How to Design your Modern Home - A Room-by-Room Guide

1. Preview Lecture: Welcome to the course. How to design your modern Home, a room by room guide in which you will learn both overarching and room specific guidelines to help you make the right interior design decisions for your home. My name is Rasheed Ca, and I'm going to be guiding you through this course. I'm a licensed architect and interior designer in the state of Florida with a bachelor of architecture degree from the University of Tennessee. With the expertise and knowledge gained in my previous experience with both architecture and interior design projects in San Francisco, which ranged from high end residences to affordable housing projects for the city, I have now founded my own design for Hollows, architecture and design. Based in Florida. This course was conceived to solve the fundamental barriers homeowners face when wanting to design their home interiors. It has the answers to all your frequently asked questions and much more to help you take charge of your interiors. With confidence in this course, we will cover broad, overarching topics like core inter design principles, color schemes, paint selections, lighting design and more such topics applicable to all rooms throughout your house. We will then break down styling and design tips for each room. This course is perfect for all you people who tirelessly scour through your Pinterest and house feeds for inspiration on bringing that articulate and balanced field to your space. It's for anyone who enjoys decorating their home and continually strives to make it better and appear professionally done. And most definitely for all individuals with an interest in learning the most common principles, techniques and knowledge that professional interior designers and decorators implement in their projects. I hope this gets you excited about all the valuable content that is to follow, and I look forward to having you join me. 2. Course Introduction: Hi, everyone. Welcome to the course before we start. I want to take a moment to thank you for taking this course and really encourage you to feel free to contact me with any comments, questions or suggestions that pop into your mind as you make your way through the course. Absolutely love hearing from you guys. So feel free to send suggestions for topics that you would like to learn about and future courses. Or if you have any specific design related questions about your space or really anything as long as it's designed related. I also urge you to share your transformations with us by tagging us on Instagram or Facebook. We would absolutely love to take a look at how you have used this course to achieve results . Feel free to follow us on any of our social media platforms for more design tips and trends . We are always posting new stuff on there. We also have a newsletter you can subscribe to on our website before we get started. Let's take a quick look at the core structure in the first section of the course. We will be covering general topics applicable throughout your home and will include a brief intro to some of the most popular modern styles today and how to bridge them the right way . A rundown of the five most basic interior design principles. An understanding of how to derive an implement color schemes, tips and techniques for selecting the perfect paint colors for your home. End up flighting guidelines for your interiors and tips on how to hang your art perfectly. In the second section of the course, we will dive into each room and go over inspiration, styling tips, furniture arrangement lighting, do's and don't and more for each of the following spaces. And finally, in the last section of the course, we will take a look at how you can implement all of this knowledge in your real life project with a seven step process that we will use to design a room from scratch. So if any of the sounds of interesting stick around and we'll get started 3. Identifying a Style: let me start off the course by talking a little bit about what exactly I mean when I say modern home. Technically speaking, the term modern and interior design is typically referring to mid century modern, which is a design style of its own that emerged in the mid 20th century. Now, when I talk about modern home in this course, I'm actually referring to that factor of minimalism and simplicity shared across many styles, including Scandinavian, modern farmhouse, contemporary and other styles We will be covering in this lecture. I didn't want to use the term minimalist interiors because a lot of people have the tendency to think large concrete box when they hear that term. So instead, I decided to use the term modern to refer to that clean and simple aesthetic that many styles adopt. So without further delay, let's take a look at some of these styles. The first style that we're gonna be talking about a Scandinavian. This is a Nordic style originating from countries like Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway. It is characterized by simplicity, airiness and utility, the opulent use of white and light wood tones such as birch, oak, pine and ash. gives it a bright yet warm feel. Nordic culture embraced an egalitarian approach to design, resulting in a strong emphasis on function al ism to make the most of their minimal yet elegant belongings. As you can see in these images, skin and even design is devoid of clutter, lightened right to cope with the long, dark northern winters and makes the most out of a simple, clean and natural color palette that certainly