Online Interior Design Course with Tidylife’s Antonia Ludden

September is a few short weeks away. New term, new focus and a great time to start new projects. So, there’s no better time to use this renewed enthusiasm to hone your creative skills. The fact that you’re reading this means you have an interest in beautiful interiors so why not give an Online Interior Design Course a go? An online course would teach you all the fundamentals of the interior design process so that you can create your own accurate designs – and put them into practice, from first sketches to final snagging. Then you can use your new-found expertise to transform your home. It could even be a stepping stone to a new career.

A person with their back to the camera is sitting at a desk, participating in an online interior design course on a computer. The monitor displays several people in a virtual meeting. The desk is cluttered with papers, books, and stationery, in a room with wooden walls.

How did Antonia get on with the Online Interior Design Course?

“I learnt so much! I was on the course with several other home design lovers and they were a great bunch of people. Our tutor Rozan was superb, incredibly experienced and knowledgeable. With a relaxed, friendly and helpful manner, she took time to explain things fully and clearly and she really helped us with our questions and design dilemmas.” Antonia, Tidylife

Award-winning lifestyle and interiors influencer Antonia Ludden joined our June course to increase her knowledge of the ins and outs of interior design. She said herself that she has always been an enthusiast and loves interiors but wanted to know more. In her recent Tidylife blog, Antonia explains just how much she got out of the course – far more than she was expecting, a theme echoed by almost every student we have taught. We’ve shared some of Antonia’s ideas for her living room refurb below. Make sure you scroll down to see some of the fabulous work from our other students as well. We are always amazed at the sheer variety of styles and approaches we see, considering everyone is doing exactly the same interior design course. We do ask all our students to work on an actual room in their home so they create something that is real and relevant, not a carbon copy of a simplified, theoretical space.

Antonia’s living room design hinged around an existing, dark grey sofa but she wanted to create a calm, soothing space with dusky greens, warm neutrals and earthy tones
A flat lay image showcasing a variety of materials and inspirations from an interior design course on a woven mat. Items include colored paint swatches, fabric samples, a leafy branch, minimalist sketches, and photos of furniture. A knit swatch and geometric wooden tile are also present.
Her final samples board incorporated Antonia’s final choice of colours, fabrics and gorgeous textures
A technical drawing of a living room setup, ideal for an interior design course, includes a chair, a fireplace, and shelves with decor items. Two black pens are placed on the left side of the paper. The drawing tools like a ruler and protractor are visible at the bottom.
Space planning helped Antonia find the perfect spot to incorporate a built-in desk and workspace

Online Interior Design Courses are not all the same

So, how does an online interior design course work? We have to start by saying that courses are not all created equal. Some just show you how to create a mood board. Others include a certain amount of self-paced, remote learning. Our online course goes way beyond that. Recommended by Livingetc magazine as ‘One of the best online interior design courses you can do from home‘, we include 10 x 2-hour live, interactive lessons with a qualified and talented interior designer. You get to see live demonstrations, ask questions and share inspiration with other students. All lesson plans and presentations are available in your own student portal, and recordings of each live lesson mean you can go back over demonstrations and explanations as many times as you like.

Online Interior Design Course, free drawing kit worth £120

Free Drawing Kit worth £120

First of all, we send you a fantastic Drawing Kit worth £120, which is yours to keep. It contains everything you need to create your first and all future interior designs. Our online interior design course teaches you valuable, life-long skills that will enable you to undertake future projects throughout your home.

  • Scale drawing to create accurate floor plans and elevations
  • Industry-standard symbols so your drawings will be understood by contractors
  • Colour theory
  • Developing a look, feel and colour scheme with your mood board
  • Space planning
  • Selecting the right furniture, fabrics and finishes
  • Using your chosen materials to create sample and style boards
  • Costing your project
  • Choosing and appointing contractors
  • Project management and installation
  • Final snagging

By the end of the course, students have a finished room design, ready to get started.

Online Interior Design School, finished floor plan, elevation and samples board
Photo © Alison Gibb

Online Interior Design Course Past Pupils

Let’s see how some of our previous participants got on with their online interior design course. Everyone said just how much they enjoyed it and how much they had learned – so much more than they had expected.

Sketch of a bedroom showing built in cupboard, sockets, switches, door and radiator

To make the learning relevant, our students always work on a room in their own home. Before the course started, everyone was asked to measure their chosen room, do a quick, freehand sketch of the space, and take as many photographs as possible.

Online Interior Design Course, Lesson 1

The first live lesson introduced the class to the drawing equipment and how to set everything up. Then, we got down to the all-important scale rule and how to use it, with exercises in scale drawing before we started our actual floor plans. The drawing kit is an invaluable addition. It makes the whole online interior design course so much easier.

A person with short hair and glasses is focused on drawing a rectangular shape on a drawing board using technical tools, likely for an interior design course. A paper coffee cup is visible on the left, and colorful items are in the background. The person is wearing a dark sweatshirt.

Colour Theory

There is a lot more to colour than you may imagine. Warm vs cool. Bright vs pastel. Neutral vs bold. Learning how to combine colours and work with them to create monochromatic, analagous, complementary or triadic colour schemes is the starting point when putting together a mood board.

