Basic Decorating Tips
with Personal Style!

Although not every decorating technique applies to every project, the following tips can help get the ball rolling if you don't know where to begin.

The thought of starting a new home improvement project can be exciting or scary, depending on your experience, budget, taste, and time. If you've never done any decorating at all, you might feel that you don't know how or where to start. But when all is said and done, you want a new look and want to get started. Sometimes it makes no difference if you are a novice or experienced home designer. The information you'll need to start is the same.

There's very little question about what element to choose last, but there are lots of things you can select first. Because paint is one of the least expensive items of a project and available in an infinite number of colors, you should hold off buying the paint until you have other things identified. Paint can be mixed in any of a thousand colors, so select the final shades after upholstery, carpeting, and curtain fabrics are chosen. Don't paint a room without trying a sample of the color in the room. Tiny paint chips can be deceiving as to tone and depth of color, so always paint a test board to confirm your choices.

But just what should you do first? Should you buy a whole roomful of furniture or choose a rug that you love? Have you chosen an elegant wallpaper or luxurious fabric that you want to use? You really can start wherever you want and work it all together into a plan. But it really does help if you start with a plan, an inspiration piece, and a color scheme. Find your sources of inspiration and work your way through your decorating project. You'll be happy you spent the time to plan.

There are simple and quick ways to add life to your rooms by adding a little of your own personality. We can each express ourselves through our decorating choices. Do you like formal or casual? Do you love French Country style or do you long to live in a cottage style home? Spend some time to identify the style elements you love, and make plans to bring them into your space. Observe the world around you to find inspiration. What objects in nature are you drawn to? You might be inspired by a trip to a tropical paradise or want to create the feel of an English manor. You may be surprised how simple it can be to bring your own personal decorating style to your home.

Not everyone (in fact, very few people) can start with a fresh, empty room and begin decorating. Most of us already have some pieces of furniture or the home has carpeting, tile floors or countertops, or some features that you're not ready to discard. If there are things you like, focus on them and make them important. If there are things you don't like but cannot change, find ways to camouflage or downplay them in your newly decorated space. Do emphasize the important elements of the room and play down the unattractive or unimportant elements.

If you have a collection of beautiful crystal, delicate china, or rustic birdhouses, these can be the start of a decorating plan, based on the color schemes, decorative themes, or formality of your collection. Often the art you choose to live with reflects what you like. If you choose beautiful landscape oil paintings, you'll probably like a traditional or formal interior. But if you choose black and white photographs or abstract art, you might want to plan your interior around a more contemporary design. Pick a signature piece to focus your decorating decisions. It could be beautiful fabric, area rug, picture, a piece of pottery, dishes, or even a postcard. The item should embody both the color scheme of the room as well as the style and mood you hope to create. Think of an area rug as an island within the room and use it as the foundation for a seating arrangement. Try out trends that truly appeal to you by experimenting first with inexpensive accessories.

Consider using unifying elements such as trim color, wood tone, flooring, motifs, fabrics, or materials. Install more details in a plain boxy room. Consider crown molding, wainscoting, and other applications to add interest and character when decorating. Use the principle of repetition when planning shapes, colors, fabrics, and patterns. One red accent in a room may look like an afterthought whereas several red accents here and there will contribute to the color scheme. Use contrast to add interest to a space. Placing furniture and accessories against a contrasting background will highlight each piece. A variety of textures (smooth, rough, shiny, dull) are great to add interest to a room. Lines can underscore a room's style. Horizontal lines emphasize length and underscore a calm mood. Vertical lines will emphasize height, and diagonal lines emphasize space and provide a dynamic and exciting feel.

Pick up a few more decorating tips with personal style!

Here are some basic questions to ask before you decorate.

What is the function of this room?

It may be basic, but figuring out how a room will be used can provide clues about the furniture to include when decorating. It is obvious, for example, that in a bedroom a bed will be needed and tables or nightstands. You may also have room for a dresser, entertainment unit, or armoire. Yet adding a dressing area or exercise area will require both space and appropriate furnishings that you'll want to include in your plans.

How often do I plan to use this room?

The answer to this question may help you decide everything from budget to color. A space used infrequently should usually use less of your decorating dollar. It might also be a room where you can try bolder color or a furniture style that is different from the rest of your home.

How much light does this room get?

This can give you ideas for a color scheme and help you zero in on decisions about window treatments when decorating. A hot corner room with full sunlight may be a candidate for a cooler color palette and light-controlling window shutters. If, on the other hand, your room is a dark space that never sees the sun, then you might choose warm color to brighten it up and airy window treatments to let in every bit of light possible.

What is my favorite color and how can I use some of it in this room?

If you have a favorite color, use it to guide your color scheme. Choose a fabric, wallpaper, carpeting or tile with colors, patterns or textures that you like. This is one of the most common ways of beginning a decorating project. Use these to identify colors you'll use on the walls, on other pieces of furniture, and in accessories.

The feeling you get from your home can change dramatically depending on the colors you bring into it. Color adds interest and vitality instantly, or it can help to create a soothing mood. You may end up painting the room tan, but your carefully added touches of your favorite color will be frosting on the cake. Remember that background colors are often just that, and it is the accent colors that are the catch your eye focal points in a room. It’s easiest to start with a multi-colored item as your starting point. Learn to mix colors and fabrics and how to repeat color throughout the room.

With your style and theme in mind, decide on an anchor fabric that has 3 or more colors. It is usually best to find fabrics that are floral, striped, and solid that can be repeated throughout the room. Don't choose colors standing in a store. Try to take samples (of paint, fabrics, and floor coverings) back to your home and look at them in daylight and at night.

Use the background color from the fabric as a wall color. Pick a mid-toned color from the fabric for flooring and large furniture pieces. Use the brightest colors from the fabric for accessories and accents like welting, picture mats, and decorative pillows. Upholstery can also be done in your anchor fabric or coordinating fabric. Place your anchor fabric in at least three places in the room (upholstery, pillows, curtains, etc). Use coordinating fabrics in other scales (larger or smaller) as accent fabrics on chairs, pillows, cording, and tablecloths.

Repeat colors evenly throughout the room and in at least 3 places. Divide color use to approximately 60% of the room in the background (lightest) color, 30% in the mid-tone color, and 10% in the brightest, accent colors.

What is my favorite outdoor location, vacation spot, or building?

Give this idea a few minutes of attention. Did you think of the beach, the mountains, or a cozy bed and breakfast? What is it about your favorite spot that you like so much? Is it the color, the mood, or style? How might you create this feeling in your room?

How can I arrange the furniture so it looks best?

Since furniture is often a large expense whether you’re starting fresh or starting over, shop until you find pieces you will admire each time you see them

Don't turn your back on the focal point of the room by arranging furniture away from this important feature. Find the room's focal point and use it to center your arrangement. Place furniture where it won’t interfere with doorways, cabinet doors, or other everyday activities. Don't block natural pathways into and through a room. Place the largest pieces of furniture first; midsize next and smallest pieces last.

Aim to balance large features (like a sofa or fireplace) with a similarly sized element in an opposite location. For example, a large stone fireplace with a large sofa or armoire placed opposite. Balance a room's furnishings by paying attention to scale and visual weight.

Keep seating arrangements within a square that's between 8 to 14 feet across. Don't line up the furniture around the walls except in small rooms. Pulling furniture into attractive groupings in the center of the room will add warmth and be inviting to guests as well. Pair seating in conversation areas with side tables and lamps so that there is a place to set drinks, books, etc. as well as adequate light for reading.

So find what you like and go for it!

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