Room Decor Ideas: 3 Design Tips for Home

A fresh batch of room decor ideas and tips that will make you fall in love all over again with interior design.

1. Start Big

‘Where to begin?’ It’s the question most of us ask ourselves when faced with the blank stare of an empty, undecorated room – or even worse, a room whose design layout (or lack thereof) hasn’t been touched in decades. Whether you need to furnish a room from scratch or do some heavy redecorating, start with the biggest pieces first. Getting the most important, and often most difficult, design choices out of the way first will make the decorating process easier to navigate down the road. Start with rugs, sofas and two-piece sets, all of which will take up the most amount of space in your home.

2. 50-150

In theory, picking out the color palette for your home is pretty simple: envision a couple color families that appeal to you and make the most sense for your style. But in practice, this can feel a little trickier – especially when you find out that ‘grey’ actually comes in hundreds of shades to choose from. To prevent the seemingly limitless amount of color choices from paralyzing your design strategy, try thinking like an architect. For every main color you choose, opt for the 50-150 rule, which states that if there are two shades of the same color, one shade should be 50% lighter than the standard form of the color, and the other should be 150% darker than the standard. This rule of thumb is especially helpful when it comes to paint (and mixing paint colors).

3. Mirror Nature

Here’s a ‘trade secret’ that works like a charm when you want to create a refreshed, pulled together space: nature knows best. If you’re feeling stuck, look out your window! When it comes to interior design, one of the ways in which this is most helpful is through the order of colors – and their shading – found in nature. From the rich brown earth to the pale blue sky, the innate beauty of the world around us is an elegant reminder of the laws of depth and contrast. When decorating your room, follow the example of the outside world by keeping darker shades below (such as in rugs and floor decor) and lighter colors up top (such as in lamps and other taller decor); doing so will help to define your space without losing a light-and-breezy feel.