You want your home to look beautiful and stylish, but you don’t have the money to hire an interior decorator.  In many cases, doing it yourself is best anyway, because your natural style preferences and personality come out.  This article deals with some of the things you should keep in mind when decorating your own home; you might consider this information the ‘do’s and don’ts’ of decorating.

Good Bets for Success

To make the most of your home, consider the architectural design and location.  Your goal should be to maximize the architectural assets of your home while incorporating your own unique style and personality.  This helps you achieve the perfect balance, and lessens the need to redecorate on a frequent basis.

Use a signature piece to decorate every room.  Whether modern, abstract or elegant, this piece can serve as the basis for decorating the room.  Once you have chosen a signature piece of wall art, for example, you can begin to incorporate colors, textures and design for the rest of the furnishings to complete the look.

Combine Various Design Elements

You want your home to be unique and appealing, right?  In order to accomplish a look that is totally yours you want to blend various design elements.  Wood pieces, bold patterns, stripes, plaids and florals can all be used together to add interest and depth to the room.  A wood floor is dazzling on its own; throw a couple of boldly hued geometric patterned rugs down and the floor comes to life!  Same thing for solid colored sofas and other furnishings – add boldly colored throw pillows and throws with varied patterns.

Pay particular attention to the scale of a room.  Furnishings should be of similar size and shape.  The repeated use of shapes, fabrics and colors helps bring the design of the room together, making it look as though it was professionally decorated.

A Few Things to Avoid

When you decide to decorate your own home, there are a few things you should not do.  For one, don’t let a friend or relative tell you how to decorate!  Of course you are willing to listen to their suggestions, but it is your home and the goal is for you and your family to feel comfortable and pleased with the décor and design.

Many people make the mistake of placing furniture against the walls leaving it spread out in order to give the room a more spacious appearance.  This is a mistake!  Furniture should be arranged in an intimate grouping, away from the walls.  Group your chairs, tables and sofa around a large area rug to give the room a more personal and welcoming look and feel.

Don’t Try to Display Everything You Own

You may have many collectibles you have picked up over the years.  Many people have an attic, basement or closet packed with their favorite accents and accessories.  When you decorate a room, don’t try to use them all.  This can give the room a messy and cluttered look.  Instead, save some of them for later!  You can refresh the room later on by switching out the old collectibles and decorating items for the ones you have stored.  Using less also helps add to the importance of each piece you have carefully selected to display.

Remember these tips the next time you feel a need to refresh and update your home.  You can have a professional look and feel – even when you do it yourself!

A common problem faced by homeowners when decorating a room is figuring out what colors to use for the décor. Have you ever visited a paint store? If so, then you have probably seen the hundreds of different colors and shades you have to choose from when designing a color scheme. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by so many choices. Not everyone has an eye for color, and it can be quite difficult to pick out which colors will look good together in a room. If you’re unsure as to what color combinations to use in the décor of your home, then here are five to consider.

1. Brown, Blue, and Cream
This is a great color scheme for practically any room in your home. When using brown, blue, and cream for your décor, you just need to be sure to keep a balance of colors, particularly when applying the dark brown. For instance, you might want to use cream or light blue pillows to lighten up a dark brown couch. Or if your couch is cream colored, you can add some interest with brown and blue pillows. If you can find patterns that include all three colors, you can add even more visual interest to the décor.

2. Shades of Brown and Cream
Whether you’re looking to create a peaceful retreat in your bedroom or bathroom, try using shades of brown and cream. You can choose from anything from dark chocolate brown to an off white or light cream color, as there are a wide variety of shades across this spectrum. Although this color combination closely resembles a monochromatic theme, you can easily add more interest. Simply pair a lighter shade with a darker shade, and that will make the room appear much more lively.

3. Blue and Orange
Colors like blue and orange that lie across from each other on the color wheel are considered to be complementary. When using this color combination, you don’t want to use bright oranges and blues but rather keep the colors muted. You can easily work these colors into a contemporary-styled room by including white or even brown in the mix.

4. Black and White
You can use this classic color combination for practically any room you like. What’s great about black and white is its versatility, meaning it can be modern as well as traditional depending on the pieces you choose to use. Add an accent color into the scheme, such as green or red, to create even more style in a black and white room. There’s no shortage of black-and-white décor items available these days, making this one of the easiest color schemes to work with.

5. Pink and Green
Another complementary color scheme you might try is pink and green, which tends to go well in bedrooms, living rooms, and sun rooms. You want to be sure to add a neutral color like white or cream into the mix. Otherwise, you might end up with too much color in the room. Also be sure to choose colors that are the same shades. Mint green and neon pink, for instance, aren’t going to work well together.

These five color combinations are a great place to start if you’re having trouble coming up with color ideas for your home. When decorating your home, any of these combinations should give you some inspiration. When you use any of these suggestions as a base and then add your own style to them, you can create a unique look for your home.