evokes feelings of warmth and comfort. Scandinavia designers gave us many beloved furniture pieces we still commonly used today. Just take a look at this slide. I'm sure you recognize quite a few famous chairs. Now let's talk about our next style mid century modern. As I mentioned earlier, this style emerged in the mid 20th century and is characterized by clean lines, smooth angles and gentle curves. With mid century modern came the slogan form follows function, which emphasized functionality and kept ornamentation to a minimum. With the advancement of technology came new explorations and materials like plastic, plexi, glass and vinyl. This led to the emergence of new forms as well as colors such as chard, truce, rust orange and teal blues. The rest of the palate consists of whites, greys and lots of would usually medium to dark wood tones such as walnut, teak and oak. As you can see in these images, mid century modern style features some of the most iconic furniture pieces of all time, including the Eames chair, Noguchi table Nelson lamps, among others. Next up we have the industrial style. This style emerged as a result of abandoned industrial warehouses and factories that were repurposed into liveable urban units in large cities. This style is commonly preferred in urban lofts and condos with tall ceilings that showcase pipes, exposed structural and mechanical elements as well as unfinished and exposed brick or concrete walls. Would and greenery compensate for the heavily industrial pallet by introducing warm, especially large plants that are not dwarfed by the tall ceilings. Large industrial style metal light fixtures and metal bar stools and chairs will feel right at home here. Next, let's talk about the rustic style. Also commonly known as modern farmhouse, this is a cozy yet clutter free style with an old country feel to it. It features reclaimed wood metals like route iron and is often paired with traditional yet classic pieces of furniture devoid of any frills, of course. Picnic style tables and benches in set or glass cabinet doors, lantern chandeliers, thes air all signs of a modern farmhouse interior. The palate is primarily neutral, with some earthy tones. Accents lots of reclaimed wood. White painted cabinetry is also really common in the style. Although I'm using rustic and modern farmhouse interchangeably for this course, there is a subtle distinction between the two. Rustic style has a more raw and unrefined look, characterized by elements like rugged stone walls and heavy timber framing as a postmodern farmhouse, this is a more refined style, but for the purpose of this course, I'm choosing to lump them together because they do share quite a lot of similarities. Next up, we have modern French. This is probably one of the most elegant of styles you will see today. Characterized by delicate crows and ornamentation. It, um, it's a bit of a feminine vibe. Best implemented in bright, tallest spaces with delicate French moldings, it is a subdued and minimalist evolution of the more flamboyant Baroque and Ricoh Co styles . The past, a neutral palette consisting of whites, tops and grays, will feel right at home here. Also consider mixing in some pale blues your greens into your palate. For added fitness, this style can also be executed with dark punches of cool colors such as Peacock blues, Thiel's Chuckle, grays and black to create mood and added drama to your space. Delicate French style furniture pieces such as arm wars and chase lounges can add extra character to the style. Don't overdo it, though. Just one or two select pieces is sufficient. Let your moldings and light fixtures do most of the work. Contrast and clean lined modern furniture is a great choice to stick to for this style. Finally, strategically placed crystal chandeliers. Kin do wonders for the style. So can gilded accessories, especially large, ornate mirrors paired with minimalist modern art. And now, last but not least, we have our contemporary style. Contemporary basically means what is current. This is a fluid style, which is ever changing and often can be a melange of ongoing trends. Today it is common to see straight clean lines and geometric shapes accompanied by versatile color palette, consisting primarily of whites and neutrals with bold pops of colors like red as accents. Stark contrasts especially with monochromatic schemes, are typical. You'll see lots of chrome and mirrors in the market today. I personally think people tend to go a little overboard with those resulting in spaces that look like an urban bachelor pad. Not that there's anything wrong with those, but I would advise keeping the shiny nous to a minimum. It has a tendency to make spaces feel a little cold. Natural sustainable materials also play a big part in contemporary design. You will also notice that spaces tend to flow together with the use of open floor plans, which your favored for more Arian bright feel. In these cases, rugs are useful to define zones. Large openings attempt to make a connection to the outdoors and flood the spaces with light , probably one of the most desirable qualities of modern design. So those are all the styles that we're going to be talking about in this lecture. Unlike the images you see, most often than not, people tend to blend styles as opposed to stick truly to a single one. Since all the styles we talked about our minimalist in nature, it is easy to mix them up a little. For example, This project by Jessica Helguson is a fresh take on mid century modern. It minimizes the warm wood tones typically