Top Interior Design Rules for a Beautiful Home

A wide selection of furniture, finishing materials, and interior decor items allows homeowners to unleash their creativity when designing their living spaces. However, having a basic understanding of interior design principles can help navigate this abundance of options. A well-designed home supports a positive mood, productivity, and improves the indoor climate for the whole family. In this article, we offer a guide to the basic rules of interior design for apartments and houses. While following these rules may not be difficult, they can help create a cozy and safe environment for all family members.

Determine the Type and Structure of the Building

A significant interior design change often involves moving walls and combining rooms. Renovations typically affect walls, doorways, and windows. Therefore, before creating a project for your dream apartment, it’s important to inquire with the Property Management Company about any restrictions on room structure regarding this particular multi-apartment building.

It is essential to have accurate knowledge:

• about the routing of utilities,
• the materials used for walls,
• the location of load-bearing walls.

In this case, there are no exceptions to the rules: load-bearing walls must not be demolished due to the risk of the entire building collapsing. Additionally, the type of space (apartment, house, office, retail store) must be taken into account, as it also affects the limitations of design solutions. Restrictions on moving partitions may apply not only to multi-apartment buildings, but also to private houses.

Only after the structure of the building is clear can the plan for renovation be drawn up and the selection of finishing materials, furniture, and other necessary attributes for creating comfort begin.

Take into Account the Residents’ Preferences

Every resident should have the opportunity to realize their vision of comfort and beauty in their home. It’s not even necessary to allocate a separate room to each person – in reality, this is rarely possible. Additionally, drastic style differences in different rooms of the dwelling can lead to a feeling of a “communal apartment”, where everyone is on their own.

According to interior design laws, it is essential to rely on everyone’s opinions and clearly understand their desires and needs. It’s necessary to discuss the wishes of each person. Perhaps the result of such negotiations will be a decision to purchase a plasma instead of a projector, combine the kitchen with the dining room, or turn the balcony into a winter garden.

It’s necessary to find common ground and ensure that everyone feels comfortable, providing areas for studying, working, playing. There should be a place in the house for gatherings. Even the most beautiful living room won’t bring pleasure if it’s uncomfortable to watch TV, read, chat, or interact with children.

Place Color Accents

According to the basic principles of interior design, color accents are not just bright pillows, tablecloths, and blankets. There are numerous other ways to refresh a space using a well-chosen color zone:

• “Color Blocking” on walls is an excellent means of zoning a space. This can be achieved with bright vertical stripes behind the headboard of a bed or orange spots in the kitchen area.
• Indoor plants grouped together on a tall multi-tiered podium or shelf can refresh the interior.
• Bright book covers arranged in a rainbow pattern on an open shelf can add creativity. If necessary, the dull covers can be updated with colored paper.

The main task of color accents is to attract attention, create a particular mood, and harmonize the space.

The Role of Light

The rules of room design presuppose a well-chosen lighting plan. It’s one of the most crucial aspects of any design project. By using light, the perception of space can be altered to create an expanded feeling, or conversely, to create small and cozy areas with the use of local light fixtures.

For each room, it’s essential to carefully consider its own set of lighting fixtures:

• Central chandelier;
• Sconces above functional areas;
• LED garlands on cornices;
• Built-in lighting on furniture.

In one room, crystal chandeliers can coexist with modern sconces, spotlights, and candles.

It’s desirable to use diffused light near the sleeping area. The light beam for right-handed individuals at the work desk should come from the left side, and for left-handed individuals, it should come from the right.

Functional Layou

For families with small children, an open layout is preferable so that the children are always in sight. Areas are provided for teenagers to pursue their leisure activities in places where they declare their autonomy. Each room and corner should be functional, especially if one room serves several purposes.

Computer online interior design programs help to effectively execute the functional layout of rooms. They offer a wide range of ready-made solutions. Room dimensions are entered, furniture and its dimensions are specified. The program calculates the optimal placement of interior items or suggests adding new decor elements.

Maintaining Balance

To create harmony, the following techniques are used:

• Symmetrical balance involves the mirror placement of similar or identical objects; two armchairs around the fireplace, two floor vases on either side of the sofa.
• Asymmetrical balance allows contrasting elements to be opposed. For example, a light-colored kitchen set, and opposite it, a large bright sofa, a wide panoramic picture next to a tall torchiere.
• Radial balance is interesting for designer finds, where the emphasis is on a large object in the center, and smaller objects are arranged around it.

Each object has a shape, color, and texture. According to the rules of design, a bulky soft furniture set in one half of the living room should not “overweigh” the half-empty second half of the room. Maintaining proportions and scale is important.

Maintaining Proportions and Scale

Designers suggest using ideally three colors:

• The main color should occupy 60-65% of the space;
• The secondary color – 30-35%;
• Small color accents – 5-10%.

The classic interior design implies symmetry or pronounced asymmetry. As an alternative, all elements can be arranged symmetrically and a bright asymmetric accent can be made.

Greenery in Interior Design

People have an inherent desire to be closer to nature. Even a small indoor plant can lift one’s mood. Greenery can significantly improve the microclimate in a room and fill it with pleasant aromas of blooming geraniums or violets. A large plant in a pot can noticeably transform a room.

