Where Should You Be Spending Your Money?

So you have spent hours looking for inspiration for your newly renovated space. You spent hours, tirelessly scrolling through Pinterest to nail down the exact feel you want your room to have. You and the ton of home decor magazines you bought over the last 3 months, are solely responsible for the cutting down of half the Amazon rain forest. But after all your hard work and imagination you still feel like your home is lacking something, it doesn't have that soul you were looking for; it just isn't looking as polished as your well thought out mood board. WHY?!

After speaking to many of my friends I started seeing more and more that even though they had exhausted their entire credit limit they still felt underwhelmed by their design. Nothing can be more disappointing so here are some Lo-Ki top tips on where you shouldn't be skimping on in your interiors to guarentee you get that professional touch.

1. CUSTOM MADE CURTAINS

Ok, this is something you need to prepare yourself for, and more than that probably pour your hubby a bit (but really A LOT) of wine because trust he is not going to understand why you would need to spend anymore than R100 a drop "because that is how much it costs at Mr Price"

Curtain tape is not the easiest thing to to get right and gather evenly. Uneven tape is going to result in your room looking unfinished. And you know how it happens as well; your window is too big for 2 standard shop bought drops, but too small for 4 drops. So you settle for 3 drops promising yourself you will split that third drop and stitch them all together, three years down the line when you are looking to replace those curtains and you still haven't done it.

Just leave curtain making to the professionals you wont regret the extra investment in your home. Not to mention that there are so many more options than just eyelets and curtain tape.

2. LIGHTING

Different rooms have different functions and most need to fulfill more than one purpose throughout the day. So your lighting needs to accommodate each activity. So spend some money and get yourself two or three lamps. This way you can have some more subtle light and chose just how soft you want the light to be.

(Image via Home Adore showing using a standing lap and side table lamp for subtle lighting)

3. SCATTER CUSHION INNERS

Yes, just the inners. Stop buying rubbish synthetic, hollow fiber inners STOP IT RIGHT NOW. Even if your scatter includes an inner, throw that away and replace it with a down or feather inner. 100% feather inners wont flatten like a fiber cushions will over time. Another tip as well: I always recommend to my clients that the inner is 5 cm bigger than the cover. So if you have a 50 x 50cm cover, you will put a 55 x 55cm feather inner in. This will ensure you can always poof those cushions to their fullest.

Scatter cushions are the easiest, quickest way to update your home and keep it on trend. So by changing your cushions out with inexpensive covers but beautiful full inners will make those covers look a lot more expensive.

4. THE RIGHT SIZE RUG

Unfortunately all the rugs you will find at commercial stores are generally too small for the standard lounge or master bedroom. 2.2m x 1.6m is too small, just trust me without even seeing your home I can tell you it is. A rug is needed to ground an area and tie it altogether, so if your rug is too small instead of your space looking generous and well thought out, it will look clumsy and awkward, you already went through that stage in high school, Honey, don't put yourself through that again.

If you incorporate those 4 tips into your next redesign and get the professionals in to do their small roles. Your DIY decorating will look like you are the trained professional yourself. If you need some help bringing those finishing touches to your space click through to our CONTACT US page and give us a call.

Lo-Ki Team

xx