associated with style and instead pairs it with a bright white palette with green accents. It's quite beautiful. The's mid century modern shares with Scandinavian color palette and what could be categorized as industrial lighting fixtures blend well together, thanks to the common white color palette that they share When trying to mix styles, you want to be sure to create harmony and unity among the objects. Try to do this with either the color palette, material shape or any other noticeable unifying element. Here's an image from one of my projects keeping in mind the clients desires. It pairs contemporary furniture with Indian accents. We selected muted tones, gentle curves and a contemporary style for the dining table and chairs toe act as clean and non distracting slate for the accents. Then we added the Indian touch with the art vases and table runner. There are some basic rules you can follow in trying to meld styles, you can implement the 80 20 rule. This involves picking a prominent style, which will make up roughly 80% of the room and then pairing it with an accent style utilizing 20% of the room. Try to distribute the accents evenly throughout space instead of gathering at all in one corner. This will create a flow, and the distinction won't stick out like a sore thumb. This is another room from the same project. It showcases African art and Indian Hand looms with minimal contemporary furniture, all tied together by common color palette consisting of neutrals and the accent color red. 4. Interior Design Principles: In this lecture, we will be learning about the five basic interior design principles commonly applied by designers. These are balance, rhythm, emphasise unity and skill. We will then test your comprehension of these principles and the previously discussed interior design styles in a combined visual quiz. So let's dive in the first principle, we will be talking about his balance. Before we get into balance. One must understand the concept of visual wait. First. Characteristics such as shape, color, size, pattern and texture carry visual weight, which is heavier and objects that are large, dark, heavily patterned or textured and even oddly shaped objects. These visually heavy objects always need to be balanced out by equally heavy objects or a grouping of a few lighter objects in order to create balance, which could be classified as one of these three types. Symmetrical, asymmetrical or radio balance symmetry is the mirroring oven object along the central axis . It has been sought after and appreciated by humans for a very long time, whether it is in a classical Greek temple or in the face of a goddess. Humans have always associate ID symmetry with beauty. We find symmetry in nature as well and thus tend to associate calmness and comfort with it . Symmetry can be a little too formal and static for some spaces, though, so let's take a look at a few examples. In this example, you can see that the fireplace and light fixture are situated along a central axis, flanked on either side by the same couch armchairs and windows at the end of the space. In this example, everything but the items on the top of the fireplace Mandel are symmetrically balanced. Another thing I really love about this image is how the dark and large chandelier balances out the visual weight of the armchairs below. It's an absolutely gorgeous composition, in this example, the architecture itself, as well as the furnishings or symmetrical. I do find that the bottom half of the picture carries more visual weight than the top half , which I think could have been balanced out a little more by a darker and more prominent light fixture that doesn't just disappear against the white bug drop. Here's another example of symmetry in furnishings. The table chairs, lights, bookshelf and the window in the background are all symmetrical except for the arches on the left and the large opening on the right side, in this example, both the architecture and furnishings or symmetrical. Now let's talk about asymmetrical balance. This kind of balance is probably the most commonly used today. Unlike symmetrical balance in asymmetrical balance, we don't repeat the same objects on either side of the axis. Instead, we use different objects that carry the same visual. Wait. This kind of balance is much more dynamic but harder to achieve and require some practice to train your design. I Once you strike the balance, however, your space will just flow together beautifully. So let's analyze some of these examples to get you started. In this image, we can see that everything is arranged off of a central axis, just like in symmetrical balance. But the couch on the left of the image is visually balanced out by two odd shaped armchairs with patterns on the right side. Similarly, in the background, the two hanging chairs are balanced by the same arm shares on the opposite side of the axis . In this image, if you were to crop out the wall on the left and right side of the room, it would be a perfectly symmetrical arrangement. But the reflective cabinet doors on the left beautifully balances out the dark appliances on the right side, making it an asymmetrical composition. If it weren't for the large scale of the art on the left in this picture, this room would look slightly off balance in this particular image. My guess is that the fireplace sits on the central axis and that there is probably an arrangement on the left that balances out the dining room arrangement on the right in the background, just like the large white sofa balances out a pair