Nine Interior Design Mistakes That Make Homes Look Cheap, Popular Tiles Are a No-Go

INTERIOR DESIGN Guru Kelly Hoppen knows how to create luxurious living spaces.

The former Dragons’ Den star has collaborated with celebrities including the Beckhams and designed glamorous interiors for hotels and superyachts. But she also loves a bargain and says there are ways to add luxury to your space without breaking the bank.

This will undoubtedly sound like music to the ears of the one in three homeowners who are planning to renovate their interior this year.

“Luxury is not about how much you spend, it’s about how you feel,” she says.

“It can be very easy and affordable to add a touch of luxury and comfort to your home. It’s all about finding different ways of looking at things.”

Here Kelly shows Emma Lazenby her brilliant tricks for making your pillow softer.

Put it down

Rugs are a great place to start if you want to quickly transform a space. A great way to have fun with them and add texture is to layer two on top of each other too.

You may already have rugs that are too big or too small, but layering them can help you use them better. When I was styling Boy George’s home, I layered one rug on top of another, slightly to the right, and it immediately gave an eclectic feel.

People sometimes panic when it comes to rugs, but by layering them you can easily customize them to fit your space.

Fill it up

CUSHIONS are great when positioned correctly. It is common for people to place them across the back of the sofa – left, right and in the middle.

But one of the ways I’ve used pillows in my new home is by placing them against the side of each arm of the couch. It creates a completely different look.

It is also very nice as an armrest when you sit down.

I tried putting a smaller, flatter pillow in a different color on top of a larger pillow. That works really well too.

Turn books into art

BOOKSHELVES and bookcases can be organized in a fun way by turning the books you don’t really need or don’t want to look at (we all have those) around so that you see the paper and not the spine.

Then you can stack them at different heights and place accessories on top, creating a space that looks really artistic.

And if you have, for example, ten random books that happen to be the same color, you can turn them over so that the spines are facing each other, stack them horizontally on top of each other, and place them between the stacks with the paper sides facing each other.

Get a wonderwall

IF you are renting a house and you can’t paint or wallpaper the walls, or you don’t want to commit to something permanent, buy a large sheet of MDF, wallpaper it and place it against a wall.

This doesn’t have to be the entire wall, but you can place it in the middle and push it against the wall with your chair or couch to keep it in place.

You will then get a completely new background with a different texture.

You can move it to another room if you want, or even paint it a different color as the seasons change.

Mix it with marble

THERE are some fantastic tiles available at the moment and you can buy cheap offcuts of marble which are ideal for both kitchen and bathroom splashbacks.

My best tip here is to mix marble with more matt tiles so you can play more with patterns. Just make sure you keep the same colour tone.

Make a splash

WHEN you move to a new place, it’s often the kitchen that feels a little dirty, with dated walls and tiles. But a great and easy way to freshen up the space is to install a metal splashback above the oven.

You can get them in stainless steel or even bronze. They are easy to keep clean, create a different texture and reflect light in the kitchen.

Stack it up

ANOTHER trick with books is to stack them on the floor against a wall. If you are like me and have a lot of books but not many bookcases, you can stack them neatly, with the larger books on the bottom and the smaller books on top.

I have put books of the same color together and every now and then I put a small statue on top. That gives an artistic effect.

The large ceramic vase from my new M\&S home design range (£29.50) would fit perfectly here.

This is also a really cool way to make a little table next to a chair or couch if you can’t afford a new piece of furniture. Just put a bowl or something on it and it looks really cute.