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Learn How To Redecorate Your Home Like A Professional

Anna Angelovsky
Home Decorating

Redecorating a home is no easy task. It can be tedious, tiresome, long and draining process of trials and errors, especially when the budget is limited and ideas are numerous, but do not seem to work quite as good together once they are realized. Whether it is just one room to be repurposed and redecorated or it is the entire home in desperate need for a decor change, the task of searching for the suitable designing solution without the help of a professional designer can be pretty intimidating. Fortunately, there are some simple guidelines to be followed when redecorating a home. They are not magical instant solutions for all the decorating problems, but offer good guidance and help this seemingly impossible task be decomposed, realistically perceived and eventually successfully fulfilled.

Starting point – the basics

The starting point to any redecorating project is to determine the purpose of rooms being redecorated and define the types of activities that will be carried out in them. It sounds simple and straightforward, but it is a crucial step, backed up with the idea the space should be modified to accommodate the users’ needs and serve their unique lifestyles, not the other way around. For example, the bedroom is a place to relax and get rest, so the palette should be gentle, with warm colors, bed comfortable and the lights soothing. On the other hand, the living room is a place of many different activities –maybe children will play in it, or the pets will have a space on their own, so the colors should be bright and vivid, with furniture, plants and accessories laid out in a suitable way.

Sight lines are important and should be carefully planned, as they make sure the traffic from one room to another is smooth, thanks to the appropriate furniture placement. Once again, the type and volume of the activity in each particular room and the flow of movement through them should be taken into account, to ensure the final design will be functional, as well as pretty.

The next equally important step is to de-clutter. Before obtaining any new piece of furniture, art or accessory, anything that is not needed, used or loved anymore should be donated, as it is much easier to take on an interior design project free of clutter and unnecessary things.

No redecorating plan is complete without measuring everything several times. Before purchasing furniture, rugs, paintings and sculptures, everything should be measured first, to make sure it will fit as planned.

Getting the inspiration

Internet is a gold mine when it comes to redecorating ideas. There are so many creative people in the world willing to share their ideas – it is just the matter of finding them and adjusting their solutions to the available space and budget.In this process, only pictures that can be realistically recreated should be considered a relevant source of inspiration; it is important to remember that not everything from the Internet looks the same and as good in real life, so the ideas should be used, but not everything shown on the pictures should be incorporated in the final design.

Searching the Internet for an adequate idea can take up much of the limited time available, so old school solutions are still available, in form of browsing through catalogues and specialized magazines.

The choice of colors

A room can look and feel entirely different even without any changes made to the furniture, carpets or curtains. The secret is in color.A new color of walls can change the appearance of a room, giving it the entirely new vibe. Even the perfect shade of white on the walls is sometimes all that is necessary for the room to lighten up with new inspiring energy, but bolder choices may include dark shades of red, brown or even black, as well. Painting one wall or the entire room dark will actually help small rooms seem bigger. Even the subtle change in throws and pillows color scheme can make a huge difference, especially when the pillows are different in shape and size.

However, sometimes these simple changes are not enough and the entire color scheme has to be adapted. The key is to determine the focal point of the room, which can be a piece of furniture, a painting or even a simple pillow. That object should be the most colorful thing in the room and the entire color scheme is to be built around it, serving as a sort of “anchor” to the room’s balance. At the same time, the choice of colors should be limited to three colors per room – in this way the threat of boring monochromatic look will be avoided, as well as the danger of a multicolor chaos.If the focal point of the room uses solid color, adding the complementary geometric pattern elements will balance out the room’s energy, and vice versa.

Walls should have purpose

As they take up the biggest part of the room, walls should be given an adequate purpose. Bookshelves or themed photo walls are an excellent ways to be creative with walls and change up the entire room without much money or effort involved.At the same time, hanging the multi colored picture frames in a unique interesting pattern will bring out the new life in existing pictures and give the room entirely new vibe. Wallpapers with modern patterns and prints are another easy and inexpensive way to make the room seem fresh and playful.

The furniture – less is more

Sometimes for the room to look entirely different, simple changes in the furniture layout are all it takes. The couch moved against a different wall, or introducing a piece of furniture from another room, a chair or a side table, could open up and brighten the room. If the curtain panels are hanged above the window frame and extend rod is set to be wider than the window frame, at the same time, ceilings will look higher and windows bigger, so the entire room gets a fresh new look just by few simple hacks.

For some bigger changes, it is very important to buy the right furniture. The focus should not be on a lot of furniture, but rather on few interesting pieces that the family will love and that will go perfectly together with the activities in the room. For the unique style of the room, it is worth going an extra mile. Different items of furniture should be combined, rather than having one pre-arranged store bought set and the mixture of different styles is not something to be wary of. For example, vintage pieces can go very well together with the modern ones, but respecting the basic rules concerning color and texture combinations is a priority. This new furniture does not even have to be expensive especially if you take advantage of promo codes like those on this Raise website, meaning that you can buy high-quality products without having to worry too much about the costs.

Let there be light

According to the designers, the true magic is in the atmosphere, so the lightning is something that should not be underestimated, but carefully considered and planned. Lightning pieces should be picked up in a way they add a personality and impact to the room.Updating the lampshades, for starters, can change up the atmosphere of a room with minimum effort. Layering the lightning, by placing lamps of different heights around the room will give it a romantic feel. Hanging lights can be low over dinner table, for example, but should be high up in other rooms, so they would not interfere with the movement in them.

Plants and flowers

Pants and flowers are not meant only for the outdoor space. Introducing them to the room will add light, color and life to it. The plants and flowers should be in every room. Adding some orchids to the living room, for example, or a lush green fern or a collection of small succulents will brighten up the forgotten shelves or side tables. Fresh herbs are a very nice touch for the kitchen and a potted plant is an excellent choice for the bathroom. If there is no time for the watering and nurturing the living plants, freshly cut flowers in a vase are a sufficient choice. Designers do not recommend artificial plants, no matter how realistic they may seem, but rather other natural elements, like stones, shells, twigs and feathers placed inside different looking bowls, vases or large urns.

Art and accessories

Art pieces should be purchased carefully with great deal of thought, as they should speak of the owners, their personal style and taste. Large paintings should be moved around the house every now and then, followed by the smaller paintings, giving the walls fresh new instant look. Another good advice is to treat the collection of art as one piece, hanging the center piece just slightly above the eye level, engaging as much as art is possible and orienting the collection in the shape of the wall.

When the colors, furniture and art are chosen, accessories such as candles, bowls, vases and picture frames are the final additions, helping to fine-tune the room’s atmosphere. Everyday items can be displayed as art arranged on a tray – candles, stones, books on the side table in the living room, or soaps and perfumes in the bathroom. Woven baskets can also be a rustic detail and a clever and decorative way to hide the clutter.

That special something

Following the basic redecoration guidelines helps planning the whole process and minimizes the room for errors. However, these are not the rules set in stone and sometimes it is good to follow the inner voice, the gut, if something will work or not. The redecorating project should be finished off by adding some surprising elements for a truly unique personalized design.For example, when redecorating, think about outdoors as well – add some furniture and give the new purpose to areas no one really used before. Unusually shaped or colored front door will make a powerful first impression and give visitors the feel a home is really well cared for.In the end, there are so many DIY projects that can be done to round up the whole redecorating process and give a home that special something.

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