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Professional home styling

Deanna Delamotta
21/ 7/2008

AS the property market stutters, and the credit crunch bites, staying in is the new going out.

But looking at those four peeling walls, not to mention the dodgy Artex ceiling, is not exactly therapeutic. So householders are turning their attention to sprucing up their homes, the prevailing view being that if you've got to stay put you might as well like your surroundings.

But, despite a generation of interiors programmes from tacky Changing Rooms in the 1990s, to trendy Grand Designs of the noughties, many of us are still stuck in an interiors rut.

Take me, for example. Shopping for day-to-day clothes that reflect my personality is easy. No-nonsense black trouser suit and white shirt or a flash of colour when the sun comes out.

Blank canvas

Shopping for a smartly dressed and comfortable home is another matter. When I moved last summer, I had a blank canvas - everything needed doing up. But, despite watching myriad home makeover programmes (albeit with a glazed expression), I didn't know where to start.

Fearful of the enormity of the task and my lack of interior style credentials, I decided to have a go at the living room and dining room with only a couple of guidelines in mind. Rooms to be kept separate - the long-standing fashion for open-plan living has not grabbed me. And, an old-fashioned girl at heart, I wanted to stick to a traditional look without the chintz.

I like Laura Ashley stuff, being the proud owner of a (battered) brown leather armchair that my mum bought 10 years ago.

So, as I browsed around one of the retailer's many stores, in turn admiring, then wincing, at the hefty price (even when discounted) of curtains and sofas, I read about the design service. For £100, one of their team helps you decorate two rooms.

Clearly, these people work for Laura Ashley so they're not going to recommend a table lamp from Habitat or a bookcase from Ikea, so keep that in mind before booking. My expert was Cath McCubbin, who is based at the Knutsford store.

She came along with car boot stacked full of samples and swatches. She started off by asking me about me, my home priorities (low maintenance), my likes (duck egg blue), dislikes (pelmets). This took about an hour as I ummed and ahhed through the various propositions.

Spectacular

The chandelier was one of many conundrums. I like chandeliers but aren't they a bit OTT for a tiny terrace house? Cath assured me that I wouldn't be the Hyacinth Bouquet of my street if I bought a couple. She recommended an eight-arm cream chandelier (£150) for my living room and a similarly-sized lighting spectacular for the dining room.

When it came to the colour scheme she suggested cream curtains with a duck egg blue pattern to complement a two-seater sofa in my favourite shade that I'd already bought.

In the dining room, where the only furniture was a beech dining table and six chairs, her suggestion of a black/yellow floral wallpaper combo was too "out there" for my tastes.

As she soon realised, I'm on the right side of conservative in interiors matters.

Instead, she proposed a subtle version on the floral theme and encouraged me to be a bit more elaborate in my choice of window decoration.

Having made her recommendations, Cath went off and created two "mood" boards with bits of her suggested curtain fabric and pieces of wallpaper, together with pictures of mirrors, candlesticks and cushions to give me flavour of what could be achieved.

Sold! - to the clueless lady on the duck egg blue sofa. I bought the lot.

It's cost me £1,100 so far but it's rather fetching and I've picked up some core tips which will stand me in good stead for doing the upstairs. Or perhaps I'll just call Cath.