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You don’t have to follow all of these 17 steps, but implementing just a few will have you accessorize your home like a pro interior designer. Read on!
It’s true that professional interior designers and home decorators need certified education and years of practice to get things right. All that experience under their belt translates to a visually appealing interior design. Though only the best of the best make it click, and they set the trends.
We’re about to lay out a list of steps that all pro designers take to decorate and accessorize a home. Most of this comes from the advice from the pros, including the editor of this very site. If you use just a few of these tips, you’ll be able to make your home look like a designer has been there.
It is important to understand, though, that any advice you follow is just guidelines. You should not copy it verbatim. You should not copy what you see on Instagram and Pinterest. What makes decor truly great and unique is your own personal touch. That’s why many pros fake it with vintage thrift store items.
Let’s dive into this exciting story! (You’ll see a few links to products that illustrate a point, and they earn our site a commission at no expense to you.)
Create a Story
Create a narrative behind your decor accessories. Every piece should have a story that ties the whole vignette together. Think of it as writing a novel about your home and your experiences.
This means that if you have objects that look interesting together, put them next to each other. You can mix up the subject matter or add colors to the display and not seem like they belong together.
Sometimes it’s more interesting when there is color or uniqueness to a display but nothing else linking these things together.
Collect Accessories Over Time
The trick to filling your home with personal accents is not going out and buying a bunch of fashionable and expensive items to finish a room. Instead, you should take your time, choosing objects that speak to you.
Put a variety of home decor items in your space to create a unified look and feel. Use only what you like out of your collection of every day items, furniture, housewares, and art. Collect items through life experiences and gather pieces to reflect who you are as an individual. Live with them for awhile before making any decision on whether or not it should stay permanently.
Stash Your Accessories
You can rotate your accessories if you keep a stash of them in a closet or shelves. You can do this by collecting all of your different accessories and storing them in one location. You can rotate the items as you feel like it so that you only need to have a few displayed at any given moment. If anything is not to your style or liking, you can store it away for later use.
Select items to put in a closet that can be used for decorations with all your different furniture. Create a spot for home accessories items like shelves in the garage.
Clear the Room
It is important to create a balanced and pleasing space when designing the interior of your home. The final layer comes in the form of accessorizing, which a lot of people think is like jewelry. Accessorizing is like an accessory that you then base your design on what you need. The most common type of accessory would be furniture because it’s basically what everything else is sitting on and includes carpets, rugs, or bedding as well.
In order to decorate well, start by clearing out your space. Take out everything from lamps, artwork and cushions. Without distractions from these objects, you will be able to visualize where your different focal points are going to be in the living room and how to optimize furniture placements. This removes the chance of making layout mistakes before you know what you’re doing.
Consider the Balance and Scale
The weight, color, or pattern of objects should be consistent throughout a room. You can balance a group of objects if you put a large item on one side and a bundle of small items on the other side. Balancing out an arrangement is important to create symmetry in a room; you should do this by balancing each item’s size and consistency so that it looks neat and aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Although items of different weight, colors, or design styles might work individually, they may not necessarily work in groups.
Things work together in an asymmetrical arrangement if you choose different sized items. You can pair a tall and big vase with a number of smaller ones. You have to imagine the visual weight and depth so that a group will seem more colorful because they are from the same color scheme. If you’re working with a huge room, put large accessory pieces in there for extra glamour, but remember not to get them for small spaces because it’ll look out of place or overwhelming.
The use of mirrors also creates a balance of height and scale. This creates a visual interest that works well in larger rooms. Understanding the balance will help your eye follow through the room in a swift, controlled motion.
Experiment with Color
Decor accessories are great for picking out patterns, colors, textures, materials, and other things. They can either match your walls or be a contrasting accent color and bring life to a room. Adding in extra colors can also be a nice way to spice up an old space and make it feel fresh again.
You should use accessories in decorating as a less expensive way to introduce color. If one wants to use a bright statement sofa, they could spend too much money decorating and painting the walls in a saturated color resulting in an expensive mistake. You can achieve vibrant colors with less expense by incorporating accessories that are easily changed out, such as accent throw pillows, tapestries, or sculpted glass accents.
