House & Home : Interior Design Courses

I wrote last week about how we are planning a house move and deciding if we want to take on a project....and also weighing up how big that project might be.

I've watched enough home renovation & "Grand Designs" type TV programmes to make me realise that pretty much everyone thinks they are an interior designer....

and that they could build a house too!

In a way I guess we all are interior designers....we all know our style & know what we like.

You walk into a home & instinctively know if you love it or hate....

if you could live with its style....or if you absolutely couldn't!

We pull out pictures from magazines & save hundreds of images on Pinterest of dream rooms and houses....homes that appeal to our current or our dream lifestyle.

Sometimes I pin an image which contains just one item - be it a window, a colour, an item of furniture - that I absolutely love and I can imagine building a room around that one piece, almost in the same way you put together an outfit based around a fabulous pair of shoes or a bag.

What might work in the Californian sunshine or a Manhattan loft might not work in a London townhouse or a French country farmhouse....

but, for me, the beauty of being able to search online & on Pinterest, is that you can get so many great ideas and so much inspiration and then adapt it for your own home.

Do we all have an inner interior designer...I'm not sure?

We all know what we could live with - or would like to live with - but some people's surroundings seem to matter less to them than others.

Some of us are very visual, some not so....

some like a minimalist look whereas for others their home means having items that they love and treasure around them.

I love the idea of living in a huge open plan loft space....

but that kind of home is fairly unusual in London and, also, I love rooms and the idea of creating different moods, having my own space, defining what each room is about. 

  

While I know I like a particular style, creating it is another thing.

Television programmes can be a great source of inspiration as can magazines....

seeing what has been created in someone else's home can provide a wealth of ideas.

I have friends who have a real talent for transforming a space, they have a signature style and a way of making a house a home, building it over time, adding the perfect item....

A friend of mine changed careers recently....having been a teacher for many years - and also being wonderfully creative - she took several interior design courses and is now a full time interior designer.

What I really admire is that while her own home is completely stylish & gorgeous & she clearly has her own taste....she is able to take the client's brief & interpret just what they want & like, without twisting it back to her own personal style at all.

It always makes me think of those TV programmes where a buyer has bought a home purely to sell, as opposed to living in it themselves....

their aim is to decorate in a neutral style to appeal to a maximum number of buyers but actually their own taste is visible everywhere!!

Hard not to do really.

I love taking courses, it's such a fun way of learning....but I've never done anything creative.

The idea of studying interior design really appeals to me....
lots of fun & also I imagine it would be enormously helpful, particularly if your project is huge & you don't really know where to start....like me!

Love My Course has some great courses....see here for interior design courses in London, interior design courses in the UK and online interior design courses.