Furnishing your home as part of an interior redesign can be fun, but it can also be challenging. You’ll need to decide on the style and the atmosphere you want to create, the ways your furniture is used, and how well it will blend into the overall design. By keeping a few considerations in mind, you’ll find the process of choosing home decor furniture and other design elements can be smoother than you expected.
Decide On Design
The first step is to decide on the design style you’re going for. You can do this on your own by scouring magazines, Pinterest, Instagram, and other sources of inspiration, or you can bring in an interior designer to help. There are many styles to choose from, such as minimalist, industrial, neoclassical, bohemian, Scandinavian, and more. Once you’ve decided on a design style, you’ll want to choose a color palette. This will come in handy when it’s time to select your furniture and decor.
Form And Function
How will the furniture in each room be used by you, your family, and your guests? Will you entertain a lot? Do you have extended family coming for the weekend frequently? Do you need extra storage for hobbies or your children’s toys? These are all things to think about, and function should be the top consideration on your list of priorities.
First, decide on the basic furniture for each room. Those pieces that are a necessity, like beds in the bedrooms, a sofa for the living room, a desk for the home office, etc. Then you’ll want to think about any personal needs that each person using that room may have. Two school-aged siblings who share a room will likely each want their own desk, whereas your spouse who loves to read might enjoy a cozy reading nook in the master bedroom.
Next, you’ll want to decide what complementary furniture pieces may be needed, such as storage pieces to keep the room organized. Nightstands in the bedroom, a wine cabinet in the dining room, and a set of bookshelves in the home office are examples of complementary furnishings.
Lastly, you’ll want to compare your family’s needs against the measurements of each room. You may require a lot of seating in your living room but if the dimensions are small, a sectional may not be the best choice. You also want to avoid a room that feels too cluttered or “full” due to the size of furnishings.
Style And Sophistication
The colors and textures of the furniture you choose should be compared to the design style you’ve selected. You may love that mid-century modern chair, but how will that fit in with your shabby chic design? In some cases, you can take two eclectic pieces and make them work together, such as blending mid-century modern with Scandinavian design, but in other cases those elements may not blend well.
You should also consider color, fabric texture, and furnishing materials. The heavy dark wood of that colonial Spanish dining table is likely to visually weigh the room down if the rest of the furnishings are comprised of white painted shabby chic pieces and light neutral colors.
Using these guidelines should help you streamline the process of selecting home decor furniture pieces that fit your lifestyle and your interior design.
