How to Start Decorating a Room

For many people, interior design is challenging. Bringing the pieces together that are both functional and aesthetically pleasing can be incredibly time consuming and expensive. You may not even end up with a room that you love.

Well, there are some techniques which make it easier. Most designers follow a systematic approach.

If you don’t know where to start, then starting may feel impossible and overwhelming. In design, planning is a huge part of starting and affects the quality of end products.

I’m sure everything will turn out the way you want it if you prioritize things and go step-by-step. 

Don’t worry! I am here to help you break down the steps and start decorating NOW.

I’m about to move to my new house. Many things are going through my mind about what I want and need.

While I am thinking about the decisions I need to make, I realized that there are some details which I NEED to share with you to make decorating easier.

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Where to Start?

It’s essential to know the steps. I am writing this article in order of importance. If you follow this order, it will be impossible to forget or miss anything.

Measuring

Why is this important? I think this is the number one area where people most often make mistakes in their homes.

No one wants to end up with a couch that is too big for space or a table that looks way too small compared to other pieces in the room.

You need to spend a significant amount of time taking measurements when starting to decorate a room. All you need to know are these three necessary measurements of your room: the length, the width, and the height.

This is enough to make a comparison with the scales of other elements you are going to buy.

Actions

Deciding the key activity that will be taking place in the room is something else that you need to think about before you start decorating a room.

This is important for customizing the room to meet your needs; to specialize it as your own unique space.

For example, if it’s a living room, will you be using it to watch TV, play games, entertain guests, or read a book?

For a bedroom, you will be sleeping there, but you may also want a place to relax and drink wine or read a great book in silence.

After you identify critical activities for your room, you will also need to think about how many people will be using the room (will you need a small or large couch, etc.).

You can download this essential activity list and use it for your room decoration project.

How to choose an Interior Design Style

I know that deciding what you want and bringing the pieces together to create a perfect result is hard, but it’s going to be worth your effort in the end. Where we live is a great definition and reflection of ourselves.

Finding the right Interior Design Style that you love and want to live with is the most fun part. It gives you the framework that you need and helps you imagine the end result.

It’s essential to choose an interior design style before you begin choosing and buying any interior elements. Deciding the style also helps you to narrow down your furniture choices and will make shopping easier.

There are so many beautiful and unique styles out there. Here are some of the main ones:

• Contemporary
• Bohemian
• Traditional
• Mid-Century Modern
• Industrial
• Scandinavian
• Coastal Chic
• French Country
• Transitional

Style comes down to what type of mood you want for your home. Do you prefer a more laid back lifestyle? If so, I would recommend you choose an Industrial, Bohemian, or Coastal Chic.

You want to bring an elegant mood to your home, go with a Traditional or Transitional style.

If you want your home to have a relaxing feeling, then the Scandinavian style is probably the right style for you.

You can also select your home design style by using your home color scheme or deciding a color scheme first.

If you have not decided on your style or know what you want yet, you can definitely mix styles. This is actually the hardest way to design because mixing styles well is an advanced skill, and it needs a lot of time to think about it.

My advice

Choose one to make it easy on yourself. If you can’t decide which one because you love both styles, you can select one as a primary and use other styles in some of your elements.

The Industrial style goes with almost every style well. If you want, you can consider using an industrial style as a secondary style in your room decoration.

You must know the primary style you plan to use to decorate every part of your home. Otherwise, your home will feel a bit disjointed rather than harmonious. You can add other styles as a secondary style in different rooms.

Color Palette: Create Your Unique Color Scheme

The last step before you jump into designing is to select your color scheme. I think that this can truly be done well on your own if you follow this smooth formula.

First, pick a neutral that you love as your base. You can use two neutral in your rooms. It could be any neutral, but be careful about what it looks like when you have one dark and one light.

Once you pick your neutral, go ahead and choose one to three accent colors. You can pick one accent color and use its darker or lighter shades; it creates so much more interest than one shade.

You have to be aware of the impact of the color. It can change the space by tricking the eye; color can make your area appear larger or smaller.

Easy Changes to Make Any Room Look Better Now!

I am going to share with you the critical elements to a room to make it look instantly pulled together and polished for those who are very excited and looking for a way to make a significant impact in your space right away (like me).

These fundamental elements always work for someone who wants to refresh their space and doesn’t have much money to spend.

Are you ready to hear what these elements are? 

Here they are a Rug, Drapes, and Greenery.

These are the three key elements that can change the atmosphere of your room. By adding a rug, you also add a textural dimension and interest to the floor.

Windows in rooms always look better with curtains or drapes for many reasons. It softens the edges, adds texture to the wall, allows you to repeat other colors in your color scheme, and allows you to adjust lighting and privacy to a room.

Lastly, I always love adding greenery to a room, whether it’s real or faux. I prefer real if it’s possible. Using greenery is a simple way to always make a room look better and bring quality to your home’s interior spaces. 

It almost adds a whole different atmosphere to a room and increases the indoor air quality. 

After considering all the steps we discussed in this post, look for a way to repeat color throughout the room as this is very important and add a rug, drapes, and/or greenery to create quick changes. 

I challenge you to try this out in your own home. Take the before and after photos, and you will be surprised at the difference you see. Send me your photos too! 🙂

I hope you find these steps helpful and practical. After completing them, the next step is furniture selection.

Remember that prioritizing things always decreases the chance of making mistakes. Throughout the furniture selection, you also need to follow these steps to make the right decisions quickly.

If you enjoyed this article or have any questions, please feel free to comment on it below. I would love to hear from you!