Three Essential Design Tips for New Homeowners

Photo by Khiem Tran via Pixabay

Designing a home can be intimidating, especially if it's your first time. Maybe you were a design aficionado with the perfect dorm room, but designing a whole house seems intimidating.  Maybe you're worried you have no feel for design at all and will leave your room an empty canvas with one, central couch, an old packing box for a coffee table and your television and gaming system across from you. Maybe this isn't your first rodeo, and you're looking for a few quick tips to redesign a room in your house.  Either way, welcome!  Let's get started on our three essential design tips for new homeowners.

1) Choose your aesthetic first.

Consider whether you want your space to look modern, contemporary, traditional, urban or industrial, or classic. Deciding on the style of the public areas, such as the living room, bathrooms and dining room, is one of the most important decisions to make early on. By deciding on your design style, you can then search for furniture, lighting and accessories by keyword, making the design process far easier and ensuring that everything in your space will present harmoniously. 

2) Lay out each room according to its purpose.

A great deal of what makes a room fun and comfortable, beyond its aesthetic, is how convenient it is to live in. That means storing items where you'll need them and storing often-used items where they're easiest to reach.  It makes sense to purchase a seat with built-in storage for extra throws, for example, in your living room. In a kitchen, place utensils you'd often use while cooking -- large stirring spoons, ladles and tongs -- standing up in a jug rather than in a drawer you'll have to open and close. It can help to mentally run through a task and see how far you have to walk to reach important objects to decide where to place them.  You should also ensure that paths traveled frequently remain open, such as the path from the kitchen to the dining room.

By a similar token, "sitting rooms" can be used for a lot of different purposes. If you're a gaming family, consider making your gaming space central to the room, with a smaller seating area for chatting or reading. A family with small children might want to incorporate a play area.  Above all, remember that each room should serve you and your family's lives rather than solely serve your aesthetic.

3) Choose your paint color last of all.

Start by finding a piece or two of furniture you absolutely love in your design style. Then, design the rest of the room around what you've chosen, including your choice of paint, carpet and, if possible, flooring.  Keep in mind that there are thousands of paint colors in the world and it's very cheap and quick to change a paint color you're not fond of or that doesn't work as well as you thought it did; however, it's almost impossible to replace your furniture in the same way.  Therefore, start with your furniture and end the design process by choosing your paint.

Keep these design tips in mind and you will be well on your way to designing the perfect home!