If you have a desire to dabble in interior design, whether you’re redecorating one room or hiring a professional designer to revamp your entire living space, it helps you to understand the basics of interior design and the sorts of things interior design looks at. Not many of us have the time or budget for adult education and getting a qualification in design so here are some basic tips, if you really want to know how to make the best of your personal living space. A design is an orderly arrangement of five basic concepts:

• Colour – effective for creating illusions and setting the mood
• Line – the implied direction of an object or its physical boundary
• Form – the general shape of an object
• Mass – the amount of space taken up by an object
• Texture – how something physically feels to the touch

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Any artist, architect or designers will work with these concepts and use them to achieve certain effects. Interior design works well when all of these elements complement each other and work together to form a whole. It’s not quite as simple as this though and there are other things to consider. Designers may also talk about the following things:

• Proportion and scale: Scale refers to overall size, while proportion relates the size of individual parts compared to the whole. You will need to keep these two factors in mind when selecting furniture.
• Focal point: This is the main point of visual reference to which the eye always returns and is done on purpose to create a feature.
• Variety: Variety is what takes a dull room and makes it interesting. They say it’s the spice of life and so make sure to include a variety within a single room as well as within a design for a whole house.
• Unity and harmony: Harmony refers to the blending in similar elements, while unity means the overall sense of belonging together. This is an end goal of interior design, so don’t lose sight of this as you add each new piece of furniture or accessory.
• Contrast: Contrast means to place opposites side by side, such as black and white. The design challenge here is to balance that contrast, so as to maintain a sense of overall unity. Effective contrast is done in small doses so as not to upset the sense of harmony.

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The tricky thing about interior design is getting all of these element to balance. Without sufficient contrast in a  room, it can look bored and dull. But too much contrast and too much variety then your room will look too busy and confusing. The work of an interior designer is to create the perfect fusion, with not too much and not too little so it all works to create a beautiful room. This is where you need some ‘inner style’. This involves developing and trusting your inner most creative instincts and the ability to express yourself. For Beautiful houses, visit reliable-remodeler

As well as looking great, rooms should be used to their maximum potential. Thinking about a room’s purpose is also an important aspect of design. A room often needs to be many things such as a social area, a sanctuary, play area, a study and a place of rest. Most of us cannot afford to have a room for each of these purposes and so most rooms have a dual purpose. Therefore, it’s also essential to factor in what purpose a room has before you plan the design for it.