Style your home like a professional

Style your home like a professional

Give your home designer flair with our top 10 styling tips.

By Elspeth Pridham

Dress the bed

A well dressed bed should be the focus of your bedroom, so forget the Tracey Emin school of presentation and smooth on clean sheets and duvet cover. Stand pillows one in front of the other to give height at the head of the bed and position a co-ordinating cushion in front. Finish with a blanket or throw casually arranged over the foot of the bed. Try Peacock Blue for bedding and matching accessories.

Chambray blue sheets, £30; Rossan check throw, £89 all from Peacock Blue, www.peacockbluehome.co.uk

The art of accessories

Just as shoes and a bag complete an outfit, carefully chosen accessories will add the finishing touch to your home. Arrange identical glass vases in a row along the windowsill where they will catch the light or group china vases of the same colour but different sizes together. The stylist\'s tip is to always use odd numbers - three or five pieces look better than two or four. Accessorising needn\'t be expensive - Matalan has a good range of affordable pieces.

Hankerchief vase, £15, Matalan, www.matalanonline.co.uk

Flower power

Plants and flowers add life to any scheme. Tulips casually arranged in a jug look pretty in the kitchen, a display of long stemmed lilies will brighten an empty fireplace and single roses or peonies placed in a row add an air of sophistication to the dining table. You can experiment with different plants and containers throughout the year - for instance, a bundle of twigs sprayed black or silver for drama during the winter months, or a glass jar as a quaint alternative to a vase filled with spring blooms. For year round colour consider investing in fabric flowers from Bloom & Green.

Fabric Mira bouquet, £38, www.bloomandgreen.co.uk

Make a statement

Bold wallpaper makes a real style statement. But unlike the 70s, with its overpowering clashing colours and complex patterns, the trend now is to pick out just one wall in a striking wallpaper and paint the others in a less dramatic, supporting shade. This look works particularly well in living rooms or bedrooms. If wallpaper doesn\'t appeal, try highlighting one area of the room with a contrasting paint - this could be an entire wall, the chimney breast or an alcove. In the bedroom paint the wall behind the bed with the feature colour. Crown\'s Fashion for Walls range includes the latest statement colours.

Fashion for Walls flat matt colour range, www.crownpaint.co.uk

Table Talk

Impress your guests with an immaculate dining table. Start with a tablemat or charger at each place setting and top this with a crisply folded cotton or linen napkin. Place cutlery, a wine glass and water glass evenly at each setting and finish off with candles or vases of flowers arranged along the length of the table. Make sure everything is polished and gleaming and that the chairs sit straight to the table. Oka has everything you need to win the best dressed table award.

Stola table, £1,490; Nailsea champagne flutes, £22; Faenza china from £11.50, all Oka, www.okadirect.com

Stylish storage

Don\'t let clutter detract from your careful styling. Coffee tables, the mantelpiece, bedside tables and shelves should host a few carefully chosen accessories, not a mass of old postcards, letters, kids toys or last week\'s TV guide. Chuck out everything you don\'t need and pack away anything you want to keep but no longer matches your scheme. Invest in storage baskets and boxes that look attractive as well as serving a purpose. Oka\'s wooden Chinese trunks are big enough to double up as a side table.

Chinese square wooden trunk, £230, www.okadirect.com

Be bold

Think big and fill an empty wall with eye-catching art. A large, colourful canvas will enhance a contemporary scheme or, in a more traditional setting, group smaller framed photos or prints. When hanging a number of pictures together either stick to a common theme, for instance black and white photographs, or, if you have a mixed collection of images, have them all framed in the same way to create a cohesive look. For large-scale wall art check out Linda Barker\'s collection.

3D laurel branch, £55, Linda Barker Collection, www.reallylindabarker.co.uk

On the shelf

Open shelves are the perfect place to display collections of glass and china in a creative way. Arrange wine glasses in neat rows with the tallest items at the back. Place ornaments in groups (remember the rule; odd numbers look better than even) but don\'t overcrowd the shelf, leave some empty spaces. In the kitchen china plates and bowls look good on display if neatly stacked. Even mis-matched china can look attractive if you group colours and styles together.

Pick a theme

It is important when styling a room to pick a theme and stick to it. Whether you opt for a calm, neutral living room, country cottage kitchen or opulent bedroom, choose colours, fabrics, furniture and accessories that all fit together and you can\'t go wrong. Don\'t let sentiment spoil your efforts. If you are tempted to sneak in a favourite old bedspread or a painting by your 5-year-old niece then the effect you are trying to achieve will be diluted.

Light house

Interior designers use light to create the perfect ambience in a room. Even if you are stuck with bleak, overhead fittings you can add table lamps to soften the effect. Spotlights are also useful to highlight particular features such as an alcove or to accentuate a piece of art. Candles are also the stylist\'s friend. A collection of glass candlesticks of various heights make a sculptural table centrepiece while a group of outsize church candles create a focal point in an empty grate.

For more style ideas for your home, see our favourite kitchen accessories and 10 of the best dining tables.