Basic Interior Designs

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An interior decorating project will be much more successful if you pay attention to a few key guidelines.  Once you know the basics of interior design you can create rooms that really work.
Have you ever walked into a room that was full of nice things but just didn’t “feel” quite right?  The chances are that the person who decorated that room might have great taste but simply did not know the basics of interior design. 

Many people fall into this category but you don’t have to be one of them. 

Most of us know what we like but just have no idea how to pull it all together to create a warm and inviting room when interior decorating.  We are giving you a mini course on interior design which will help you make more informed decision with your home decor.  You will learn the basics of interior decorating and gain the confidence to take great decorating ideas and use them together to create one cohesive look.

Remember, when decorating you should enjoy the journey and not see it as a task to be accomplished.  When starting an interior decorating project remember to keep it fun!  While learning the “rules” of interior design is important, you must always keep in mind that your interiors should reflect your lifestyle and tastes. 

• proportion
• balance
• contrast
• Rhythm
• Harmony
• Pattern and Texture

Designers have long realized the need to bring nature into the home or just about any space that needs softening up. Be it a large or small room, the earthy look makes a space look inviting and pleasing to the eye. Many of the furniture and crafts from Asian countries make good accessories or center pieces for a space and it also makes them blend in with the room itself. Warm subdues colors for the walls and the ceiling makes a bedroom rather restful and a pleasurable place to be in inviting one to take it easy. For work spaces, stick to lively brilliant colors to bring out the exuberance in people encouraging creativity and keeping them active. Pastel colors never seemed to loose appeal for their soothing effect on anybody seeing them so use them for children’s play areas and rooms to get them rested and calm.

Add bamboo or rattan furniture from tropical stores that are offered in many shapes and sizes to fit in your room. As with all approaches to designing, never over-do a space with too much decor and avoid clutter as much as possible to maintain a clean look.

Interior designing can be used both for aesthetics and practical purposes as with the case of flush appliances that are installed as if they were not there. Up front, the kitchen wall might seem to have row upon rows of shelves but in fact they have the dishwasher, fridge, range, wine chillers and microwave hidden underneath the beautiful wood panels that were designed specifically for the job. These forms of kitchens are designed around these appliances so they can be integrated into the design of the space. A seemingly bland wall can hide a flat screen TV allowing the room to look uncluttered and crisp (though many love to watch them, many dislike the looks of modern television sets which usually come only in black or silver.)

Furniture makers and collectors have gone through to extreme lengths to obtain good wood for furniture such as the purchase of old wood from houses and other structures that are being torn down. Efforts to reduce the pressure on the ever lessening old growth forests are underway and reclaiming lumber for other purposes such as furniture are being hailed as better solutions to cutting them down. The wood was so old they used a saw to cut paper thin wafers that was stuck onto particle wood to make furniture (the wood is too valuable to use as is). So you better get on the lookout for some hot deals on antiques and wood furnishings, they are surely getting harder and harder to get hold of.

It seems that wood will keep its place in the interior designer’s arsenal of making a space looking inviting and functional. Many love wood and its natural appearance going through extreme lengths to show them off. May it be flooring, wood paneling for the walls or the furniture, wood seems to transcend time and as we all know it, the older the wood the more character it holds. Old growth wood is now harder to get due to bans on cutting down trees from forests for furniture and many other uses. Timber that comes out of commercial forests is just not good enough for the wood lover. Antiques have been fetching good prices and all are due to the endearing properties of older wood from older forests we just cannot get enough of.

Many think that interior design is based on a fixed rule of thumb that all interior designers follow but that is a very much wrong assumption. Interior design is about taking a space and making it both beautiful and functional at the same time. It also incorporates the personality of the homeowner as can be seen in some rather outrageous vacation homes that can be seen on a certain TV program. They do look unique and lavish but the incorporation of the personal touch is very evident in the designs the interior designers come up with for their clients. That is why interior design is a medley of the science of the use of space and art of making it both functional while giving it a look of grandeur. A good interior designer has the ability to mend these two forms of expression into a functional seamless space.

This is something most people don’t pay much attention to making them shun away from the utilization of interior specialists thinking they were too expensive to hire. But knowledge of the local and regional associations of these type of services are members to can save you a lot of money in getting them to re-do your space for you. Most firms would begin by asking for your budget range and give you designs based on that design costing expectancy. Why go for something that you think is too expensive for your taste. If money resources do not permit you to hire one or a firm, ask your local contractors or get referrals from friends and neighbors who have had experiences in the same area to get you started. People who work for large firms can even do work for you as individuals without having to deal with the firm itself.

Decorating a child’s room doesn’t stop with the paint and furnishing for windows are an essential part of the way a room functions. Double glazed windows keep electricity costs down in terms of cooling and heating. Adding blinds or curtains to give privacy is also a great idea allowing you to vary the amount of light going into the room. Applications in the form of well-loved cartoon characters come in all shapes and sizes for application to glass that is as easy as pie. If the windows in your house are quite large and accessible to the child, install child proof locks and grilles to prevent falls. Another great idea is to get one of those wireless cameras for easy monitoring for audio and video while you work in and around the house helping you keep track of your energetic toddler. Locating devices attached to a child’s belt also allows freedom which sounds an alarm if he/she strays too far from you.

Interior design is the art and science of maximizing the use of a space both aesthetically and functionally. There are many branches of the said field with the so-called interior designing itself as the main focus of this site. Do you know that there are many products and services that are now available on the market today that used to be limited to people in the field a few years back. To see this, visit the local home depot or browse through their online stores to see the variety of tools, equipment and furnishings that can be purchased to make use of a space more effectively. With that knowledge in mind one can do about a re-design of a space at a fraction of the cost it used to take. Top save time, make use of readily available supplies and do more research of local suppliers for special items.