Guide to Beautiful Functional Living Spaces. From Bedrooms to Outdoor Oasis

Welcome to Simple Interior Concepts complete guide to beautiful, affordable living. This cornerstone guide explores every aspect of your home, from living room styling to kitchen, bedroom, and work-station designs, landscaping, creating outdoor living spaces, and which styles to avoid. Think of it as a roadmap to designing, decorating, and enjoying your home, inside and out.



Homes: Where Style Meets Comfort


A home is more than four walls. It is where lasting memories are made. The Homes category has great ideas for creating beautiful living spaces that reflect your lifestyle and personality. Whether you’re a first-time home builder, upgrading the family house to a multi-generation household, or considering downsizing, you will find inspiration and ideas that will turn a house into a dream home.


Design Concepts: The Foundation of Every Project


Every great indoor space starts with a design idea. In this category, you will find practical advice on how to decorate small spaces, design themes and styles ranging from ethnic to minimalist, interior upgrades, outdoor living, and more. Here you will learn how to create harmony between spaces, balance proportion, and plan your rooms with intention. These posts are perfect if you want to understand the how and why of good design before delving into furnishing, furniture, and finishes.


Interior Accents: Small Details Can Make Huge Impacts


Accents are the finishing touches that pull a room together. From statement mirrors to textured rugs and wall art, the Interior Accents category helps you choose pieces that add personality to interior spaces without clutter. Even budget-friendly additions like moss walls, new cushions, creative headboards, or terrariums can refresh a room in an instant.


Kitchens: The Heart of the Home


The Kitchen section focuses on functionality and warmth. Here, you’ll find ideas for storage, layouts, and surface finishes that make meal prep and cooking easier, and family time more enjoyable. Think of simple kitchen designs, makeover ideas, and durable, but beautiful countertops. If you love entertaining, you’ll also find inspiration for creating kitchens that blend seamlessly with dining areas or garden patios.


Bathrooms: Where Relaxation Meets Function


Bathrooms are no longer just functional spaces. They are now designed as mini-sanctuaries, spa-like rooms with rainfall showers, stone finishes, and shabby chic themes. You can also learn how to apply ceramic tile grout. Whether you want a luxury upgrade or a budget-friendly refresh, these guides will show you how to turn a bathroom into a private retreat.


Bedrooms: Your Personal Retreat


Your bedroom should be your calming space, your wind-down room, the place of restful sleep. Posts under Bedrooms explore styles and themes, concepts for those who crave privacy, creative headboard ideas, beddings, layout tips, and more. Learn how to combine soothing hues, choose appropriate accents, and maximise space, without sacrificing comfort. You’ll also discover tips for seasonal refreshes.


Furniture and Fabrics: Function, Comfort, Texture, and Colour


Choosing Furniture and Fabrics goes beyond form, softness, and aesthetics. In this section, you’ll find advice on selecting durable, versatile pieces that suit your lifestyle. While furniture is an integral part of interior design and home decor, fabrics are what add life and softness to furniture and interiors. This category guides you through topics from pet furniture ideas to choosing classic chairs and styling consoles, coffee tables, and hallways, clean curtains, and hand-woven rugs, and using textiles to create cohesive themes throughout your home.


Lighting: Setting the Mood


Lighting design is the home and garden’s secret sauce. Whether it’s task lighting for your kitchen, ambient lighting for living rooms, or floor lights for your patio, the Lighting category helps you set the right mood. Learn how to combine natural and artificial lighting for interior spaces, discover how dimmers and layered light sources can completely change the feel of a room, and read how exterior lights can set the mood of the outdoors.


Home Improvement: Upgrades That Add Value


The Home Improvement section covers everything from painting hacks to layout changes that improve flow. Whether you’re tackling small weekend projects or planning bigger upgrades, these articles guide you toward changes that add both comfort and resale value to your property. Think flooring updates, storage solutions, or open-plan living tips.


Before-and-after image of a renovation.
(Image used under license from 123rf.com)


How-To and DIY: Creative Projects for Every Home


The How-to and DIY section is for the creative individual and hands-on DIY enthusiasts carrying out simple weekend projects. These posts show you how to build, craft, or refresh. From painting furniture to creating gallery walls, you’ll find guides that make decorating fun and personal. It’s also where home and garden ideas connect, like building planters, repurposing crates, or styling entertainment areas.


