Your five-star dream home renovation checklist: Star interior designer reveals the design secret of comfort home

Home decoration has become a buzz topic for people in Hong Kong, but how can you construct your own 5-star dream home? Sealy has specially invited the award-winning interior design company Atelier Lane to compile a general renovation guide that follows the key stages, from planning to design, to construction, so you know what to expect and can upgrade your home to a real five-star look. Ellie Bradley, a star interior designer who also came from Australia, has undertaken unique projects all around the world, including Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia. In addition to explain the necessary precautions during decoration, we will also share a price guide for two units of 400 feet and 700 feet.

A checklist is a simple way to keep your home renovation on track and avoid costly omissions and delays. While every project is unique Atelier Lane have compiledsome tipsto make planning easier. Even for someone who is at their first time can easily master and upgrade their home to a real five-star look.

TAKE YOUR TIME TO PLAN EVERYTHING CAREFULLY

1. PLAN, PLAN, PLAN

This is the biggest and most important tip. If you don’t plan, then sooner or later it will cost you money, and also time. Not planning ahead can result in things needing to be redone, or a look that is inconsistent. This is especially important when you are going for that extra-glossy five-star look. Finishing touches are especially important. Things like the overall style, location of fixtures and fittings, sophisticated paint colours, window treatments and lighting.

The first step in any plan is to decide what you want to achieve with your apartment renovation and how you want to lift it up to give it that five-star feel. Start by thinking about what you want from each room and what features are on your ‘must have’ list and how they will all flow together.

Also think about

• how you want to use the space
• what style you like
• whether you need more lighting in your room
• how you want the kitchen to be orientated, or whether you need an extra bathroom?

This is your ultimate wish list so put it all down carefully in as much detail as you can.

2. MAKE A MOOD BOARD

Create a mood board of your favourite looks, materials, furniture and décor. Look for top end five-star designs. You may not be able to afford them, but you have to start somewhere so why not go with the ones that most appeal to you?

3. CREATE A BUDGET

Have a budget in mind. Creating a budget sheet outlining every detail of furniture, finishes, and fittings is a crucial part of any interior project. The best budgets, the one that I have created for my projects, includes: What it is (i.e. furniture, décor, hardware, lighting), where it goes, where it’s from, its price, its lead time, and any special notes. Having a detailed budget allows you to see the whole picture, and as a result, if you may need to adjust anything you can see where you can do this without too much effort. A five-star ‘look’ doesn’t have to be expensive if you give a lot of thought to colours, use of space and especially lighting. Often a few carefully chosen items in a beautifully lit space can be amazingly effective.

Download the budget list for both (400 feet home) (700 feet home)

400 feet home

700 feet home

4. GET YOUR WALLS RIGHT

It’s so important to get your foundation right. If you don’t get this right, your whole interior will seem off. To start, you may paint test colours on walls to make sure you have just the right shade for the room. Natural light can make colours look different in each apartment. Colours and lighting can have a big impact on your home and its final look. Quiet, subtle colours in particular can give a very classy look. Don’t be afraid to experiment and refer to your mood board for that top-end look.

5. THINK ABOUT PROPORTIONS

Whether you are working on a small or large space, you will always have the same amount of furniture. There is always a sofa, coffee table, side table, and a rug. But if you have a larger space, you can scale everything up. In one of my recent projects, we added a large 4x4m rug for the living room and then added a large corner sofa plus two accent chairs as well as side tables and a larger coffee table. Behind the sofa we had room for two bookcases as well as a large floor lamp, so even in a large space, you can feel cosy. How everything relates to each other is critical is size, dimension and position is critical.

6. BUILD YOUR LAYERS

Decorating is really just about layering. Using different textures, materials and colours can help you create a finished look that you see in the lovely homes in magazines.

Find a starting point is crucial when it comes to layering, what about starting off with some sheer curtains in the living room as they add a diffused light through the main windows, which casts a lovely bright light into the room. Also, when the windows are open, the subtle movement of the curtains creates a relaxed feeling. Then you can look at the floor and add a rug. This could be wool, bamboo silk or real silk (if your budget allows). You could look at adding depth and texture to your walls with wallpaper and add contrasting colours to your sofa with throw pillows.

