When it comes to trying to obtain the trendiest interior design, we think the best person to call is a professional interior designer. It’s true that those involved professionally in interior design tend to know the most tips and tricks regarding making the inside of a home piece together perfectly. After all, they went to school specifically for interior design. Surely, there’s a lot they know.
However, many would agree that hiring one of these experts can be expensive. In addition to the latter, some homeowners worry that an interior designer would not be able to capture their exact taste. In turn, they may stick to designing the inside of their home on their own, even if they don’t feel they have the expertise to do such.
If you plan on designing the interior of your own home but still want your design to have that professional, high-quality touch, consider the tips below.
- Live in your space before adding the nitty-gritty details.
Sometimes it’s hard to know what an interior needs before you get the chance to live in the space. While you’ll surely want to have the basics in your home like couches, tables and chairs, beds, and the like, putting off the tiny-but-mighty details is a good idea, that is, until you’ve spent a little more time in your space and can naturally pinpoint what it is your space needs.
- Place 60 percent of your books vertically in your bookcase.
Sometimes perfection is overrated. When it comes to displaying books in a bookcase or on a floating shelf, a spontaneous arrangement can bring out the most style. Simply display 60 percent of your books vertically like you normally would. As for the other 40 percent or so, display them shifted at an angle to offer variation and playfulness.
- Install dimmers to make your home more versatile mood-wise.
Lighting is a big component of any room big or small. The number of light fixtures and types of light bulbs you opt for will make a significant difference in how each room in your home feels on an emotional and mental level. Installing dimmers in your home, you can create a more flexible space that can allow you to alter your illumination from bold and lively to romantic and relaxing.
- Avoid buying too many decor or furniture items in sets.
Although buying decor pieces and pieces of furniture in sets can be convenient, and often, you can save money by doing so, purchasing items in sets is not always the best way to make your design really pop. In fact, buying too many items in sets can make your interior look too generic and bland.
If you have the time and patience on your hands, make it a goal to purchase items individually. For some people, this may be a challenge, but in the end, your home will have a better flow and offer more variation to excite the eyes.
- Keep larger, permanent pieces more neutral and accents more vibrant.
To create the right balance in your interior design, it’s important to know how to make certain items pop in your space while keeping other things more mellow. The best way to do this is to buy vibrant accent items and neutral furniture.
You can always swap out accent items if certain colors or styles no longer suit your tastes later down the road. Having furniture in neutral, timeless hues like beige or brown, however, you won’t need to swap these out as often, which can certainly be beneficial as these pieces are going to be the most expensive.
- Be mindful of how many “legs” you have in each room.
Having too many legs in a room in the form of chairs, tables, and other legged pieces of furniture can cause visual chaos. To eliminate this messiness, a good interior designer would suggest opting for long benches or tables and chairs with different styles of legs to ensure your room doesn’t appear too leggy.
- Use items you already own in your design.
When decorating a new interior space, you might buy all new furniture and decor. But why do this when you can beautifully incorporate your older items in your space and save money in the process? There’s no shame in featuring previous pieces in your home, especially the ones you have sentimental ties to. Adding newer items alongside these will help rejuvenate them.
- Brighten a room while still providing depth with light gray walls.
They say in order to make a space bright, livelier, and bigger, one should paint their walls white. However, what many don’t consider is the fact that white walls, while they can offer all of the latter, don’t offer much dimension. One solution to add both brightness and depth to a room is to paint your walls a light gray.
- Do not equate luxury seating with discomfort.
Some people have the misconception that in order to add formality to a home’s interior, there must be fancy seating present. When thinking about fancy seating, hard, uncomfortable couches and chairs often come to mind.
Although, know that it’s very much possible to have luxury seating that is comfortable, easy to clean, and attractive at the same time. Check out ComfySacks.com to find cozy seating that will look stunning in your space without a doubt.
- Make lighting a focal point.
These days, it makes no sense to only install bland, boring light fixtures. Today, there are hundreds of colors, shapes, sizes, and styles of light fixtures out there that it would be absurd to just settle with simple lighting. When you make light fixtures a focal point in your room, you will notice a dramatic difference in how it can impact your home’s interior for the better.
- Always test your wall paint, even if you’ve used it before.
Wall paint is never a one fits all, as much as we’d like it to be. Sometimes you might bring a can of paint home only to discover that it doesn’t look as good as you expected. Even for paints you’ve used in the past and love, keep in mind that, that exact hue may not look as beautiful in another room depending on the illumination the room offers. Always, always test your paints.
- Incorporate items with a story into your space.
The point of interior design isn’t just to show off your design skills or create a comfortable oasis for you and your household. The inside of a home should also have significance. Adding furniture and other items throughout your interior space that have meaning behind them can add value to a home and make for a great conversation starter.
- Update an old piece of furniture with new hardware.
Most of us don’t take the time to update the furniture we already have in our home. Instead, we usually just replace it for something newer and more exciting. However, you can bring the beauty and excitement back into a current piece of furniture for an affordable price simply by installing new hardware on it.
- Opt for one oversized decor piece to add excitement.
Sometimes a space needs a little wow factor to really bring it to life. While bold colors and loud prints might do the trick, other times, a single oversized decoration like a potted plant, tall candle, or a figurine can deliver exactly what your space is lacking and can instantly pull everything together.
- Add an item from another culture.
Homes these days tend to look quite similar to one another on the inside because many homeowners play it safe when picking out furnishings and accent pieces. However, you can make the interior of your personal property stand out by adding a few furniture or decor items inspired by another culture. This culture can be of your own or of another group or country.
- “Wow” your guests with stylish entryway seating.
When guests walk into our home for the very first time, we want them to feel comfortable. We also want them to fall in love with the interior of our home. One of the best ways to do this is to add a fun, stylish bench or set of chairs in your entryway. These can not only offer a place to rest but also give your guests something to look at and enjoy as they walk into your territory.
- Keep a home alive by making small changes here and there.
A good interior design is never truly finished. Even when you think your interior space is done, there will be future adjustments you may wish to make as things go out of style or begin to look less exciting. Likewise, you might find new additions you want to add or apply to your space as new colors, furniture and decor, and interior design trends come about.
To make your interior space versatile for many years to come, it’s important that you are open to change when it comes to the design of your space. Change doesn’t have to be intimidating!
Conclusion
While many professional interior designers may know best when it comes to amping up a home’s interior, it’s very much possible to furnish and decorate your home on your own while still obtaining an expert, five-star quality design. Best of all, you don’t need formal education or training, a textbook-worth of knowledge, or years of design expertise up your sleeves.
Knowing little interior design tips and tricks, like always testing your paint before committing to painting your walls that color or updating an old piece of furniture by adding new hardware to it, can be powerful enough to make your interior design worthy of compliments.
Candy TaiCANDY TAI is a wife to David and mom of 5 with a degree in Communications. She's a native Texan (Hook 'Em Horns!) who's been making her home in the Kansas City metro area for nearly 15 years. She loves being able to shuffle her kids from their various sports activities, piano lessons, and school activities. She enjoys fashion, beauty, reality TV, and moviegoing.
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