By Farah Amin
Size for Space
You finally scored that perfect couch for your living room only to find out that it is too small or big in the actual space. This dilemma is one annoying one and can be avoided if you know the size and scale of the rooms and furniture. If the space is too big you might want to add more pieces of furniture however be ware of over crowding.
Lights, Camera, Action!
Proper lighting is necessary and crucial to every room. While natural light is best by day, you need to work the perfect amount when the sun has set. That’s why light dimmers work best when it comes to controlling the level of brightness of the room. Sometimes you need bright lights and others you need to create a relaxing atmosphere like during entertaining. Light dimmers are also a great addition to your bedrooms and bathrooms. When coming to add lamps on desks, tables especially near couches and beds do consider their size. Small lamps tend to look silly and out of balance and most importantly wont give you the adequate amount of light.
Don’t be Ms. Matchy Match
Just like your outfit, you don’t need to match the pattern, color, size or whatever of every single item around your house. Rooms benefit from that extra texture, pattern and color that are different. When that additional color and pattern are brought into the equation, the room instantly gains depth and dimension. Try to avoid two couches of the same color, instead mix it up; get one in a solid color and the other in a pattern. Also you could opt for a solid color couch where you can add pillows, blankets and rugs that would compliment it.
Test it!
A common mistake a lot of us do is when we come to repaint our walls and only rely on the color palate without testing out a small dab on the actual wall. Paints tend to look vastly different once painted on the wall. Things like the lighting, décor and overall surrounding determines the color and the natural lighting could be changing it throughout the day. So the best thing is to gather all the colors of your choice and pick up some trial sizes and paint a large spot on the wall. You could also paint a piece of cardboard where you can put it up against the wall and move it to each room.
Cheaper is NOT Cheaper!
With the prices of furniture these days, all you want to do is save as much as you can since furnishing a house can be an expensive adventure. However, this could be tricky since quality comes first when it comes to furniture because whatever the item is you will be living on it and using it daily so it must be durable enough to handle the daily abuse. And unfortunately cheaper won’t be cheaper if it will need to be replaced after a short while; it will actually cost you more. Always buy the best you can affoerd even if you have to save up for it!
Don’t listen
You should decorate your home where your interests, passion, style, past, present and future reflect. Don’t let anyone influence their taste of impose their style on you. If you need help, hire a decorator and mute out all the well-meaning opinions of family and friends. Its ok to say no to their suggestions as well as anything they try to force on you of furniture that is not to your liking.