Moving into a new home can be one of life’s great joys, but it can also be a time of uncertainty, especially when it comes to decorating. How do you make your space look its best while reflecting your personal sense of style?
Do it well and you’ll end up with a comfortable, happy home. Do it poorly and you’ll end up with a hodge-podge of furniture, fabrics and paint colors that never congeal into a pleasing whole.
Interior Decoration: Laying the Groundwork
- Don't Start in the Furniture Store - Know Your Measurements - Create a Floorplan - Decide How You Want to Live - Copy the Pros - Tape It Out - Develop a Budget - Plan the Phases
Don't Start in the Furniture Store
Many have heard the advice to avoid grocery shopping when you’re hungry, because it leads to poor choices. The same holds true for furniture stores – don’t go shopping in a panic, just because you have an empty home.
Know Your Measurements
Matching the scale of furniture to the scale of a room is critical. A deep sectional sofa can easily overpower a small room and svelte chairs can get lost in a wide-open loft. Before you start designing, measure the length and width of each room you intend to decorate, along with the ceiling height and elements that could get in the way – stairs, columns, radiators and other obstructions.
Create a Floorplan
Once you have the measurements of your room, it’s time to put them to use with a floor plan that gives you a bird’s eye view of the entire home. “Every job should start with a floor plan,” said Alexa Hampton, the president of Mark Hampton, the New York interior design firm founded by her father. “You need to know the space.”
Decide How You Want to Live
This is the tricky part, and there are no right or wrong answers. Rooms can be traditional or modern, formal or relaxed, and visually warm or cool. “To the best of your ability, you have to try to discern how you would like to live in a given space,” said Ms. Hampton. “What will you be doing? How many people live there? Are there children? What are your ambitions for how you would like to live?”
Copy the Pros
Look in design books and magazines, as well as at online resources like Houzz, Pinterest and Instagram to sharpen your personal style. “Figure out the style that you respond to most,” said Brad Ford, an interior designer in New York City, and develop a dossier of favorite images.
Tape It Out
To take ideas on a floor plan one step farther, use painter’s tape in the real space to outline where furniture will be placed on floors and against walls.
Develop a Budget
There’s no getting around the math: If you splurge on an unexpectedly expensive chair, you’ll have less money available for the rest of the home.
The foyer or entrance hall creates the first impression, so make it count.
- Make a Statement - Design to Your Routine - Plan for the Weather
Make a Statement
Don’t hold back. “That room is the power moment when somebody walks into your home,” said Suysel dePedro Cunningham, an owner of the interior design firm Tilton Fenwick. “It can say so much about your personality and design taste.”
Design to Your Routine
With a few key furniture pieces and accessories, you can make your daily arrival and departure sequence a breeze. “Typically, it's not a huge space, so you're working with a limited number of pieces,” said Mr. Ford.
Plan for the Weather
As the first space people enter when coming from outside, the foyer has to deal with a lot – ice, snow, rainwater, mud and whatever else Mother Nature decides to deliver. To avoid having these things creep into the rest of the home, you need to deal with them at the front door.
The main living areas, whether they are separate rooms or combined in an open-concept space, set the stage for life with family and friends.
- Create the Palette - Treat the Walls - Choose the Furniture - How Things Flow - Add Rugs
Create the Palette
You can see colors, patterns and metal finishes online, but digital images are mere approximations of what the real things look like. Wherever possible, order color chips, fabric swatches and material samples to be sure finished products will meet your expectations.
Treat the Walls
Paint colors are notorious for appearing different hues in different light conditions (and seeming to change between the paint store to home). This effect is only amplified once you slather it on four walls. For that reason, it’s never a good idea to commit to a paint color when you first see the chip in a store.
Choose the Furniture
Working from your floor plan and inspiration images, choose the specific pieces of furniture — the sofas, chairs and tables — that will make the space livable. Depending on the desired vibe, you can go in wildly different directions.
How Things Flow
No living room sofa or chair should be an island of its own. When people sit down, they almost always need a place to put a drink or book, as well as light to read by. Place a coffee table or end table within easy reach of each seat, along with a table or floor lamp.
Add Rugs
A living room with hardwood floors but no rug looks naked. For visual and literal comfort, add a rug.
Finish With Art and Accessories
The last step to finishing any room is to add art and accessories, but there is no one-size-fits-all approach. In a minimalist space, it might be just a few objects; in a maximalist space, it could involve displaying entire collections and layers of objets d’art.