Interior Decorating Ideas
to show off your
Style and Personality
When it comes to the finishing touches of your home, there are the things that make or break the look of the room. There are also the things that show off your style and personality and inject some life into the room. It is important to have some finishing touches that make your home more practical and functional to be in. So if you want to design your own home from the start, or just looking for new ways to ‘finish’ off your home, there are several things that you can do.
Many people think that when they are designing a home, they don’t need to think about the finishing touches or final design of the room. It can be easy to think that way because thinking about throws and pillows is so far off in the future. The thing is, though, there are some aspects that you need to think about in the design process. You don’t necessarily need to know colors or fabric swatches, but you need to have all your ideas together.
For example, lighting. If you want certain lighting in certain rooms, you do need to plan it ahead of time. Will spotlights be your choice in the bathroom and perhaps some countertop light for the kitchen? You do need to decide ahead of time so that it can all be put into the design plans. Once the kitchen is installed, it can be tricky to then wire in extra light for the kitchen. The same goes for other lights around the house. Once your home has been plastered or walls and ceilings have been finished, it would be hard and more expensive to fit new fixtures or drill more holes for more lights. So you do need to have quite a specific plan in place when you design your home
Another thing to be quite specific about are the home heating and cooling systems. These are things that help to create a certain ambiance in the home and will help the mood of your room. No one will want to go into a freezing cold room, no matter how stylish the finishing touches are! So, here will your water heater and boiler be? Will you have it be stored away in the bathroom or stored elsewhere? It all needs to be decided when you are planning a home from scratch. Will you get air conditioning installed? If so, where will the vents for it be and what style will they be? Then these can be out in as you go along, rather than trying to put them into the home afterward.
It is important to make these kinds of things easy to access too. Boilers and air conditioning units can need repairs from time to time and perhaps need a service occasionally too. So it might be worth looking at somewhere like http://www.needhamair.com.au/air-conditioning-repair/. Then you can find out how much it might cost for repairs and how often they might need to be done. Now, if you already have your home, what can you do to complete the look of the home and give it the finishing touches that it needs?
Here are some ideas for you
If you are ever in doubt about the finishing off of a room, then add large wall mirrors. They are a great solution to create extra space and light and make rooms brighter. Many people think that they can only be used in bedrooms. But in fact, they can be used all over the house. If you have a particularly small room, you could use large wall mirrors to make space seem larger. It helps to create a sense of depth too. You could also put mirrors on top of cabinets or units to give added sparkle.
One good idea is to think outside the box when it comes to finishing off your room. Could you make your walk-in closet more grand by adding chandelier lighting or several pendant lights? You could mix up old and modern too. If you have a modern apartment, how about some classic finishing touches like brass door knobs or knockers? Mix up the centuries, and it will pay off (just don’t go overboard, though).
If your room doesn’t feel complete, then you might want to check if it has crown molding. It really can help to complete the look of the room. It gives it a much classier finish too. It can be tricky to install yourself so you could call someone else in to help you. But if you do fancy giving it a go, then look somewhere like: http://www.hgtv.com/design/decorating/design-101/how-to-install-crown-molding. Then you can check that you have the right equipment in and can get it right first time. With crown molding, it is also worth thinking about getting specific corner pieces to finish it off. If it is quite bulky and grand, then it can make a big difference to the look of the room. It completes the room and makes it look much richer and more expensive than if it was just left alone.
Getting accessories is a great way to finish off the look of a room. Think of your living area and sofas, for example. They will look much more complete if there is a throw in the room and some large scatter cushions. I say large because it can make such a difference to the style of the room. Plus, small cushions can just scream ‘shop bought. Large scatter cushions will look much more luxurious. It could even be a good idea to stuff larger pillows into smaller pillow cases. Then the cushions will always look plump. This makes them look fancier and a bit more high end.
When you finish off with accessories, it is important to think in odd numbers. On your bed, three cushions will look much nicer than four, for instance. The same goes for sofa cushions and pictures on the wall. Having said that, it is important to mix up the accessories that you do have. You don’t always want three (or five) of the same thing, for example. If you still stick with the rule of odd numbers, but very the size and texture of the accessories, it creates a much better finish to the room, without it being too matchy-matchy.
Don’t forget the power of fresh (or fake) flowers in the home. They can finish the room off and make it look lived in but still pretty. Try to have them in a few rooms in the home. It could be a large bunch of flowers in a large cylindrical vase or even a single flower in a test-tube style vase that is attached to the wall. You could have them leading up the staircase, for example. When you think of little touches like this, it makes such a difference to the home. It also gives off certain vibes to any guests and visitors too. It tells them that the home is finished and that you take great pride in it.
Use repetition when you decorate to make a room look more stylish. For instance, with one table lamp in the living area, you might be creating a bit of a statement. But with two in the room, you are creating more of a focal point. They could be laid out symmetrically or just used to bring the room together. This rule can be applied to pretty much any room too. You could repeat patterns in a bathroom, kitchen, and bedrooms, as well as in the main living areas.
One little trick when it comes to finishing off the style of your living room idea is to not think too much about precision. When you put up a picture frame, for instance, you might be thinking of getting it in exactly the right spot above your bed, or above the fireplace. But some pictures and frames might be a little too small to make a statement as the only piece there. So you could get one or two other things to go with it, or just not center the picture. Then the empty space around it can almost become part of the main picture.
Choose colors that compliment each other with you are decorating. You don’t want to have everything that matches too much or is too ‘samey.’ So choose colors that just work well together. Getting a sofa that works well with the wall color, rather than match it, are a much better choice. The same goes for accessories that you add to your creative living room idea.
One of the final things that will help you to complete the look of a room is to use shelving. When a shelf, mounted on the wall, is full of books or pretty trinkets or vases, it is meant to be there. It is thought out and on purpose. If you have too many things on the floor or cluttering up floor space, then it makes the room look unfinished (even if you wanted them to be there).
Thanks a lot for reading
I am wishing you a very Merry Christmas!
Thank you so much for your time and support during my first year of blogging. Without you all I probably wouldn’t be writing but knitting right now. Thanks for keeping me going!
Klaudia