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How to place, arrange and finish every room in your home, using what you already own. Twenty-nine measurements, each one sourced.
Most rooms are one afternoon
away from finished.
Not a new sofa or a new colour. An afternoon of moving what you already own to the right distances, in the right order, and taking about a third of it away. This guide is about placement: where the sofa sits, how high the picture goes, how much of the shelf to leave empty, how big the rug has to be. Almost every answer is a number, and almost every number can be checked with a tape measure.
Numbers, not vibes
Twenty-nine placement measurements, from the 145cm picture centre to the 40cm between sofa and coffee table.
Labelled by source
Every figure is marked as regulation or published standard, named research, or trade convention, so you know how much weight it carries.
Nothing needs buying
Every chapter works with what is already in the room, and the guide says so plainly where a purchase would genuinely help.
Diagrams and a planner
Twelve drawn diagrams, three fifteen-minute exercises, and a printable planner with every measurement on one page.
- 01Before You StartThe order you work in decides whether you style a room once or three times: start with the biggest thing in it and finish with the smallest.
- 02The Six PrinciplesWhat every room has in common. The room chapters apply these six ideas, and once you know them you can style a room this guide does not cover.
- 03The Living RoomThe room people get wrong most, in a predictable way: everything pushed to the walls, a coffee table stranded in the middle, and a rug too small to hold it together.
- 04The BedroomThe one room where symmetry consistently beats casual arrangement, and how to work with the bed as a central axis.
- 05Kitchen, Dining and the Entrance HallTwo working rooms and a corridor, all three styled mostly by subtraction, and all three quicker to respond than any other room in the house.
- 06The Home Office and the BathroomOne room that has to work before it looks composed, and one that looks best when almost nothing in it is visible.
- 07Artwork and Wall CompositionHanging too high is the most widespread styling error in British homes. The 145cm picture centre, groupings, and fixing it to the wall.
- 08Shelves and SurfacesThe most learnable skill in the guide: tall, flat, small, and a third left empty.
- 09RugsAlmost always too small. The sizes that hold a room together, and why a rug one size down makes a room look smaller and cheaper.
- 10Lighting the Room You Have StyledA room styled under one overhead light looks worse once evening comes. Where the lamps go so the styling still reads.
- 11Restyling Through the YearSmall changes four times a year, and the fifteen mistakes worth checking for every time you do.
- +The Styling PlannerA printable room-by-room checklist, and every measurement in the guide on one page.
What format is it?
A 36-page A4 PDF. Your download link arrives by email straight after checkout, and you can read it on any device or print the Styling Planner and the measurement table to keep.
Which edition is this?
UK. The placement measurements work in any home. The regulations and standards named for electrical work and heavy fixings are the UK versions, checked September 2026.
Do I need to buy anything?
No. Every chapter works with what is already in the room. Where a purchase would genuinely help, a rug that fits or a lamp for a dark corner, the guide says so and says why.
Where do the measurements come from?
Each one is labelled. A few are set by regulation or a published standard, a few rest on named research, and most are trade conventions, the working habits of designers, galleries and fitters. Where a popular rule has no evidence behind it, the guide says so.
Can I get a refund?
This is digital content supplied immediately. At checkout you agree to the download starting straight away and acknowledge that this ends the usual 14 day cancellation right. Separately from that: if the link fails, the file will not open, or you received the wrong guide, email hello@studioakiva.com and we will put it right or refund you.
Would you rather we did it?
Studio Akiva is an award-winning London interior design studio and a twelve-time Houzz award winner. If you would like a room styled for you, or simply talked through, book a free fifteen-minute discovery call.