Experiment with Textures
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Related: luxury throw blankets, and faux fur blankets.
The use of different textures in a space creates interest, adds depth, and can even improve an area’s energy level. The texture is one way to add visual interest and interactiveness to an environment. Research has shown that people perceive those environments as more alive and interesting than without texture.
Do not use too many similar textures like a lot of glass decor. That makes the scene feel one-dimensional, which can make it not as aesthetically pleasing. If you incorporate contrasting textures like rough wood accents, spiky plants, and super soft textiles into the shelf, you will create an exciting display that is better at appealing to people’s sense of aesthetics or understanding.
An excellent way to add some texture to a room without splurging is using accent throw blankets. You can throw them over a sofa or a chair and instantly spruce up the decor.
Make Groups of Accessories
You can place many decor items in a group to make your design statement more impactful and enhance the vignette. Place objects of various heights together to make them stand out. For example, putting several decor items on a shelf or sideboard is better than just having one or two because the row appears longer and more eye-catching. It would also be good to color-group items together, such as putting all red decor elements next to each other for continuity of color.
To keep your collectibles neat and tidy, choose a select few items to be more present in your collection. Keep the selected items together to create a design oneness and simplify the collection.
Decorate with Books
Books can be aesthetically difficult to display when making a shelf because people often place them vertically like in a library. One way to get around this problem is by alternating horizontal stacks with vertical rows. This creates a more interesting visual mix and makes it easier for your books to show their covers instead of the spine.
In order to make a room more inviting, allow for plenty of books and any other reading material you have in storage. Relative to how formal your library may be, you can vary the different ways to use books. It is important that accessories are placed at various levels throughout the room, with books or accessories being used as functional pieces in addition to their decorative purpose.
Decorate with Art
Works of art should be hung at eye level. This means that the average height person would see it when standing. When in a dining room or office, often it is necessary for the gaze to be lowered when seated; so as to maintain eyelevel and not get neck strain from looking up all day.
Some designers may use artwork and other types of decorating accessories. For example, they might put up a map and some antique globes together. They would need them to be at least a few inches apart with 8-12 inch clearance in between the map and the globes to minimize any distractions that the decoration may provide. Do not underestimate the impact of functional wall art such as wall clocks too.
Decorate with Live Plants
Live plants are really great in a household, and they can be useful for many different things. Plants are fantastic for transforming your space and making it feel even more like a home which is so important. We love them because of how they add to every space in our home that we have them in. They instantly make it look nicer and also really neat. If you’re looking for an accessory that will be there with you as time goes on, get live plants!
Create a Beautiful Tablescape Decor
Don’t go buy all new things to set your dining table; just bring in already owned ones and add some fresh flowers. It’s best to just have a simple but pretty table, so that family and friends can talk without the distraction of a centerpiece.
Accessorize Your Desk
Check Out the Top 10 Best Desk Accessories
Don’t forget your home office and workspace (especially if it’s shared space). Show some love to your desktop too. It’s not only where you keep your computer, documents, and office supplies. You can put up some nice and even functional accessories to make it look and feel better.
Use Trays Everywhere
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Trays are so easy to use in many situations. Place the tray on your table alongside any bar you wish to have Keep a tray handy as the meal progresses, it can be used for serving or even putting vegetables in early!
Decorate Your Fireplace Mantel
Make your fireplace a more inviting centerpiece of the room with decorations. Take into consideration what you love and find a way to display it. There is always space for holiday ornaments and greenery even if it means finding shelf space on the wall.A fireplace is often the focal point of a room, so put time and effort into making this focal point inviting. Decorate with different things you enjoy like photos, family mementos, anything else that strikes you as beautiful or meaningful
Decorate Your Coffee Table
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Put small and simple items on the coffee table, such as books, a plant, or some family photos. Mixing textures and colors is ok, but make sure they are not overpowering.
Decorative Accent Lighting
You can’t finish decorating a room without lighting. Floor lamps can be used to provide light, while sconces change the feel of an entire wall, and lamps that are pieces of art shouldn’t be overlooked when it comes to finishing a room. You can use smart lights to better enhance the lighting color and control.
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