Workbooks & Business Tools: Practical Resources


This category, Workbooks & Business Tools, is all about supporting design tools. You’ll find interior design workbooks and logbooks for project planning, business tools for decorators and creatives, sketchbook journals for landscape designers, client questionnaire books for consultation, site measurement logbooks, mood-board books, etc. These resources are perfect for designers and architects who want to organise their projects like true professionals.


Study Interior Design: Learning for Growth


Are you interested in taking your creativity and skills further? The Study Interior Design section highlights resources, tips, and educational guides. Perfect for students or enthusiasts, this is where you’ll learn not only design theories, but also practical steps to start a lucrative and interesting career as a designer.

 

Gift Ideas: Thoughtful Stylish Presents


This guide doesn’t stop with content about building interiors and exteriors. The Gift Ideas category helps you pick stylish, practical presents for creatives working in the building industry. Think chic home accessories, design books, or gardening tools. Perfect for birthdays, housewarmings, or seasonal gifting, these posts make sure your presents are both meaningful and beautiful.


Gardens: Extending Your Home to the Outdoors


Adding a Gardens category means that outdoor spaces are just as important as interiors, offering relaxation and connection with nature. Here, you’ll find tips on small balcony gardens, patio styling, and outdoor furniture that blends with indoor spaces. Think of it as an extension of your design concept, bringing harmony between the inside and outside of the home.


Bringing It All Together


Your home is a living canvas. From design concepts that set the foundation to interior accents that personalise, from DIY projects to garden styling, each category of this blog is here to help you create spaces that feel beautiful, functional, and uniquely yours. Whether you’re just starting your design journey or planning a major makeover, you’ll find inspiration and tools across every tab.


An illustration showing interior and exterior design.
(Image used under license from 123rf.com)


Ultimately, whether you aim to redecorate a single room, upgrade your entire home, or create an outdoor living space, all the thoughtful designs featured in this blog are grounded in functionality, efficiency, and aesthetics that enhance daily living.

So, when you are ready to create a home that is attractive indoors and out, check out the tabs above. Try the How-To DIY for simple hands-on projects, find ways to enhance spaces with Interior Accents, or start planning your dream space with our Design Workbooks.

Multi-Generational Households: A Modern Solution to Elderly Care Challenges

The idea of multi-generation households has gathered tremendous support among families that have become carers for their elderly relatives.



Now, the constantly growing demand for extra living spaces for family members necessitates upgrading an existing room or adding a one-room apartment to the building structure.

Data compiled by AARP, an advocacy group for the 50+, showed an “increase in multigeneration households, from 4.8% in 2000 to 18% in 2021.” Today, over 60 million households are living with multiple generations under one roof.

Self-Contained Apartments (aka In-Law Suites)


These private quarters are small, comfortable, and efficient. They may, or may not, be attached to the main house.

Depending on some factors, the space can be a converted bedroom, a studio flat, or a small apartment. They all come with the necessary amenities, and some come with kitchenettes, private bathrooms, bedrooms, and storage space. A luxury few have one-car garages and private entrances.

Space-wise, a detached private apartment need not be more than 850 sq. ft. or 79 sqm of land space. In the case of a private bedroom, 270 sq. ft or 25 sqm is a sufficient and comfortable space.

These spaces are also known as:
  • Mother-in-law apartment.
  • In-law suite.
  • Granny flat/suite.
  • Accessory apartment.

Maintaining Privacy


Privacy is crucial. Having private interfamily space in your household or as an add-on to your property is a good way to maintain control over personal space, in this case, both the live-in guest and the host. The guest will not harbour a sense of intrusion, and the host (or primary household) will not feel intruded on.

Having boundaries and respecting other people’s privacy is key to living together harmoniously.

As more property holders are converting their residences into multigenerational homes for themselves, their children, and their ageing parents, they now prefer to ensure the guests' apartment permits privacy and independence for all.

(This article was originally published by the author on Luxury Dream Home Designs in October, 2018)

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Building Your First Home? Use This Simple Budget Plan

Are you an aspiring homeowner, planning to build your first home and wondering how to start the journey of implementing this important milestone? In this article, you will learn:

  1. The first steps to take.
  2. How to prepare a simple budget plan.
  3. The available financial schemes.
  4. How to keep track of your costs.


