9 Things To Consider Before Decorating A Room

Sometimes decorating can seem hectic when you aren’t sure where to start. It can also become frustrating when you aren’t sure you’ve done everything. Meaning, at times it can feel as though you’ve left something out, or maybe the room appears incomplete. Here is a list of thing to consider before decorating a room to help ease the decorating process.

1. Determine your style. What look are you going for? Is it contemporary? Modern? Hollywood Regency? Eclectic? Knowing what style you are going for beforehand will help make furniture shopping much easier.

2. Determine the functionality of the room. Meaning, what would you like the room to be used for? Is it a living room for entertaining but also for working? A bedroom with an office space and a sitting area? Knowing how you want the space to function will help you to consider the types of furniture you are going to need to purchase.

3. Once you have determined how you want the space to function, determine how you are going to section off the room. The room could have 2, 3 or even 4 different sections. It all depends on how you would like to use the space.

4. Identify the focal wall.  In a bedroom it is typically the wall in which your bed will be against. In a living room it would be the wall in which this is a fire place or where the television would be.

The focal wall in this space is the wall with the bed.

5. Once you have determined the focal wall and sectioned off the space, determine the layout of the furniture. This will be your floor plan.

6. Determine the color scheme. Will it be a monochromatic white room? Black and gold. White with pops of color? It’s all up to you. If you aren't sure of yourself you can always find inspirations from other rooms in which color scheme you love and use the Sherwin-Williams Chip it program at www.letschipit.com. Probably one of the greatest paint tool I've seen. Very innovative and takes away the guess work in color matching.

Here is an example of the Chip It tool used to color match this room's palette.

7. Identify the windows in the room and determine how you will dress them.

8. Decorate each section as though it were its own attraction. For example: Let’s say you have a sitting area in the bedroom, focus on making that section just as important as the main bed section. Decorate it as though it were its own attraction. 

  

9. Never forget overhead lighting. Lighting can make a huge impact in a room although it's often forgotten.

Once you have marked these off your check list, the designing clutter should be all swept out and organized. Good luck!

Black, maroon, navy, hunter green; Dark walls can be intriguing and tempting when trying to achieve a cozy space, but they can also go terribly wrong if done improperly. Dark walls can make any room feel smaller and cozier, but it can also make the space feel daunting, heavy and cave-like. If you are going to be bold with those weighty shades there are a few ways to go about it to avoid creating a dark abyss. 

Solution: Photo and mirror galleries, lighting, and paneling.

Random Note: One of the main reasons people stick to lighter wall colors is because it's safer and easier to live with. 
 

1. Break up the darkness with a contrasting photo gallery. You could argue that photo galleries can be used in any situation pertaining to wall color, light or dark, and this is true, but the key word in this case is contrasting. Meaning, the gallery you use to break up a dark wall should be lighter, therefore adding contrast and brightening the wall without taking away from it.

• To break up the wall simply means to place some sort of color or object (photos, mirrors, lighting, etc.) on top of the preexisting wall and essentially breaking up with the flow of color on the wall.

Below are two examples of a photo gallery breaking up a dark wall.

Notice in this bedroom how two large, nearly white, pictures are used to break up that dark blue/black section of the wall. This allows you to bring back some light into the space without taking away from the dark wall.
   
       2.   Use a mirror gallery to not only break up the wall but to make the space appear larger 
             and brighter. Keep in mind that dark paint will instantly make a room appear smaller, 
             this would be a great way to reintroduce the true size of the room.


In the photo below, in addition to a wall gallery above the bed, we have two very large mirrors placed above the side dressers. Placing these large pieces in front of the table lamps will reflect more light and add a feeling of openness to the space. While these aren't considered mirror galleries, they serve the same purpose.

  

       3.   If the dark wall is an accent wall (An accent wall (a.k.a a "feature wall") is a wall 
             whose design differs from the design of the other walls in the room. The accent wall's
             color can simply be a different shade of the color of the other walls, or have a 
             completely different design in terms of the color and material.), shine some light on it. 
             To do so, add overhead lighting that will shine directly onto the wall, or use       
             sconces.This feature not only brightens the area but creates interest where there 
             was none.

        4.   Paneling adds both interest and structure to any wall, light or dark. Imagine a smooth 
              black wall that simply goes on forever and ever like an abyss waiting to suck and drain
              its next victim. It's boring. It's stark. It's doing nothing but existing. Because dark 
              colors are normally associated with sophistication it is easy for paneling coupled with 
              dark walls to bring sophistication into any space. It's a great way to elude the abyss 
              look.

Observe the images below. Notice how what could have been bland dark walls have turned into a thing of sophistication.

 

The final image below incorporates both paneling and an overhead light that illuminates the dark feature wall.

 

So if you're one of those individuals who likes to play it safe with light colors for fear of a heavy, boring room, these are some tips that should put your mind at easy and encourage you towards the "dark side".

Space isn't limited to the floor. Interior designers knows how to utilize the entire space of a room, including ceilings and walls.

One way to utilize space is by extending the headboard, or at least the look of the headboard. Creating the illusion of a taller headboard adds a feeling of richness and luxury to your bedroom. Tall headboards can be expensive, but they make a bedroom look and feel grand. "Extending" the headboard without actually purchasing one can create that same feel. The increased height draws the eyes upward making the room appear taller and the space more regal.

A few ways to do this is with a picture gallery, wallpaper, paint and drapery.

When using a gallery wall to extend the height of a headboard, you want to make sure that width of the gallery is similar to that of the headboard. Here are examples of a gallery extending the height of a board.

In this situation the photos are similar and symmetrical, but they don't always have to be so. The photos can be various sizes a asymmetrical, so as long as they aid in the look of a headboard.

The second way is with wallpaper. 

 In both spaces wallpaper has been used to extend the headboard. In the second photo especially you can see that wallpaper has been used solely as the headboard.

The third way is with paint. Painting the wall behind the headboard can have a huge impact on the overall look of the headboard.

Although the image above isn't of a bedroom, it shows the impact that paint can have when trying to extend the look of a space.

The last way you might want to consider when trying to extend the look of your headboard is by using drapery. This look not only adds luxury and height, but also a touch of romance. It's also a great way to add pops of color.

In every method the same thing is achieved, height, luxury and interest. There are many other ways to do this apart from the four mentioned, such as hanging a rug, or a large mirror, planks of wood. It's really up to you, so as long as the mission is to extend those headboard and draw attention to the height of the ceiling.