Interior design is the process in which you design the interior decorations of a room or building. It is all about making the most of a room in ways like efficiency of layout, aesthetically pleasing and giving character and style to the room or building.
In order to achieve this there are 5 basic principles that help us in planning the design of our space. Let’s see these 5 basic principles so you can apply these to your home interior.
Scale and Proportion:
This means the size of the room and the size and space between furniture too. The best way to see this before purchasing any furniture or décor pieces is to make a scaled floor plan of the space. Then add to this the furniture and art pieces, to scale, and see if it a good proportion and scale to the room. Don’t forget to measure correctly otherwise your drawing will not be accurate and you may end up with furniture and décor that doesn’t fit well in your space. On example of not scaling right is buying a couch that is too big for your living room, or having very small art work hung on a huge wall. Be aware of your size of room and furniture and décor in it.
Balance:
Meaning a balance to the visual pieces which can be symmetrical, asymmetrical or radial to help create a visually pleasing outcome. When things have some sort of balance then this outcome brings an easy to the eyes, it makes a room feel put together. Out of the three ways to achieve balance symmetrical is easy to achieve, but asymmetrical is a bit harder and what it is, is the proportional and similar to the symmetrical way. Example. 1 large painting and next to it 2 smaller ones to balance out the large one. On the other hand, radial is when there is a balance of all the elements from the center of the area. An example of Radial symmetry can be found in flowers where it has a central axis and petals around this which make it a radial symmetry.
Rhythm:
This means the flow of the décor and room, what makes your eyes move around the room. This can be the element of repetition or transition or progression. This can be from colours, textures, lines or even shapes and sizes. Repetition is when you repeat design elements throughout the room or area. For instance, the pattern of lines could be in the curtains, pillows and rug, or the colour of blue could be in the art work, décor accessories and rug. There are endless ways to achieve repetition. As for Transition, this can be achieved usually through furniture and other architectural features like banisters, rails, chairs and tables. What this does is it take the eye and leads it through a continuous flow from one end to another. The stair railing takes your eye from top to bottom and vice versa. Now in the case of progression, this takes you through a progress of increasing or decreasing or small to big and vice versa. The easiest way to show progression is a set of candles going from tallest to shortest.
Focal Point or Emphasis:
There needs to be an emphasis or focal point in every room. This can be architectural, a dominant piece or colour, or smaller pieces like rugs, or even smaller like the accessories of a room. For instance, you make have small vintage trinkets all around the room as focal points. Always have in mind that you need to anchor your space. This could be achieved through a focal point and this could be an element of the room itself and not the décor. It could be a window with a view, a fireplace, a building bookcase, whatever it maybe you should choose to emphasis this. You can emphasis this by arranging your furniture to showcase it and not distract from it, or you could highlight it through your home décor.
Harmony:
When we use all concepts right, then we get harmony. This shows a pleasing outcome from many different elements in a room. Basically, it is the way everything is combined in a pleasing way. This could be shown through the colour you choose for the room even if it is different shades of it or in different sizes. Always have in mind the 6 aspects of harmony which are lines, shapes, textures, colour and ideas.
As you can see these are the 5 basic principles you should have in mind when decorating your home. Some of these points are easy to achieve while others may need to take a few tries before you get it right. I hope that with these explanations you are now ready to understand more what you need to look for in designing your space.
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