How Do I Start Decorating My House
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- 09-03-2023

This article asks: How do I start decorating my house? Mike Poole Decorators are trusted interior decorators offering professional painting and decorating throughout Northampton, Collingtree, Duston, Great Houghton and Hardingstone. Find out more about finding your decorating style and how to Create a decorating plan for your interior.
Decorating Your Home
Decorating your new home or property seems daunting; however, you have the power to make the process as easy and simplistic as possible. Once you've done the tricky bit, gathering your measurements and curating a reasonable budget, you can create a unified vision that fits your interior and exterior.
What is Your Decorating Style?
Searching for your decorating style can be challenging, especially if you need clarification on themes, patterns, textures and paint colours you commonly enjoy or feel comfortable in. Here we've compiled a list of the most popular decorating styles and themes to grab all your ideas for your shopping list.

Contemporary
Contemporary design is a popular style across numerous homes in the country, favouring more minimalist decoration and furniture choices.
The colour story often found in contemporary interior design includes whites, grey, cream, brown and black, more so shades than colours.
Contemporary minimalism is a perfect design for those who aren't as creatively minded and don't know how to approach home decoration. You can easily make every room unique by providing accents and decor of a primary or pastel colour.
You can choose a running glass or metal theme, as this leans more into the modern hi-tech appearance that brightens the whole room, reflecting the light from windows and mirrors.
Modern
Modern interior decorating is synonymous with clean lines, earth tones, well-tailored furnishings, and decorative objects.
If you wish to dip into the older styles and aesthetics to complete this look, it may be best to search for ideas in ranch homes and inspiration pieces across the Art-Deco era. Incorporating a mish-mash of furniture is one of the most unique and artistic ways to approach modern interior design.
Farmhouse
Traditional farmhouse is a common design, and it remains one of the most popular, adding a cosy and whimsical feel to your home.
It typically includes farm doors, warm colours, like blue, red, yellow and deep browns that reflect a sunny farm day, and dresses furniture in comfortable cream throw pillows, blankets and doilies that appear inviting and nostalgic.
Many of the furniture or accent pieces offer an antique or vintage feel, with dark earthy wood dining tables, chairs and wicker storage baskets that make it appear homely and rustic.

Transitional
A transitional design is perfect for those that desire a hybrid of the best parts of traditional and modern spaces. Suppose you have acquired a more Victorian or Georgian/Colonial style home that you're looking to update; the transitional style is likely the best way to achieve it without dragging it too far into the unknown.
Implementing neutral colours like sage, olive and earthy reds, alongside beautiful rich dark wood panelling and stone, still tie in with the period; however, they are trending in the world of modern and contemporary design.
We suggest opting for modern furniture with softer lines and curves so that they still feel comfortable dwelling inside older homes. You'll be able to recognise the balance when it all comes together effectively, so get some ideas together to help you visualise.
Create a Room Decorating Plan
Avoid tackling every room at once, as that is the fastest way to become overwhelmed and stress yourself out in the process. Begin focusing on the most essential rooms for you and curate an action plan for placing your furniture and decor, etc. Suppose you want to start with the family living room, laundry room, kitchen or bedroom; decorate one at a time, and it will make the decorating project much more straightforward.
Remember that not all rooms have to match one another, you can be as creative as you wish with the design and colour scheme of every new space, and it will provide far more personality. However, don't be put off having a unifying colour or element, as this will help create a consistent flow.
Tips for Starting out Decorating a Home
Decorating your new household or property doesn't have to be a stressful or daunting project; it can be plenty of fun if you stick to your budget and know how to navigate your floor plans' colour schemes, themes and furniture. Here are a few of our simple tips to adhere to:
Select a Colour Scheme
Once you've settled on the style of decoration and overall theme you're going for in your interior design project, whether that be farmhouse/traditional, nautical, boho, transitional, or a variation of styles in different rooms, you can begin searching for colour schemes.
You'll have to decide whether you want your home to be light and bright with pastels and neutrals or warm and bold with primary colours and deeper tones.
It's up to you how you wish to palette your home, so you can choose whether you want to change up the style of every room or have a consistent colour theme throughout to ensure your home or property flows from the front door to your garden. It also eliminates any abruptness or strife of curating a different look for each space.