Classical interiors can be adorned with ivy, begonias, and ficus plants. Primroses and cyclamens fit into the Provence style. Minimalism enthusiasts can use lithops and aloe plants.

Black Color

The modern trends in interior design involve the use of strict, enigmatic, and concise black color. It serves as a perfect background for any other colors and allows creating amazing contrasts. However, it is important to know the measure. A large area occupied by dark shades visually becomes smaller. This is especially noticeable in small apartments, which create a suffocating impression with an abundance of black.

The use of high-quality materials in black execution, such as wood, stone, tinted glass, and velvet, creates a noble and rich interior.

The Impact of Light Temperature

Light temperature is an important indicator that should not be ignored as it has a huge impact on human biorhythms and psychological state. People are more productive in an environment where a cool light spectrum predominates, which enhances concentration. It is easier to relax before sleep in a warm light spectrum.

When choosing main ceiling fixtures, it’s advisable to select lamps that generate cool light. Warm light is preferred for auxiliary lighting, but it’s not recommended to excessively use cool light as it’s more suitable for public buildings rather than residential ones.

When the color palette is in warm tones, cool light can distort color perception.

Modern lamps have markings indicating the emitted light spectrum. If the packaging is absent, you can hold a piece of white paper near the working lamp. A yellowish glow indicates a warm temperature, while a bluish one indicates a cool temperature.

It is not worth copying interiors from ready-made pictures

It is recommended to create the interior style based on individual preferences. Beautiful pictures in magazines and on the Internet are intended for inspiration. The main criterion for a successful interior is that it should appeal to the apartment owners.

It is very important to feel like the owner of your own dwelling, not like a character from a trendy catalog. In a real home, you can mix antique and new furniture and have a combination of expensive and inexpensive decorations. A strict style can coexist with extravagance.

Boost Daylighting

Artificial lighting sources are often used for interior design, but they only serve as an addition to natural light. It’s impossible to make the morning sunlight reach the west-facing bedroom window, but it is possible to allow daylight to penetrate into the room and create a feeling of warmth with light interior tones.

Large mirrors, glass shelves, and all types of reflective surfaces can help enhance natural lighting. When there is a lack of light, heavy and bulky structures should not be placed on the sides of windows.

Be Choosy with Finishing Materials

We use natural and artificial materials, as well as their combinations, for interior finishing. It’s best to avoid excessive moldings, arches, and various non-functional protrusions to keep the interior simple and clean. Modern fashion trends favor simplified decorative options and practicality.

Brick walls are more relevant than wallpapers that need to be re-pasted every year. It’s better to replace hard-to-maintain parquet with tiles or laminate. Cold stone and ceramics are not used on the bedroom floor, where carpeting is more appropriate. You should select eco-friendly materials for the children’s room.

Don’t Skimp on Good Furniture

Comfortable and quality furniture made of good wood or with high-quality upholstery is not cheap, but it justifies itself with reliability, functionality, and safe use. Choosing furniture in sets makes it easier to make a choice. You choose the centerpiece and arrange everything else around it. If the room is large, it’s better to place the sofa in the middle. For a small living room, you should choose furniture with a glass, plastic, or mirrored facade to create an airy feel.

Pompous “palace” furniture is suitable for spacious cottages, while transformable and modular furniture is a great choice for studio apartments. To make it easier to maintain order, more storage space should be provided for belongings. Residents should have enough space to move around freely between furniture.

Textiles for Coziness

In interior design, textiles play both a practical and decorative role. Soft and beautiful sofa upholstery creates a cozy atmosphere in the room and gives a sense of “lived-in” comfort. A carpet on the floor can unite the main interior elements.

To visually expand a room, it is enough to choose curtains that match the color of the walls. A bedspread not only protects bedding from dirt but also adds a feeling of completeness to the bedroom interior. Pillows on sofas can “gather” the space into a unified concept if they are of the same color as the curtains or tablecloth. Accessories serve as final touches.

Accessories as Final Touches

According to the rules of living room design, there shouldn’t be too much decor and accessories. To complete the interior, it is enough to have 3-4 bright pillows on the couch and no more than 2-3 family photos in beautiful frames on the wall. 2 porcelain figurines on the mantelpiece and a colorful ficus in the corner of the room will add charm.

Having too many small things can clutter the house. It’s important to know how to get rid of excess from time to time. It’s better to give away leftover sets to those in need. ou should simply throw away plastic containers and bottles from cosmetics that you haven’t used even once in the last 12 months. Keep only the dearest items to your heart.

Color Harmony

Colors in interior design evoke emotions and create a psychological mood. Calm colors promote relaxation and are suitable for living rooms and bedrooms. Bright tones stimulate and set the mood for productive work, but if there are too many of them, they can be irritating. Neutral colors need small color accents.

We decorate spacious rooms with large south and southeast windows using cool colors. To make narrow rooms with low or medium ceilings and small windows facing north or northwest look more joyful and visually enlarged, we use light, warm-toned materials.

To avoid chaos, it is best not to use more than four colors at once. Too many color shades can make the room look messy, not creative.