Every home deserves to feel luxurious; for many, luxury simply means being able to sit comfortably in one’s living room and enjoy their home. But luxury as aesthetic reaches much further than that, delving into a world of unique designs, textures and disciplines to create an environment that is as much art as home.
The most popular form of domestic construction project remains the building of an extension, accounting for around 81% of all planning applications. But building an extension is only part of a much longer process – and if you have a specific aesthetic in mind, how do you approach bringing that aesthetic to your new extension?
Natural Light
Natural light is an underrated, but highly effective way to modernise a space, and imbue an innate luxurious feel. You should be thinking about the distribution of natural light from the very beginning of the extension-building process, by working with your contractors or architect to ensure your extension design incorporates a number of light solutions.
Abundant windows are always a strong choice, and have the additional effect of adding sleekness through reducing the amount of interior wall on show; installing a roof lantern can open up the ceiling, bringing natural light in from above and bathing the room in sunlight. Roof lanterns enable sunlight to enter throughout the day, where windows can only be effective at certain times.
Colours
Colour scheme is of crucial importance when targeting a modern, luxury feel – but it is important not to get too carried away here. Your extension needs to match the rest of your home to a certain extent, in order not to jar with your overall aesthetic.
A good start is to find some common colours; you may have a living room based around neutral, light colours like cream. You can use this as an anchor colour for your extension, while introducing secondary colours to accentuate the space and amp up the luxury; gold hues and deep blacks work well against light colours, without hemming the space in too much.
Décor
With your colour scheme decided, you can lean in to decorating your space properly. Here, you shouldn’t be afraid to take cues from different styles and disciplines. As an example, minimalism is a design style that can often radiate luxury, through offsetting negative space with statement items of furniture or art. You can crib a look or idea from minimalism without committing, fully, though – enabling you to retain your home’s character while instilling a sense of decadence.
Fixtures
Lastly, you come to finishing your extension with fixtures and fittings. These finishing touches will be doing a lot of the work when it comes to defining your space as luxurious. In terms of artificial lighting, using recessed spotlights as opposed to ornate hanging lights and shades can help the room feel advanced and modern; backlighting in the form of LED strips can also enhance the space, illuminating darker corners and washing walls in light.
Smart technology can also contribute to a luxury feel, with app-controlled smart lightbulbs allowing you to change the ambience with a single swipe of your smartphone. Wall-mounting a smart television allows you to make technology a centrepiece.