If you rent, add artwork to your walls to create interest and colour. Don’t be shy here, layer, layer, layer. Sometimes a single, well-chosen piece of art can lift a room or space from the simply satisfying to the sublime.

7. PLAY WITH COLOURS & PATTERNS

Don’t be scared of colours and patterns. It really isn’t that scary. Look to nature for colour combinations – such as blue or green. These colours are in nature and great colours to use in your home. Blue is having a bit of a comeback at the moment, after our love of pink. Don’t be afraid with wallpapers. You can get some great papers now, and some that even allow you to peel and stick so if you live in a rental it will be easy to remove when your lease it up. Patterns are a great way to add interest and if you didn’t know this and live in a small apartment, patterns can make your interior feel bigger! Check your mood board and look to other five-star projects, hotels, mansions, and luxury five-star apartments for inspiration.

8. EDIT FOR COHESION

Once you have added your layers, you need to take a step back and look at the room as a whole, this is where the edit comes in. Move things arounds, to see where they best fit. We work with technical plans, but I am always moving furniture and décor items around in the install stage. A room always needs fine tuning. Work with your designer and try different ideas.

9. COME BACK TO THE BEGINNING LOOKS

Always go back to the beginning to make sure that you have stayed true to the original vision you set up for. It’s all about being disciplined so that the aesthetic of the interior is cohesive and has flow.

Make sure everything looks classy and has that ultra-polished five-star look. Sometimes individual rooms or spaces might work, but somehow, they don’t gel together into a cohesive whole.

SOME QUICK TIPS FOR THE BEDROOM

Choosing a bed is a critical decision. The room may be dark and invisible, but how you sleep, and rest will colour your attitude to your entire home. The most important decision is the mattress for your bed. You will be partners for many years, so best be sure you both get along. Don’t rush this decision. Take your time. And don’t skimp on this item. But first, some tips.

Your Posture

• How do you sleep? Are you side sleeper, back sleeper, fidgety or calm. Do you sleep cool or warm? And how about your partner? When selecting a mattress, you may wish to choose according to your sleeping habits. For those who like to sleep on the side, a soft to medium-hard mattress will be more suitable. Sealy's mattress selector can definitely help in choosing the mattress that is best suited to you.Try out Sealy’s mattress selector絕對能幫得上忙。

Take Your Time to Find a Perfect Mattress

• Choose a mattress store that allow you to test out mattresses. You can go toSealy’s storefor a comfort test. Try to sleep for 10 to 15 minutes, find out which mattress support and fit your body shape.
• Take your time. Try a few pillows. Make sure you have enough room for your sleeping styles

The Bedframe

• Choosing the style of bedframe is very important too in creating an overall five-star look for your bedroom. Do you want a wooden bed, an upholstered bed, storage underneath, or just a base?
• After deciding the style of the bedframe, you can also personalised your own headboard. The Sealy headboard is equipped with different designs, there are the Classico (designed with smooth and subtle curves that give you the comfy and stylish look) , Designer (traditional buttoning with a hit of contemporary update), Havana (the perfect blend of modern and classic design with deeply tufted buttons) ,and many more to for you to match with the overall design style of the home.
• If you don’t have enough storage space at home,Sealy’s Automatic Bedframeis a safe and reliable option, as it provide storage compartments that can help you organise items and enhance spatial performance. It’s safe and reliable, with just a single button that controls the lifting.

Bedding

• Bedding is also critical: Invest in good quality bedding. Try using French Linen bedding. Not only does it last for years, but it also becomes softer over the years. Yes, it is a big expense to start with, but when your bedding can last up to 10+ years and still look great, it really is the best investment.

Layers

• Always layer your bed up with lots of decorative pillows and throws. Even in the height of summer here in Hong Kong, with the air conditioning on all night, you may want to put an extra layer on!

A five-star dream house may seem out of reach, but as long as you follow the 9 tips from the star interior designer Ellie Bradley, and have a complete checklist before preparing for renovation, then your five star dream house will be close by.

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