Interior Design & Styling Course: Beginners

What you'll learn

Transform your space with confidence with our comprehensive interior design short courses in Sydney!

Have you ever looked around your home and felt it wasn't quite working, but weren't sure why? This practical and inspiring course will help you understand the principles behind beautiful interiors, giving you the confidence to make thoughtful decorating decisions that suit both your home and your personal style.

This comprehensive course introduces the core principles of interior design through the Eight Golden Rules of Decorating: colour, contrast, warmth, balance, scale, detail, surprise and personality. These guiding principles will help you understand how to create spaces that feel cohesive, functional, and reflective of your personal style.

Across the course, you’ll explore how colour, texture, lighting, furniture and layout work together to shape a space. Through a combination of guided exercises and hands-on workshops, you’ll apply what you learn to your own decorating ideas—developing a personalised scheme you can use in your home.

Each class includes visual references such as mood boards, sample materials, magazines and design resources to support your learning. You’ll also create your own mood board and visual file, allowing you to translate your ideas into a clear and practical decorating plan.

Whether you're refreshing a single room, planning a complete makeover, or exploring a future in interior decoration, this course provides a practical and inspiring foundation.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this Interior Design & Styling course, participants will have developed practical skills and knowledge in areas such as:

• Applying the Eight Golden Rules of Decorating to interior spaces
• Using colour theory and the colour wheel to develop schemes
• Planning layouts with consideration of scale, furniture placement and flow
• Selecting and combining textures, patterns and materials
• Understanding the role of lighting in shaping a space
• Creating mood boards and visual references to communicate your decorating ideas.

Course content

What will be covered in this Interior Design & Styling course?

During the course, participants will be guided through key concepts, techniques and approaches that typically include:

Colour and the concept of home

• Defining the concept of home and identifying your personal style
• Understanding colour theory and colour psychology
• Using the colour wheel in decorating
• Exercises including style identification, colour selection, and creating a colour scheme

Contrast – texture and pattern

• Exploring texture and pattern as key design elements
• Understanding soft and hard surfaces
• Exercises including creating a texture file and selecting complementary fabrics

Balance – window dressing

• Understanding the role of window treatments
• Exploring curtains, blinds, shutters and screens
• Exercises including selecting treatments for a decorating scheme

Scale – choosing furniture

• Understanding furniture scale and spatial planning
• Incorporating new and existing pieces
• Exercises including floor plan development and furniture selection

Warmth – lighting

• Understanding lighting types and their impact
• Exploring task, ambient and accent lighting
• Exercises including developing a lighting plan

Detail – finishing touches

• Exploring hardware, accessories and decorative elements
• Exercises including creating a visual file of accessories and selecting complementary fabrics

Surprise – creating interest

• Introducing standout elements and focal points
• Exploring materials and design contrast
• Exercises including selecting feature elements and adding sensory impact

Personality – expressing your style

• Bringing together all design elements into a cohesive scheme
• Creating a mood board and visual file
• Optional presentation of your decorating concept

Content may vary slightly depending on class pace, participant interests, and instructor approach.

Intended audience

Who is this Interior Design & Styling course for?

This course is ideal for:

• Homeowners looking to refresh or redecorate their home with greater confidence
• People interested in developing their interior styling skills
• Anyone planning a renovation or furnishing a new home
• Creative learners considering further study or a future in interior decoration
• Complete beginners with an interest in beautiful, functional interiors

No previous design experience is required.

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 rooms or decorating ideas you like
• Biro and black fine-tipped felt marker
• Small colour wheel
• One piece of A3 boxboard
• Glue stick
• Scissors
• Closed-in shoes

Additional information

Discounts for SCC students are available with the following retailers:

• Art On King (Newtown) – 10% off
• Eckersley’s Art & Craft (York Street) – 10% off