Like many of us, you may have a space, a room, or your entire home that you want to decorate but you are concerned about where and or how to start. There is so much information on products and ideas, it can be very overwhelming. I have developed an easy formula that will help you focus and give you a clear starting point. Interior design mistakes can be very expensive to correct and very, very time consuming. Start slowly, go step by step and you’ll be fine.
First you need to draw up your space in 1/4″ scale so you can see if pieces you are considering buying will fit and where they will go in the room. It is very important to do this otherwise you may end up with a sofa that doesn’t fit against the wall or a piano that has no room for someone to sit and play. To do this, buy graph paper…each square represents 1′. Draw the walls on the graph paper as if you were looking down on the room. Or you can purchase a kit from Amazon, like this one. Don’t forget to include the area rug in your sketch because it really is the frame of the room.
Next is the color scheme. Find pieces of fabric you like for the upholstered pieces or window treatments. Don’t be afraid of color…just choose fabrics you love. If you have a rug that you love, pull colors from that. You can also start with a wallpaper that speaks to you. You will want to find one fabric, rug or wallpaper that you absolutely love that everything else will flow from. If painting the walls, the wall color will naturally come last as a result of the other elements you’ve chosen.
When working with fabric, try to keep the same general tone or voice. A very serious silk most likely will work best with other formal fabrics. Likewise, whimsical cottons do well with other more casual fabrics. Also consider the weight…. an airy linen drape is great in room with other light weight fabrics, rather than velvets. A classic rule of thumb is to include a pattern, a stripe, a check and a plain. It adds visual interest.
When choosing furniture, consider the purpose of the room. A living room calls for a more formal sitting sofa than say a den. Also consider the scale, a large cavernous room needs large, beefy pieces of furniture. Likewise, a dainty powder room calls for diminutive, feminine pieces.
Finally, when choosing a paint color for the walls, layout all of the items you’ve selected thus far. If there is a uniform background color– for instance the background color in a wallpaper– it is always safe to use that. Consider a contrasting color for visual interest. Or you can consult a book that has schemes already put together, like this one. It is absolutely imperative however, that you do a test stripe on your walls and view it at various times throughout the day. Do this BEFORE you purchase mixed paints as you may discover, it really isn’t to your liking.
Lastly, when doing multiple rooms, there has to be some kind of connection between them…via color or accents or something so they fit together like pieces of a puzzle. It isn’t great when one room adjoins another completely, radically different room. Not so good.
If you take your time and go slowly, you are bound to create a space that you love and avoid costly mistakes. Soon enough you will have the home of your dreams.
We offer professional home staging and interior styling in Rowayton, Darien, Westport, Greenwich, Westport, Fairfield, and more. Contact us today to learn more.
by: Susan Johnson
Organizing, Design and Home Staging Consultant at In Order To Succeed
Organizing, Design and Home Staging Consultant at In Order To Succeed
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