Seven Interior Design Secrets for Apartments
Psst….Want to know a secret? Or two, or how about seven? Try these secrets for making your apartment look like it was decorated by an interior designer: Only you will know you decorated on a budget.
Peace, Love, Balance & Harmony
For decorating your apartment, just go with balance and harmony – the furniture, accessories and even the finishes should relate to an overall design scheme – but that sure doesn’t mean they need to match. Too many matching and coordinated pieces make your apartment look like a design copout instead of decorated.
Designed By....
You don’t need designer names in every corner of your apartment. Price doesn’t matter, the label doesn’t matter – just avoid having an expensive item too close to a similar less expensive item. For instance, don’t put your bargain easy chairs next to your high end sofa, you’ll just be showing how inexpensive the chairs look. Try the chairs in your bedroom or office on either side of a table instead.
Less is More
Less can look like more – furnishings and accessories with clean, simple lines, no matter how much they cost, tend to look more expensive, probably because we associate those pieces with more modern, elegant interiors. Ever wonder how Target’s accessories became so popular? They offered the first discount home accessories with more simple lines.
Too Funky is Junky
If you’re going funky – don’t go overboard. A little funk can go a long way. Too much funk can look like junk. Use funky pieces sparingly for them to make a statement. For instance, I have a collection of really cool antique Chinese children’s shoes. Great colors and textures, but they can’t all be displayed at once. I put a pair on either end of a bookcase shelf, any more than that and you can’t see the forest for the trees.
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Don’t shop a catalogue page - mix it up. Too much Pottery Barn in the bedroom, Crate and Barrel in the kitchen and Ikea in the living room is too obvious. Mix and match the looks, that’s how the interior designers do it and make it work.
Timing is Everything
When you first move into your apartment, you want to run right out and buy the furniture and accessories to personalize your space. Don’t do it. You’re not going to find everything in that first shopping trip, so you end up settling for that not quite right piece and not watching your budget. Don’t settle, take the time to find the right pieces for the right places at the right prices. You’ll spend less and it will look much better.
Scale Down to Upscale
Scale the furniture to the room – if you have small rooms, you need smaller scaled furniture. What you can do is throw in a large piece of artwork on the wall to create the illusion of a larger room. What you can’t do is try the same trick with the furniture, you’ll end up tripping over it.
If you’ve already made your decorating mistakes in your apartment – try rearranging your furniture using these tips, that's how the pro's do it – mix it up and live it up with a new look!