of darker texture and chairs. This is another beautiful arrangement that I just love. The open shelving on the left nicely balances out the visual weight of the dark and closed wood cabinets on the right side. The final kind of balance we have is radio balance. Radio balance is achieved when objects spread outward or concentrate inward to a central point. Although rarely used, this kind of balance lends itself well to circular arrangements and tends to direct focus to the senator. Here are a few examples in this image. The center of the arrangement is obviously the coffee table. Everything else is radiating out from it. It is equally balanced in both directions. If you consider the fireplace to be the central axis, the sectional is divided in half, with two armchairs on either side. If you consider the central access to be between the windows, the dark and large sectional is balanced out by grouping of four smaller armchairs and a lighter fireplace. You'll notice that even the bull on the coffee table is shifted slightly to the right to lend itself to the balance. This picture is an example of a perfect Radio Lee symmetrical arrangement in which all chairs carry the same visual weight, and the architecture of the room is symmetrical as well. You can see that the center of the arrangement draws your attention and is accentuated by a large statement making chandelier. This is an example of a room that encourages radial symmetry through its architecture. Try to envision a rectangular table in this space. It just wouldn't look right. The pattern on the floor, the shape of the room, the arrangement of the windows and the skylight above all, call for a circular arrangement. Let's move on to our second principle. Rhythm rhythm is the perceived movement of design elements in the space that keeps the I interested and flowing through a path. When properly implemented, it can bring unity, stability and variety to a space. It is typically achieved through one of these three methods. Repetition, alteration or progression. Repetition is the simplest of all three. It is created when an object or design elements such as line, texture, shape, color or any other such element is duplicated several times in an orderly, an intentional manner. For example, in this image, you can see repetition in the wooden floor wall and ceiling, as well as the black corrugated wall in the background. The's all. Keep your eye flowing through the space and draw your attention to the courtyard in the middle, where you can also see rhythm in arrangement of the trees. In this image, you can see repetition in the skylights that also creates a rhythm of light and shadow throughout the space. Similarly, in this next image, along with skylights, there's repetitive rhythm created with the wall sconces, the brackets holding up the shelf as well as in the cabinet and cooking range knobs. Another way to achieve rhythm is through alteration. This involves creating more complex pattern, which is still repeating but with regulated variations. In this example, you can see that the pendant lights are grouped in twos and threes to create rhythm, which is also indicative of the corresponding seating arrangement. Below, this rhythm is a little more complex than your repetitive rhythm, those air grouping of three pendants, followed by a grouping of two than 333 than to again and finally three. So there is a slight variation to the rhythm, which basically means that you're achieving alteration. Here's another example of alteration, which plays around with color to achieve the following rhythm similar to this rhythm in the steps of a staircase, this image achieves more than one rhythm with the pendant lights in the following manner. There's rhythm in the sizes as well as the mounting heights in this manner. And finally, there's alteration in the color as well. Finally, we can also achieve rhythm through progression, which basically means gradual change. This can be done by creating ingredient and color, mass size or any other design element, like in this example, there's progression in the tilt of the skylights above which probably starts with a vertical Claire story window in the foreground and gradually terminates in a flat horizontal skylight in the background similarly with color. In this example, which uses mosaic tiles to create ingredient, our third interior design principle is emphasis. Emphasis is achieved by creating a focal point in the space resulting in visual hierarchy. It was easy to create and quite often done in many home interiors to highlight objects of importance, such as artwork and sculptures or architectural features like a fireplace or a magnificent light fixture. There are many ways of achieving emphasise the most common being terminating along a central axis. Think back to the principle of symmetrical balance, where the same objects flank either side of central axis. Like in this image, which terminates the central axis within large piece of art and five place all eyes are drawn to that point of emphasis. The same is true with radial symmetry, in which the center of the circle with attract focus. Another simple way of achieving emphasis is but interrupting rhythm. Imagine a lang dining table with rhythmic arrangement of dark gray and light gray chairs and one yellow chair. The yellow chair is interrupting an otherwise simple rhythm of color and thus resulting in a focal point. The goal is to create enough contrast surrounding your focal point to make it pop. This could be done in multiple ways by playing with color, shape, size