New year's interiors inspiration from the experts

Maria Fitzpatrick 04 January 2016 10:13am GMT As the decorations come down and the reality of January sets in, it’s not just our energy levels that are left feeling deflated. A home that

looked fine in November can suddenly appear drab, like something’s missing - but what? Storming the sales and starting to revamp with wild abandon isn’t the way to go. Think of the design of

your home as an ongoing process.There’s a sort of psychology to decorating successfully. Ask yourself at every stage what you’re trying to achieve. Christine Chang Hanway Instead, take

inspiration from the New Year’s resolutions of the following experts: an architect and editor of a leading design website, an interiors author who specialises in vivid colour and an

award-winning blogger, who dedicates her time to tracking down exquisite furniture and just the right shade of paint. Then make some resolutions of your own. It’s a healthier and ultimately

more productive way to hit refresh. CHRISTINE CHANG HANWAY  RESOLUTION INSPIRATION This year, I'm going to bring more greenery into our home. New plant shops like The Botany Shop and

Grace and Thorn, with their emphasis on accessible urban gardening, have great ideas. Even tiny succulents can change the atmosphere of a room, and they definitely have a personality of

their own. In terms of other resolutions, I believe we put too much pressure on ourselves to make everything look perfect all at once. I trained as an architect, and I learnt to appreciate

the value of taking three to six months to understand a space instead of rushing to change everything. Think of the design of your home as an ongoing process.There’s a sort of psychology to

decorating successfully. Ask yourself at every stage what you’re trying to achieve. Don’t try to replicate whole schemes that you’ve seen on Pinterest or Instagram - they won’t work the same

way in your own space.  You will get a better effect if you organise mood boards by room, colour and texture. If you buy everything for a room in order to just finish it, you’ll end up

reconsidering and taking half of it to the charity shop. Spend time thinking about shade and tone: if you’re always drawn to bright cerulean blues, explore how to translate that into a

workable shade for your home, by choosing pieces in the same tone. Will Taylor And don’t resist the urge to get help. There are many experts who you can consult for just a couple of hours,

rather than hiring them to completely overhaul your space. Just talking through your mood boards or, say, your lighting, with someone can make the way seem much clearer. For inspiring

contemporary ideas for using plants indoors, check out 'Rooted in Design: Sprout Home’s Guide to Creative Indoor Planting’ by Tara Heibel and Tassy de Give, £20 (Ten Speed Press). To

order your copy for £16.99 plus p&p call 0844 871 1514 or visit books.telegraph.co.uk MY NEW YEAR WISH To have wood floors throughout our house. We’ve done it in a piecemeal way, so that

there’s wood in the kitchen and at the top, but carpets in the living area, and I’d love to have a more luxurious finish all the way through. _CHRISTINE IS THE LONDON EDITOR FOR INTERIOR

DESIGN INSPIRATION SITE REMODELISTA AND THE WRITER OF MY CONTENTS HAVE SHIFTED, A NEW LIFESTYLE BLOG._ WILL TAYLOR  RESOLUTION INSPIRATION This comes in the form of quite a challenge: living

in a completely new - and smaller - space. Moving has made me realise just how easy it is to accumulate things, and the challenge is going to be finding practical but stylish storage

solutions. Just because a design idea has worked well in one place, it won’t necessarily suit another. My London flat was a new-build, and very 'magnolia’ when I moved in: it needed

big, statement design features to bring it alive, so I made use of things like dramatic wallpaper feature walls to give it character. My new apartment in New York is a pre-war brownstone; it

has its own character - exposed brick, old-fashioned radiators - so the trick will be to dial everything back and let them tell the story of the space. I’d also recommend taking inspiration

from your natural environment, and paying attention to the tones in the area you live in. London was very grey, so I gave my space energy and spark with really bright colour, lots of punch

yellows. In New York, although it’s colder, you get these big, bright blue skies and the light makes the more muted tones in the city - dove greys, olives - really come to life. Also be more

aware of the colours you are naturally drawn to in everyday life. Colour is the fabric of life, and a really emotive aspect of design. Spend time thinking about shade and tone: if you’re

always drawn to bright cerulean blues, explore how to translate that into a workable shade for your home, by choosing pieces in the same tone. As a guide, use the 60:30:10 rule: 60 per cent

of your room in your primary / base colour, 30 per cent in the secondary details (upholstery, curtains, furniture) and 10 per cent for the accent - often the brightest - colour (pillows,

blankets, vases). MY NEW YEAR WISH I’ve always had my eye on a Saarinen 'Tulip’ table - they’re so expensive, but a really timeless design classic (by Knoll, from £588 at Skandium). 