You don’t need to get rid of all your wedding memorabilia or store it away where you can’t even see it. You are going to be decorating your new home with your spouse, so why not reuse all your wedding mementos in the process. Here are some unique ways to incorporate your wedding items into your décor.

Decorate with Your Wedding Pictures
Decorate your home with items from your wedding the easy way: by framing your favorite wedding pictures and using them as decorations. You can either hang them up on the walls, or place them on a shelf, a table, or a fireplace mantle. Another option is to blow up your favorite portrait. Then you can hang it above the fireplace or on a wall in your bedroom. You might also create a collage out of a few different wedding shots along with pictures from your honeymoon.

Make a Shadow Box with Your Wedding Memorabilia
Create a unique addition to your décor by gathering your wedding items together and displaying them in a shadow box. Add things such as your invitation and/or program, any leftover favors, a piece of the wedding dress, and dried flowers. Assemble these items together however you like and then place the box on a shelf or hang it on the wall. This makes a great decoration piece for your bedroom and will remind you of your wedding every day.

Decorate with Your Wedding Flowers
You can always make potpourri from dried flower petals if you used real flowers for your wedding. Find a decorative basket or vase to place the dried flowers in and add essential oils, and you will have a sentimental decoration to add to any room in your home.

If your flowers at your wedding were fake, then you have many more decorating options. Leave them the way they are, placing them in a vase or basket, for an instant decoration for the home. Or you might choose instead to alter them a bit. You might combine a number of different bouquets from the wedding into one large flower arrangement or split them up into two slightly smaller ones. You can add instant color and brightness to just about any room of the house when you use these flowers in the décor. Best of all, every time you walk by, you will be reminded of your wonderful wedding day.

Make a Decorating from the Wedding Dress
If you’re not planning to reuse your wedding dress, you always have the option of making it into an easy and attractive home décor item. This works just as well with a bridesmaid’s dress—providing you have someone who’s willing to part with her dress after the wedding. Once you’ve taken a piece of fabric from the dress, wrap it tightly around a canvas or even a picture frame. Then secure the whole thing with a nail gun and, presto, you have a nice fabric décor item to hang on the wall. You can really add some style to a bedroom by hanging one of more of these pieces on the wall.

If you’re trying to decorate your home on a newlywed’s budget, it’s best to work with what you have. By reusing your wedding memorabilia, you can create unique decorations that have a lot of emotional impact.

Homeowners often become overwhelmed when it comes time to choose a color scheme for a room. The tricky part about choosing a color scheme is that once you choose one color, you then have to decide what other potential colors to put in the room as well. So what’s the best way to choose a color scheme? One of the best tools to have at your fingertips is a color wheel.

What Is the Color Wheel?
Sir Isaac Newton was the first to use the color wheel. He performed an experiment with a prism. What he discovered was that pure white light had a wide spectrum of reflective colors. People have been using this spectrum of colors ever since. Known as the color wheel, it’s helpful for decorating and classifying colors.

The Classification of Colors Using the Color Wheel
The colors on the color while are basically classified into three different categories. 1. The primary colors consist of red, yellow, and blue. 2. Next are the secondary colors, or orange, green, and violet. These colors are created by mixing the primary colors. 3. Then you have the tertiary colors, including red-orange, yellow-orange, blue-green, and yellow-green. You combine the primary colors with the secondary colors next to them to create these colors.

Monochromatic Color Scheme Explained
A monochromatic color scheme is just like it sounds. This approach to color involves picking one color and then using only that color for the entire room. The key to this color scheme is to use varying shades, from light to dark, of that color. You can also use white in the color scheme, which will help break up the color.

Analogous Color Scheme Explained
A analogous color scheme will include anywhere from two to six different colors in the décor of a room. Here, you use colors that are adjacent to one another on the color wheel. For instance, the color red would use orange or purple as accent colors, since they are the colors next to red on the wheel. Start with your main color first, and then you can choose between you accent colors.

Complementary Color Scheme Explained
The complementary color scheme is one of the more popular approaches to color design. Essentially, you begin with a main color (such as yellow or red) and then go directly across to color wheel to find its complementary color. For yellow, for instance, the complementary color would be in the purple family. For the color green, you would look in the pinks. This can always be played with a little bit. Try mixing the family of colors: it could be green and pink, or it could be green and red.

Triad Color Scheme Explained
Another very popular design for homeowners is the triad color scheme. Here you use three colors that on the color wheel form a triangle together. One triad combination would be orange, green, and purple. Make one of these colors your main color and use the others for accent colors, or choose two colors and then accent with the third.

Remember also that both black and white are neutrals. So you can add them to any color scheme without changing that scheme too much. By playing around with the color wheel and some of these color scheme suggestions, you will be able to come up with some great options for the rooms in your home.

