Interior Design is Easy if you Know the Tricks From a Professional

Any interior designer who is willing to demystify the process for their clients can share a few tricks to help you understand the process for taking your home from good to great.

I always start with furniture placement in a home using existing pieces a client has and quite often the way the furniture is placed in a room is the stumbling block. Why agonize over recovering a piece if the best place for it is not in the room where it sits? Why think about buying something for a space when you are not really sure how it is all going to come together? Even if you need new pieces, taking a look at the furniture placement with existing pieces can help you see what will work and what will not work before you buy anything.

Color for the walls us usually the last thing we decide upon. If a client does not have artwork to use as a basis for color selection, then the first thing we concentrate on is getting a few pieces that will define the space. Often interesting color combinations reveal a fresh scheme that would not have been considered. Artwork also sets the tone and the mood for the room. You can get any color in the world in a paint store. Always start your decorating scheme with the hardest thing to find first. Usually that means either artwork that you love, a fabric that you love or something else with a pattern to get inspired by.

If you have lost your objectivity about the things you own and/or the place you live, you need a professional consultant who should be able to walk in and see what you are missing. At Barbara English Designs, www.barbaraenglishdesigns.com we work with all types of budgets, styles and tastes. If you live in the Atlanta area, in home consultations are available. Outside the city, feel free to contact us via e-mail with your questions.

Think of your lifestyle. Do you have pets and children? You can create an elegant, yet functional living space if you concentrate on durable materials. You can't beat leather for seating if you want it to last. The same goes for hardwood flooring or tile. Fabrics and carpet are great and necessary in some areas but do get dirty no matter the quality or the price.

Spend your money where it matters. You can economize on lots of things which don't typically get a lot of wear and tear, but seating or bedding is not in that category. If you economize here, you will pay for it in the long run.

Shop smart. Discount stores such as TJMax, Marshalls, Ross and many wholesale internet businesses have the same or similar accessories that the big name boutiques or department stores have. The idea is to make a list of the sizes, shapes and colors you are looking for and where you are going to put them and then think outside the box when you come across something that fits your list.

At Barbara English Designs we make a folder for each client with the colors we want to work with.
Obviously it's impossible to shop with a sofa or a piece of Art in tow, so using a fan deck of colors we match the colors in the piece we are trying to match and stick the paint samples resembling the piece in our shopping folder. That way we never have to worry if the color is right. It's a lot more fail proof than shopping from memory. It's also a lot less hassle than buying something only to return it when it is wrong.

Decorating is an art form, but in many ways it is a science if you know the logical steps. It's great to get inspired by a picture in a magazine or at your friend's house, but to recreate it for yourself with your own special touches is an organized process. Otherwise you can spend a lot of money with little to show.

The last, most important thing to remember is not to ask all of your friends what they think. If you ask five different people their opinions, you will usually get five different opinions based on their personal taste. You set yourself up to get confused or sway your decisions to something they would like in their home, not something that would make YOU happy.

www.barbaraenglishdesigns.com