Buying your dream home is exciting whether you found the one you love or are having a professional custom build a home to your exact specifications. But after you move in, you’re left with a blank canvas. So how do you decorate or design it?

In this article, you’ll discover everything about home decoration design. You’ll learn how to buy items you love and how to make them fit gracefully into your living space.

If you have the budget, you can hire an interior decorator to design your space according to your personal tastes. But if you’re doing it all yourself, here are some great tips to follow.

1. Take Time to Coordinate Your Design and Decor

You’ll need furniture, accent pieces, artwork, and decor. Perhaps you have a few family heirlooms you want to take with you when you move or some pieces you can’t live without.

Before you buy, take some time to organize your living space. Many people go to the store and buy decor items they love. When they get them home, they realize they don’t go with the rest of the house. 

Sketch out each room you’re decorating to make sure your items work together. Don’t worry if you’re not artistic. You just want a general idea of color, size, and space.

2. Measure for Measure

It’s critical to coordinate the scale of furniture and decor items you place in each room. A huge, bulky couch can overwhelm smaller and thinner furniture. That’s because the scale isn’t consistent.

One way to determine scale is to get out a tape measure and measure the space and furniture. This will enable you to see how much room you have to work with.

Before you think of what you’ll place in the room, measure the width, length, and height of the room you plan on designing. You wouldn’t want to buy a bookcase that’s too tall for the ceiling or a sectional that blocks the entryway.

Also keep stationary objects in the room in mind such as windows, staircases, walls, built-in furniture, fixtures, and heating units. And by all means, measure the width of your front doorway. You don’t want to make a purchase that won’t fit in the house.

3. Get the Big Picture with a Floorplan

After you measure your surroundings, you need a floorplan to give you a big picture of all the rooms in your home. Each room should flow seamlessly into the next. Especially if you have an open concept kitchen and living room. 

Sketching a floor plan is easy. You can do it with a ruler and pencil, copy a blank template from the internet, or use software made for professional designers and architects if you’re computer savvy. Some are even free.

Some apps like RoomScan can be used with a smartphone or tablet. Get a program you’re comfortable working with.

Once you draw the perimeter of your room, start placing furniture around the room in different places and on different angles to see what you like best. Be careful that each item matches the scale of the drawing.

4. Choose a Consistent Design Style

Home decoration design should be guided by a particular design style. Do you prefer the look of a midcentury modern home, country chic, minimalist modern, or traditional?

Perhaps you love Boho-chic, a natural bohemian style with a relaxed vibe. Or you may opt for an eclectic design that combines old and new elements such as antiques mixed with contemporary touches.

Choose a style with other members in your home. If you live with members of the opposite sex, you don’t want a look too gender-specific like pink flowers and doilies everywhere if it makes the male of the house uncomfortable. Selecting a style is a great reason for a family gathering.

Some things to think about: Do your kids need to do their homework sitting at the island? Will the family room be in the main living space? Will you separate a portion of the home for entertaining. Come up with some of your own.

5. Get Ideas from Interior Designers

Even if you don’t have the budget for an interior designer, you can still use their great ideas by opening a magazine! Or check and see if they publish a digital version of the magazine online.

Most do. You can also see different looks on Instagram and Pinterest. Another option is to visit the library and flip through design books.

You’ll get to see all those glossy photos by interior designers. Notice how designers use fabrics, place furniture together, coordinate window treatments, and match colors.

6. Blue Painter’s Tape Is Your Friend

A great idea in home decoration design is to place blue painter’s tape on the floor and walls where your furniture and decor items will go. It’s a super way to take the floor plan to the next level–into your home.

You can use it to arrange furniture, rugs, mirrors, artwork, family photos, and other decorating accents such as fireplaces. Measure how far the couch will come out from the wall.

Or how many inches the coffee table will sit from the middle of the room. Using blue painter’s tape is ideal for getting a true layout for each piece and each room as a whole and it won’t stick to your surfaces.

7. Consider the Need for a Contractor

Decoration design goes beyond selecting decor items. To get your home the way you like, you may need to hire a contractor to do construction, painting, or installation.

For example, want to tear up the carpets and put down a beautiful floor? Do the walls need painting? Want to knock down the wall between the kitchen and living room to create an open concept look? Then you’ll need to call a contractor.

Certain jobs require permits, so check with your township before you pick up a hammer. You’ll usually have an idea of projects that need to be done after a home inspection.

A rule of thumb: wait to bring your furniture and decor items home until the work is complete if possible so your items don’t get damaged during the construction process or get in the way of professionals.

The Takeaway on 7 Great Ideas for Home Decoration Design

These seven ideas for home decoration design will get you in motion to decorate and design a beautiful living space. Following these tips will enable you to design the dream home you’ve always wanted that looks like it was created by the pros.

Looking for a design/build team to customize your home? Contact us today and make your dream home a reality.