Add an Element That Steals the Limelight

The very first rule for revamping any space is incorporating an element in the room that steals everyone’s attention, compelling them to look at it many times. Despite what many people assume, that element doesn’t have to be a big centerpiece placed somewhere in the middle of the room. You can choose a radiant abstract art, a furniture accessory with bold colors, an exquisite rug, or even an artful feature wall.

Rather than hurrying through the process, take some time choosing the hero piece. And yes, it should be something you fall in love with at first glance! However, make sure whatever you decide on must have some space to breathe, and it doesn’t overcrowd the room. Moreover, once you integrate that feature into the room, try using hints of the same theme throughout your room to make it all work.

Display Your Art Right

The difficult part isn’t to pick out beautiful paintings for brightening your walls. It’s rather the part where you’re figuring out exactly where to hang that wall art such that it aesthetically revamps the room. The right height can make all the difference as it can help create a sense of harmony throughout the room.

As a general rule, you should remember that your artwork should always be at eye level. From an average person’s perspective, that’s approximately 145 centimeters from the floor to the center of the painting. Many people like to surround their central art piece with smaller paintings, creating a feature wall. If that’s your case, we suggest placing your center artwork onto the wall using this rule. After that, you can hang the rest of the artworks based on the center one, giving at least an inch-or-two difference from all sides.

Don’t Stick with the Same-Shape Items

Have you noticed that most large furniture pieces are based on rectangular and square shapes? For instance, sofas, beds, dressing tables, sideboards, nightstands, and shelving units. This automatically gives your room a two-dimensional outlook, making it look boring after a few minutes of scrutiny.

However, you can make a significant difference by incorporating a few other shapes in the room. For that, you can purchase a round coffee table instead of choosing a rectangular one. You can also make use of a round or oval rug, multi-shape mirrors, a pair of round side tables, pyramid-shaped coffee table accessories – the options are endless!

Mirror on the Wall

Wall mirrors can be a spectacular addition to any room that needs a bit of additional lighting. Most interior designers make it a rule to incorporate a mirror or two for visually expanding the space if it’s an average or small-sized room.

Besides creating light and space, wall mirrors can also work as an excellent attention-grabbing yet practical element. However, we would suggest using the wall mirrors wisely and in a limited measure despite its various perks, as too much of anything is never a good idea.

Balance Your Brights with Neutrals (and Vice Versa)

Bringing some neutrals into the room and leaving some empty space is essential, especially if you’re big on colors. Let’s consider an example where you have several artful spots in the living room, such as bright hanging lights, colorful paintings, flowers, and funky bean bags. In such instances, it can be a great idea to balance the room by white-washing the walls and incorporate flooring using simple, non-patterned tiles.

Similarly, if you have a room based on interior designers like white, gray, and black, it is best to add some shades into the room by placing a couple of radiant flowers into a vase or hanging illuminating abstract arts.

Rugs Make a Mesmerizing Element

Unfortunately, several people don’t have rugs on their list of high-demanding home decor accessories. They would spend so much time, money, and effort to revamp a space without getting the results they desire when all that’s missing is a simple rug (not a wall-to-wall carpet) to anchor the room.

Rugs are great for adding color and soft textures into a room. The best thing about rugs is that they’re relatively inexpensive. Simply put, they can create a strong impact on any room’s look while letting you stay within budget. However, it would be best if you remembered the ultimate interior designing rule when selecting your rug’s size, i.e., leaving around 25 centimeters of visible floor around the rug.

Mix Different Heights

This is one of the best interior designing rules for decorating a room with low ceilings. You can create an illusion of room height to your liking by selecting low-profile furniture like sofas and coffee tables. To boost the effect to the next level, you can invest in tall, slim bookshelves and lamps that draw the audience’s attention upwards. These improvements will make the windows and walls appear taller. Moreover, mixing different heights is important for creating a relaxed yet modern vibe in your home that doesn’t require too much effort.

Layer Your Lighting Sources

Spaces with one type of lighting, like an overhead pendant, can make it look bland and two-dimensional no matter how fancy that light source is. However, multiple different height-and-shape lighting sources can elevate any room’s mood efficiently. You can try this one out by adding floor lamps, small table lamps, and sconces in addition to the overhead light source.
It’s time to put on your creative hat and use these eight interior designing rules to your advantage, creating the home of your dreams!

