Top interior design tips under Rs1.5 lakh

(Representative image) Examine each room and identify the architectural features you want to highlight. These could include high ceilings, large windows, and abundant sunlight.

Homes are an extension of our personalities, irrespective of their scale and square footage. Urban dwellers in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Bengaluru often find themselves inhabiting stark and cold builder apartments or compact dwellings. The size ranges from 900 sq. ft to 1,500 sq. ft in most cities, but can easily be transformed by using easy yet striking design hacks.

Here are some simple tricks on a budget of up to Rs1.5 lakh to spruce up your home.

Celebrate the Home’s Architectural Features

Study and identify the architectural features of the house. These could include high ceilings and internal height, large windows, optimised cross-ventilation and abundant sunlight.

Take a detailed walkthrough of the home that you are about to inhabit or already live in and inspect the features of the home in its raw form. Check out the material palette - that could include exposed bricks, hardwood floors, ceiling and patterned mouldings. Colour, texture, and pattern can be deployed to draw attention to built features like doors and window frames, floor finishes, etc.

Also read: Five accent wall ideas for a fresh look indoors

Surprise element

While styling a space, a sure shot design hack is to maintain an overarching neutral palette and include elements of surprise in the form of colour or pattern. This styling tip can be interpreted in a versatile manner. Consider peppering your space with a few pieces of functional accent furniture that can add interest and comfort to the design scheme.

This could be in the form of a sofa, a study desk, unconventional armchairs, nested coffee tables, and upholstered benches. Most three-seater sofas can be bought within a budget of Rs25,000 and simple armchairs for Rs15,000 and above.

Dive into Details

It’s often attention paid to the smallest detail that can make a difference. A quick change of paint colour can breathe new life into interiors. Select bright whites with cool undertones for ceilings to lend your space an additional sense of height. Warm and medium whites can adorn walls and make the room spacious. Reserve the choice of colour to accent walls to draw attention to an element or a design feature.

Light fixtures play an important role in styling. Create a combination of mood and task illumination to transform the look and feel of a room! Ceiling lights in neutral-warm white/yellows can imbue spaces with a sense of understated luxury versus stark white tube lights. Select a range of table lamps (starting at Rs500 in popular retail stores) and floor lamps (available at Rs1,500 and over) to create aesthetic corners.

Also read: How to redesign kids’ rooms for under Rs 1.5 lakh

Personalizing Spaces

Layer spaces such as bedrooms, home offices with memorabilia and curios that are personal. Personalising spaces is important. Try including heirloom décor items, upholstery created by a family member, ancestral or refurbished/freshly reupholstered furniture, family photographs, travel mementos, and large pieces of art that have been passed down generations.

Finishing Touches

Once large pieces of furniture are finalised, experiment with elements like indoor plants, artefacts, books, and art prints. These items are usually easy on the pocket and can add a generous dose of personality. Art prints and digital artwork can be bought online and cost anywhere from Rs3,500-5,000 in canvas sizes of 18 inches or more.

Also read: Design hacks for urban homes under 1000 sq ft

Quick tips to style interior spaces

1. Browse and ‘shop’ for your own home. Shift elements of décor and smaller furniture.

2. Invest in versatile accent pieces such as artefacts and bric-a-brac that can be spread across various rooms instead of picking large statement pieces for a specific room.

3. To make a space look put-together, limit the material palette to 3-4 materials, preferably in neutral tones.

4. Colour can make an interesting debut in the form of upholstery, art, and curios.

5. Avoid cluttering rooms with multiple pieces of furniture for that spacious look.