All about interior designing

Interior design simply means personalizing your interior environment!

Interior Design today is all about customizing your built environment with conceptual planning, aesthetic sense and technical solutions applied to achieve the desired result. It goes beyond just the visual or ambient enhancement of an interior space, it seeks to optimize and harmonize the uses to which the built environment will be put. Between you and me, this jargon simply means dressing up your closed spaces to make them look their best. And just as you would dress for the occasion, your interiors need to be "dressed up" for a specific intended purpose or use. And that is where technical expertise really helps.

Interior Designs should reflect your needs.

Each space is unique with its own dimensions, construction, design potential and, of course, - limitations. Are you going to use that space for work or leisure, entertainment or learning, worship or healing? Can you create the ambience that you wish to convey – be it power, authority, wisdom, and achievement, a sense of security, playfulness or serenity, as required by that space?

Consider the practical aspects. Is access easy, lighting adequate, acoustics soothing, and seating comfortable? And have you worked out strategies for wise storage space without forgetting special needs – especially health and safety? Sounds a wee-bit difficult, isn’t it? Despair not! You as user are the only one who can come up with all the right answers. Look for interior design ideas – they are available aplenty. It’s just this small matter of putting things together judiciously. Who knows? There could well be a Le Corbusier hiding somewhere in your persona!

Interior Design, Getting It Done, Right

Interior design is the design of the inside of a building or structure. We could be referring to a home or a business. In any case, for those that need to design a living or working environment, it is important to make sure that you do so while being well within your budget. And, you will need to take and keep exact measurements.

Is there a way of getting your interior design project done within your budget and, dare we say, easily? There sure is. In fact, interior design software is becoming a hot new commodity!

People like to change. Let’s face it. We don’t like to see the same old thing, day in and day out. Instead, we want options and color and sometimes, we just have to change things to stay sane! For all of those that need to use some interior design skills, this can be the perfect way of doing so. Interior design is a skill, often learned through college courses. Does that mean that you, the laymen can not do it? Of course not! But, get some help by checking out interior design articles .

These articles & programs can help you design a home from start to scratch. They can help with color schemes and even suggest art work for the walls. What these programs do is create an image of the space that is to be designed within the walls of the computer. Then, you can design it how ever you like without fear that making a mistake will cost you. Instead, you get to choose from anything that makes you happy and see how it works.

There are hundreds of programs on interior design and by all means this is no where near the limit that these programs have. To find out what they offer you, individually, check out your options. Look for choices that will work in your unique situation and will provide you with the opportunities that you have been longing for. It’s easy to find these interior design programs, of course, when you know to look online for them.

Principles of Interior Design

Whether you are working with existing furnishings and fabrics or “starting from scratch” with an empty room, you should always use the elements and principles of design as a guide in choosing everything. The elements are your tools or raw materials, much like paints are the basics to a painter. The elements of design include space, line, form, color, and texture. The principles of design relate to how you use these elements. The principles of design are balance, emphasis, rhythm, proportion and scale, and harmony and unity.

Principle #1: Balance

Visual equilibrium in a room is called balance. It gives a sense of repose and a feeling of completion. A well-balanced room gives careful consideration to the placement of objects according to their visual weight. The elements of line, form, color and texture all help determine an object’s visual weight, which is the amount of space it appears to occupy. Balance also refers to how and where you place the elements (line, form, color and texture) within a room. To maintain balance, try to distribute the elements throughout the room.
• Formal balance, often referred to as symmetrical balance, creates a mirror image effect.
• Informal balance uses different objects of the same visual weight to create equilibrium in a room. It is more subtle and spontaneous and gives a warmer, more casual feeling.

Principle #2: Emphasis

Emphasis is the focal point of the room. The focal point should be obvious as you enter the room; it is the area to which your eye is attracted. Whatever is featured, as the center of interest –a fireplace, artwork or a window treatment framing a beautiful view – must be sufficiently emphasized so that everything else leads the eye toward the featured area. You can add emphasis to a natural focal point or create one in a room through effective use of line, form, color and texture.

Principle #3: Rhythm

Rhythm supplies the discipline that controls the eye as is moves around a room. Rhythm helps the eye to move easily from one object to another and creates a harmony that tells the eye everything in the room belongs to a unified whole. Rhythm is created through repetition of line, form, color or texture. It can also be created through progression. Progressive rhythm is a gradual increasing or decreasing in size, direction or color.

Principle #4: Proportion and Scale

Size relationships in a room are defined by proportion and scale. Proportion refers to how the elements within an object relate to the object as a whole. Scale relates to the size of an object when compared with the size of the space in which it is located.

Principle #5: Harmony and Unity

A well-designed room is a unified whole that encompasses all the other elements and principles of design. Unity assures a sense of order. There is a consistency of sizes and shapes, a harmony of color and pattern. The ultimate goal of decorating is to create a room with unity and harmony and a sense of rhythm. Repeating the elements, balancing them throughout the room, and then adding a little variety so that the room has its own sense of personality accomplishes this. Too much unity can be boring; too much variety can cause a restless feeling. Juggling the elements and principles to get just the right mix is a key to good design.

