How to Decorate Your Home Using Everyday Inspiration

You don’t always have to start with color to begin planning your home décor project.  Today’s blog post will focus on how to harness inspiration from your surroundings like a scenic photo from a recent trip, or a fabulous couture piece or a unique art find.

Relationship Between Couture And Design

You can harness inspiration from anywhere to envision your future home design project. The relation between fashion and decor is undeniable. We see in the everyday fashion and design world how the two are blended seamlessly.  For instance, take the sheer organza used in fashion. They’re free flowing and loose exuding femininity. The same fabric may be used as part of a window treatment to make a room more feminine and graceful. Today, some sheers come embroidered in glitz or even diamond studs. The very same sheers will be used to design exquisite gowns for the red carpet.  It’s not hard to see how interior designers and decorators get inspiration from runway couture.

Relationship Between Art And Design

In a similar relationship, we see the terms art and design are used anonymously. However, there is a difference between the two. While design work is art in itself, visual art cannot be essentially termed as a form of design. Visual art is however often used to influence interior design projects.  For example, you may use the colors on a painting to determine your color scheme. If it’s the case, your inspiration piece is a piece of art, you may want include other items from the piece’s time period but you don’t have to.

Relationship Between Travel And Design

Often when we travel, we collect mementos and artifacts from the places we visit. These items can be integrated into our decor.  You may choose to sparingly use these items across different rooms, or integrate all of them in one space.   In addition to souvenirs, are the picturesque photos from those jet-setting moments.  Don’t keep those photos hidden on your phone for no one to see or watch them fade in your social media feed over time.  Incorporate various size printouts in your home decor accents as well as conversation starters.  There are many services that will enlarge your photos to mural size for the ultimate accent wall.

Designing the Ultimate Space Using Inspiration Pieces

Look at your item of inspiration, what feeling does it invoke?  If you feel cheerful or the inspiration produces feelings of cheeriness, consider a bright and airy design.  If it is a strong powerful emotion, a more dark and moody space could be more suitable.  If it is exciting and vivid, a bold room design with strong pops of color should work.  The steps outlined below will walk you through the major actions to ensure designing the ultimate space based off of your inspiration piece.

Your inspiration piece should have gorgeous color, pattern and the ability to evoke a feeling or ambiance. Color influences one’s mood and so when choosing a color scheme, you need to consider the function of the room and the emotion you want to evoke from that space.

Finding Your Color Scheme

Red is an exciting color. It pumps adrenaline and is, therefore, great for the living and dining room area because it encourages conversation.

Yellow is a happy color. It’s great for kitchens, dining rooms, and bathrooms and is used to make hallways and small spaces seem larger. In large amounts, however, it could evoke hostility and irritation. So use it sparingly.

Lighter shades of blue create a calming effect and that’s why it’s great for bedrooms and bathrooms because it helps one relax. Lighter shades of green can also exude a calming effect.

Purple in darker shades gives a room depth. It’s associated with luxury and so great as an accent color for any room. In lighter hues such as lilac, it can promote calmness in the same way blue does.  Dark purple interiors impart a dramatic and subdued look for home décor but definitely is not boring.

Orange is an energetic color but not ideal for bedrooms or living rooms. It does well in a fitness room because it will keep you pumped to sail through your workout.

Other Key Design Elements

Once you have your inspiration piece and color scheme consider other essential design elements such as space, balance, texture and patterns, and scale.  You will want to consider what the space will be used for and the best layout to improve room function.  Balance is key to making a space feel harmonious and inviting.  Avoid awkward room design by working between symmetrical (placement of identical items placed on opposite sides) and asymmetrical (placement of varied pieces of different sizes and shapes) balance and to enhance the depth and interest of your space.

Incorporate visual texture which may be seen in paint and wood furnishings and tactile texture such as leathers, velvet and chenille.  Be bold in your design and use a variety to give the space as much character as possible.  Use complementary patterns that include geometric shapes and bring out the formal or casual feel you want to impose.

Scale refers to the size of items in your space in relation to the room.  Be sure to take very careful measurements of your space to avoid any future disappointments.  Take note that large objects look smaller when placed in a big space and small items look bigger when placed in a small place. Remember to keep pieces of similar scale together.

So once again, anything can serve as an inspiration for your next home decor project.  Don’t have time or need assistance in incorporating your design inspiration into your next home decor project, work with Calming Ground Interiors to develop a room concept and check out one of our virtual concept packages.