The perception of beauty is a very personal one, and a space that feels cosy, secure and welcoming for one may be far away of being the perfect home for somebody else.

BUT, there are “universal” rules which will – guaranteed – contribute to create a happier space. Believe it 🙂

Here we go:

– Keep it clean and organised. You don’t have to go to Marie Kondo levels but a cluttered space is definitvely stressful and distracting. We cannot predicate something that we don’t follow, so let us tell you something: in our family it is actually impossible to have a perfect home 24/7, so one thing that we appreciate is having a place to quickly “hide” a bit of mess if visitors are coming.

– Make space for negative space. Negative space is the empty area around and between everything else. It is a breathing space that gives us a chance to focus on other elements that we do want to highlight.

– Make the best use of light, both natural and artificial. Do you know that feeling when the light in a certain room is just not right? It takes a bit of effort to figure out the best lighting solutions and implementing them… but from that moment you’ll be happy anytime you enter that room.

– Choose the right colour scheme – the right one for you. It is worth to invest some time analysing the light conditions, the mood you want to convey, the architectural features that you may want to highlight or hide before deciding on a colour palette. And remember, you can use colour (also dark colour) in small spaces too!

– Include personal items that tell your (your family’s) story. A piece that belonged to your grandparents, your favourite poster, a memory from a trip, your kid’s art, a hint about your favourite hobby. These details turn a house into a home. Don’t you love looking at these things when you visit friends? They are often the start of lively conversations.

– Pay attention to scale and proportions. Scale is the size of something in relation to something else. Proportion is the size relationship between two or more things. This topic is worth a blog entry of its own, so let us just mention the golden ratio… and we promise we’ll come back to it soon!

We encourage you to take action and check if you can apply any of these tips at your place. If you still need advice, get it touch!

– Nuria & Alex –