5 Interior Design Principles to Follow When Decorating a Home

In this guide, discover 5 simple interior design principles to help you when decorating a new home. You’ve always wanted your home to look like it belongs in the pages of an interior design magazine.

You love spending your weekends hunting for treasures at thrift shops and flea markets, and you’re obsessed with the last paint color trends.

Now that you finally own your own home — or have moved into the home of your dreams — you want to make sure that your interior design concepts are absolutely perfect.

Read this post to brush up on the must-follow interior design principles that will keep your home looking chic, modern, and cozy.

1) Make It Your Own

We know that it can be oh-so-tempting to copy someone else’s interior design style as closely as your budget allows.

You may want to hire a sought-after interior decorator to help create the perfect space.

However, remember that the most important thing is for your home to be a genuine reflection of you, the owner. You don’t want to live in a home that you’re not comfortable in or that feels inauthentic.

Draw up a rough interior designing plan using a proposal template to help you figure out how to feature personal collections, heirloom furniture, and everything else you love.

2) Focus on Balance

Aim to create a sense of balance in your home — don’t crowd everything in one area.

To make sure a room’s furniture and decor are in perfect harmony with the space, walk around your room and look at it from all different angles.

Then, adjust accordingly.

3) Function Over Form

Remember that you actually have to live in this space.

So while that medieval-style wooden bench might look ultra-chic? It’s not exactly what you want to be snuggling with your spouse on while watching a movie.

Focus the more form-based design choices on walls and decor, not on actual furniture. Know your lifestyle, and design around that.

4) Choose a Feature to Emphasize 

Emphasis is another one of the most interior design principles.

In general, you want the eye to be drawn towards one specific feature or piece of a room.

It might be a large bay window, a portrait of a family member, a stunning chandelier, or even a statement-making long table. Once you’ve selected your room’s “centerpiece,” design everything else around that.

5) Consider Scale and Proportion

Finally, make sure to think about interior spacing.

You don’t want your home to look crowded or bare.

Make sure that furniture and rugs are in proportion to one another, and that the scale of the pieces in the room fit appropriately with the size of the space.

Check out this post on how to use the ageless “Golden Ratio” in your interior design concepts.

Follow These Simple Interior Design Principles for a Beautiful Home

These basic interior design principles are far from complicated, but trust us when we tell you they’ll have a big impact on the look of your home.

Want to learn how to nail the mid-century modern look? Curious about how you can upgrade the look of your kitchen on a shoestring budget? Interested in learning how to use interior design software?

Our blog is dedicated to all things home decor and design. Keep following our posts to score tips that will make your house feel like a home.