Beautifying our homes gives us a satisfying feeling

Bedrooms
Whether it is a master bedroom or a guest room that doubles as a study, the key principles of bedroom design should always apply. By following the hints and tips below, a bedroom can be made to look more spacious and stylish.

The room plan
Creating a room plan can help you decide where to place your bedroom furniture. Placing the bed is the main hurdle when planning the layout for a bedroom and a number of issues will influence the choice of spot:
Access - a double bed may require access for two occupants, so it shouldn't be placed in a corner. Bunk beds need clearance space for safety and access to the upper bunk.
Power points/TV aerials/phone sockets - socket availability may dictate where bedside tables, a dressing table or a TV unit are placed.
Door - personal taste or feng shui may influence where the bed is placed in relation to the door.
Storage units - bear in mind that the bed should not be placed within the arc of opening wardrobe doors or drawers.
Dressing the bed is as important as placing the furniture. Linen doesn't have to slavishly match other fabrics in the room, but attention to colour and textures will help give the room a sense of style. Layering the bed with folded throws and scatter cushions creates a cosy and welcoming environment when not in use.

Furniture myths and musts
The bedroom has the longest list of supposed "must-have" furniture of any room in the house, but a crowded room looks untidy and is difficult to relax in. Consider these options:
Do all your clothes have to be stored in the bedroom? Clothes that are worn less frequently could be stored elsewhere, reducing the need for wardrobes.
Is a bedside cabinet needed or will a shelf do?
Must a computer work station be kept in the bedroom? Some sleep therapists suggest even the presence of a computer in bedroom can lead to disturbed nights.
Is a dressing table required if a bathroom vanity unit exists?

Interior Design: Living & Dining Area Tips

● In interior design, a focal point is important in every room. It could be a large window or painting or an interesting art piece. In your living room, arrange your furniture around a focal point. Put your biggest piece of furniture first (like the sofa) then continue with the smaller pieces of furniture down to your accent pieces.● Consider the size of your living room when you buy the furniture. Don't buy oversized pieces if your room is not that big. It will make your room smaller and cramped. And also don't buy tall furniture if your ceiling is low, they will make the ceiling appear lower.● Many of us Filipinos tend to buy living room furniture "sets" with a sofa, two matching side chairs, with matching coffee and side tables. Be different, don't match the couch with the side chairs. In fact, in interior design, it is more fashionable to have different styled pieces put together like a modern sofa with classic or antique side chairs and different styled tables.● If you plan to put several picture frames on the walls. it is a good idea to group them together by theme and arrange them inside an imaginary frame. They can be the focal point of the room.● Before you buy you dining room set, take a good look at your space. Be sure that there is ample room to walk around the dining set even if all the seats are occupied. Interior design has a lot to do with ergonometrics, not just appearance. We Filipinos have the tendency to buy bigger dining sets than our space can accommodate and push one side of the table against the wall.

● If your living and dining area is on the same room, you may use a different flooring material on the dining area to delineate the space from the living area. Or you may put an area rug on your dining area for definition. A free standing screen is another good option. ● Avoid using fluorescent (white) lighting in the living and dining areas. Food looks more inviting under incandescent (yellow) light and people's complexion too look better under yellow light. But if you really like to use fluorescent light, combine both white & yellow light at the same time.● If you plan to put a chandelier above your dinning table, don't put it up so high. Lower it 3 to 4 feet from the table top.● Aside from your direct light source above the dining table (a chandelier for example), add some pin lights around the room and a dimmer switch to make your surroundings more pleasing to the eye. Do the same with your living room.● It is ok to put family pictures on the living room but don't put so many, specially school diplomas and trophies. They are better put in the den or your bedroom.

Spiritual Housecleaning: Healing the Space Within by Beautifying the Space Around You

"You will be looking at your home's interior to see your soul's design. You will clean it, decorate it, and sweeten it in order to serve your higher being like your principal devotee," so says Kathryn Robyn in the first chapter. In today's high-stress world of two-hour commutes and sixty-hour workweeks, most of us want our homes to be a place of refuge and rejuvenation. Yet, all too often frantic schedules and waning energy turn the oasis of our dreams into little more than a drop-off zone where we collapse after work and gulp down a microwave dinner with our eyes glued to the TV. The clutter, the dirt, and disorganization that result create feelings of unhappiness, uselessness, and futility.

The recent surge of interest in the ancient Chinese discipline of feng shui also suggests that many of us are searching for new ideas about caring for our homes that can't be found in Hints from Heloise or House Beautiful. Spiritual Housecleaning will take you on a journey with a natural energy healer and body worker who still remembers the lessons she learned as a former professional housecleaner. Chapter by chapter, room-by-room, author Kathryn Robyn shows how the cleanliness and order of each room of your home affects specific aspects of your spiritual health and well-being. Each chapter also provides a series of practical exercises to help readers tackle their household chores with mindfulness and self-examination. Where Zen Buddhists have always advised us to "chop wood and carry water," Spiritual Housecleaning counsels us to "wipe counters and scrub floors." Lowly as they are, these inescapable daily tasks offer twenty-first century readers the chance to achieve the same spiritual goals of inner peace and freedom from stress, with the extra benefit of ending up with a clean house.