Want to update your home? An interior design shares her top tips

Wendy Newman’s path into interior design began when she worked in property development.
Incoporating the colour green in your homeIncoporating the colour green in your home
Incoporating the colour green in your home

“I started to get more and more interested in the interior design element,” she says.

“More and more of my friends started asking for my advice and I just thought it could be something that I did as a profession.

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“But I knew I had to be qualified so I did a City and Guilds in interior design.”

Adding plants in different waysAdding plants in different ways
Adding plants in different ways

This was ten years ago.

Wendy believes that ‘everyone deserves great interior design’.

“I found many of the people on the course were looking at the top end market, with big budgets but I wanted to do something for the everyman,” she explains.

People with normal houses, normal rooms and normal budgets.”

One of Wendy's looksOne of Wendy's looks
One of Wendy's looks
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As well as taking on projects Wendy also offers a ‘designer for the day’ service.

“It came about as people would hire me for a room and want to ask about other areas of their home but felt like they couldn’t.

“This way they get me for a whole day and can ask whatever they want. We can look at different solutions to issues they may have from storage solutions to incorporating everything the family needs including combining minimalist and maximalist themes to keep everyone happy.

“Many people want to look at the flow and layout of their home from living space to kitchen or dining.”

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She also finds that people who use the designer for the day service come back to her to look at particular rooms.

The key to finding out how a room best works for you, Wendy says, is to live in it.

““I would say try and live somewhere first, live in the space see what rooms you use and how you use them and then take it from there,” she says. “I get some new builds where structurally the house is fine but after living there for six months they realise that their furniture just isn’t right any more or it just needs something done to it and that is where I come in.”

In terms of what you can do in your own home, Wendy says that grey is still the ‘in’ colour but people should move away from the cool blue tones and instead opt for warmer notes such as mushroom and stone colours.

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“Adding warmth to your home can be done in other ways,” explains Wendy.

“Wood is a great way to do this be that furniture or flooring both fake and real.

“This can also apply to plants. Interior greenery is hugely popular and the quality of fake plants is amazing.”

Wendy adds that green is a great colour to have in your home as it is the easiest colour for your eyes.

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“You can look at it in your home and look outside and it reduces eye strain as your eyes don’t need to adjust.

“There are so many colour tones so you can have an olive green in your kitchen or a brighter one as a statement wall in your home office or living space.”

People are also thinking more sustainably when it comes to the interiors of their home.

“Good materials to use are rattan bamboo, for curtains, furniture and flooring you can use it all over,” she says.

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“Also recycling and upcycling pieces and finding out where pieces come from.”

Based in Rye she enjoys project managing, and for the designer for a day will travel to West Sussex, East Sussex and Kent.

“Each job is different,” she says.

“I love that each day is varied and that’s what I enjoy about what I do.”

For more information on Wendy, visit www.wendynewmaninteriordesign.co.uk

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