Durban - There are a few single people in their mid twenties to early thirties I know who have beautifully furnished and decorated apartments. They are mostly design and décor types... but other friends and acquaintances have, well, not so well decorated homes.
I’m counting myself.
So with Decorex in town this week (March 20 to Sunday March 23), I asked how I could use this to help myself and other young people who don’t have time, money or the energy to fix up their apartments.
For young working professionals, a properly decorated flat is not a priority.
A friend – a 29-year-old engineer who lives in a granny flat in Richards Bay – told me he tried to make his room a man-cave.
“I failed. Besides hardly ever being there, except to sleep during weekdays and watch sport on weekends, my home is basically filled with stuff I like, but I don’t know where to put it. It’s always a scramble when my parents visit.”
Another friend – a 28-year-old radio producer who lives in Johannesburg – told me when she got her own place, she thought it was going to be a classy, well-decorated apartment.
“I had so many great ideas on paper, but they involved me changing a lot of things and I didn’t want to do that. So instead I have a lot of framed photographs and that’s it. There’s nothing that’s welcoming about it, expect seeing pictures of myself with family and friends.”
The same thing happened to me. When I moved into the flat, which I share with two others, I put up three clocks, set one at local time and the others to my two favourite cities: London and New York City.
I quickly abandoned any plans to fix the place up. Besides the odd paint-job every two years, I haven’t changed a thing.
I spoke to two of Durban’s décor experts, who will be showcasing at the lifestyle event – Jennifer Jones from Jennifer Jones Interiors and Grant Wentzel from The Good Wood Company – to help out my fellow Young Urban Professionals.
The first tip they had is to plan.
“Regardless of your age, budget or stage in life, it is important to realise from the start that decorating can be expensive, and if you plan properly you can make use of clever ideas to save money, and rather spend money on worthwhile items that can be revamped for the rest of your life,” Jennifer said.
Grant agreed and added: “Visiting shows like Decorex, as well as surfing the web for cool design sites, will give you inspiration and more of a visual idea of what is possible in your home. Basically, one needs to create a look and feel using something like Pinterest.”
Pinterest has become very popular for planning purposes.
“Pinterest is the most wonderful tool available now and will enable you to start forming a good idea of what appeals to you,” Jennifer said.
“If you are going to work with a professional, call someone in to help you assess your space and your needs, and help you make some sense of all the ideas you have collected.”
Every year we get told there’s a colour of the year and trends to follow. But Jennifer and Grant don’t think following trends means you will have a beautiful home to be proud of.
“Trends are important. They are a reflection of aspects of our current society and also our changing lives,” Jennifer said.
“Don’t follow a trend just because it’s fashionable. This is what makes your home impersonal. The more personal you make your purchases, the longer they will stay with you.”
Grant agrees. “One can take them into account but ideally a lot of your personal style should come into it otherwise your home simply looks like everybody else’s. Maybe use some trending colours as a starting point but incorporate what you like and will actually enjoy for some time.”
For most gents, home décor is not our forte and as much as we love to have man-caves, getting the right things to fix up our homes is difficult.
Grant says it doesn’t have to be so. “Often items of furniture you have already can be re-vamped and turned into very on-trend pieces. A genuine piece of hand-crafted solid wood furniture is always great.”
Jennifer doesn’t see décor as gender specific. “In line with changing trends in careers, the traditional home structure has changed! Women are quite capable of changing plugs, using drills and supervising contractors, and I have many male clients who enjoy being involved in the choice of colours and fabrics.”
What’s that one thing that makes an otherwise cold room, a warm, inviting place? Well, it turns out it is lighting.
“The right lighting,” Jennifer said. “I prefer warm white to cool white globes … for home environments. Using lamps, rather than focusing on a centre light creates far more mood and atmosphere than one single fancy light! And they are more energy efficient as they only need a single globe.”
Both Jennifer and Grant will have stalls at Decorex.
“As a designer, I love Decorex. It’s an opportunity to view all the latest products and new product developments all under one roof – I wish we could have all our industry members – from flooring to bathrooms, to people making crazy new ideas, under one roof, all year round.”
Grant said Decorex is more than just getting décor tips.
“I mentioned in the beginning that the show gives a person new ideas as well some inspiration to have a beautiful home filled with tasteful furniture and décor items.”
As Jennifer put it, “why spend every weekend driving around looking for different product options when you can assess it all in one visit. You also get to see different products and fabrics used in room settings, rather than just looking at samples.” - Sunday Tribune
* Decorex Durban will be at the Durban Exhibition Centre from Thursday March 20 to Sunday March 23.