artwork, murals, oversized photography and bespoke commissions all fall into the category. Look for a room that is somewhat lacklustre.There are all kinds of digital maestros who can turn your photos into wallpaper, tiles, chairs and footstools to work with. Simply find something that makes your heart sing and have fun with it.

5. Mirrors are magic - learn to use them

Mirrors are much like plastic surgery for interiors - they are a helping hand and can improve the superficialities of a room. They can make the most of a view and their greatest power is to create an optical illusion that seems to double the size of a small room.
Mirrors are decorative dupers. Want to exude an air of sophistication? Or multiply the impact of your favourite pieces? Look no further.
Mirrored furniture is having its moment in the sun, but is best left to those without fingerprints or messy lifestyles. Choose rose-stained glass or smoky grey tones rather than plain, to minimise the risk of  clearly reflecting extension cords and power points.
To make the most of a knockout view, opt for a single pane of mirror - it can look great above a couch that faces a harbour view. Placing a mirror opposite a favourite work of art is effective, too. 
Mirrors are the perfect cover-up for an imperfect wall. A glazier can give a quote to cover an entire wall in mirror. Or simply try chandeliers, lamps and lights made out of mirrors if the whole shiny-thing-reflecting-from-a-wall isn't for you. Mirrors are especially lovely when they sparkle. Use lint-free rags dabbed in vinegar to make them sparkle

 6. Find fun in furniture arranging

Rearranging the things you already own is as much fun as shopping. Or even more fun, depending on how much you love looking at your non-depleted bank balance. I wish my own house had more space for playful furniture arranging, but - alas - the pokey old rooms dictate where you can place things. Changing the furniture around is a thrill I need to get though other people.

There are certain things that work, and here they are:
* Dining tables look great when the table is centred underneath a low pendant or chandelier light fitting. The room needs enough space around the chairs for easy walk-through, even if people are sitting in them. Allow at least 80cm of space around each chair.

* The loungeroom chairs should be able to talk to each other - metaphorically, of course. And they look better away from the wall (if you have enough space). Create a conversation pit for the furniture, with at least one side table or coffee table in easy reach for placing drinks. A low sofa or large ottoman is a great way to divide the space in a room and pull the furniture away from the walls.

* Assign one piece of furniture or wall art or ornament to be a focal point of a room. Subtly orient other furnishings and some lighting toward it. If there's a fireplace, it will nearly always be the focal point; other focal points might be bookcases or built-in shelving to house lovely collectibles, or a sofa with a mirror on the wall above it.

* Bedrooms are a fun place to rearrange. An easy start is replacing the sheets with something new, bold or experimental. Bedheads can really change the look of a room - or why not create an entire wall feature to go behind the bed. While you're at it, move that bed. It may already be in the best spot, but you won't know if you don't try!

* Plan for better furniture arrangement by measuring the dimensions of the room and furnishings and then draw the outline to scale on graph paper. Mark things like power points; light switches; windows; doors that open into the room; space between windows; and sill height andthen make scale paper cut outs of your furniture and start playing!

* For those who are extremely bored with their furniture, try positioning your sofa or dining table at a nonperpendicular angle to any walls - it will at least create drama in the space.

* If you can't be bothered lugging furniture around, simply freshen your room by swapping around your ornaments, adding fresh flowers or moving pictures around.

7. Getting the mix right

Mixing things to find your own style isn't always easy. Some people prefer the safety of mixy matchy - a look that comes straight out of a designer catalogue or chain store. So simple. No experimenting needed. But teaming catalogue furniture with vintage pieces and treasured finds will give your home a warmer, more personal and eclectic look.
There's no standard formula: compiling a lovely space takes time and confidence and is an intuitive process rather than a set of rules. All you need to know is that most items benefit from the secrers revealed above. Just start thinking about it. And you'll get there.