Interior design is one of the most important elements of your lifestyle, and yet many people neglect its basic principles on a daily basis. Bad interior design means much more than just a drab-looking home; it can actually affect your mental health and leave you feeling unhappy with your surroundings.
With that in mind, if you’ve never paid any attention to interior design, it might be time to start thinking about doing so.
Absolutely anyone can get involved in interior design on a basic level; all you need is an understanding of your personal aesthetic preferences and the resources to make those preferences into a reality. Here’s our beginner’s guide to interior design!
Get Funding – But You Don’t Need Much
First, you’re going to need some funding if you’re going to get into interior design. While you don’t need much money at all – you can take advantage of the very bad credit loans direct lenders are offering right now, and you’ll still have all you need to get started – a small amount of money is essential.
This is because you’ll need to buy furniture pieces, paint, wallpaper, or anything else you’re planning to use to decorate.
One thing that can seriously help you when it comes to getting funding for interior design is to create a budget. Think about all the things you’re going to want to do to your space and plan for them financially.
Once you’ve got everything written down, you should find it a lot easier to visualize what you want to do and to know how much it’s going to cost you.
Go Room by Room
Initially, thinking about interior design can be a very daunting task indeed. It can feel overwhelming; after all, how are you supposed to think about coordinating and designing an entire home or even a small apartment?
In this situation, it can help a lot to go room by room and consider your design that way. Try not to think about the house as a whole until you’re nearing the end of the planning stage.
Think about what kind of ambiance and decoration each room needs. A living room, for example, should be relaxing, inviting, and cozy. A kitchen should be vibrant and compelling, while a bedroom should be quiet and muted.
Break rooms down into their constituent elements, and you should be able to more easily think about what each room needs and how you can coordinate them together.
Don’t Overlook Your Kitchen
All too often, we meet people who are getting into interior design but who haven’t parceled out any time for their kitchen. Your kitchen is actually one of the most important rooms in your entire house; it’s there that you’ll be preparing your meals, which is an important part of your mental health and of your physical health as well.
That’s why you need to make sure you incorporate your kitchen into any kind of interior design plan you make.
Here are a few basic kitchen design principles to keep in mind. The kitchen triangle doesn’t have to be the holy grail of design; you can ignore it if you think you’ve got a better system that works for you personally.
Make sure to keep worktops clear and to put all of your essential tools and supplies in easy-to-reach places. Finally, consider a kitchen island; it can really help to bring the whole room together!
Think About Coordinating Colors, But Don’t Worry Too Much
It’s not the biggest sin in the world if the colors in your home happen to clash. Unless you use huge, bright colors with vivid shades, the chances are that the colors you use will coordinate with one another to some degree; lighter, more muted shades are usually congruent to one another, so just pick colors you like and work from that template without worrying too much about “clashing.”
With that said, there are certain dos and don’ts to obey here. For example, as we alluded to above, picking bright, loud shades is a no-no when it comes to interior design; your home should be a welcoming place, not an eyesore.
You won’t thank yourself when you want to relax after a long day, but you can’t because your home is too “aggressive” on the eyes.
Add Greenery
Plants aren’t just a nice way to add a little color to a room; they have myriad benefits besides that. Plants can actually boost your mental health and serve as “self-care reminders”, allowing you to take some time out of your busy day to make sure you look after yourself.
If you add flowers or other fragrant plants to a room, then you’ll also improve the overall ambiance of that room.
There are many plants you can add to a room that doesn’t require a huge amount of care, too, so you don’t need to worry if you’re not the kind of person that can easily remember to look after plants.
Succulents are extremely easy to care for and have many of the same benefits as non-succulent plants, so make sure you’re shopping for succulents if you want easygoing greenery!
Keep Your Space Clean But Lived-in
One tip we often see when it comes to interior design is to avoid clutter. That’s certainly a good tip, and you should make sure your space isn’t too full of junk you’ll never use; clutter can seriously impact your mental health and can also make space difficult to navigate.
However, there’s one thing to keep in mind here, and that’s this: you can get too carried away when it comes to decluttering.
A space shouldn’t be cluttered, but it also should feel lived-in and personal. Make sure you’re not removing clutter to the point that the space is no longer recognizable as your own.
Keep your home clean and tidy, but don’t be ashamed of a little untidiness here and there; it helps a space to feel human rather than like it’s been maintained by a robot.
