Unit 1, Family Life, Recording 1

Unit 4, Home, recording 12

Interviewer Hello and welcome to the programme. Today, I’m talking to interior designer, Maddy Smith. Maddy has got some great tips for decorating your bedroom. Maddy, can you start by talking about cost? Maddy Hi, yes, let’s talk about cost. Well, first you need to look at your budget. How much money do you have to spend? Don’t worry if you haven’t got a lot, not everything you buy needs to be expensive. You can invest in a couple of quality items and build the rest around those. These other items can be second-hand or new, it really depends on what you find. Interviewer What planning do people need to do? Maddy Well, you can start by choosing the carpet and the curtains. Then, tape bits of the material onto a large board along with photos of the furniture you want, for example, and then you can see quickly and easily if your ideas are any good. You don’t want to spend hours working on your room only to find you don’t like it and have to start again. Interviewer And what about choosing paint? Maddy Paint looks a lot darker when you put it on four walls than when you only see a tiny amount of it. Professional designers usually advise choosing a colour that’s two or three shades lighter than the one you like. Even then, buy a tester pot for several different colours and paint a largish area on one wall with each of the colours. Then choose the one you like best. Interviewer Would you advise doing all the work yourself? Maddy If you have some difficult jobs, which involve some kind of building work, obviously you need to call in the professionals. Otherwise avoid the extra cost. Have a decorating party. Invite your friends to help and in return give them food and drink and lots of music to keep them going. Interviewer So when you’ve finished the painting and chosen your furniture, what happens next? Maddy That’s the fun part! You can then go out and spend the rest of your money – hopefully you have some left – on low-cost items like beanbags, lamps, cushions and bedding. Make sure it’s all cheap so you won't mind replacing them when a new look comes along in a few years’ time.