Beat the WFH blues with these interior design secrets from Couture Living

We’ve all been spending a little – or a lot – more time indoors lately. Thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, households of all shapes and sizes across the UK have had to adjust to lockdown life. Working, playing, exercising, learning and generally getting on top of one another, all between the same four walls.

Those kind of conditions are bound to bring with them a big hit of emotional pressure. Our calm, sociable work days have been replaced by juggling childcare, household chores and conference calls. And though most of us won’t miss the daily commute, all our focus and motivation seems to drain away once we put down the cereal bowl and open the laptop.

But help is at hand! You might be stuck inside your home for now, but there’s plenty you can do to boost those feel-good vibes, and create emotionally positive spaces that lift us up, rather than keep us down. We gathered some top tips from the in house interior designers at Couture Living, whose carefully curated collection of luxury fabrics for curtains and blinds wouldn’t be a bad place to start.

1 – Use colour to fire things up…

The place every professional designer starts is colour. Your room is a blank canvas, ready for whatever energy you want to throw at it, and every single wall, surface, piece of furniture, textile or object is a chance to inject some feeling.

 If you want to get your creative juices flowing, then there’s no better way than adding some bright colours to walls or furnishings. If you’re not ready for smoky paprika kitchen cabinets, or deep and fiery umber walls, then start small with statement curtains or sofa throws. Rich pigments like these are scientifically proven to fire up the senses.

 2 – …or cool things down.

 Creating the perfect living space is something that haunts many a renovation, with Pinterest boards packed with tasteful scandi styling and artfully distressed coffee tables. But before you sweat the small stuff, it’s vital to set the scene.

 Ditch the neutral grey and beige in favour of tones with more emotional resonance. Earth tones, like pale greens and even browns, help bring the outside in. The calming effect mother nature has on our senses can’t be underestimated. Our brains are wired to love fresh air and green leaves.

 3 – Concentrate on the contrasts.

 Let’s be honest. Staring at the same four walls every day is just flat out boring! And so is living amongst too much of the same. If everything you own is rough wood and shabby chic, your brain never gets a break.

 We don’t want to delve too deeply into the psychology of aesthetics here, but it’s no surprise that we get pleasure from tactile objects of all shapes, sizes and textures. Variety is the spice of life, and all that. Use furnishings, paint and textiles to turn up the contrast, like mixing hard modernist furniture with soft, shaggy rugs, or floaty, voile curtains with solid wood floors.

4 – Let the light in.

 It’s an obvious one. Energising, healthy, motivating, and packed with vital vitamin D – natural light, whenever and wherever you can get it, is a priceless commodity. But knowing you need it, and knowing how to get it is what separates the amateurs and the experts.

 The advice from Couture Living is to reassess your window spaces. Look at whether your curtains or blinds match your ambitions for the room. If you’re stuck with heavy, dark curtains in a gloomy lounge then it’s time to swap them out for light voile. Or ditch the curtains altogether in favour of a discreet blind that leaves you open to the world by day.

5 – Focus on the floor plan.

 We don’t all have the luxury of designing a room from scratch, but most people can move a desk, or play around with the location of the sofa. Getting the floor plan right is the first step to locking down that home office focus, or introducing a calm and positive flow between

 living spaces.

Make sure you’ve already nailed our last tip, introducing plenty of natural light. Then decide what you need, and keep it within easy reach. You don’t want to be traipsing across the room to the printer every ten minutes, or searching a bookcase hidden in the corner for your favourite mags. If you can, use clever hacks like storage hidden by neutral coloured curtains to give the feeling of spaciousness.

 6 – Everything in its right place.

 The final tip is one the interior designers can’t do for you. It’s down to you. So front up, focus, and take a long hard look at your nick-nacks. Whatever emotional resonance you’re shooting for, the everyday objects that surround you play a huge part. But we’re not suggesting you go all Marie Kondo and chuck all the kids’ drawings in the bin. Just make sure your ornaments and keepsakes are there for a reason.