The Fun Part: Picking Out Your Furniture
Sure, going out and buying new furniture or completely remodelling your home can be exciting, but not so much when you don't know where to put things, or when you're confused as to why the room you just decorated doesn't feel right. The way furniture is arranged can have many impacts on the way we feel, and we've got tips to help you achieve the perfect mood.
Why Do We Feel Good When We Rearrange Our Space?
An impact on the environment, whether an imprint or a removal, lifts mood, provides concrete satisfaction, and instills a sense of effectiveness. Inner and outer harmony happen when pieces are placed in a way that makes sense for you. Decorating is an opportunity for of artistry as well as comfort. As you re-arrange your personal space, you hone your aesthetic and identify what you truly love, want or need. Such specificity brings relief.
photo by betterhomes
8 Important Things to Remember When Furnishing Your Home
1. Decide Function of the Room
Consider how the room is used and how many people will use it. That will dictate the type of furnishings you’ll need and the amount of seating required.
When choosing furniture for your room, keep in mind the size of the room as well as the ceiling height. Furniture needs to be proportionate to the overall size of the room. Adding furniture that feels too big for the room can make it hard to move throughout the room and create feelings of claustrophobia. Using furniture that is too small in a large room with high ceilings can create a cavernous vibe, causing visitors to feel cold and unwelcome.
photo by Betterhomes
2. Determine Focal Point
Identify the room’s focal point – a fireplace, view, television etc. – and orient the furniture accordingly. If you plan to watch television in the room, the ideal distance between the set and the seating is three times the size of the screen (measured diagonally). Therefore, if you’ve got a 40-inch set, your chair should be 120 inches away.
Many people make the mistake of simply lining furniture up along the walls, leaving a large empty space in the middle of the room, with no focal point. Every room needs a focal point from which to lay a furniture plan. Then, you build out from there.
Photo by betterhomes
3. Prioritize
Place the largest pieces of furniture first, such as the sofa in the living room or the bed in the bedroom. In most cases this piece should face the room’s focal point. Chairs should be no more than around 2.5 metres apart to facilitate conversation. Unless your room is especially small, avoid pushing all the furniture against the walls.
photo by betterhomes photo by Betterhomes
4. Establish Symmetry/Asymmetry
We love balanced designs because they keep that the amount of information that our brains need to process to a minimum. By picking up on a repeating a pattern, we are able to process the individual elements faster. Since we are easily able to understand symmetrical spaces, we often think of them as more aesthetically pleasing.
Try to work at least one pattern into every design project. Your bedroom could feature a pair of matching nightstands or reading lamps. Three evenly spaced bar stools could add a sense of symmetry to your kitchen island. Even if it’s as simple as placing a couch on either side of the coffee table, give the brain a symmetrical element to hook onto and you’ll increase your chances making your guests gasp in delight.
When it comes to achieving asymmetry that works, focus on choosing design elements that, though distinct, are still similar in mass and form. Make sure that they are placed equally distant from the room’s center point. As you work on positioning, don’t hesitate to trust you gut. Place the objects where you think they should be and then take a step back to view the room as a whole. You’ll instantly get a sense for the flow of the space and be able to tweak your asymmetrical element so that it shines.
photo by betterhomes
5. Mind the Traffic
Think about the flow of traffic through the room – generally the path between doorways. Don’t block that path with any large pieces of furniture if you can avoid it.
Try to direct traffic around a seating group, not through the middle of it. If traffic cuts through the middle of the room, consider creating two small seating areas instead of one large one.
Seating areas should be placed naturally from there to minimize odd turns or tight areas to squeeze through just to sit down. If the flow is not natural, the result is a disjointed feeling felt by residents and guests alike. Conversely, if a home’s furniture is too small for the space and is all tightly fitted to the walls, there is another type of problem with flow. It will feel cold, empty, and purposeless.
6. Use Variety
Vary the size of furniture pieces throughout the room, so your eyes move up and down as you scan the space. Balance a large or tall item by placing another piece of similar height across the room from it (or use art to replicate the scale). Avoid putting two tall pieces next to each other.
photo by Betterhomes
7. Create Contrast
Combine straight and curved lines for contrast. If the furniture is modern and linear, throw in a round table for contrast. If the furniture is curvy, mix in an angular piece. Similarly, pair solids with voids: Combine a leggy chair with a solid side table, and a solid chair with a leggy table.
photo by betterhomes
photo by davisframe
8. Plan Before You Begin
Give your back a break. Before you move any actual furniture, test your design on paper. Measure the room’s dimensions, noting the location of windows, doors and electrical outlets, then draw up a floor plan on graph paper using cutouts to represent the furnishings. Or, better yet, use a digital room planner to draw the space and test various furniture configurations. It’s less work and a lot more fun.
