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design elements

Stay at Home Interior Design During the Pandemic

August 30, 2020

stay at home interior design

Just because you’re stuck inside, it doesn’t mean that you can’t spruce up your home. While the coronavirus keeps us all indoors, you can use the time to do some stay at home interior design.

Whether you live in a mansion or a small apartment, here are a few ideas that can help to brighten your home. Best of all, you won’t need to buy anything new.

Rearrange Your Space

Moving your furniture around can give you a whole new space. Many people never rearrange the layout of a room unless they purchase a new couch or dining table. Stay at home interior design can get you comfortable with discovering different—and better—ways to lay out your furniture.

That bookshelf that’s been in the corner since you moved in might look better on the opposite wall. When you’ve moved that, you might find that it covers up a rug that you could lay out as a focal point for the room.

Try to let yourself have fun experimenting. Look at your living room and see what furniture you can move and where. Just make sure you have help moving heavier pieces.

Transforming Your Rooms

Many people who did not previously have the opportunity are now working from home. Rearranging your home can improve productivity by giving you a designated workspace. You may be tempted to lie in bed with your laptop, but you should take this as an opportunity to do some stay at home interior design that maximizes the use of your space.

Look at the available space in each room and consider where you can get the most work done. Try setting up your desk or workspace in different rooms to find out where you feel most inspired and productive.

Plants release oxygen through photosynthesis. Putting any houseplants you have near your workspace can give your brain a boost with that extra oxygen and improve your concentration.  

Don’t Forget Spring Cleaning

Summer might be just around the corner. What better way to prepare that with some spring cleaning? Some people cringe at the idea of decluttering, but working in a clean space can help your productivity and make you more comfortable.

Nothing distracts you more than a desk full of knick-knacks. How many times have you caught yourself tapping the bobblehead in front of your computer, or sorting through the cup full of pens beside you?

Studies show that your brain tries to focus on everything around it. The less it has to focus on outside of your current task, the more you will get done.

Start by throwing away anything you don’t need. Removing items you don’t use is not only a great way to declutter your house and help you focus, but it also increases your general sense of well-being.

Stay at home interior design doesn’t have to break the bank. By moving around things you already own, having a bit of a tidy, and repurposing some rooms, your home will feel like new.

Filed Under: Interior Design Tagged With: covid, decorating, decorator, design, design elements, design trick, designer, dramatic interior, home, home design, home interior, House Cleaning Tips, interior, interior decorating, interior decorator, interior design, interior design tips, interior designer, interior designing budget, living space, pandemic, professional designer, stay at home

Starting an Interior Design Project the Right Way

June 1, 2020

starting an interior design project

Starting an interior design project can be incredibly daunting. If you’ve never done any significant redecorating before, you may not know where to start. Plus, with interior design, there’s often a fine line between nailing it and failing it.

Here’s how to avoid a décor disaster and make sure that you come in on budget.

What to ask before you start an interior design project

Before starting, make sure you are absolutely clear on the following questions.

  • Will you hire professionals or DIY everything?
  • Who will use the space, and how will they use it?
  • What are the problems and opportunities of the space as it is now?
  • What is your budget?
  • When do you want to complete the project?
  • What are the risks that might stop you from completing the project on time or within your budget?
  • Have you allocated extra money for unforeseen expenses?
  • What resources (including people) will you need for the project?

Create a mood board

Now you can move on to the fun part of starting an interior design project. Mood boards help you to visualize how your ideas will come together.

A popular way to create a mood board is by using an online app such as Pinterest or Canva. You can also make one by pasting images on canvas or stiff cardboard. Many designers like to pin items to corkboard so they can move things around.

Your mood board can include magazine images, paint swatches, and textures like fabric or carpet.

The best thing about using a mood board is that it costs very little. It should actually save you money by helping you make smart design choices.

Decide if you will hire an interior designer

An interior designer can help you with the following tasks.

  • Choosing color schemes and layouts
  • Visualizing the end result
  • Sourcing materials and furniture (often at a discounted rate)
  • Communicating with tradespeople
  • Scheduling the activities needed to complete the project
  • Lighting design

If you decide to hire a designer, your next job is to choose one. Ask people whose homes you admire for references or stalk local style gurus on Instagram.

