Repair with its tons of plaster and gypsum boards, as well as drunkards of the brigadier is not considered a woman’s business, therefore it is not in the competence of SHE.
But the ability to live in space, boring, uncomfortable, bored, without breaking the walls, but only placing emphasis and adding a couple of fintiflyushek, – the quality that is traditionally associated with the female hand in the house.
How to embellish a boring home, when to full-fledged perestroika for some reason is still far away, the correspondent of SE explained.
How to increase living space for a penny and upgrade the interior without resorting to repair
Practical magic
Complaints that the dwelling is too spacious – “ah, even uncomfortable! ” – in our latitudes are rare and the understanding of others is not met. Typically, a typical apartment desperately wants to increase a little. “Those who are well acquainted with the fifth dimension, nothing is worth pushing the room to the desired limits,” – said the devil of Koroviev in “The Master and Margarita. ” Known visual special effects can really work wonders.
The feeling of spaciousness and enfilade of rooms gives the mirror a full growth. “Low ceiling” will lift “vertical strips on the wallpaper, and if the room is also elongated – we need stripes of different widths with blurred edges,” says Olga Tairova, the decorator of the workshop “White SLON”. – If the apartment consists of several small rooms, it is better not to get carried away with contrast solutions – black and white, blue-red and so on.
Most apartments with a minimal history to become more beautiful and comfortable, you need not so much to buy new floor mats, how much to get rid of some available.
The author of “The Art of Stylish Poverty” – an amusing aid to survival in the consumer world – Alexander von Schönburg advises those who are eager for the same style to give up “excessive comfort”: “Comfort rolls carpets, and elegance leaves the floor uncovered, even if it is not parquet, but plain laminate . Comfort collects things, elegance throws away. Comfort likes a small space, elegance – emptiness. One of the main enemies of taste is the fear of cold and draft. People try to force all corners, to lay all the floors with carpets, to use every centimeter. ”
You do not need to go into asceticism, but you have to look at your house with a cold rationalizing look. Carpets and rugs, a variety of coffee, coffee and other tables – a tradition inherited from Soviet times, which may be just a habit, and not a reflection of the inner world of the hosts. Well, cleaning in the rugs and padded stalls will suddenly open up to the owners unusually clean and airy – and not so tight as it seemed – an apartment.
The designer himself
After the extra has gone, you can start to embellish life, starting from the already existing image. Here, against the circumstances, you will not go: the furnished apartment, which was inherited from the grandmother, will not approach the stylish minimalism without complete restructuring and imposing investments. In this case, the “old” raid can be developed, for example, by placing old photographs in retro frames and applying a little handmade work, turning “rubbish and ruin” into conscious design decisions.
“Now it’s fashionable to combine incongruous, mix styles, combine expensive with vintage and homemade,” – says Elena Solodova, chief architect of the firm “DIAR-project”. So, old Soviet heating batteries can look much more interesting than modern radiators, if you recolor them in a dark color and add a bit of “peeled” gilding to the ribs.
You will not surprise anyone with a table on a wrought-iron base from the Singer sewing machine, but, as Olga Tairova explains, the theme of the alteration of the old is inexhaustible: “You can replace the top of the old bedside table with a glass table – you will get a showcase for knickknacks, you can paint the plafond of a terrible Soviet lamp, or replace it on needle-weaving textile … Ideas can be scooped endlessly from magazines. ”
If the “old” apartment is strangled by a deaf, dark, dusty atmosphere, Olga Tairova recommends making light and radiance: add the same mirrors, refresh with light chair covers, a light carpet or a tablecloth. Or, in the end, repaint old furniture.
Suitable paints – as well as varnishes and “chemistry”, which gives, say the aging-cracking or gilding effect, can be found in large finishing shops like “Practice” or “Leroy Merlin” or in benches for artists.
If the apartment is on the contrary new, empty, light and simple – it means, she is waiting for her nail program: special curtains, a sofa with a scattering of colored pillows, a large poster on the wall. “If you want a bright interior without using professional services, it’s better to add bright accessories to a calm foundation – light walls, natural colors of the floor – it’s less difficult and risky,” Elena Solodova warns.
Light and color
Complementing the bored interior with new color spots – pillows, rugs, floor lamps, curtains – you should handle the palette carefully. It is believed that the blue muffles the appetite (and other activity), which means that the blue curtains in the kitchen are not too desirable. Orange and red on the contrary are toned, but with an overabundance can cause anxiety and a desire to leave the room urgently (as is known, this effect is used by decorators of fast food cafe so that visitors do not stay up). Pure delicate pastel shades can make the greyish-beige walls “dirty”, and the search for flowers – turn the dwelling into chaos.
“It is better to combine in the interior no more than three primary colors,” explains Olga Tairova. – But the best option is two basic colors (and their shades) plus the third color in the accessory: a floor lamp or a rug on the floor. ”
By the way, floor lamps and other additional light sources are another way to refresh the bored accommodation. Traditional powerful light from the ceiling ruthlessly highlights shortcomings, but floor lamps or table and floor lamps placed in favorite corners can transform a bedroom or a living room – by dulling colors, adding comfort, intimacy, mystery.
Insurance from stylistic chaos – not to mindlessly buy the curtains, lamps, pictures and trinkets you like, but to find the source of inspiration that will give the interior something without which there is no politics, no art, no style: a common idea. The most popular source of inspiration, of course, are interior magazines that are sold in any kiosk. They will help to train the eye and nurture the taste, in addition, it is from there that you can borrow ideas. But the source of a big, basic idea with which one can live comfortably in one house can be anything: love for a certain era (say, the 60th year), travel or a favorite film that will be presented not only as a poster in the form of a poster, but also the style of accessories.