Dvorine Associates: Design Tip Series
- Always draw a scaled floor plan of your room with windows and doors. Use 1/4” graph paper.
- Stop with your floor plan. Reflect.
- Shop with it!
- Look through design magazines and select 10 or 12 rooms that appeal to you. You will see that there is a common thread.
- Visit showhouses.
- Select a starter item – a painting, rug, or a favorite fabric as to help determine your color scheme and style.
- Think about your lifestyle – Do you entertain at your home? How much seating do you need in rooms where family and friends would gather?
- Start with backgrounds including construction moldings, etc. (Begin with the construction phase of the job)
- Do you want rooms to be multi-functional?
- Once a floor plan is chosen, consider lighting.
- There should be several sources and levels of lighting: recessed or track, lamps, pictures, etc.
- Use dimmers whenever possible for flexibility.
- Consider length, depth, and height for all furnishings when you are making your selections.
- If your home has high ceilings, you might want to consider larger scaled furnishings.
- Balance is important. Tall pieces should have opposing tall pieces.
- Mix Styles. A few antique or traditional pieces in a modern room will be more interesting than all of the same style.
- Don’t be afraid of dark colors even in smaller spaces. Consider contrasting trim.
- Never select your paint color from a small swatch or chip. Most paint stores will provide a large sample of your color for you to pin to your wall.
- Always decide on your paint color by looking at it in the room where it will be used.
- Multiple tones of a color in a room are more successful than just one shade of that color.
- Fireplaces and bookcases make effective focal points for furniture placement.
- Be careful of fads for they are just that. Buy classic pieces and you won’t need to repurchase when the fad is over.
- Use accent pillows and accessories which can be changed to refresh a room less expensively than changing the larger pieces.
- Books are wonderful in almost every room. They serve as a cozy and relatively inexpensive accent!
- Ask for help if you are not sure. Furnishing mistakes could cost you much more than a designer fee.
