12 Secrets to Styling Your Home Like an Interior Designer
Are you planning a new designer look for a tired room in your home but feeling overwhelmed about styling the space? There are so many gorgeous looks to choose from, it can be challenging to get it right.
I've renovated a few houses and have learned how to achieve the interior designer look without paying for one. Once you've mastered the key principles, you can repeat them for every room in your home.
These are the twelve things I do to style my homes like an interior designer at a fraction of the cost!
1. Understand the Three Fs
The three Fs of interior design are function, feel, and flow. When starting a new interior design project, you must understand these elements before anything else, or you'll end up with a space that doesn't fulfill its purpose.
Function is all about how the space will be used and by whom. Feel refers to the atmosphere of the room — is it for relaxing or partying? Flow considers how people move through and within the room and is heavily influenced by furniture placement.
2. Create a Mood Board
I always have one of these on the go, a place where I keep designs I love easily accessible. It might be a wallpaper or fabric I want to use, a paint color I've fallen for, or the whole look of a room. I use Pinterest for this, but you can make a physical board with swatches, samples, and cuttings from magazines.
When I'm ready to design a room, I make a breakout board for that space, taking inspiration from my main board and adding to it. A mood helps you visualize colors, textures, and styles to see what works well together.
Take a step back and really look at your finished board, which will have maybe 50-60 items, and see what resonates. Remove what doesn't, and you'll have a starting point from which to refine and develop.
3. Make a Scaled Plan
Once you've decided what furniture you want to use in the room, make a scaled plan. I use Canva for this because it's free, does a pretty good job, and you won't need to spend hours learning how to use it!
Measure your room and make it the size of your design in inches. Add blocks to represent furniture and resize them using the position tab, then move them into place to simulate the room's layout. Research interior design standards to determine how much room to leave between furniture to ensure you have enough room to move about.
4. Less is More
A golden rule of interior design, the ‘less is more principle' simply means not overdoing things. When you shop for your home, it's easy to fall into the trap of wanting all the beautiful things you see, but this scattered approach does not create harmony or cohesion.
Instead, reduce the textures and colors to three or four, using complimentary shades. Keep the styling simple, introducing one or two themes that work well together. Focus on each furniture piece and where it will work best in the room, and don't add clutter.
5. Blend Styles
Mixing and matching pieces from different styles works well, creates a unique look, and will satisfy your need to have it all! Interior design mashups can be challenging to get right, so make good use of your mood board if you choose this route.
Opposites work well together; boho design is the perfect match with mid-century furniture, and a classic style blends with the colored metal accents that are having a moment right now. Equally, complimentary styles like farmhouse and coast blend beautifully, and boho with Scandi elements is one of my favorite looks.
6. Get the Lighting Right
Lighting is one of the biggest challenges, even for professional interior designers. Gone are the days of overhead pendants casting a dull light across the whole room. Now, it's all about lamps, subtle uplighting, and shadow gap lighting.
As a general rule, place your biggest lamp in the darkest corner and then add lamps around the room to suit each zone. I like a directional light by my reading chair and a softer light next to the couch on a side table. Once you've placed the lamp, test a variety of bulbs to get the lighting level just right.
7. Pay Attention to Shelves
Shelves are a great interior design trick; get the styling right, and they'll bring character to your room.
I love using Ikea Lack shelving to create a feature wall full of books, nick-nacks, and ornaments. You can also style these shelves vertically to make interesting divisions between sections.
Make your horizontal shelving different heights to display various books and items. Gather your pieces together and group them in a way that resonates — you'll know when you've got the correct grouping. I can't say how you'll know; you just will! I also like color-coding my books to create a subtle rainbow across the shelves.
8. Avoid Sets
I'm not sure why, but stores always want us to buy a set of something. Maybe it's because they sell more that way? Anyway, sets are a bit matchy-matchy and feel bland when you're looking for interesting and eclectic.
Choose complementary pieces in toning or contrasting colorways. Instead of buying a three-piece living room set, buy the couch and go for a complementary style of chair in an accent color. Pick individual artwork instead of matching pieces, and select a variety of scatter cushions in different textures and blending colors.
9. Consider Color
Choosing a color palette is one of the hardest things to get right in any refurbishment project. I stuck to neutrals for years but realize now they made my home feel one-dimensional and lacking in character. That changed when I bought a gorgeous cushion cover in shades of green that I fell in love with.
I took the cushion home and placed it on my sofa. Suddenly, the whole room looked different. I took inspiration from that, and green is now the anchor color throughout my home. I still love neutrals but realize they need a bit of help to make an impact.
10. Upcycle and Reuse
Look at what you already own. You bought it for a reason, right? Much of what is already in your home can be upcycled and reused, which helps with the budget and is also better for the environment.
Couches and chairs can be reupholstered to give them a new lease of life, and other furniture can be sanded, painted, or decoupaged to get a different look. I recently had six dining chairs recovered in velvet; I chose different colors from a tonal palette to complement the room, and they look brand new.
11. Be Bold with Texture
Texture often takes a back seat in interior design, with color offering a more immediate effect. Texture is more of a slow burn as the room's depth and interest are felt through the use of a variety of materials and fabrics.
A lot of texture is a natural design process, as all fabrics have one. You can help this process by picking contrasting fabrics; a velvet cushion on a tweed-covered chair, for example. This is especially important if using a tonal color scheme where texture can help interrupt the consistency.
12. Use Patterns
Mixing patterns in your room adds energy and textural interest. This design trick can feel overwhelming when you first start looking at patterns because it's easy to get excited and go overboard!
There are some simple rules to follow when choosing patterns. Firstly, your patterns should blend with your color palette to create harmony. Then, combine one or two large-scale patterns with smaller, more intricate ones for visual contrast. Think bold, broad stripes with smaller florals or a large motif with small repeating shapes.