_WILL IS THE CREATOR OF INTERIORS BLOG BRIGHT BAZAAR AND AUTHOR OF BRIGHT BAZAAR: EMBRACING COLOUR FOR MAKE-YOU-SMILE STYLE’ (JACQUI SMALL, £25). TO ORDER YOUR COPY FOR £20 WITH FREE P&P

CALL 0844 871 1514 OR VISIT BOOKS.TELEGRAPH.CO.UK.  HIS NEW BOOK, 'DREAM DECOR’ IS OUT IN MAY. _ KATE WATSON-SMYTH  RESOLUTION INSPIRATION To make the tweaks to my kitchen that I’ve

been meaning to do for ages. When we moved into our house, we had quite a minimalist Scandi feel in the kitchen, but I’m gradually introducing dark greys. Our white open shelving is now

grey, and we have American tin tiles on the ceiling - it’s too low for pendant lights, so they bounce light around. I’m going to fit some of those tiles to either end of the kitchen island

and give it some leather handles. I think we could all do with being a bit bolder. A lot of us have got into the habit making our homes quite bland, so that they appeal to estate agents and

prospective buyers, but now we’re staying longer in them we should be designing them to live in, for ourselves.  Don’t be afraid of colour - a newly painted wall can be covered over - and go

for things that are whimsical and a little bit unexpected, the kind of features that make visitors say, “Oh wow”. If it makes your heart sing, you should have it. One trick is to look where

other people are not: etsy.com is full of amazing, original fixtures and furnishings. I also love pieces that are entirely unnecessary but fun, like the Eos pendant lightshade by Vita,

pictured above, which is made from goose feathers (£69, heals.com). Pushing your boundaries doesn’t have to be dramatic, and you don’t need to spend a fortune. Adding a single cushion

covered in sequins can have a huge impact. And you can make a feature of the most uninspiring things, such as changing your electrical sockets from plain white to something more interesting

(ours are now black with a dolly toggle).  We also all need to throw away less and be more aware of what we are buying, and why. Whether it’s a marble worktop or a storage basket, you should

adore it. Kate Watson-Smyth Don’t overlook little details at eye level either: change the cord on a pendant lamp to a bright colour or twisted fabric design - the cord costs about £5/metre

(try Dowsing and Reynolds) but it can be transformative. A good resolution is to mix things up as the year goes by. People always talk about rearranging the furniture to freshen things up,

but it’s easier to change the items that can be seen from the bed or the sofa, such as the books on a coffee table, or the ornaments on a shelf - bring something in from another room to

surprise the eye.  Changing with the seasons is something the Danes are really good at, switching curtains, cushions and rugs from deep velvets, knits, cashmere and corduroy in the autumn

and winter to linens and cottons in the warmer months. Roll up your Persian rug from the winter and put down a brightly coloured kilim (Urban Outfitters and West Elm have brightly coloured

kilims for around £100). It’s a lot less trouble than repainting. > Come to The Mad House tomorrow for the first in a new mini-series on > how to get the lighting right. First room: 

the kitchen. >  > A photo posted by Kate Watson-Smyth (@mad_about_the_house) on Dec 2, > 2015 at 10:54am PST We also all need to throw away less and be more aware of what we are

buying, and why. Whether it’s a marble worktop or a storage basket, you should adore it. MY NEW YEAR WISH An investment piece. A client had a Utrecht armchair in blush pink. I’ll take a pair

of those, for my bay window - they’ll look amazing with my charcoal velvet sofa (£2,466, Skandium). _KATE IS THE FOUNDER OF INTERIOR DESIGN SERVICE MAD ABOUT YOUR HOUSE AND BLOG MAD ABOUT

THE HOUSE. __SHADES OF GREY BY KATE WATSON-SMYTH IS PUBLISHED BY RYLAND, PETERS AND SMALL (£19.99) AND IS OUT IN FEBRUARY. TO ORDER YOUR COPY FOR £16.99 PLUS P&P CALL 0844 871 1514 OR

VISIT BOOKS.TELEGRAPH.CO.UK_