(Image created by the author with MS PowerPoint)

First Steps to Take


When you finally decide to make your dreams of owning your first home come true, here are a few points to ponder:

  • Determine how much you can (comfortably) afford. This requires a simple budget plan.
  • Do you have saved funds or money raised from selling existing assets?
  • If you answer no to the above, you will need funding from financial lenders (or others).

Preparing a simple budget plan is crucial for a first-time home builder/homeowner because you need to assess the entire project and the costs you may incur. It doesn’t have to be a complex formation, but rather, a simple breakdown on an Excel or preformatted sheet.

Preparing a Budget


Preparing a budget plan for building a house is easy to work out if you break down all costs into categories:

Land Purchase (where you intend to build).

Architectural Design (hire a professional to design your home and get all necessary government approvals).

Building Permits

Foundation and Structure (construction, building materials, etc.).

Roofing (tiles, zinc, woodwork, etc.).

Plumbing and Electrical (install water pipes, drainage, and electrical wiring).

Interior Finishing (flooring, painting, tiling, ceilings, doors, etc.).

Fixtures and Fittings (doors, windows, kitchen cabinets, wardrobes, bathroom fittings, light fixtures, etc.).

Furnishings (beds, chairs, rugs, sofas, and other furniture).

Landscaping (gazebo, garden, fence, driveway, etc.).

Professional Fees (architect, engineer, interior designer, etc.).

Skilled Labour (builder, carpenter, plumber, electrician, tiler, etc.)

Insurance

10% Contingency (money set aside for unexpected costs)

To go deeper, each category can eventually split into sub-categories. This shall come at the time before actual construction begins. See the two examples below:

Materials:
  • Timber
  • Engineered wood
  • Masonry materials.
  • Roofing materials.
  • Plumbing materials.
  • Etc...
Insurance
  • General liability.
  • Workers’ compensation.
  • Home building compensation.
  • General liability.
  • Etc...

Building Financial Schemes


Depending on the region you reside in, or where you plan to build a residential structure, if you don't have money stashed away somewhere, or are expecting a windfall inheritance, you need to talk to lenders offering financial schemes and know what they offer. Ask for:

  • Lending arrangement.
  • How much will they lend?
  • For how long (tenure)?
  • The fine-print details you don't want to miss.

When you know what you can raise for your project, you will see what you can afford. You can now proceed with preparing a much more detailed budget plan.

As a First-Time Builder, Make Things Simple


Budgeting in this manner makes it easier to account for immediate and long-term building costs. It helps to stay focused and organised, and it will keep you on track. You will know the immediate, short, and long-term costs you will incur.

(Images created/compiled by the author)

Avoid accumulating too many separate sheets of paper; it can muddle things up and get you confused. You can download and print out a simple form to use (for free). Better still, you can purchase this  organiser workbook, Project Daily Record Keeping Logbook, to methodically record details of your building projects. It is a must-have tool for such laudable ventures.

A meticulous plan on how to expend your money will go a long way in ensuring the success of your building project.

Free: Download and Print Budget Planner and Tracker


Use this free download, Simple Home-Building Budget Tracker, to draw up a breakdown of what you may need. It is a simple summation of what you initially require. It will help you stay focused, organised, and keep you on track from inception through to the completion of the building project.

How to Decorate Small Spaces Like Niches, Alcoves, and Recessed Walls

Decorating small spaces in a room can become a delightful venture and one of the easiest ways to introduce a pleasant and functional interior design feature into an otherwise neglected space. Wall recesses, blind corners, nooks, under staircases, dead ends, and niches are examples of dead space that can become a designer’s delight. Many homes have these pockets of space. While some are pre-determined interior design features, others came about because of construction flaws.

There are so many possibilities and design ideas for decorating small spaces. With creative flair, an eye for detail, and a sense of proportion, you can develop something simple or grand from small spaces.


Decorating cubby-holes with beautiful ceramic pottery.

Alcoves


An alcove or nook is a partially enclosed section of an interior space. It is cave-like in appearance and is separated from the room space by walls or arches, like a cut-in space without a door.

