What’s your style? – guest post by Abigail Ahern

I am hugely excited to announce that my second tome, Decorating with Style launches this month, March 28^th to be exact! It’s full to the brim of my insider knowledge,  tips, tricks and savvy ideas to turn your pad into a home fit for the glossies.

In it I tackle that dreaded dilemma of how to figure out your style.  With so much visual stimuli out there it’s so easy to feel overwhelmed. This may sound a tad designer-ish but I would truly encourage you to create a mood board.  Whether you tear out a load of images of homes that inspire you from magazines and group them together on a bit of foam core like I do, or you pull images from Pinterest and the web and put a board together that way, mood boards help give you a clear vision from the get go!  When you are creating a mood board, as obvious as it sounds, only pull out what you immediately are drawn to. Forget at this stage about a certain piece being too expensive or not working in your scheme – this part is the fun part; the aspirational part of a designer’s job where we pull images that inspire us to dream. Very soon you will notice that some similarities shine through. So you might be drawn to rooms that are bold, blingy and fabulous, or maybe they are a little more countryesque in style. Maybe a combination, fear not, the more styles you introduce, the more intriguing your space. Style, as I say at least a thousand times a day, has nothing to do with money. Once you’ve figured out your style you can then hone it down and figure out how to create a very similar vibe at home.

So a fun little quiz below of some very cool styles, all slightly different in feel but all full to the brim of personality. Which one or ones are you drawn to?

CLASSIC

Classic style is all about balance and harmony, and it’s a style that never, repeat never, goes out of date.  Formal, elegant, supremely grown up, it’s a style that marries luxe materials with super glam fabrics. Woods are often mid tone to dark, furniture often crisp and symmetry generally abounds. When it comes to colour anything goes as you will see from this cool Parisian apartment. Pink and black walls anyone?

GLAMOROUS

I adore glam interiors, to me they shout Hollywood. Sexy, lavish, elegant, flattering, I am drawn to their daring palettes, their tantalizing textiles and exaggerated use of scale. With glam interiors you want to conjure up the appearance of luxury so think expensive fabrics, opulent furnishings, bespoke lighting – that sort of thing. The good news is it doesn’t have to cost the earth – flea markets have the coolest selection of vintage fabric as does eBay.  I am forever turning velvet curtains into luxurious cushions. High street finds can also be easily embellished with a little braiding, fringing of even feathers!

BOHO

Boho interiors are laid back, easy, cocooning, squishy,  fabulously relaxed and it’s a style that I am drawn to time and time again. Comfort is key, and it’s an easy look to pull off as styles and shapes aren’t important. It’s all about a mix and match attitude; creating spaces that have a global influence but are incredibly casual in feel. Boho interiors ooze personality, if you get it right you will have on your hands an enchanting space, one where you will want to instantly sit down, hang out and fling off your shoes! The image show here is of my bedroom where I’ve overdosed on texture but restricted the colour palette enabling me to mix anything I so wish!

ECLECTIC

Eclectic interiors are a little bit oddball, as literally anything goes. I say this often but they are the hardest look in the world to pull off since nothing matches but yet somehow the whole scheme has got to make perfect sense. So you might find baroque inspired pieces hanging out with pop art, retro with flea market country. It’s a highly creative and innovative style, but to pull it off my number one tip would be to think carefully about colour. By all means clash colours but restrict the number of hues in a space to prevent it from becoming too crazy.

ROCK n ROLL

The bravest style of them all, these kind of interiors push convention aside, are daring, jolting and often times push the colour wheel in the most tantalizing of directions. Playful and confident, it’s a style that shouts ‘look at me’. The image shown is of my sister’s pad, again nothing has cost the earth, much is from flea markets, the only golden rule is that there are no rules!

Happy Decorating!

All images are courtesy of Graham Atkins Hughes