The word “home” is multi-layered: for most of us it envelopes every important and treasured memory reaching right back to our childhood. Home evokes comforting images and emotions related to family and loved ones, to where we’ve come from, and what we’ve since become. It is the place to which we always want and need to return, because it is where we feel we belong. It is where we can truly be ourselves and forget about the image others have of us. Simply put: home is an extension of our personalities.

How spaces speak

You need to be clear about what you want your home to say about you, so that it carries your signature with pride. It should be both a personal statement and a source of aesthetic satisfaction that pleases the senses. In the succinct words of Scott Adams:

“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Design is knowing which ones to keep.”

Spaces speak through the interplay of colour and light, a creative positioning of items, a combining of differing textures, and through appropriately placing things within those spaces. All these elements can combine to say something essential and eloquent about you.

Giving your home its unique voice

Redesigning your home need not be a costly affair. All the elements are probably already right there. They need only to be brought into fresh focus.

Light: The simple magic of light is available to us all, whether its effects are from the outside or created by placing a modest lamp in a strategic spot. Coloured glass or light filtered through fabric can instantaneously alter the atmosphere in a living space. And again: the mere choice of a particular lightbulb can set the required tone in any corner of a room.

Colour: Here is an equal magic wand. Whether it is on walls, doors, window frames or wainscoting, it will reflect any mood you desire. Carpets, rugs, throws, cushion covers, linen and pottery are just some of the readily available ways of making colour dance exuberantly, or flow gently, through your home. Colour can express brazen confidence, or be a soft, subtle invitation. It can express the sociable side of you that is energetic and communicative, or indicate that a certain room is where you prefer to be pensive, meditative, restful, and private.

Objects: Let’s turn to the most meaningful valuables we possess: our individual, treasured memories… and the objects that recall those defining moments from our past. They tell your story. These are, after all, the memorabilia or mementos you have chosen to carry with you through the years. They are evocative of the people and events that have shaped you. They hold meaning for you, so trust that they say something valid about you. Display them. Play with options. Arrange them together with newer items that complement them or create a striking contrast.

Textures: One has only to consider the vast array of different fabrics available to realise that an effective combination of textures can be a relatively easy achievement. Apart from the obvious elements, like the weave in rugs or cushion covers, or combining rough and smooth surfaces, you can draw on nature here to produce innovative and pleasing results. Nature’s innumerable and inimitably lovely designs have continued to inspire human ones throughout the ages. Invite it in, whether through plants, flowers, stones, or different grains of wood. Or do so simply by keeping a lookout for objects of natural beauty on your walks through a forest, along a nature trail, or on a beach.

Explore yourself

Most psychologists would agree that we never stop growing, and consequently never stop learning new things about ourselves. The interior design of your home can be an ongoing exploration of different facets of yourself. Whether you live alone and don’t really care about what others think of you or your home… whether you feel comfortable only in presenting a particular image of yourself… whether you and a partner need to combine tastes to create a jointly pleasing aesthetic… or whether you share your home with a family of colourful individuals, allowing your home to speak for you is an opportunity to discover new things about your tastes, your moods, your needs and what might be surprising, newfound abilities you never knew you possessed.

As a mirror image of who you are, designing a uniquely embracing home for yourself and loved ones allows you to explore the innate artistic side of yourself, and to claim your creative identity, so that your home reflects an inspired and inspiring you.

For inspiration is reciprocal. In the words of an unknown but inarguably insightful person:

“Our homes should inspire us to go out into the world to do great things and then welcome us back for refreshment.”

Udumo Group

Udumo Group deliver interior décor and design services by empowering unemployed people with skills development initiatives. We believe in investing in the individual, nurturing inherent skills, and uplifting communities. We hold as our mission making the future sustainable by mentoring meaningful change in the wider environment. Our interior design philosophy is to design beautiful spaces that are both functional and timelessly pleasing. We have proved that promoting the values of creative excellence, discipline and commitment can bring forth the beauty within each person and reflect it in both private and public living spaces around them.

For more information, visit Udumo Designs and Udumo Group.