Many homeowners like to do their own decorating projects themselves. By doing your own decorating projects, you can ensure that your own style and personality come through your decorating. Here are 5 great DIY decorating projects that you can do for your home.

1. Paint the Walls
The easiest yet most effective way to give room a whole new look is by painting. Remember, the color of the walls is going to influence the entire room’s décor. If you begin a painting project, you want to be sure you do it properly and prepare the walls as needed. You may need to fill in any cracks and then sand them down, as you want the wall to be crack-free and smooth. You will need to first put on a coat of primer, and depending on the color and the saturation of the wall, you may have to put on a few coats of paint.

2. Install Molding on the Walls
With molding, you can instantly add a new touch to the walls. Molding will lend some interest and appeal to an otherwise boring wall. You have many choices of what type of molding you want. You might go with crown molding, which is installed at the top of the wall, or go a different route with a chair rail, which is installed in the middle. Before nailing it to the wall, paint or stain the molding first. The nail holes can then be touched up with paint afterward.

3. Personalize the Lampshades
If you can’t find the exact lampshade you’ve envisioned or just want to create something that shows your style, then consider designing your own lampshade. This is easier than it sounds. Simply take a white or cream-colored lampshade and cut figures or designs out of a dark paper such as black or red. Then tape the paper to the inside of the lampshade and you will have created a designer lampshade that reflects your own personal style. Add items to your lampshade such as embellishments and ribbon to personalize it as well.

4. Make Your Own Artwork for the Walls
Even if you can’t paint or draw very well, that doesn’t mean you can’t come up with your very own artwork to hang on the walls or to place on a shelf in one of your bookcases. You just need to get creative. You can look around and use items you already have. Look around for photographs, postcards, and book images that you can hang on the wall. Another easy idea is to put together a collage of items found in nature. Another simple project is to take a frame or blank canvas and wrap it in a patterned fabric that fits in with the room’s décor. If you choose two or three different patterns and different sized frames, you can hang them together in a cluster on the wall.

5. Make Your Own Window Treatments
If you aren’t handy with a sewing machine or a needle and thread, there are many different non-sewing techniques you can use to make your own curtains. To create instant interest around a window, simply take a long silk scarf and drape it over a window curtain. You might also consider using such things as placemats and tablecloths to create instant window treatments. If you do sew, then find a pattern you like, pick out the fabric, and create the window treatments you’ve always envisioned for your home.

A DIY decorating project doesn’t have to necessarily be difficult. If you’re looking to decorate your house in your own personal style, these are just 5 of the many different projects you can do for your home.

You can quickly and easily add style to any room in your home by using any of several painting techniques on your walls. These techniques make any DIY paint job look like a professional one.

There are certain things you need to do before you can start any type of painting on your walls. All your supplies need to be ready. In addition, the walls need to be prepped by filling in any cracks or holes and taping off the trim and windows with blue painter’s tape. Depending on what technique you decide to use, you will also need to be sure you have some special tools as well.

Rag Painting Technique
When you paint with the rag painting technique, no paint brushes or rollers are used. Instead, you use a simple rag (such as an old t-shirt or any type of cotton rag) to apply the paint. The result is a marbled effect on your walls.

To paint with rags:

• First dip your rag into the paint, shaking off the excess.
• Dab the rag onto the wall, taking care to apply the paint in whatever pattern you’ve chosen. But be sure not to spread out the pattern too much.
• For a creative twist to this technique, try applying a darker base color first and then rag on the lighter paint color.

Sponge Painting Technique

This particular technique is used to give a wall depth and interest. Before you can begin sponging, you will first need to apply a base color to the wall.

To apply this sponge painting technique:

• Taking a regular or sea sponge, dip it carefully into the paint or glaze of your choice.
• Starting from the edge of the wall and working your way in, dab the sponge in a random pattern.
• You can either choose to only do one wall in the room or complete all the walls in the room using this sponging technique.

Color Washing Technique

This painting technique adds a subtle finish to your walls that gives the appearance of floating color. This is a good technique for those walls with flaws that you want to cover up. This technique is a little more time consuming, however. Layers must be built up in order to get the full effect of the color wash.

To color wash:

• First, paint the wall the color you’ve selected as your base color. You’ll then need to wait for it to completely dry.
• Then, with a slightly different color or a complementary color, come back and paint another layer.
• When painting this next layer, only use a paint brush. Apply the paint in all different directions, going over your strokes. In this way, the base color will show through in random areas.
• If you want an additional color to show on the wall, you can do another layer of painting this way.

Whether you’re looking to redecorate your kitchen or bedroom, these painting techniques can be used in any room in your home. By instantly adding style to your walls, they will perk up the décor of any room.