Good home design enhances the internal atmosphere of the home and provides a range of economic, aesthetic and health benefits. A professionally designed home can make the difference between living in an attractive and inviting atmosphere and a boring lack lustre environment. However, all good home designs are created by applying proven interior design principles. In this post, we will be looking at some of the most important principles used by professional home designers.

Essential Principles Of Good Home Design

A Unifying Theme

Professional interior designers always see the entire home as one entity connected by walkways and stairs. This enables them to choose a common colour scheme that will run through the entire house. Although there could be variations in the main colours and accents, all design choices should complement each other. One of the best ways to apply this principle is by selecting three or four colours first. Then you can use variations of these colours in different sections of the house.

Visual Balance

Balance is simply a uniform arrangement or distribution of weight or design elements within a defined space. Various forms of balance can be applied when creating the design of a home including symmetrical, circular and asymmetrical.

In traditional and vintage home designs, was the most commonly used type of visual balance. That is why so many bedrooms were designed with the same items on both sides of the bed. For instance, a typical conventional room design will have two lamps, two side tables or stools and two pillows, with one placed on either side of the bed. Since this kind of symmetry is natural and in line with the form of the human body, it offers a natural soothing and relaxing effect.

Circular symmetry creates balance by arranging all the design elements around a single focal point. For instance, in a living room, all the furniture could be arranged around a circular centre piece. Similarly, all the elements could be arranged in a semi-circle around a fireplace or television set.

However, in today’s modern and minimalistic designs, asymmetrical balance is more popular. Here, a little more innovation and creativity is applied, such that items that are not exactly similar, but make up equal weight, are used to create balance. This type of balance promotes eye movement and it creates a more exciting design.

A Point of Focus

In addition to balance, a good interior design should have at least one or two focal points. This will eliminate boredom by creating a point of attraction for the eyes. In addition, the focal point should motivate the viewer to look at other design elements in the room. Even though the focal point should be a strong source of attraction, it should blend with the other aspects of the design such as colour, scale and theme.

Use of Definite Themes

Professional designers make use of definite themes when they are creating their interior designs. Each theme provides a template that will enable the designer to quickly decide on the spatial arrangement, the type of colour theme, symmetry, and the elements to be used for the design. Some of the trending themes include:

* Modern: This theme is based on natural textures, colours and materials. It creates a peaceful atmosphere in your apartment and it enables you to enjoy a relaxed and tranquil environment after a noisy day in the city. Natural materials such as stone, ceramic, glass, wood and fabrics with natural textures like wool are usually combined with soft neutral colours.

* Floral: Floral designs are currently one of the most popular design themes. These eye-catching and innovative designs are created in collaboration with skilled graphic artists. Floral designs can be applied through fabric, wallpaper, or upholstery. In addition, you may create your own designs with your computer, or by hand and print them, then add them to your design. A typical floral design will have a combination of dark wood furniture pieces, a neutral colour palette and some framed floral prints.

* Minimalist: With this theme, you can have a clutter-free and smart-looking design that gives you a soft and soothing atmosphere. This makes it easy for you to tidy up your environment within a few minutes. The minimalist theme usually has a white background on the walls, floor and furniture. It is ideal for people who do not need to display plenty of decorations and collectables.

Conclusion

Those are some of the basic principles used to create professional home designs. You can apply these principles when designing a new home from scratch or when you have to carry out a major home renovation.