RI Home is here! To celebrate, we held a pop-up event at Soho Square and invited interiors aficionado and our Baby Doll rep, Geraldine Tan @littlebigbell to talk us through the trend. Geraldine believes Baby Doll is all about pastels, fun prints, whimsical textures and there’s always a bit of sparkle! Here, she shares her top ten tips on how to Insta-style your home…
1. Natural Lighting...
Natural lighting for your photography is so important – I find that it actually allows you to see the detail of the image better and the colours really pop. I never use filters for my Instagram and either use a camera or my iPhone and I just edit on iPhone too.
2. Don't Be Afraid To Mix Colours...
Interior or colour experts will tell you to use the colour wheel. For me, I would say throw the colour wheel away – styling with colour should be fun. Look for an accessory or piece of furniture you like that has a colour palette and use that to style your room set. I divide the room into three sections: the foreground, the mid ground and the background and include the colour in each section of the room.
3. Stand Back And Assess...
Once you’ve chosen your colour palette, it’s important to stand back and adjust until the eye feels comfortable. You need to look at something and, if it feels uncomfortable, adjust it -whether that’s moving a cushion from left to right or changing a frame. You gradually adjust as you stand back and you want this experience to be enjoyable – which is when I turn on my music! I style, I stand back and I start.
4. There's No Such Thing As Colour Clash...
As long as you use small doses of those clashing colours and employ that technique of using the foreground, mid ground and background - you can use any colour. My bedroom is very colourful – I used RI Home’s animal print throw as my colour palette, extracted the pinks, purples and blues and used them to style each different part of the bedroom.
5. Don't Be Afraid Of Strong Patterns...
I love to mix and match patterns together. The throw has a strong animal print and one way of toning down a pattern in an interior shot is to create a boundary. By folding the throw over, the pink side is visible and creates that boundary and doesn’t interfere with the mid or background.
6. Textures Add Interest...
7. Use Props...
For my styling on IG, you’ll see I tend to only use the same few props – they’re normally the same props in different styles or colours. I always use art prints, mugs and coffee table books - I love buying the books for their colour (but I do read them too!)
8. Add Some Sparkle...
9. Use Greenery...
I find adding plants or some greenery always adds to the reality of the shot. I have plants or cacti or succulents on tables – and flowers too.
10. A Look That's Lived In..
People tend to engage more with an image if it looks like a room they could live in. It has to be a bed or seat that’s not too over-stylised.