by Blake Herzog
Have you copied design ideas from Instagram or HGTV that you adore into your home and loved the result, but longed to be able to dream up a look entirely on your own?
Even if you aren’t a design professional, it’s not as difficult as you think. All you need to do to start out is decide how you want to feel while you’re in the room.
Find your mood and inspiration
First, take a good look at the room and think about its purpose and the mood you want to be in as you do whatever you’ll be doing in that space.
If it’s a bedroom, you’ll want to use colors, textures and materials conducive to you falling asleep. Kitchens can be trickier since they often serve dual work and entertaining functions, so you may want to incorporate more adjustable lighting and furnishings.
Once you know the tone you want to set, you can start glancing at magazines and websites for ideas, but don’t slavishly copy them — this will be your creation.
Select color palette and finishes
Now it’s time to choose the colors that match the mood you want to create. It may be easy to pick out a few that seem to fit the bill, but it may be a little harder to decide how to allocate them within the space.
If this is a particular burden for you, try using the 60-30-10 interior decorating rule as a rough guide by choosing a dominant color for 60% of the room’s surfaces, a secondary color for 30% and an accent color, all complementary, to create a pleasing whole that’s entirely your own.
Don’t forget to consider paint finishes and flooring if you plan to change those as well.
Set your budgetary limits
Now that you’ve had a little time to dream, it’s time to get back to reality and consider what you’re going to be able to afford. This doesn’t have to be a drag if you bring some ingenuity into shopping for what you need to bring your vision to life.
Search the thrift and discount stores of Pinal County, the garage and estate sales of your neighborhood, your own attic and self-storage locker and anyplace else where there could be an item that could spark an idea to bring the space to life.
Choose anchor and secondary furniture
It’s a good idea to carefully measure the room’s dimensions, especially doorways so you’ll know what you’ll be able to get through them, and then draw up a rough floor plan so you’ll know what you’ll want to put where.
Then it’s time to choose the dominant piece or pieces. It could be one sofa, bed or desk or several items if you’re populating a great room. Don’t be afraid to splurge on anchor pieces, since they’ll set the standard for the room. Then select your secondary furniture to fill in around the edges.
Pick out window treatments,
rugs and textiles
These will be especially important for setting the mood of the room, with curtains, shutters or other treatments controlling the natural light and energy filtering into the space and the floor coverings, pillows and throws helping to establish the level of formality or coziness.
Keep in mind how the room will be used and how much foot traffic you’re anticipating, so you can plan the flooring and window materials accordingly.
Accessorize it!
Once all these steps are completed you may not feel like there’s much left for you to do. For a truly minimalist space you may not want to add any artistic elements to the room, but most design approaches would benefit from a wall hanging or two and maybe a couple of figurines or art objects, if the surfaces aren’t already getting cluttered.
With all the other pieces in place, it’ll be
easy to find pieces that fit into your scheme.