Alcoves were known features in period homes formed from chimney breasts that protruded in the centre of a room, forming double recesses on both sides of the fireplace. They served as built-in shelving for books, décor items, and other display items in the living room. And in the bedrooms, they served as wardrobe space. Today, alcove designs have anything from small tucked-away kitchenettes to art galleries, built-in bathroom stash cabinets, and stand-alone display units. 


Alcoves on both sides of the projected central fireplace area.


And alcoves formed under the staircase, in lofts, dead corners, and similar odd spaces can serve functional purposes like storage solutions, work-at-home stations, private seating areas, built-in closets, personal reading/library, or craft-making areas.

Niches


A niche is like cubby holes, but their sizes and shapes can vary from very small to large sizes with regular or irregular shapes. They are great ways to create more space for décor display objects like sculptures, figurines, vases, and collectables or serve as spaces to stash anything from napkin holders and spices to books, tableware, or odds-and-ends.

Wall niches can be created easily by building recesses into an existing wall or as ready-made wooden boxes installed in holes punched into dry walls. They are wall enhancements and may appear like a gallery of symmetrical or asymmetrical cubby holes.

Decorating small spaces like niches demands creativity and careful planning, whether you intend to carve them out during renovations or embark on new constructions. They are in modern high-end homes as pre-fashioned insets with an arch or straight top ends. Many come styled after the Greco-Roman design with classical sculpting on the sides.


Niches in a modern bedroom, with a yellow and grey color scheme


Wall Recesses and Awkward Corners


There are always several tight corners, wall recesses, dead ends, and other general spaces around the home, which designers call wasted space. Decorating these small spaces can be overlooked at times. Why? Because many household occupants hardly ever notice them.

Don’t let any extra space like this go to waste. Maximise every square foot (or metre). These spaces can serve as functional features around the home. For instance, narrow floor-to-ceiling wall shelves will fit into any little corner and are an excellent way to store bathroom essentials. And in the bedroom, you can make a dead-end space functional by installing hanging hooks.

So, whether you live in a studio apartment or a three-bedroom home, creative interior design and decorating ideas will help you make the best use of every small space, corner, or dead-end in your home.



16 Small Space Decorating Tips


Positions and sizes of what requires decorating will differ from home to home. But whatever the form or configuration may be, decorating these empty/dead-end/cubby-hole/wasted spaces should add function and aesthetics to the room.

To spark your creative juices, open your imagination, and inspire you, below are a few guiding tips to make you do something about that unused space in your home.


Beautiful bathroom setting with two sinks and a bathtub on a hardwood floor. Note the two alcoves and arched wall niche.

  1. Install a custom-built unit for added storage space in nooks.
  2. Add a stool (or nesting stools), flowers (fresh or faux) in a vase, and woven baskets (fill with whatever you wish and place strategically).
  3. Hang a round or oval-shaped vintage mirror on a dead-end wall. Add dried plants in large urns (vases) to soften the space.
  4. Transform the end of a windowed corridor by introducing a custom-built window seat (or bench) with vibrant colored cushions. Ideal for dead ends.
  5. Think vertically. Exploit the often unused space between the top of furniture and the ceiling. Use hanging or high-mounted elements.
  6. Create a gallery wall with plaques or framed pictures of varying sizes and shapes. Both symmetrical and asymmetrical arrangements work well. Extend the gallery wall into a corner to help the lines of your space disappear.
  7. Add a floating desk to free floor space. Additional shelves above the desk will be display surfaces for books or ornaments.
  8. Hanging plants take the eyes up. Add corner shelves for potted plants display, like cacti or other tiny colourful plants.
  9. Add groups of varying heights of vases or urns, and if it is a small space, add a tall urn and hang a framed painting above it. Place them on a small round rug.
  10. Depending on the floor space available, put a chair in the corner and place a floor lamp next to it. Make it a reading corner.
  11. If it is in the hallway, you can install hooks to hang a bicycle on the wall.
  12. Tiled mirrors do wonders in tricking the eye to see a seemingly enlarged space, so utilise mirrors if you can. Use bronze or antiqued mirrors for a dramatic look.
  13. Create a floor-to-ceiling library of books. Use floating shelves for a lighter feel.
  14. Install a couple of floating shelves to hold bowls of potpourri, a tabletop waterfall feature, or bowls with scented candles floating on water.
  15. Turn the under-staircase alcove into a work-from-home office.
  16. Make it simple by placing a round table in a corner with an eclectic table lamp and decor objects set on it.