A color wheel with 12 segments, illustrating primary (red, yellow, blue), secondary (orange, green, violet), and tertiary colors—each labeled accordingly. Perfect for an interior design course, the wheel is arranged in a circular pattern, transitioning smoothly between each color.
Image courtesy of uxblog
online interior design course, mood board, neutral colours, textures
online interior design course, mood board, neo mint and complementary colours
A collage showcasing bedroom decor: a modern bed, a fluffy rug, a black nightstand with gold accents, various white and beige pampas grass in vases, a gold-framed mirror, two sleek gold and white lamps, abstract wall art, and a gold chandelier with globe bulbs—all elements worthy of an interior design course.
Image courtesy of MR

Space Planning

The students learnt that it’s all very well knowing that your furniture will fit into your room, but does the room still flow? Is there space for you to actually use the room properly? Today’s exercise was all about zoning and bubble plans. It gave the chance to experiment with scale plans of furniture, moving everything around until everyone was satisfied.

A floor plan showing a bedroom and an adjacent bathroom, perfect for an interior design course. The bedroom is marked with the word "Bedroom" and the bathroom is marked with the word "Bathroom." Two green lines indicate pathways through the rooms.
online interior design course, placing furniture
Photo © Alison Gibb

Collect Plenty of Samples

Before the course starts, it’s always a good idea to collect as many samples as you can – far more than you will eventually use – to give yourself as much choice as possible. Fabrics, carpets, paints, wall coverings, floor coverings, images of pieces you like. We use these to narrow down our final choices, seeing what works together (and what doesn’t). Only then can we create our final samples boards, using actual samples and colours as much as possible.

An older woman with glasses, wearing a bright pink blouse, sits at a desk working on a craft project. The desk is cluttered with paper, fabric scraps, scissors, glue, and other crafting materials—reminiscent of an interior design course in session. A pink handbag and a teacup are also on the desk.
A variety of material samples arranged on a surface, including marble, wood, metal, and tile pieces in different shapes and sizes. A large gold leaf decor item lies at the top right, adding an artistic touch to the collection—an inspiring palette for any interior design course.

Costing, Choosing Contractors, Project Management

Costing is one of the most important aspects of any interior design project. The students were given plenty of information, hints, tips and templates to make sure every part of their project could be costed and a budget agreed. It was then explained how to go about appointing contractors and managing the project from beginning to end, right down to final inspection and snagging. Necessary skills for the budding interior designer.

A woman in a light blue shirt is pointing at architectural plans on a table. She is interacting with a person in an orange safety jacket holding a blue hard hat and talking on the phone, possibly discussing details related to her recent interior design course. A computer and bookshelf are visible in the background.

The Online Interior Design Course is Complete

And that’s it. Floor plans and elevations done. Furniture chosen. All the information you need to cost and manage your project, appoint any contractors if necessary and arrange installation and snagging. You’re ready to go. If this is something you’ve always wanted to do, enrol now and discover a whole new set of skills.

A modern living room with gray walls, a fireplace, and a large mirror showcases what you could learn in an interior design course. A gray couch decorated with green and geometric black-and-white pillows faces a metallic coffee table. A reading chair, a desk with a green vase, and a black floor lamp complete the decor.

So, after 5 weeks of intensive tuition, our students have a fantastic array of floor plans, elevations, mood boards and sample boards. They are ready to make a start on their first interior design project – and we can’t wait to see the results.

Angela had a beautiful, light-filled and very large room to design and plenty of ideas to choose from
Angela’s end wall elevation, showing the height of her ceiling!
Angela’s samples board includes a wealth of colour and texture
A hand-drawn sketch of a living room wall, as if inspired by an interior design course, featuring a central fireplace with a mirror and vase on the mantel. Built-in shelves on either side hold various plants, books, and decorative items.
We only ask you to do one elevation during the course but Amy decided to do elevations of all four walls in her cosy snug
A minimalist sketch of a living room layout. The drawing features a floor lamp on the left, a low television console with a flat-screen TV in the center, a window above the TV, and a tall shelving unit with various shapes and an armchair on the right—a perfect study for any interior design course.
A simple line drawing of a room interior, featuring elements you'd encounter in an interior design course: a large window, a sliding door, a stool, a desk with a potted plant on top, a circular wall clock, and a brick-patterned section near the upper right. The drawing is on a white sheet of paper.
A minimalist room sketch, perfect for an interior design course, features double glass doors on the left, a plant in a pot beside the doors, a green couch with cushions, and a shelf above the couch adorned with decorative items. The sketch is drawn on white paper with a ruler at the top edge.
Bahar had an imposing stone fireplace, which she softened with beautiful feminine touches, sumptuous textures and romantic pale pinks
Sadia added depth to her warm neutral theme with fabulous textures and bright pops of blue
Juliet’s design was all about colour, with vibrant flowers and butterflies
Juliet’s samples board uses rich blue velvet, flamboyant florals and her signature butterfly wallpaper and fabric
Last but definitely not least, Stacey wanted to create a gloriously romantic feel with classic touches and an air of slightly faded glamour

3 responses to “Online Interior Design Course with Tidylife’s Antonia Ludden

    1. Hi David. We have now amended the post to make it clearer. Thank you for your feedback.

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