and more. In this example, a large built in bookcase with colorful books is the focal point due to its large scale as well as combination of colors. The light fixture on the ceiling supports this with its directional pointy shape, accent walls or another great way to add emphasis in the space. Change in color and materiality as well as texture, all contribute in this example. The large mirror is undoubtedly the focal point in this image, another great example of how skill can play a role in creating emphasis. In this next example, you can see that a large brass pendant light hovers over the living space, which not only creates emphasis but also balances the space out visually well. It's size, color and shiny finish, which all add visual weight to it. In addition to that, the dark wood ceiling also visually balances out the pattern floor row beautifully. Large windows framing great views are the best kind of focal point you can get, just like in this bedroom rendering. And finally in this room designed by Studio McGee, notice how the art just pops against the dark background. Due to the stark contrast in his, our first principle is unity and harmony. This is accomplished when objects in this space share similar traits, whether it is in color, texture, shape, size or material. This likeness of objects that complement one another or look well with one another creates harmony in the space. For example, in this beautiful living room design, you can see that the designer has created a harmonious space with a consistent color palette that is very muted and neutral. There's no unique color that appears only once. All the colors have been repeated and distributed evenly. The designers palette consists of white, a very light beige color for the flying sofas. Ah, Moody in duck would tone for the dining chairs and tables, some black you can see in the fireplace, dining table and door hardware and, of course, just a dash of green added with the plants that establishes a connection to the outdoors. In this almost contrast ing example by architect Daniel Leave Skin, you can see the prominent use of angles and dark wood to bring unity to the space. This next example uses shape to bring unity to the design notice. The vessel sinks, mirrors, pendant lights, showerhead and faucets, but all circular in shape, even if they very in finish. The backsplash is also in a fish scale pattern, which works very well with the other circular shapes. This is another example which uses unity in color palette to bring harmony to a space. The combination of white and light wood tones in the architecture, as well as the furniture, ties the space together really well. And finally, in this example, unity in woven textures ties the look. Together. You'll notice woven textures and throw pillows on the bed and sectional, as well as in the pendant lights, the art. And when the baskets scattered throughout the room, they all established a theme and bring unity to the design. And finally, we have our fifth and last principle scale in proportion skills, always determined in proportion or, in other words, in relation to another object or element. For example, a scale of a couch is determined in response to the space. It sits in a tall ceiling. Height warrants a couch on taller legs versus a low, more grounded sofa is appropriate for a lower height space. Similarly, a large recliner chair is disproportionate and thus feels out of place in a kid's room. Variation and scale is a powerful and versatile principle to play with and to break in order to make a statement. Let's take a look at some examples in this double height living room. Imagine what the absence of the tall indoor plants would do to it. It would create a feeling of disconnect and discomfort. The tall plans are proportionate to the scale of the room because the furniture can only be so tall, their village, the height difference well and make the space feel more comfortable. Similarly, in this example, the scale of the plant bridges the dramatic difference in height, creating a connection between the architecture, the furnishings and the human scale. And this next example. The oversized light fixture fills up an otherwise empty space really well and creates emphasis at the same time. Because the space is so minimally furnished, with only a grouping of a few couches and oversized light fixtures such as this does not overwhelm the space and makes a statement. In this final example, the designer breaks the rule to create emphasis is smaller. Vase and flower arrangement would be perfectly proportional for the space, but the designer has decided to over skill the arrangement and vase in order to create a playful focal point. If you ever want to achieve this look, make sure you over skill your object dramatically instead of just slightly. The goal is to make it look intentional, as opposed to accidental. 