First Time Furnishing A House?
You’ve finally done it — met a huge life milestone and bought your first home. Then, it hits you. A house requires far more furniture than a tiny apartment. How are you supposed to fill all this space?
If you’ve found yourself suddenly needing a whole house full of furniture in a hurry, don't worry. Here are some tips for how to furnish your home without breaking the bank. Follow our advice and your new house will become a home before you know it.
1. Assess your current inventory
As much as we would all like to furnish our new home with brand new, expensive furniture, it is not very realistic. While some fresh pieces will probably be necessary, you won’t be able to get a true sense of what’s needed without taking stock of your existing inventory.
To do this, sit down and take a long, hard look at everything you own. Start with staple pieces of furniture and then move on to smaller items like textiles and accessories. Evaluate each item based on its usefulness, condition and whether or not it fits your sense of personal style. Make a list and separate the pieces into one of three categories: Keep, Unsure and Donate/Discard.
After you’ve gotten the first two categories settled, look over them once more. This time, decide where each item will be placed in your new home. Keep an open mind and consider alternative arrangements from your last living situation. If something truly doesn’t fit in your new surroundings, consider letting it go. Use the tips above this thread to guide you.
2. Rank purchases by priority
Since buying a home is such a big expense, people usually have a limited budget for furnishings once they move in. This, coupled with the excitement of designing their own spaces for the first time, can lead to some costly mistakes. Either the new homeowners will go into debt giving the home a top-to-bottom makeover or they blow the entire budget making one room perfect down to the last detail and have no money left for other essentials.
That doesn’t need to be the case. Here’s the secret interior designers don’t want you to know: It’s absolutely fine to furnish a home piece by piece, rather than going one room at a time. While you’ll probably want to ensure you have a few essential items — a bed, a dresser, a sofa and a dining table — available at move in, the rest can be bought over time.
After assessing your inventory, determine what’s missing. List items you need to fill your home, ranking them in order of priority. Then, take some time to decide how much you can, realistically, spend on furniture and make the purchases accordingly. Keep the list close at hand, so you can refer to it whenever you have some extra cash to spend.
3. Source pricey items secondhand
Keep in mind there are plenty of ways to furnish your home without heading to pricey, high-end stores. If new furniture won’t fit in your budget for the foreseeable future, it’s time to get creative. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to find affordable pieces secondhand. All you need is a keen eye.
Search out thrift shops and consignment stores in your area and visit them regularly to get a sense of their changing inventory. Check Craigslist and other for-sale sites. Pay attention to postings for local yard sales and flea markets. It may also be a good idea to let friends and family know you’re in need. You never know who may be willing to offer up some hand-me-downs.
Be sure to give any secondhand items a firm appraisal before agreeing to take them home. Make sure they have all their necessary parts, are structurally sound and fairly clean. Do your best to source items that are in line with your personal style, but keep in mind they don’t need to be an exact match.
4. DIY cohesive looks
If you’re willing to put in a little extra effort, it’s possible to make individual pieces of furniture look like they’re part of a matching set. Where furniture is concerned, most of the time all that’s needed is the right DIY tutorial and a few coats of paint.
To pull this off, your first step is to find some design inspiration. Search through a few interior design sites like Freshome until you find a few photos that showcase an aesthetic you love. Then, look for a video or step-by-step tutorial that clearly outlines the process.
photo by Freshome
You're Set!
No matter what your situation is, following the guidelines and knowing the roles that furnishing plays in interior design is the key to having a productive, yet trendy home. Remember: It’s only after your layout has been established that you should move onto other décor plans, such as accessories and paint, to build upon that overall mood. In fact, paint should be the last thing you consider. It is easier to find a paint colour that will coordinate with your furniture and accessories than the opposite. Most people want to paint before they move in or before they have purchased any furniture. The wall colour you choose may look great in the empty room until you add the furniture and find that the colour is off.