Decorating is probably the most exciting thing about owning a home. Maybe, you’ve been inspired by that aesthetically pleasing house you saw on a blog, magazine, or website, and you want to apply some of the design principles to your own abode. Some homeowners do the designing themselves, while others leave the job to professionals. What’s most important is achieving great results and successfully transforming your home’s interior from drab to fab at the end of the day.
It’s essential to note, however, that a room designed by a home decorator won’t really have the exact same results as with a space done by an interior designer. From positioning curtains to planning lighting, hanging artwork, and balancing color schemes, professional designers have specialized knowledge and tricks that can transform a dull space into a fabulous one. This post has rounded up nine interior design secrets from experts that can take your interior design to the next level. Discover them below.
1. Have A Balanced Color Scheme For Your Space
While many homeowners like to proportion a three-color scheme for their space, most fail to balance everything correctly. What experts do is stick to the 10% for an accent color, 30% for secondary color, and 60% for dominant color. Note that you must not touch the accent when adding a fourth color. It’s best to split the dominant or secondary color instead.
2. Aim For Space In Your Floorplan
Interior design experts believe that the floorplan should be arranged in a way that enough space is left. In your home’s less busy areas, make sure there’s room to move around without any problem. For instance, in your living room, it’s ideal to buy round coffee tables which leave about 40-45 cm between chairs and sofas. That way, you won’t have to shout across the room just to have a conversation with your housemates or stretch too far to reach for your cup of coffee.
3. Come Up With A Cohesive Flooring
A useful hack from experts that will help make your space feel much bigger than its actual size is to use the same flooring all throughout the different areas and rooms in your house. Then, divide the space according to use. You can break up the continuity using rugs if you have open-plan, large spaces. By doing so, an impression of distinct dining and sitting areas can be created, although they’re actually part of a larger whole or the same space.
4. Follow The 70-30 Split When Styling A Particular Room
Another handy trick from experts for balancing different styles in the same space and getting your proportions right is the 70-30 split. That means decorating 70% of the room in a particular style and the remaining 30% in an entirely different style. Such a trick presents a guaranteed way of providing character to any space. It also means that you can utilize a smattering of contemporary items to spice up a significantly traditional scheme.
5. Hang Your Curtains As High As Possible
As you probably already know, curtains can easily make or break any space. That’s why you should strive for an opulent frame for your home’s windows. You can achieve this by opting for velvet and other curtain fabric that could incorporate luxury to the room.
Also, it’s essential to note that expert interior designers believe that hanging your curtains just above the window frame’s top is a bad idea. A lot of homeowners are guilty of such a curtaining mistake. It makes your window feel squat, affecting the entirety of your room, too. Make the room feel taller and create a grand impression by hanging the curtains high instead.
Lastly, pair your curtains with blinds that are easy to mount and clean. Choose those that maintain a minimalist look. You can try to check out the market for no drill blinds or perfect fit blinds for that purpose.
6. Block-Paint Your Walls
An expert tip if you want to give a fun twist to your scheme or alter your room’s sense of space is to block-paint your walls using contrasting or harmonious colors. Use a decorator or masking tape to achieve a crisp finish. Mark out geometric shapes to get an instant style, then have the walls reflect your personality by filling the shapes with various colors you love.
7. Create A Statement Ceiling
If there are parts of a house that don’t get a lot of love, the ceiling is certainly one of them. Usually, the ceiling is just boring old white. Some homes apply other colors on the ceiling’s cornices. Can the ceiling be more exciting than that? Expert interior designers believe so. By adding a mural, papering, or painting, you can create a statement ceiling and give an instant lift to a room in your house.
Give your ceiling a more Art Deco look by using faux tin tiles or metallic paints. If you want to make your space feel warm and cozy, paint your home’s ceiling in a dark color.
8. Make Your Bookshelves Instagram-Worthy
Experts make the difference between beautiful storage and a practical one by mastering the art of display. If you want to style your bookshelves right, group the items together in odd numbers, choose accessories that have the same color, and don’t overcrowd the space. Aim for the ‘one-third accessories, two-third books’ ratio while exhibiting your books vertically and horizontally per interest. Finally, don’t forget to add either flowers, foliage, or plants to your bookshelves.
9. Carefully Plan The Indoor Lighting
When designing the interior of their homes, most people often disregard good lighting. Expert interior designers, however, make indoor lighting their first priority. Carefully orchestrate where every socket, switch, and light will go before decorating. It’s also best to include a good combination of accent lighting, mood lighting, task lighting, and overhead lighting. Note that you can enable a room to perform at its best by using the right light bulb color and brightness for the right tasks.
Final Thoughts
Indeed, designing the interior of a home can really be an exciting experience. However, the process can equally be confusing when you already get down to it. Following the interior design secrets from the experts discussed above should help you transform your home into its best version.