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The intention is to save your sanity and hard-earned dollars by pointing out what experts in the field of architecture believe will be the top value-add features to include in your home. Not only will these additions provide your family with comfort, recreation and enjoyment, but also maximize your profit should you up or downsize. Having a home with all the ‘bells and whistles’ desired by buyers will help your abode stand out against its competition even in a buyers’ market. Here are the current and projected trends to consider.

How we designate our personal space is a reflection of our daily lifestyles. Carryovers from recent years include chef-calibre kitchens as more and more homeowners take Cordon Bleu-calibre cooking classes. In the near future kitchens will become so much more. Once the site of the blazing hearth where families congregated for warmth, kitchens are now a gathering place for another kind of warmth- congeniality. Kitchens are again becoming the Home Epicenter. Not only are kitchen islands becoming bigger, even incorporating appliances such as sinks and stove tops, but also replace the need for a dining room altogether. To compensate, kitchen islands feature overhangs of granite, quartz, and even concrete to additionally serve as a dining table, a place to do homework, even a fully-functional home office as the latest refrigerators now provide internet access.

More Light, Lower Energy Costs

Indoor/Outdoor Living Spaces got their start in warmer climates, but today even in the Northeast and Pacific Northwest new builds often include walls of windows that accordian into the walls. This trend removes all distinction between being inside and being outside, in fact, many furniture designers create furniture lines that serve double duty in the living room or out on the lanai. In colder weather and so that everyone can appreciate sweeping vistas, floor to ceiling windows are making a come back. Unlike their predecessors, these new Larger Windows are highly energy efficient and their size creates a Passive Home that reduces the need to turn on the lights. Additionally these windows are doubly economical as the low-e glass obstructs summer’s heat and harmful UV rays.

Another design trend with no sign of quit in it is the Open Concept. If walls do not divide the indoors from the outdoors, then interior rooms do not require four walls, either. Spaces can be designated or implied by the furniture used to furnish them especially area rugs. Fitness has come home. Since the 1980s, Americans have become increasingly more health conscious. First gyms and fitness centers sprang up coast to coast. Next chains of vitamin and nutrition stores followed. Now as a nation, we are demanding Healthier Homes made from sustainable, recycled, or green materials that do not produce harmful off-gases. And what rooms are we putting in our newly fit, healthy houses? Spas and fitness centers.

Stay Fit Without Leaving Home

As with most trends, the paradigm shifts slowly. As mentioned above, at first homeowners flocked to gyms, and many corporations offered memberships as perks to encourage a healthier workforce. In recent decades the pace of our lives has accelerated so this concept has shifted away from crowded fitness centers to a desire for comfortable relaxation areas and workout spaces closer to home. This Fitness First trend gained traction when home gym equipment also became more sophisticated with some machines offering internet accessibility to classes held worldwide in real time. This not only bypasses the need for a personal trainer but brings its users the world of fitness to their doorstep and beyond. Today most new residences feature home gyms, steam rooms, hot tubs, and bathrooms worthy of a high-end spa.

For most of us, while luxurious, our homes are restricted usually to under 2,500 square feet. Most will feature three bedrooms and perhaps two full bathrooms. This does not leave additional space for crafting, sewing, painting, performing or listening to music, watching movies, or even hosting guests. The solution is flexible spaces. For example, dining rooms can easily convert to home offices and even guest rooms with the addition of Murphy beds that include a computer desk, bookcases, yet fold down into a large a bed as the room will accommodate. Today, an unfinished basement is a sin. These spaces easily convert to quality living spaces for relatively little cost and can greatly increase overall living space as well as add value. Be it a man cave, home theatre, kids play area, sauna room, whirlpool tub, an additional bedroom or home office, whatever. Spaces can be demarcated by walls or simply area rugs and lighting. (BTW: As a safety feature, most jurisdictions now require additional modes of egress, but these are easily installed.)

