Right, so you’ve got your new build home. What now? New build interior design gives you a blank slate for your character and visual style to flourish, but the prospect of decorating a room from scratch can be daunting.
With various rooms and colours to consider, it is difficult to know where to start when decorating. If you feel like you are at your wits end, Peabody is here to walk you through the do’s and don’ts of decorating a new build.
Which room to decorate first
Identify the room you will be using most frequently (for example your bedroom), and then base your decorating on this foundation. By shaping your planning around needs, it will become easier to know where to place the furniture for your new house, what wall colours to apply, and what rooms will be used for particular activities, like dining or exercising. Don’t forget to leave enough space for your guests to move freely.
You might be wondering to yourself, can you decorate a new build house straight away? After a lot of planning and preparation, you can’t be blamed for wanting to see your ideas finally becoming a reality, and inviting your friends over to see the fruits of your labour. However, it’s best to let your new home settle in, and we recommend drying out a new build house before putting in any appliances or furniture. If you’re eager to get started, you can paint a new build, but builders recommend giving your newly constructed house at least 6-12 months before moving in and decorating.
It may feel like forever, but the wait will be worthwhile. In the meantime, you can begin to plan a layout for your home, and prioritise which room you want to decorate first. Our new build homes in Islington provide you with a perfect basis to shape your planning, with wide open spaces and clever modern design. From here, it’s easy to choose a layout that best suits your needs.
New build living room ideas
Once you’ve got your basic layout sorted, it’s time to get creative. Exploring new build interior design ideas can be fun but also exhausting, and you can spend hours scouring the internet for new home interior ideas. Below, we have outlined some new home interior ideas to help spruce up your living room:
Fusing the old and new
If you can’t decide between modern and classical, why not choose both? Our new build developments in Greenwich provide the ideal modern foundations, and when paired with traditional antique furniture, could result in visually striking contrast. Coving in a new build is also making something of a comeback, helping add a retro spin to your new build home.
Rounded furniture
As well as being much safer to navigate through, rounded furniture can make for a visually appealing addition to your living room. Whether in the form of sofas, mirrors or coffee tables, they lend softness and smoothness to your surroundings.
Invest in some art
If you are looking to host friends, you can’t find a better conversation starter than a beautiful piece of artwork. These lend a sense of character and personality to your living room, while letting your friends know just how sophisticated you are.
We asked local artist Stephen Robson for some tips on buying art for a new home:
“At the gallery we often have people looking for pictures for a new home or a room they are decorating. Sometimes it comes out in conversation that they haven't actually finished decorating and that does make me worry a bit! Best to finish the walls first, but you could paint a wall afterward to show off a special picture.
“However when the space is ready I would not worry too much about colour themes. I do hear people say they are looking for a particular colour to go in a room, but using colour is a great thing to explore and you can be surprised and amazed by combinations you may not have seen before. So I would recommend being open minded about colours that will go together. Most contemporary galleries have gleaming white walls to best display the artwork, but older galleries like the Wallace Collection and the Dulwich Picture gallery in London have always displayed their painting against deep and contrasting colour. In the Wallace Collection, the main gallery is lined with bright red silk fabric and the paintings look fantastic against it.
“Often people ask for a large picture to fill a space they have in mind, but this too can be done in different ways, for example with a grid of matching smaller pictures or what is called a 'cloud hang' - a mix of smaller pictures hung close together but in a random group instead of straight lines. This last method makes it simple to add new pictures or swap out to make changes. If you are hanging pictures in a grid you have to be very precise in lining them up, whereas the cloud method is more forgiving.
“In the long run you must buy pictures you really like, and have fun mixing old and new, you can change pictures more easily than decorating a room, so there is always room to add something else.”
Find your true colours
One of the most crucial decisions to make for your new home is what colours you decide to paint it in. To make sure you make the right choice, make a colour board of choices, seeing how they look on the surface before you get to work. Bluish green and beige are some of the most popular new choices, but be sure to experiment to find what works best for you.
Simplicity is key
If you really want to make a statement to your guests, a minimalist living room might be where it’s at. With our stylish new build developments in Barnet, you can maximise the possibility of open spaces, resulting in a room that effortlessly catches the eye. This does mean that each piece of furniture needs to be interesting in its own right, whether it’s a floating shelf, a distinctive coffee table, or a well-placed potted plant.
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