It can be hard to know how to decorate your home well, especially because tastes are so subjective and often quite hard to pin down. Do you simply go on a whim and decide what you’d like to decorate your home with when in the store looking for items? Do you try and theme your interior decor with the season, or do you flick between large and defined styles like a light switch?

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How do you approach your redecoration ambitions?  If you are married, it’s likely you and your spouse have somewhat different tastes. No one on earth agrees 100% about every little thing, and this is the most obvious and emphatic when discussing how you feel about the lampshades they invested in.

The best way to get over these issues and start making real progress in the direction of your new interior space is to craft a design philosophy. This keeps you grounded and able in all of your decorating activities. Lacking this, you are likely to imbue your interior space with many different styles, maybe even clashing colors. Depending on how you feel in the store on a given day, you may come home with an African mask for the mantle piece and a Peruvian tapestry on the other side. While there’s nothing wrong with this, a philosophy can help you build a room for strength, clarity of vision and taste, as opposed to having a chaotic and cluttered amalgamation of stuff.

Here’s where we recommend you start:

Craft Two Spouse Columns

On a sheet of paper, draw a line down the middle. Write the names of you and your spouse at the top of both columns. Then try to detail things you like in interior space. Use a mind map. Write down colors you like, historical periods you enjoy, whether you prefer modern or rustic, if you enjoy the idea of smart home technology, plus anything else you can think of. Then try to see where you both meet. If you both strongly enjoy rustic living, then you can use this as a guiding principle, especially when choosing expensive appliances such as those found in a kitchen. This, alongside the help of a wise renovations firm such as The Renovations Company http://www.therenovationcompany.com.au/ can help you communicate your goals more clearly, allowing you to arrive at your goals faster.

Order & Chaos

A home is always balanced between order and chaos, much like life. Your home is either messy or clean, cluttered or minimalist. Of course there are shades of grey, but it’s important to ascertain how each new addition will affect this balance. For example, an imposing new wardrobe in a room could change how the light travels in a room, making it feel a little more oppressive. Bringing in more soft lighting to a room can help offset this, and bring back the airy charm it once had. You must consider these invisible balances. Your philosophy might favor order in one room, and artistic chaos in another.

Even so, it’s better to meter these out and separate them. It will allow for a more cohesive room that communicates the beautiful aesthetic you’re trying to give. This is why mood is often a great predictor of how well you have decorated. Identify and isolate the mood you’re going for, find furnishings and colors that compliment it, and develop an excellent room from that.

Define Your Style

The best way to hone your interior design philosophy is to figure out what your style is in the first place. The tips above will help you get a sense of the things you like to see. And then, using them as a jumping-off point, you can create a coherent design personality. 

Having a specific design personality is key to creating a home that feels cohesive and elegant. That doesn’t mean having the same color paint in every room. But it does mean making sure each room feels alike. You can use color, texture, shape, and light to create this atmosphere and personality throughout your home. If you’re creative, consider design features a bit more off the beaten track, like those discussed in this article. Or, if you’re more traditional, look to older homes for inspiration. 

As you do this, your tastes will develop, and your design philosophy will mature. It will also help the process of decorating in future to become easier, because you understand your preferences and have something to fall back on. We hope it helps!

This is a contributed post.

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