Home decorating has been growing more and more in popularity. Unlike the previous generation, nowadays people spend more time at home, especially thanks to freelance work. This raises the desire to make our space comfortable for night rest and pleasing to the eye for daily living.
While decorating a home already requires certain funds and resources, hiring a decorator might oblige you to pay much more than you initially desired. But is the art of home decoration accessible for anyone to master? Indeed it is, especially in the modern time when recourses are available within arms reach.
This article will help you understand the essential skills needed to transform any space like a pro. You can also use a few tools to improve your furniture's look instantly. Keep reading to find out what they are.
Understanding the Role of an Interior Designer
To put it simply, interior designers focus both on the aesthetic and overall look of the home and the functionality and structure within the home. They usually undertake renovation projects like planning the most functional layouts of different rooms, ensuring safety and comfort. They often contact and work together with builders and architects if they are working on a new build. On top of that, interior designers must achieve formal education and training, usually undergoing different qualifications, before they can be in charge of home projects.
Home decorating is also a part of interior design. It is the art of achieving the desired atmosphere in the home.
Home decorating requires the ability to combine colors, furniture, and decorative pieces to create the space layout that best fits the purpose you’ll use the place for.
Key Skills Needed for Home Decoration
Now that you know what interior design entails, let’s discuss what skills you can learn to undertake home projects yourself. And while not everyone can study for a bachelor’s degree in interior design, and it may not be safe to take down walls in your home without the proper expertise, anyone can master the art of home decorating.
Here is what you should know when developing your home decorating skills:
Spatial Intelligence
One of the most important aspects of decorating a space is being able to coordinate the proper dimensions of the objects you place there. When you first look at a room, before even going to the furniture or decor shop, you should already take notice of what size objects will best suit it.
This should help you determine what size furniture, carpet, painting, or greenery to purchase. Understanding the space’s size can save you from mistakes such as placing a tiny sofa in a decent-sized living room or a gigantic olive tree in the tiniest corner of your kitchen.
Spacial intelligence will help you make your space functional and ensure all the room’s objects work well together.
Attention to Detail
This may seem straightforward, but people often overlook the small things. Everyone has some places that they miss while cleaning or organizing their home. They may not be obvious but can impact the home’s overall look.
Maybe it’s the shoe rack in your entryway that always gets messy or that one kitchen shelf that is hard to keep in order. Sometimes the answer is to limit the number of things you don’t use as often.
In other cases, the answer is to take a creative approach and implement new organizational systems to help those spaces look more appealing.
Finding Your Style
Before you start decorating your home and applying different interior design tools, it is essential to determine what interior design style you are striving to achieve. You don’t necessarily need to stick very strictly to one style, but it’s helpful to have a general idea of what you think will fit the desired atmosphere of your home.
To find your interior design style, try to look through the general characteristics of the major styles and the way each of them looks in real life. You’ll also need to consider how your house or flat looks right now since the overall design of your home may or may not suit a particular style.
Don’t worry if you can’t decide on a single style; there are multiple ways of combining interior design styles, and this trend is only rising in popularity.
Achieving a Cohesive Look
It is common for people to finish decorating one room and jump to the next with a completely different decor style in mind. And while there are excellent ways to create contrast in different spaces of the home, it does require thoughtfulness and skill to match those themes together.
It’s best to reach a cohesive look of the home and have one space smoothly flow into the next. Now, this doesn’t require you to do every detail in the same color and make your whole house pink or black.
However, choosing a color pallet for your entire home and implementing it in each room will create a unified look. You can choose one accent color and use various objects in each space to implement it. You can also do the same with textures and shapes to achieve the effect that all rooms complement each other in one way or another.
Creativity and Personal Touch
Decorating a home can get tiring when you try to look up design ideas on Pinterest and recreate the same look. But your house is yours, and you want people to walk in and say, “Wow, that is so much like you.” It’s easy to love the decor styles in other homes, but if you don’t make it your own, you may risk living in a place that looks beautiful but doesn’t feel like home.
So, when shopping for decor, try to add that personal touch. If you’re a plant lover, try incorporating them to suit the overall style. A simple way to do this is by using a type of pot that fits the color and texture theme of the room.
If you love family photos but the minimal look you are going for restricts you from hanging more pictures, try printing them in black and white or using frames that will complement the color theme.
Overall, don’t be scared to make your house fit your personality.
Empowering oneself with these decoration skills bridges the gap between mere home decorator ideas and professional interior designer skills. And while every home speaks of the personality dwelling within, mastering these skills ensures that your abode is not only a reflection of your essence but also a marvel in design.
Embrace these skills, merge them with your creativity, and embark on a journey that transforms your home from just another space to a masterpiece of personal expression.
Using Specialized Tools to Enhance Decoration Skills
Delving into the world of unique designs and DIY projects can be truly transformative for any home. While thrifting furniture or collecting antique pieces adds an extraordinary charm, they may require a little love to shine in their full glory. But with specialized tools, even novices can breathe life into these treasures.
Ever heard of paint inlays or decor transfers? If not, let’s unravel the magic behind these tools:
Paint Inlays
Paint Inlays are the perfect solution for decor transfers. They’re not a decal, synthetic film, or decoupage.
When applying the paint inlay, it physically embeds paint into the surface of your project. After drying, you can remove the carrier paper, leaving an authentic painted design and a buttery, almost leather-like surface.
Stamps
Stamps are versatile and easy to use to create beautiful designs on more surfaces and textiles than you can imagine. All you need is a set of stamps and the Chalk Paint® of your choice.
It’s a quick two-step process. Put some paint on the stamp and press it onto the desired surface.
You may be surprised, but some stamps, like the Iron Orchid Design Stamps™, can even be used to create food art. So the limit is your imagination with these.
Moulds
Decor Moulds are your DIY best friends. They make it easy to create gorgeous castings with a nice clean edge.
From furniture design to home decor to sugar art, there’s a reason why so many industries enjoy them. You can create sophisticated designs to complement your furniture and decor, pairing these with IOD Air Dry Clay.
Decor Transfers
Decor transfers are pressure-sensitive adhesive designs created for furniture use, but you can also break them down for small decor. All you have to do is transfer them onto your project and add a seal coat.
There are many styles to choose from to fit your interior design. You can create unique wall decor or make a painting by applying a decor transfer onto a canvas.
Harnessing the right tools is a quick and easy way to level up your home decoration skills. Each tool, with its unique capability, offers a chance to bring out the interior designer in you.
Whether you’re a beginner looking for home decorator ideas or someone diving deep into boho home decor, investing in these tools is your passport to turning ordinary spaces into masterpieces.
Now It’s Your Turn to Transform Your Home
So, now you know the critical skills you can practice to bring your home decor to a new level. Another piece of advice is to feel at ease with making mistakes.
Whether you thrift decor pieces that, in the end, don’t end up looking good together, or you need to repaint the wall and start your wall design all over. No matter the issue you run into, always leave room for refining and developing your skills.
At The Owl Box, we strive to inspire creativity in home decorating and provide the best quality products to meet your needs. We offer a wide variety of the finest Annie Sloan Chalk Paint® and Iron Orchid Design paint inlays, stamps, molds, and decor transfers.
Make sure to also check out our seasonal decor items for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and more.
Our boutique in Tracy, California, cherishes its long history of three generations of passionate women who combine their efforts and skills to provide diverse offerings such as home decor, gifts, and apparel. We delight in supplying resources for your creative ideas and helping you transform your home to fit your style.