Dont Become Overwhelmed
Take your time when starting any decorating process, interior or exterior. Once you've determined your budget, you can get to the most exciting part of designing and decorating. Don't let this aspect cause unnecessary worry or stress; allow your creativity to flow; decorating your home is a unique and delicate process. It may take you months or years to finish curating your household interior and exterior spaces.
Decide on your vision.
Your overall home should have a vision reflective of your personal style and home decorating tastes. Take some time to look at interior design magazines, social media and online resources, material samples, your own clothing choices, furniture stores, garden centres and more, as these, will give you ideas of what designs, patterns and colours you lean toward. You never need to box yourself off as a particular style or aesthetic category, such as boho, farmhouse/traditional, etc., as many features and pieces of decor suit various styles.
Add Accent Colours
We highly recommend selecting 1-3 accent colours to use throughout one room or even throughout your whole house if you prefer a theme that stretches every room.
You may have a particular favourite colour that you want to spread or sprinkle across your living area, bathroom and bedroom.
Or you may prefer to keep rooms neutral with grey, white and cream, much like a blank canvas, so that you can use your furniture and decor to add personality and more uniqueness to each space.

Consider Fixed Elements
There will always be fixed elements inside your bought home, such as kitchen cabinets, trims, countertops and millwork, that aren't easily changed. However, changing the colours of your new hardware, such as the trim and cabinets, is always possible to revitalise the room. Opt for contrasting colours or enhance the existing ones with a lighter shade to brighten the space.
Consider How the Space is Used
It's vital that you carefully decide how you will utilise your space before picking and purchasing patterned wallpaper, paint, furniture and decor, as this will help inform your design choices.
Figuring out whether your kitchen, living, home office, bedroom or playroom will require lounge chairs, rugs, TVs, table lamps, coffee tables, desks, etc., will be a massive help. When you address the purpose and function of every room, you can fully understand what furniture and decor to include and how better to incorporate interior design.
Create Mood Boards
One of the best ways to figure out your design goals is by organising your thoughts and ideas into inspiration boards dedicated to each room throughout your home or property. Download Pinterest, Canva or Instagram, search common interior design tags, colours or aesthetics that pique your interest, and save or pin pieces or styles you like and wish to replicate.
In doing so, you can find unique design ideas you might not have thought of before. Many of these apps now include shopping features, so you can find out where to obtain and purchase the things that interest you.
Dont Rush Shopping
You want to take plenty of time when shopping for items, whether furniture, artwork, ornaments and other forms of decor that will complement your chosen colour palette.
It can take several weeks or months to find the right furniture to set your entire room off, and you'll be much happier after spotting the perfect lighting, bed, bookcase or chairs instead of purchasing something you don't like as much just to get the job done.
It's also best to search for something of quality instead of something you may have to replace down the line, as this is the fastest way to waste money.

Start With Larger Items
When decorating your home, you might find it more straightforward to begin with larger items and furniture and build around them. Your furniture doesn't exactly need to match to curate a cohesive or stylish environment. On the one hand, finding matching bedroom and kitchen sets can make the process much more manageable and faster.
However, a maximalist mish-mash of well-curated pieces can sometimes enhance a room and create a more unique and quirky 'collected over time' appearance that others cannot achieve. Regardless of your designs and patterns or how well they go together, once you've collected your biggest pieces, you can add other aspects such as artwork, lamps, mirrors, curtains, bedding boxes and other accessories that generally fit into the room.
Consider a Professional Designer
Hiring a professional designer via an online service or in your local area may be efficient and effective for those who need help curating attractive or suitable decorations and designs for your home and its many rooms. Often we don't have enough time in our busy schedules to devote to redesigning our homes, or we may not have a clear enough vision to put the pieces together ourselves.
Don't fret; there are plenty of interior designers at your disposal that is willing to help. Ensure you have the designers visit your home or property, provide photographs of your rooms' current layout and accurate measurements of the walls, floors, doors and windows, and they'll assist you however possible.
Interior Painting Services Northampton
If you require further assistance on your painting and decorating, please contact our professional and experienced team of painters and decorators. We will be happy to help you redesign and decorate your home interior for maximum comfort and entertainment.
If you require interior painting and decorating services for Northampton or the surrounding areas, follow the link below.