The Sunday Mail
Functional layout
INTERIOR design must begin with a functional layout of a room. To begin, we suggest looking online for the numerous free offerings of online tools for room layout and design. In these design programmes you can input room measurements, furniture measurements and then play with room layout to see what is most optimal.
We learn a lot of our floor plan mistakes the hard way, so why not virtually design your room first, avoiding the drudgery of moving heavy furniture around, and failing repeatedly to get the proper layout.
Functionality of your home is very dependent on individual lifestyles. If you have an empty nest, then you may be more willing to invest in expensive pieces and room decor, while busy families may prefer an open floor plan that is unobstructed by numerous decorative objects. Consider your individual living needs and then choose the right design software that can help you achieve your ideal layout.
Splurge on seating
Most designers will tell you that if you are going to splurge on one item, then let it be the sofa. Choosing the correct seating for a room is overwhelming. What colour do you choose? What fabric? What size? How much should you spend? What is a good quality sofa? This article offers some insightful advice when it comes to choosing a high-quality sofa.
Visiting numerous design showrooms will also help you in the initial search of style options that suit your needs and tastes. But before venturing out to shop, measure! It would be awful to fall in love with a piece only to discover that it is too large for your space.
We suggest you narrow down your choices to a few final options and then choose based on highest quality. A sofa can be a lifelong investment when the best quality is purchased, so buy the best that you can afford. Oh, and choose a fabric that you won’t grow tired of. Who wants to live with a floral patterned couch or a dated “it was hot when I bought it” colour the rest of their lives?
Decorative objects
It seems frivolous to add objects into a room that have no real use. Why would I buy something that I cannot use? Well, the answer is simple – because it makes a style statement, thereby adding to your decor.
An eye for appealing aesthetics is something that you may not posses right away, but through trial and error, you can discover the correct assortment of decorative objects that work in your home. A lot of interior designers say that if you absolutely love something, and then buy it, you will find a place for it and a way to make it work. This mantra may work for those of us with seasoned design knowledge, but not for the more timid newcomers to design.
If you are at a loss, we suggest browsing through magazines and interior showrooms to see what you love.
Take notice of the way showrooms display their decorative objects; notice that most things are placed thoughtfully into groupings and not strewn about individually through the room. Most of all, buy what you love; what speaks to who you are.
Add some green
Plants are commonly an after-thought. This is a design mistake. You may think that you have a room completely, immaculately designed, but look to see if you have incorporated plants and natural elements.
It is amazing what happens to the warmth and design spirit of a room the minute that you add a tall potted palm plant. Immediately the room seems fresher and more properly put together.
You can incorporate easy-care house-plants into your interior design – you will be so glad when you admire the new level of interior design your room achieves thanks to greenery.
Add layers
Layering a room is paramount to comfort and visual warmth. A fuzzy area rug is layered over the rooms main carpeting; pillows are perched in layers on the bed and on the chairs; curtains layer the windows; a blanket layers the side of a chair.
All of these elements form a cosy stratum within the room that helps it achieve a well-decorated aesthetic. While considering the layers that you would like to add to your design think about choosing varying textures and fabrics – think velvet pillows, silk curtains, mohair blankets, and plush area rugs. All of these different textiles make the layering effect even more lavish. Go from blah to beautiful by layering your room today.
Incorporate black
This little-known trick works. No matter your design tastes – country to minimalist – every interior design should incorporate a few splashes of black. Why? Black adds a sense of depth, character and focus to a room like no other colour can. It can be as simple as incorporating pictures in black wooden frames or a black graphic print on your curtains, or a black stripe lining throw pillows. It does not matter where you choose to incorporate this bold colour, as long as you incorporate it somewhere.
