Home & Interiors Invaluable Decorating Tips By Katherine Sorrell
a blank black screen, so consider ways to disguise it when not in use – especially if you socialise a lot in your living room. Can you adapt a piece of furniture, such as an armoire, so that it sits behind closed doors when necessary?
Kitchens • Aim to have tall .cupboards at one end of your cupboard run, with the hob nearby and the maximum amount of worktop space between the hob and the sink. Add the dishwasher next to the sink at the other end.
Planning some changes to your home? Interiors expert Katherine Sorrell has some handy hints…
Living Rooms • To help plan where to place your furniture, draw a scale plan of your room and cut out mini sofas, chairs and other furniture. Move them around until you find the right positions. Life-sized cardboard cut-outs can also be a great help.
• The alcoves either side of a chimney breast are perfect for creating extra storage. A combination of cupboards at the bottom and shelving above works really well.
• To let maximum light into the room, fit a pole or track that overhangs far enough each on side of the window to allow the curtains to be drawn right back. Bear in mind that very full, thick curtains need more ‘stack back’ space than light, thin ones.
• Talking of lighting, avoid using a central hanging pendant as your one and only light source if at all possible. Add in table lamps, floor lamps and – if you’re renovating – wall lamps for a more flexible and flattering ambience.
• The TV is, often, the focal point of a living room. But you don’t always want to look at
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• If possible, make worktops deeper than usual at 700mm instead of 600mm – that 100mm is more useful as working space than floor space, and will better accommodate a large sink.
• In an open-plan kitchen, choose the quietest appliances possible, and design it so that you can hide the washing up from the view of the dining table.
• If you paint the inside of a wall cabinet door with blackboard paint, you’ll always have somewhere to write a shopping list.
• Base cabinets on legs, or recessed plinths, make the room seem larger because you can see more floor.
Bedrooms • Plan storage with precision! Divide the interior of your wardrobe into full, half and three-quarter hanging space, fitting shelves, drawers and shoe racks. Look for clever storage gadgets such as tie racks, belt racks and pull-out trays.
• Squeezed for space? Use the full height of the room. Build fitted wardrobes right up to the ceiling, using less accessible high-up space for things you don’t often need.
• Add a blackout lining to your curtains, or choose wooden shutters for additional sound and draught-proofing, and security.
• Swing-arm lights on either side of the bed are great for reading, and free up space on bedside tables.
• A blanket box at the end of the bed is an (Cont’d on pg 17)
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