Interior Design: Tips For Decorating Your Home

Are you a little tired of how your home currently looks and feels? Is it time for some new interior decorating? Would you like to convert your home from something drab to something fantastic? It should be a place where you can relax and totally recharge your batteries... but is it? Regardless of whether you want to create a tropical retreat or a home with a rustic feel, there are home decorating ideas and plenty of accessories to help you achieve this dream.  So, get some great ideas for redecorating any room in your house including bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens, or home offices and even get some creative suggestions for incorporating home storage into your decor.  Also check out some useful articles on interior painting.

Before you start the decorating process there are several things you should do so that your home décor matches, as close as possible, you idea of a dream home.  First off you'll need a theme for the project. Get your hands on as many home decorating books and magazines as you can. As you read through them you'll find yourself drawn to one theme or style more than others. Exposure to as many decorating styles as possible is the key here.

Working With Your Theme

Once you've settled on which theme you want to use it's time to choose a color scheme. You'll have found that most themes have colors schemes that are "standard" for that style of decorating. Some examples of this are Asian decorating themes which rely on red, black and dark blue whereas tropical decorating styles rely more on green, red and aqua colors. Your chosen theme will follow the same basic pattern.  Other themes can be feng shui, Italian home decor, Italian style, Tuscan style, chalet decor, rustic design, rustic interiors, rustic country, French country, English country, shabby chic, primitive design, tropics decor and beach decor.

Once you choose a color scheme, think about what you want to do in the room you will be re-decorating. Don't be trapped into thinking you need to decorate a room in a certain way because it was intended for that purpose by the builder. If your family eats in the kitchen, decorating your dining room with a big table and a buffet may just be a waste of valuable space. Instead, you may want to use your dining room as a study, a home office, or a play room.

Shopping

Now that you've chosen a use for the room it's time to put together a shopping list. One of the most important items on the list is paint. Something worth bearing in mind here is that you'll need to empty the room entirely before starting to paint - there's nothing worse than having to scramble over furniture to get the painting completed. Obviously with the paint you'll either need to buy brushes or painting "pads". If you decide to go with brushes then don't buy cheap ones - you'll wind up picking bristles out of your new paintwork every 5 minutes. For large walls you'd be much better off with painting pads - they cut your painting time in half and give an excellent finish. Use a roller if you really have to but bear in mind that they're extremely messy, so make sure you and the flooring are well covered against splashes.

You may, however, want to shop for flooring, lighting, curtains or special pieces of furniture first in order to use them as inspiration in your design. After all, if you find the perfect red couch after you've already painted the walls a different shade of red then you may wish you would have gone with a more neutral wall color. Don't forget to add accessories to your shopping list. They help complete the home's decorating scheme.

Don't forget to take some time out to relax in your new room once it's finished - especially before you start redecorating the next room in the house. The whole reason for redecorating that room was so that you could feel more comfortable in it right?

Also get some great ideas for decorating small spaces, tips for decorating small spaces, and tips for decorating to make a space feel bigger.   Also find out how to make the best of a small space and find out the difference between decor and design.

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