Whether it is the recurring trend to cocoon, increased prices at the pump, the dwindling value of the entertainment and disposable income dollar, or simply the desire to have everything one needs in close proximity, our residences are taking on more roles than simply as places to sleep, grab a quick bite, and maybe watch the news on TV. Our homes are becoming our personal universes. We probably have the internet to thank for that since we can be enclosed and yet part of a greater whole at any time for as long as we wish, and as long as our wifi cooperates! What were once unimaginable luxuries for working persons such as upscale kitchens, spa-like retreats, are becoming more and more commonplace. To conclude, personal comfort and satisfaction is no longer about how large one’s income and spending power is, but is trending toward how our homes reflect, support, and enhance the quality of our lives.

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One continuing trend with no signs of quit is emulating the high-style designs found in four-star restaurants and five-star hotels in our dwellings. For smaller homes, this could mean taking a hard look at your furniture and consider replacing it with multi-purpose units. For example, a table that easily converts to a bar or a room divider in less than a minute. Or installing a table that folds up completely into the wall when not in use. Let’s not forget Murphy beds! These have long provided the answer to the need for a dedicated home office that converts as needed into guest quarters.

Another exciting new element is the use of three dimensional printing effects on wall decor and even patterned flooring. Speaking of patterns, classic herringbone is finding its way into both traditional and contemporary settings alike. Not ready to commit to an angled hardwood floor in your living space or a whitewashed herringbone vinyl plank flooring in your kitchen? Start small with a similar patterned bedspread, to see if this trend has legs in your home and your life.

What’s Hot and What’s Not in Home Design Trends

Beyond questionable decor items like a floral bedskirt, which can easily be packed, all of us harbor at least one fixed design element in our homes that is passe and could deter buyers. Among these design faux pas are wallpaper borders, vertical blinds, textured ceilings, sponge-painted walls, non-neutral toned granite, and geographically-themed homes such as Santa Fe, Tuscan, Mediterranean, or even styles such as modern over more traditional design choices.

While urbane dynamism may reflect your taste level, many buyers might not agree with you. Therefore, realtors advise making your home appear inviting, yet serve as a blank canvas for the new owners. That means decluttering every room down to the bare necessities, even to the point of putting your big, comfy furniture in storage and staging your home with newer, fresher, smaller pieces. Aware that buyers are looking for an open floor plan and walk in closets? Problem is your pre-1970s home has neither? No point in taking a sledgehammer to what might be a load-bearing wall or sacrificing part of a bedroom for more storage. Instead, draw up a floor plan (there are many freeware sites online that allow you to do just that) that shows how easily they can do it once the house is theirs. As for your shallow closets, remove the old rod and install a wire and steel unit that offers shelving and hanging sections for zero unused space and maximum clothes storage options.

If your budget is tight the top three changes you can make are relatively inexpensive: new paint, new area rugs, and new light fixtures. Dark-toned paint can deter buyers who’ve never wielded a paintbrush. New, lighter paint sends the right message- that your home has been well-maintained and is fully updated. Opt for tints, beige only if you must, light gray is having a moment, and pale blue as well. Keep window trim crisp with a coat of satin-finish white for just the right contrast. (Stained wood trim is very 1970s. Just. Don’t. Do. It.)

Carpets should be steam cleaned, and new color coordinated area rugs used to demarcate distinctive activity regions such as seating and dining, especially in larger, multi-purpose rooms. The idea here is that while most buyers want an open concept, they’ll have to be shown how these vast spaces can best be utilized. The most expensive fix is also known to influence many home buyers- new lighting. Install recessed lighting in dark rooms, and while gold is having a comeback, those buying for the long-haul will opt for silver and bronze fixtures. Note: Today’s trend, Edison bulbs, is tomorrow’s “what were they thinking?” It has almost had its day, so use these sparingly, if at all.

Adapting the top design trends of 2019 via a complete or partial renovation, or even just some fresh updates to home decor can have a positive effect on home buyers, and for those staying put. Repurposing a well-loved home to reflect current interests and life stages will increase its value and ‘liveability’ overall. Demonstrating to potential buyers through visual clues such as fresh paint signal that the home is sell-worthy, and will doubtless bring about a positive outcome regardless of the current market in your region.

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