Principles to Consider While Designing Your Home
Home design is most enjoyable when it involves selecting furnishings and decor elements that the family prefers, regardless of their origin or style. They could range from antiques to contemporary pieces as fancied by the homeowners. A conscious amalgamation of different styles or different colour palettes can positively transform a space.
Here are a few thoughtful ways one can reshape their homes to their liking, recommended by Ar. Gaurav Pathak, the Founder and Principal Architect of Design 21.
1. A Convergence of Styles
Traditional and contemporary styles — interior or architecture — are diametrically contrary, and yet, an attentive fusion of these two styles can lend the space a transcending quality. Selecting decor that complements the chosen style/s becomes crucial to achieving the desired aesthetics. Converging different styles, and resonating with the likes of the homeowners, for interiors can amp up the space.
2. Playing with the Visual Aesthetics
Colours, textures, patterns, and materials play a significant role in styling a home as they majorly impact the mood of the room and affect the perception of a space. Playing with different textures, and using distinct materials, on walls and floors with a vibrant colour palette can stimulate the human senses and ignite visual pleasure. While vibrant palettes add dynamism to a space, a more sober palette adds sophistication and finesse.
3. The Juxtaposition of Contrasts and Harmonies
A mingling of styles could result in playful combinations and permutations of contrasting elements that would produce harmonious compositions. Positioning a sober, sleek decor component against a bold-coloured wall can lend an aesthetic balance to the space. Elements can be juxtaposed in sync with the ambience one desires.
4. The Interconnection of Elements
A balanced interconnection of all the decor elements can give a cohesive individuality to the home. This interconnection can be made visible through one single detail repeated at clever corners or a series of components belonging to a singular style arranged around the house. These details can range from following one colour palette or arranging similarly styled furnishings.
5. Embracing the Design Fundamentals
Employing different fundamentals of design while revamping the decor of a house can modify the space to one’s liking. The principles of symmetry, repetition, patterns, balance, emphasis, proportion, etc. have the power to create visually pleasing forms or honest compositions that can appeal to the end-user. Patterned tiles on floors tend to please the human eye. The symmetrical positioning of decor on walls and ceilings gives a balance to the room.
6. Illumination
Appropriate lighting is a key element in determining the overall feel of the home. They either make or break a room. Lighting colluded with the other design elements of space can influence human sensory perception. Smartly positioned light fittings that work in tandem with multiple design principles can illuminate a space. Using a soft, warm glow against vivid colours brightens up a space while also adding a pleasant touch. Wall sconces, pendant lights, strip lights, lamps, and other lighting fixtures are commonly used to create drama in a room. A room must also be equipped with a series of general lighting fixtures besides ambient lighting for practical purposes, to be used during the daytime and at night. Lighting fixtures for different tasks—such as office lights, study lights, and kitchen lights—should also be installed to reduce eye strain and perform different tasks efficiently.
7. The Significance of Breathing Spaces
Breathing spaces or free spaces are required to be planned while designing to avoid clutter. Free zones allow for smooth circulation between elements and spaces, in addition to lending a fluid sense to the area. Too many elements in a room can make it suffocating. Intuitively planning for more additional zones in a room can make it look expansive and unobstructed.
Revamping a home is a challenging but enjoyable task, as the results become a blend of personalities expressed as an archive of colours, furniture, decor, textures and patterns. Rich colours knitted together with sleek and smooth furniture tells a different story as compared to when the same combinations are reversed. Quirky, eclectic, sophisticated, and elegant are all traits that can be expressed through the use of appropriate design ideas in home interiors. A home is a sequence of narratives of different perspectives unfolding in the form of one single design.