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Posts Tagged ‘Interior Decorating’

The principles of design relate to how you use these elements. The principles of design are balance, emphasis, rhythm, proportion and scale, and harmony and unity.

Design Principle #1: Balance
Visual equilibrium in a room is called balance. A well-balanced room gives careful consideration to the placement of objects according to their visual weight. The elements of line, form, color and texture all help determine an object’s visual weight, which is the amount of space it appears to occupy.

Design Principle #2: Emphasis
Emphasis is the focal point of the room. Whatever is featured, as the center of interest –a fireplace, artwork or a window treatment framing a beautiful view – must be sufficiently emphasized so that everything else leads the eye toward the featured area. You can add emphasis to a natural focal point or create one in a room through effective use of line, form, color and texture.

Design Principle #3: Rhythm
Rhythm supplies the discipline that controls the eye as is moves around a room. Rhythm helps the eye to move easily from one object to another and creates a harmony that tells the eye everything in the room belongs to a unified whole. Rhythm is created through repetition of line, form, color or texture. Progressive rhythm is a gradual increasing or decreasing in size, direction or color.

Design Principle #4: Proportion and Scale
Size relationships in a room are defined by proportion and scale. Proportion refers to how the elements within an object relate to the object as a whole.

Design Principle #5: Harmony and Unity
A well-designed room is a unified whole that encompasses all the other elements and principles of design. Unity assures a sense of order. There is a consistency of sizes and shapes, a harmony of color and pattern. The ultimate goal of decorating is to create a room with unity and harmony and a sense of rhythm. Repeating the elements, balancing them throughout the room, and then adding a little variety so that the room has its own sense of personality accomplishes this.

Here are decorating themes list to match with your decorating style

Formal Traditional: Furnishings and designs from the Renaissance, Baroque, Early and Late Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival and Victorian eras. This style is shown with fine furnishings, elegant, refined and exquisite wall coverings, elaborate moldings, formal window treatments and Oriental rugs.

Informal Traditional: The same eras as above but this style has less refined versions of furnishings. This style is comfortable and inviting.

Ethnic and Primitive: Interior decorating with masculine approach has many faces from African to the American Southwest, from the lodge-look to the South Seas. Heavy or tactile textures coupled with patterns that are charming because of their lack of sophistication fit here.

Fabric and Wall Covering Themes: This is a wonderful way to decorate – by selecting a great fabric or wall covering that inherently features a theme. Some examples include sea and shore, sports, outdoor recreation, kitchen or domestic elements, juvenile elements, feminine floral themes, exotic designs from far away lands, and more.

Arts & Crafts: This simple style is also known as Early Modern or Organic Modern. The era focuses on hard, stained oak furniture with simple, straight lines.

International Modern: This is a look of ultra simplicity, hard lines, and smooth surfaces contrasted with abstract patterns and unusual textures.

Environmental: Designs in this theme contain colors, textures and very subtle patterns of the earth.

American Country: This style holds furnishings from the 17th century through the present, all simple with the appearance of hand-crafted work. Two versions are popular today: Upscale Country with the use of more tactile, comfortable elements and very close to Informal Traditional but with a clearly country theme in all the furnishings; and Rustic Country, which sports a reused, recycled quality.

Country French: This style is exhibited in Classic Rococo, Neoclassic or Empire-inspired country furnishings. Wall coverings include florals, ticking, toile, and moirés depending on the level of formality.

Romantic Victorian: This style still is a favored theme for rooms with lots of pattern featuring English garden florals in dreamy colors. Both fabric and wall coverings can be patterned, and clutter decorating – especially with accessories – is part of this look.

When choosing a color scheme for small apartment interior decoration please note that you should choose something that is easy to clean i.e., browns and grays. White is not a good choice, unless you plan on never really living in your place. Try to look at the big picture, small living rooms means that you shouldn’t get a sectional sofa. Instead try a small love seat or futon couch. Not only does the futon couch help with space but it can be converted to a bed for those single room apartments. If you are on a budget and don’t want to get rid of your current bed and you are in a studio apartment try a bed that looks like a bunk bed with out the lower bunk.

Try creating rooms with the use of decorative screens. Also remember your curtains, they should be allowing the light in, the more light you allow in the bigger the space looks. Use a small bistro table as a dining table. It is intimate and makes for a great coffee talk spot. Laundry laying around makes the apartment appear cluttered and small. Plants are a great way to make your room appear bigger. Don’t forget the importance of mirrors. The use of mirrors can make your small apartment look large. Most importantly make sure you always have a clean space, it is always bigger when it is clean.

Ok so now you have gone and cleaned, you are noticing that the apartment still looks small. Question your storage. You need some ideas for storage you say? Well I am full of them. Look around and if you notice you have lots of magazines lying around get yourself a magazine holder. It is a handy little box that is decorative to your specific likes and it cleans up your tables of clutter. A coffee table with storage underneath it is also a wise choice. The more storage you have that isn’t added clutter makes your life easier. Wall shelves help to eliminate tabletop mess. You can get most of these easy to use items at your local all purpose store and hardware store.