A good designer will ask similar questions to the ones we covered earlier. You also need to love their previous work and feel comfortable talking to them.

Avoid common interior design mistakes

Starting an interior design project without a professional shouldn’t mean flying blind. Some common pitfalls that DIY designers often make include:

  • Choosing rugs that are too small for the designated space
  • Installing lighting that is too dim or too bright or only having one source of light
  • Hanging artwork at the wrong height
  • Going overboard on a theme
  • Not defining a clear focal point in a room

Fundamental advice to help you nail your interior design

Lastly, we’ll cover the two most important things you need to know.
First, cut the clutter! Most of us have far too many things. Getting rid of items you don’t need or love will make the single biggest impact on your home. It will also make it far easier to redecorate.

Second, have fun—even if redecorating seems like a huge challenge. Starting an interior design project in the right frame of mind will make everything easier.

Filed Under: DIY, Interior Design Tagged With: design elements, design trick, For many DIY designers, home interior, interior decorating, interior decorator, interior design, interior designer

The 7 Elements of Design

March 27, 2019

the-7-elements-of-designEach interior designer has his or her own personal flavor that gets added to the mix, but when it comes right down to it, there are seven basic principles by which we all operate. Whether you’re thinking about changes to make on your own or would like to brainstorm a few ideas before you meet with your own interior designer (always a great idea), these 7 elements of design can facilitate your interior design process.

7 Elements of Interior Design to Enhance Your Living Spaces

The following principles work together to complement one another while allowing just enough contrast and juxtaposition to create interest and drama.

  1. Space. The space, of course, is the room, area or building you will be working with. If you’re building a new home, you have the luxury of designing a completely custom space. If you’re working with an existing space, you may have the freedom to change a few things but the basic shape, size and proportion will be taken into consideration when envisioning the whole.
  2. Light. Light is so instrumental in the design process and is often overlooked by DIY designers. Attractive fixtures are important, but the lighting design begins with the space. How is it oriented? What natural light does it receive throughout the day? What activities take place there (i.e. how do we balance task and mood lighting effectively?) How does the light affect the mood of the space in the morning, mid-day, late-afternoon and after dark? Answering these questions will help you create a more pleasing interior space.
  3. Form. This is also referred to as proportion. Small rooms typically require a different approach to the following principles than large rooms. You will want to consider the angles and planes in a room. You can echo them to increase this aspect or counterbalance them with softer, rounder furnishings and fixtures. Larger spaces may require larger furniture, art and/or furnishings to avoid a cavernous look or feel while smaller spaces require a different approach to keep the space from being cramped or cluttered. Echoing architectural form with similarly shaped furnishings is another way to think about form.
  4. Texture. Sometimes a room is decorated beautifully but lacks “a little something”. Often, that something is texture. This is another thing that design newbies can overlook – the importance of balancing hard and soft, smooth and rough. You want to introduce different textures to keep things more visually interesting and layered. A shag area rug on a stained concrete floor, or a wood or stone coffee table in an otherwise plush room, for example. Typically we use rugs, window coverings, upholstery and other textile accents to lend texture although there are many other ways to go about it.
  5. Color. The colors you select change more than just the “looks” in a space; they are also used to create a specific mood or energy. Is this a room where you want to add vibrant energy or is it a space where you want to invite a more relaxed and restful mood? Again, how you and your family use a space will determine the colors you use to set up the tone.
  6. Furniture. These last two, furniture and objects, are often the last pieces in the puzzle, although there are certainly situations where a killer furniture piece is the focal point that drives the rest of the room’s design. Your furniture should be chosen primarily for function and aesthetics are an immediate second.
  7. Objects. Objects are often the most personalized design points but should still be used to tell the rest of the design story in a cohesive way.

In most cases, you’ll find that you have a knack for at least half of these elements but could use a nudge in the right direction when it comes to the others.

Filed Under: Interior Design Tagged With: decorating, decorator, design, design elements, designer, elements of design, home, home design, home interior, interior, interior decorating, interior decorator, interior design, interior designer, living space, seven design elements, seven elements

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