If you have a feel for design, you will agree that decorating small spaces should not be a challenge. The great thing is that decorating unused spaces in the home can be done by most homemakers with an eye for the good stuff. There will be no need to request the services of expensive professionals.


(Article originally published by the author at hubpages.com on 09/01/10)
Images used under license from: https://www.istockphoto.com


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How to Develop an Interior Design Concept – 5 Basic Principles to Follow
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How to Create a Work-from-Home Office Workspace
Interior Design: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Home Designs: Best-Sellers and Popular Choice of Aspiring Homeowners

What are the best-selling architectural designs? Aspiring homeowners and first-time builders want to know, not necessarily because they wish to build one right away, but just because they want to know the trends. It is inspiring and motivating. Knowing the sought-after styles can help them make a more informed decision about their likes and dislikes whenever they plan to build or buy their own.


Mediterranean-style residential design.


Home Designs: Best-Sellers of the 21st Century


Do you want to play safe with a popular traditional style, stay simply minimalist with streamlined modern forms, or deviate from the norm?

From architectural styles with sleek lines to country homes, colonial houses, villas, and chalets, some home designs have stood the test of time. Many are still relevant today.
  1. Craftsman: This is a great favourite for those who love classic home designs. They are large, feature natural stone and wood, and are currently the most popular style on the market.
  2. Prairie: Contemporary prairie-style plans, not unlike traditional layouts, consist of open floor plans with free-flowing spaces that flow between the indoors and outdoors. Said to be the first original American architectural style, their features include low-pitched or flat roofs, overhanging eaves, and clerestory windows.
  3. Mediterranean: The architectural home styles from the Mediterranean region (Greece, Spain, France, and Italy) are known for white plaster walls, wrought iron, patios, wood beams, and tiled roofs. Their designs often extend outdoors into courtyards or verandas.
  4. French Eclectic: They possess symmetrical or asymmetrical facades made with stone, bricks, and stucco. They have characteristic tall, steeply pitched, hipped roofs with narrow eaves. Roof materials are tile, slate, and shingles. They neither have porches nor verandas but come with balustrade terraces off first-floor rooms.
  5. New American: This style combines elements from various architectural styles to create an entirely new look. Features of interest include soaring entryways, a mix of different materials, prominent garages and plenty of interior space.
  6. Country: These architectural designs feature wide porches, shutters, meticulously spaced windows, and wood accents.
  7. European: Fashioned after beautiful French, Italian, and English architecture, they feature plaster walls, marble floors, and centrepiece fireplaces. Their elegance has captivated homeowners for centuries.
  8. Cottage: A Colonial style that stems from the homes of the first colonial settlements. They are often small-sized homes with features that include a large front porch, painted woodwork, and a small second story.
  9. Southern: These American home designs are built for the hot, humid climate typical of the South of the USA. Their features include large interior spaces, wide roof overhangs, wood shutters, and wrap-around porches.
  10. Ranch: Also known as Rambler style, ranch-style houses became popular in the mid-20th century. Their designs are in L, U, or rectangular shapes. Ranch-style homes are most often single-story structures.
  11. Modern: Modern house designs include pre-fabricated components and are designed to look (and feel) clean, open, peaceful, and relaxing. They embrace the sharp, sleek, and minimalist aesthetics of the ‘tech-hungry’ homeowner.

A modern Ranch-style home design.


Although some maintain the same architectural lines of the past, the homes come with modern interior features like:
  • Open floor plans.
  • High and vaulted ceilings.
  • Split-level floors.
  • Master bedroom suites.
  • En-suite bedrooms.
  • Entertainment rooms.
  • Outdoor living spaces.
They also desire innovative storage solutions and luxury fittings and fixtures that appeal to most aspiring homeowners.

Cape Cod Style Home.

The popular choices lean towards small to medium-sized structures. Why? Because of the downsized living trend. Another reason is that this century's digital-oriented folks are smart, realistic, and no-nonsense. They know the bigger a house is, the more it will cost to design, build, and maintain.


(This post was originally published by the author on Luxury Dream Home Designs)


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Modern A-Frame Home Designs for Smart, Compact Living
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