The feeling or mood that a room radiates depends on your choice of furnishing, color, texture and other factors. As I said in my previous blog, this can all seem quite overwhelming — especially if you don’t know where to start.
Many of the designers we spoke to said a great place to start is a piece of inspiration; it could be a photo you’ve seen in a magazine, your favorite flower or anything else that gets your creativity flowing. This will become the basis of your room design.
Once you have your inspiration piece, think of all the things that will relate to the theme of that piece. If, for example, you chose a black Japanese box with red and gold prints on it, you may want to consider a motif that is Japanese in origin.
Once you are settled on a theme, it’s time to start thinking about color. Choose your main color, which you may want to use for walls, carpets and floors, then choose a secondary color which may be used for accessories, knick-knacks and the like. Finally, chose a third color which should be an accent color that you will use very sparingly.
Depending on your theme, patterns may play an important part in your design. Be careful when choosing patterns for your room because you don’t want them to end up clashing with each other. It’s OK to mix patterns, but make sure they share similar colors and backgrounds as well as vary in size from pattern to pattern.
Finally, you’ll choose the room’s furniture. Keep with your theme and color palate, but remember what I wrote in my previous blog — the pieces you chose must fit the function for the room.
Next week we’ll look at the third principle, Personality.
