Although moving into a new house can be one of life’s greatest joys, it can also be a time of uncertainty, particularly when it comes to furnishing and adorning the new place. How can you make your room appear its absolute finest while also ensuring that it reflects your own unique sense of style? If you do a good job of it, you’ll end up with a home that’s cozy and full of joy. If you do a terrible job of it, you will wind up with a mishmash of furniture, fabrics, and paint colors that will never come together to form a cohesive and aesthetically beautiful whole. You’ll have a much better chance of success if you do a little bit of planning and then follow the same steps that experienced interior designers take to complete a project.
Before you can get to the end of the race, you need to have a plan for how you’re going to get there.
Be Aware of Your Own Measurements
It is essential that the scale of the furniture correspond with the scale of the room. When placed in a cramped space, a large sectional sofa can quickly become overwhelming, while slim chairs can get lost in an open-concept loft. Before you begin the design process, you should take measurements of the length and width of each room that you plan to decorate, as well as the height of the ceiling and any features that might get in the way, such as stairs, columns, radiators, and other obstructions. In order to prepare ready for window coverings, it is also a good idea to measure the window openings themselves, in addition to the wall space that is located below, above, and to the sides of each window.
image via nytimes.com
Make a plan of the floor
Once you have the dimensions of the space, it is time to put them to use by creating a floor plan for your home that provides you with an overhead perspective of the entire structure. According to Alexa Hampton, head of Mark Hampton, an interior design firm based in New York City and founded by Alexa’s father, Mark Hampton Sr., “Every job should start with a floor plan.” “You have to be familiar with the area.”
Drawing a floor plan the old-fashioned manner, using paper, a pencil, and a ruler, is one approach that can be taken. On the other hand, the vast majority of professional designers work with drafting software such as AutoCAD. There are apps such as Magicplan, Floor Plan Creator, and RoomScan Pro that fall somewhere in the middle of these two extremes and aim to make it easier for homeowners to create simple floor plans. Some of these apps even automate measurements using the camera on your smartphone; however, it is important to verify these numbers.
Determine the Kind of Lifestyle That Suits You
This is the difficult portion, and there is no response that is definitively correct or incorrect. The aesthetic of a room can be either warm or cold, formal or casual, and any of these combinations is possible. Ms. Hampton advised, “You have to try to discern how you would like to live in a specific environment to the best of your abilities,” which means “to the best of your capacity.” “What are you going to be doing? How many people call that place their home? Are there any young ones? What are some of your goals that you’d like to accomplish with your life?”
Do as the Experts Do
In order to hone your unique sense of style, you should peruse design books and publications in addition to using internet sites such as Houzz, Pinterest, and Instagram. “Figure out the style that you respond to the most,” advised an interior designer based in New York City named Brad Ford, and compile a portfolio of photographs that inspire you the most.
Once you have photographs that appeal to you, Mr. Kleinberg suggested that you focus on the details. “See where pattern is employed as opposed to where solids are used, and where colour can be successfully used or not,” he said. “See where colour can be used successfully or not.” It will also help inform everything from the kind of furniture you might prefer to a potential strategy for window coverings. This is because it will assist inform everything about the space.
Put Some Tape On It
Use painter’s tape in the actual area to define where furniture will be placed on floors and against walls to take the ideas on a floor plan one step further.
According to Anne Maxwell Foster, one of the owners of the New York City interior design firm Tilton Fenwick, “We utilize blue tape on the floor to box out distinct aspects.” [Citation needed] “In what room will the rug be located? Should it be trimmed down in some way? How far does the coffee table extend into the living room? Even if we have everything measured out to the sixteenth of an inch on a furniture plan, there is still something beneficial about being able to visualize it in the space and move around in it.
Develop a Budget
If you decide to splurge on an unanticipatedly pricey chair, then you will have less money available for the other aspects of your home. This is a mathematical fact that cannot be avoided. Mr. Ford advised, “You want to make sure that you’re being strategic about how you spend your money,” so listen to what he had to say. “A budget will provide you with a road plan for how to allocate the costs of things between different rooms,” He pointed out that you could still make an exception if you came across a one-of-a-kind dining table, but in order to pay for it, you would need to give some thought to other areas in which you could reduce your spending.
Organize the Steps
Putting up drywall, refinishing hardwood floors, and painting ceilings are all nasty jobs that need a lot of elbow grease. It is preferable to have this kind of work finished before putting any furniture or accessories into the room if at all possible. If this is not possible, however, it is still a good idea.
In the event that it is impossible to avoid, major pieces of furniture should be covered with plastic drop cloths, and little accessories should be packaged in boxes and taped shut for protection.