When it comes down to styling your home, planning is very important to avoid making mistakes and for the entire process to run smoothly. Besides having a sound plan, you should consider some things like waterproofing because they determine the lifespan of your home. Although everyone has preferences and tastes, there are some things you should consider when styling your home to get the best results before you can spend your time debating the smaller things like if you need a new vacuum cleaner for your new flooring or if you’re going to go for directv vs dish for your TV. They include:
1. Purpose of the room
When styling a room, its intended purpose should always be the first thing to consider because it dictates the décor, furniture materials to be used, layout and color scheme. It is important to note that even if most people have living rooms in their homes, they are used for different purposes. For instance, some people prefer watching movies or football with friends and other family members. Therefore, depending on the purpose of their living room, having ergonomic seats, a nice TV set and a place where they can place their foods and drinks are necessities. On the other hand, some people use their living rooms to host a game night. In this scenario, having tables and chairs, game consoles and storage areas to keep their game discs are required. Bottom-line is, you need to style your room depending on how you use it. Your study room should have study chairs, table, and shelves while your bedroom should have a comfortable bed among other things you need.
2. Research and make a budget
Styling your home requires you to be knowledgeable about interior design. You don’t have to be a pro but gathering necessary information will help you make the right choices. You need to know what you like and how you want your home to look like to have a good plan. Therefore, spend some time researching online, reading magazines and newspapers as you gather necessary information for future references. You need to decide whether you want to start from a clean start or change a few things in your home, know your home style and the style you would like it to be and finally, the amount of money you are willing to spend. After researching and deciding what you need to be done, you need to hire an experienced interior designer to help you style your home. You can share your ideas and opinions about what you have in mind to get professional advice on how to go about it, estimated budget and the amount of time the styling process would take. Avoid spending money on things you don’t need because there is no need of breaking your bank styling a home and lack basic necessities later on.
3. Consider the layout of the room before buying anything
This is one of the areas where planning comes into play. Before you start buying things, you need to map out the layout of each room you want to style on a graph paper. You can either do it yourself if you have the skills or let your interior designer handle it for you. Considering your layout is important because you will start by contemplating how you want the room to be organized, the purchase the items you want and then arrange the furniture to fit the layout you had drawn. You will economize on space making it easy for your and other people to walk freely in the room. If you fail to do this, some of the things you might buy may not fit in the room or you may end up making the room cramped up and clumsy. If you have never done it before, working with an interior designer is recommended to avoid doing it all wrong or spend money buying household items you may not need.
4. Leave some space
Leaving enough space when styling home is recommended for future additions and to make your room feel bigger. When you have ample space, it becomes easy to move around and clean your room. In addition, your room appears cleaner because there will be less clutter and your room will be organized. For you to leave some space, you should not buy furniture that’s too big and you should plan in advance to know how you will arrange your room before you buy additional furniture.
5. Decide a color scheme
While researching, you need to know more about color schemes to help you when making a choice. Although you have your preference, the color scheme when styling your home can be determined by rugs, drapery, throw pillows, furniture, artwork, carpet, floor, walls, ceilings and tiles in your home. When choosing your color scheme, consider the mood you want to set, what other family members prefer and the purpose of the room. For instance, you need to use calm colors e.g. blue in your bedroom so that you won’t have to stay awake while your living room/kitchen should have energetic colors like yellow or orange.
Finally, even if there are vast factors to consider when styling your home, your preferences should come first. This means that you should style your home the way you prefer rather than going with what’s trendy or what your friends like. It is your home and you will end up spending more time there unlike your friends who visit occasionally. Therefore, be true to your own preferences although you may consider a few exceptions.
