Your First Adventure In Interior Decorating
If you are stressed out about how to embark on your very first interior decorating adventure, try to relax. Interior decorating is fun and deeply satisfying once the end result is achieved. The following article will describe each step of the way and some helpful ideas on getting started on your interior decorating project. The first step sounds easy, but is often times the hardest step of all. First you have to decide what you want to do with your space!
The first step is to make a decision on how you want your interior space to look and feel. The only way to do this is to first compile a list of ideas. You might have heard about something called an "idea archive". An idea archive is a great tool to keep your thoughts organized in regards to what you really want your space to look like. Whenever you see some room or space that you like either in a magazine or online, cut it or print it out and save it in your idea archive. You might even write a few notes to attach to the image as well so you can remember what about it you liked exactly. Once you have compiled several ideas, you can start to decide what you want your space to do for you.
Once you have narrowed down your ideas, it's time to decide what is most important to you in your design. Think about the space you are designing and what function it needs to serve. If the room is a sitting area, do you want it to feel relaxed or energizing. If you are re-doing your kitchen do you want people to sit around and talk while meals are being prepared or would you prefer the kitchen to only feel comfortable for the cooks? These are important factors in your design and only you can determine what is best. Let's talk about a few of the techniques you can use to create that desired effect in any room.
The first and most crucial element in interior design is paint and it's diverse array of colors and hues, Luckily, paint is relatively inexpensive depending on how large of a space you plan on painting. If you are on a budget you can completely change the feel of a room simply by applying the right color to a particular wall. For example, if you want to draw attention to one side of the room you can use a darker color on the opposite wall. Or, if you want to brighten a space and make the room glow with a particular hue you can paint the south facing wall and allow the sunlight that pours into the window to do the rest. Depending on what kind of interior design resources you have available, you could combine multiple colors in the same room to achieve a blended effect. While paint colors are an excellent way to set the mood, furniture is a great way to shape how people interact in a space.
The type of furniture you chose will determine how people interact with each other and how they feel in the space. For example, if you chose to put comfortable furniture around the dining room table, you can expect people to want to eat and relax for hours. However, if you prefer to have house guests eat in the dining room and socialize in the living room, hard wooden furniture can be used in the dining room to ensure that people don't linger.
In the end, your entire interior decorating adventure could be completed using a few buckets of paint and some new furniture. You would be surprised at the types of transformation that are possible when you apply a bit of concentrated effort, the proper colors, and well thought out intentions in the right space.
