Top 10 Home Design Tips

Before painting any walls or purchasing any furniture or accents for your home décor design project, make sure you have a plan. These tips for home décor design will help you create and execute a successful design project. Taking the time to research, plan, and define your design style will ensure you create a space that emulates your style and suits your lifestyle.

1. Make design goals – List specific goals you would like to accomplish. If you are on a tight budget, select the top three most important goals you want to achieve with your redesign project and start with those. Your design goals will help you set parameters for your redesign project.
2. Set a budget – The first number that is important in any home redesign project should be your budget. Determine how much you can spend before making any purchases.
3. Compile samples – Start shopping around for samples to bring into your home to help you find colors, patterns, and fabrics you like most. Visit home décor design stores and showrooms and ask for samples of fabric, upholstery, paint, tile, window treatments, or rugs. Take the samples home and take note of how they look throughout the day in different kinds of light. Make sure you like the way the pieces look during the time of day the room is used most.
4. Create a design board – Home decorating professionals use sample boards to make sure all of the colors, patterns, fabrics, and items work well together. Arrange the samples you have selected onto a bulletin or oak board to have a complete view of all the elements together. Do all of the pieces work well together and fit your design style? Most importantly, will you feel comfortable with those colors and patterns in your space? Keep in mind that mixing styles, patterns, and colors – rather than choosing the same color or pattern to use throughout the space – is more appealing and keeps your room fun and vibrant.
5. Sketch a floor plan – Create a floor with the pieces you are contemplating, using paper and a pencil or an online program. Don’t be afraid to put furniture in the middle of a room. As long as you keep it light – chairs work better than a sofa, for example – and pick pieces that look good from all sides, it is OK to have pieces in the middle. Often, pieces placed in the center and facing each other promotes conversation amongst family and company.
6. Update lighting – Lighting can completely alter the way colors, patterns, and materials look in your home. Notice how your room looks as the afternoon sun comes in versus the way it looks in the evening under artificial light, for example. For that reason, allot some money in your redesign budget for updating your lighting if you have not done so already. One way to achieve a more dramatic look is to replace incandescent bulbs with halogen in recessed lights. It will immediately give our room a brighter, fresher look.
7. Know your square footage – Having an accurate square footage on hand will make it easier to determine how much paint, carpet, or furniture you will need when making purchases.
8. Follow the 60-30-10 rule – This is a rule many design experts use for choosing color and patterns: 60% of the room should be in your dominant color, 30% in a secondary color, and 10% should be an accent color. Use colors from the largest pattern or print in your home to help you choose a color theme.
9. Mix and match – Mix up colors, patterns, and furniture styles to create a relaxed look. Giving your room an eclectic flair will help keep it fun and stylish. You can achieve this by choosing various shades of a dominant color; mixing materials and textures to add depth to your space; or adding pops of bold patterns to inject personality. Unite different patterns by choosing different patterns in the same color. You can also find like items, such as vases or mirrors, and create a group of the items in different shapes and colors.
10. Create a point of interest – Think about what you want your guests to notice when they first walk in the room. You can create a point of interest by hanging a large piece of art on a dominant wall; placing an oversized area rug with a unique pattern in the center of the room; or staging interesting accessories on your fireplace mantel. Keep in mind, though, that too many points of interest in one room could make it look too busy and cluttered.