Creating a cohesive interior design for you home isn't that hard if you
know some of the basics. In fact, decorating your home so that all the
various elements combine to create the look you've always wanted can be a
lot of fun.
Following are some proven tips to help you turn your house into a designer home:
Taking the first step
As they say, let's start at the beginning. Chances are good that
your home is a mish mash of furnishings, art, accents and accessories
that have been collected over time. To create the perfect designer look,
you want to first consider the purpose for each room, how you want it
to look, your personal tastes, features that can and can't be changed,
and finally, the budget you have available.
Start with the key elements
The success of a room's design lies in the balance you create. The
basics of good design are proportion, balance, contrast, rhythm,
pattern/texture and harmony. Knowing how these elements work together
will help you design your space so that it's not only beautiful, but
comfortable and functional as well.
Proportion
Scale is one of the most important things to consider when creating
the look of a room. A room that is proportioned correctly will feel
welcoming while an incorrectly portioned room will just feel crowded and
unfriendly. The trick is to match pieces in terms of their scale. A
large overstuffed sofa needs an equally large end table or coffee table;
otherwise, these accents simply disappear as the sofa dwarfs them
proportionally. When considering scale, look to the other rooms in your
home for furniture that may be a better fit with the focal pieces you
have in your room.
Balance
When creating balance, there's two ways to go here. The first is
symmetrical design, where everything is perfectly balanced. With
symmetrical design, there's roughly two of everything or items are
mirrored in the room. For instance, one chair is placed exactly opposite
another one just like it. While this creates balance, it can also make a
room look static and lacking any visual interest or energy. Experienced
designers use asymmetry to create this interest. Objects balance well
because they are judged by their visual weight, not pairings. For
instance, you may have a large sofa on one side of the room that is
balanced by two large overstuffed chairs with an accent table in the
middle and floor lamp behind. These pieces balance the sofa visually,
even though they aren't equal in size or shape. The design works because
there is balance in the asymmetrical layout of the furniture.
Contrast
Imagine walking into a white room with white carpet and white
furniture. Pretty boring, huh? Contrast helps draw the eye around a room
through the intelligent use of color. Bold use of colors creates energy
while the use of muted shades in complementary tones creates calm. The
more contrast you create, the easier it is for the human eye to follow
the intended design of the room, moving visually from one space to
another, guided by the use of color and contrast.
Rhythm
While creating contrast with the use of light and dark tones can be
effective, it can also create boredom. To keep the room connected, you
want to use rhythm. This means reusing specific colors, patterns,
textures or themes throughout the room. Pick a couple main colors and
repeat them in different ways in your paint scheme, fabrics and accents.
Pattern & Texture
As the eye moves about a room, it picks up specific patterns. These
are grouped together, so a blue wall is combined with a striped piece of
fabric that has the same blue in it. Patterns that don't fit create
conflict in the mind, compromising the appearance of the space. Again,
you want to pick one or two primary patterns or textures and vary them
within the color palette you've already created for the room. Right
alongside the elements of contrast and rhythm in home decorating is
pattern/texture.
Harmony
If you've ever heard three singers sing different parts that sound
amazing together, then you already know what harmony is. The same is
true for the harmony in your home. Different colors, different designs
and different proportions combine to create a new look that was never
there before, just as new notes are created by singers singing three
different parts. The room is suddenly complete. It has a look that if
you remove just one element, won't have that harmonic feel to it any
longer. When you've achieved harmony, you've achieved your design goals
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