Interior Design & Styling Course: Beginners

Learn to master the art of interior design and styling with our comprehensive interior design short courses in Sydney!

In this Interior Design & Styling Course for beginners, you will learn to grasp the principles and elements of interior design and styling and will be able to confidently style and decorate your own rooms. Our classes will revolve around Eight Golden Rules of Decorating: Colour, Contrast, Warmth, Balance, Scale, Detail, Surprise and Personality.

Each class includes visual aids such as display boards, mood boards, sample materials and products, magazines and books. There will be a workshop with hands-on practical exercises whereby students can put their knowledge and creativity to the test. At the end of each lesson, there will be time for questions and answers.

We have interior design and styling books available for students to reference for ideas. We also provide the students with notes, printed & soft copies, that outline the highlights of each lesson, as well as advice, tips and tricks to help students. The classes will include anecdotal information on local and international designers and decorators and practical hints on the renovation.

Course content

What will be covered in this Interior Design and Styling Course?

Colour and the concept of home

Define the concept of home—an introduction to interior design and determine your style. We give a general overview of colour theory and colour psychology and assess the power of colour in decorating and learn how to use the colour wheel.

Exercises will include:

• Quiz finding your style
• Identifying primary, second and tertiary colours
• Choosing colours for different lifestyle situations
• Creating a colour scheme for a room at home

Contrast - Texture and pattern

The elements which give interest to a room and provide the most significant contrast are texture and pattern. We learn about the origins of those most easily recognised patterns and how texture, both visual and tactile, enhances a scheme. We discuss choices in both soft and hard surfaces, from flooring to furniture to bedlinen, from timber to tile.

Exercises will include:

• Creating a texture file using samples and pictures based on the word groupings: luxury and opulence; neutrals and zen; warm, inviting and rich, and lifestyle choice: coastal, country and urban
• Choosing fabrics for seating/cushions to complement their colour scheme

Balance - Window dressing

Window treatments make your room memorable by providing the perfect balance that includes curtains and pelmets, shutters, screens and blinds.

Exercises will include:

• Identifying specific window styles from a selection of magazine tear-outs
• Determining window treatment for the personal mood board

Scale - Choosing furniture

It’s essential to know how to make the most of the available space in a room. We discuss how to choose furniture, including storage, in scale with the room size and how to incorporate new pieces with existing pieces. It’s important to know you can never have enough.

Exercises will include:

• Drawing up a floor plan to show furniture placement for a small room, large room and L-shaped dining/living room
• Recognising favourite furniture styles and picking out examples from magazine tear-sheets to show you how you can include them in the personal decorating plan

Warmth - Good lighting says it all

Good lighting is key to a warm and inviting home and the value of good lighting to highlight and define your decorating scheme is paramount. It’s also essential to have an idea of the effect lighting has on colour.

Exercises will include:

• Making a basic lighting plan for the personal decorating scheme
• Choosing the lighting styles - task, ambient, accent, for a variety of rooms

Detail - Little definitive details make a significant impact

A decorating plan is not complete without the detail --- think door hardware, light switches and mirror. And then there are the accessories, those introduced embellishments like cushions and throws.

Exercises will include:

• Collate a visual file from magazine tear-sheets of selected accessories to complement the personal decorating scheme
• Select fabrics which would go together to make a cushion to complement this scheme

Surprise - It’s the must-have element

An element of surprise is the not-so-serious punctuation point which gives a room credibility. It can be as simple as a jolt of brilliant colour, the addition of a statement chair or a floor to a ceiling mural. It is also about traditionally using new materials or exploring old materials in a modern way.

Exercises will include:

• Using pictures/magazine tear-sheets, choose two outstanding pieces/elements to include in the personal decorating plan
• How to add a sensory element to your decorating scheme
• A demonstration of how to put together a collection of objects

Personality - Make your spaces express your personality

Design a memorable room with a great personality by applying originality to basic decorating principles and adding artworks, paintings, prints, crafts, framed photos, family portraits and books - which all serve to humanise a disciplined background.

Exercises will include:

• The outcome: Students will complete their mood board/decorating scheme with a visual file of images that expresses their personality. We will allow each student to present their work to the class should they wish.

Intended audience

Who is this Interior Design & Styling Course for?

This course is for students looking to upskill, professional interior designers who wish to consolidate and enhance their skillset, and anyone interested in the art of interior design. Whether you have prior personal or professional knowledge in interior design or are starting from scratch, this course welcomes all levels of experience.

Course venue

Rozelle Campus

2A Gordon Street, Rozelle NSW 2039 (corner of Gordon St & Victoria Rd in the grounds of St. Joseph's Church)

Course materials

What to bring to class

• At least ten magazine tear-outs of a variety of your favourite rooms and decorating ideas
• Biro and black fine-tipped felt marker
• Small colour wheel
• 1 × piece of A3 boxboard
• Please wear closed-in shoes
• Gluestick
• Scissors

Discounts for SCC students are available with the following retailers:

• Art On King in Newtown, 10% off
• Eckersley’s Art & Craft on York Street, 10% off