Design Your House Like An Interior Design Pro
Are you looking to design your home in a way that feels like it could be featured in a magazine? While nothing can replace hiring a designer for your project, budgets can definitely be a hindrance. We get it! But here are some ways that you can feel confident in your own abilities to get it looking amazing! Today we are sharing our favorite tips to make your home look like it’s been designed by a pro!
And for the next blog post, we’re going to tell you when you SHOULD hire a designer and why!
Have the big picture in mind
Before buying furniture, decorations, and, yes, paint buckets, you want to make sure to have a clear idea in your head of what you are going to accomplish and the final style you are aiming to produce.
Before investing in anything, sit down and really define the style you are going for. Are you going for a classic British style, beach vibe, rustic farmhouse feel, midcentury modern style, or boho chic? Find what really resonates with you. Get inspiration from Pinterest or magazines. Pin as many images as you want and then start to really look at them. See a pattern? Maybe it’s that most of your pictures use blues as the main color palette. Or maybe you see clean lines on all the furniture which adds a modern feel. Maybe there are floral patterns everywhere. Whatever it is, that is helping you define what you love and what your style is.
You also MUST do a furniture floor plan. This may seem extremely daunting to someone who isn’t used to drawing on grid paper, but it’s really simple! In fact, you can even buy tracing templates with standard furniture sizes (see image to the right - oh it brings me back to the early days before technology!….and yes, I’m old enough to remember drafting tables!) Use some grid paper, grab that tape measure and draw the walls out to a 1/4” scale (that means one foot = 1/4” on your drawing, usually one grid line). And then use this template to draw in your furniture! It’s as easy as that!
Once you are confident about the style you are going for and you’ve measured and you’re sure everything will fit, then you can start buying furniture or decorations.
Without doing that, you might end up buying a very nice and expansive sofa that either won’t fit (yikes!) or itwon’t produce the effect you were looking for.
Less is more
Don’t overpack your decor with lots of little things that don’t really bring any purpose or value to the atmosphere. Instead, invest in bigger pieces that will really make an impact on your room and become the focus of attention. If you do have too many things and your eye can’t settle on one place, then practice the art of editing. Edit down your decor and belongings to create a more curated look. If it doesn’t add value to the feel of the room, get rid of it!
Think about plants
Plants add a lot of value to the room. Unfortunately, they are often not considered in the decoration phase of the room but added after without putting many thoughts into them. A big plant can be a beautiful focal element of decoration in itself that adds life to your room. (Make sure you have the right plant based on how much light you have! If you need more help choosing the right plant, you can check out our other blog post “Bringing the Outdoors In” where Kylie shares her favorite (EASY) plants. PS - you can never go wrong with ferns!
Think about quality materials
Luxury is in the details. Don’t settle on a low price without looking at all the other aspects. Nice, well-made furniture won’t be cheap; they are what we consider an investment. A solid maple frame will last a lifetime, being passed down generations to come. By simply reupholstering, that piece is given a new life (and saves the landfills!) By doing that, not only are you getting a well made piece, but it’s completely custom for YOU. Need durable fabric for your kids and pets? YOU have the power to choose the perfect fabric to work. Need an extra long sofa to fit six people? By customizing a piece, YOU get the right size. All these “details” put together will create a different atmosphere in the room. And for goodness sakes, do NOT purchase an entire room set all at once. It makes a designer somewhere die a little inside.
Don’t forget about lighting
The lighting of the room can really make or kill the entire design. Make sure to let in as much natural light as possible by unblocking the windows. Is your window treatment in the way during the day preventing more light to come in? Move it up or spread them off the window (the drapes should only ever hit the sides of the window frames, never covering the glass at all!). Is there furniture blocking the light in the room? Take inventory and make adjustments. And add LAMPS! We don’t care if you don’t like lamps. It’s about the ambience of softening the warm lamp light after dark and reading a good book. Plus, bonus, the lamp can be treated as a piece of art or accessory and add a pop of color. Don’t overlook the lighting!