5. Styles & Principles Quiz: Now that you're familiar with the five court injury design principles and the six most popular modern styles today, it's time to put that knowledge into practice with a quick little quiz. So grab a paper and pen and let's get started. I'll show you a series of seven images, and your task is to pause each image and first identify the interior design style or fusion styles showcased in the design and seconds list all the main interior design principles applied to it. For your convenience, I have included blank lines indicating how many styles or principles you should be looking for. In any given image. You'll be able to view answers and the solutions video after the quiz Self, let's do this. 6. Quiz Solutions: if you said modern farmhouse or rustic, you are absolutely right. Rustic is a little more accurate than modern farmhouse due to the rugged stone fireplace and the raw wood beans, but both their correct in terms of principles. The furniture arrangement is a symmetrically balanced along the central axis that's terminating at the fireplace, with a couch and console on the left side and two armchairs inside table on the right side . There's also repetition in the ceiling beans and pendants, creating rhythm and, of course, emphasis on the large fireplace terminating the axis. You also notice harmony in the color palette of the room, showcasing neutrals and dark wood tones. Let's move on to the second image. The right answer for this image is contemporary style. The passage is characterized by sleep materials and clean lines. I live a metal staircase could be characterized as industrial. The entire look is a lot more polished, with concealed mechanical and structural elements, making it a contemporary style passage. You'll notice that the large green plant wall asymmetrically balances out the visual weight of the dark metal staircase. The contrast created with the plant wall undoubtedly makes it the focal point its scale is also very proportionate to the staircase and double height space. The answer to this image is Scandinavian, the colors and materiality, and this image can be classified a Scandinavian. The minimalism and simple forms are also very characteristic of this style. You can see symmetry in the furniture arrangement and doors in the background and harmony in the muted color palette. The scale of the pendant light above gives it a good proportion for the tall space it's in . Let's move on to our next slide. The exposed brick wall, electrical and plumbing pipes and would be in structure makes this an industrial style space, which is a symmetrically balanced by a large gray couch on one side and a large bear window on the other. The central access terminates in a large piece of art as a focal point. Our next slide has the following answers. The ornate ceiling molding and fireplace with gilded mirror gives away the style as modern French. You'll notice asymmetrical bounce in the floor lamp, flower arrangement, side table and leather bench Emphasis is placed on the beautiful, ornate fireplace in a contrast ing black color. This brings us to our six slide. The answers are This is a fusion style, which utilizes an industrial space and lighting fixtures but displays furniture that could be classified as mid century modern. The warm orange and brown tones all work together harmoniously, and the large scale of the black lighting fixtures and indoor trees fill the top half of the tall space well. And finally, we have our last slide with the following answers. The style of the furniture in this image is characteristic of the modern farmhouse style. Although the crystal chandelier can't truly be classified as the modern farmhouse style, it creates contrast and thus results in emphasis. The furniture is arranged to achieve radial balance, while the slight variation in share type results in an alternating rhythm. I'm sure you did wonderfully, and don't fret if you didn't because it does take time to train your design. I It's not surprising that pinpointing and honing into your design principles comes with a little bit of practice. Make it a habit to browse design catalogs or house Pinterest and instagram feeds for interior photos, take a moment to dissect each design and try to understand the principles at play behind each one. Train your eye to observe and try to understand why a certain space makes you feel a certain way. You'll find that your ability to discern good design from bad will improve substantially during your hunt for new, inspiring interiors, you will find that it is not uncommon for designers to break rules, but in order to do so, it is important that you understand them first. These design elements and principles are like tools which designers often combined, twist and bend to come up with unique creations. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. After all, creativity is never bound by shackles, so don't be afraid to experiment and find what speaks to you. 7. Color Palette and Paint Selection: Welcome back, everyone. Now let's talk about color palette and paint selection. I would say this topic. It probably makes it to the top of the frequently asked questions list. When it comes to designing a home, here's all that we're going to be covering about it. You can find a PdF of the color wheel that I will be using today. In the resource is section of this lecture. Should you want to print it out to follow along or for reference later on? Let's start with the basics first. The color wheel comprises of three primary colors these air colors, which cannot be produced by mixing other colors together, such as red, yellow and blue. It also has three secondary colors. These air colors produced by mixing two primary colors together to give you orange, purple and green. And finally, six tertiary colors. Thes results from mixing one primary color and one secondary color together to give you red , orange, yellow, orange, yellow, blue and so forth. Now, as basic as the color wheel may seem, it actually can be utilized to form several color schemes, which we're going to be looking at. Let's talk about complementary this basically means the two colors that are opposite from each other on the color wheel, so red and green, blue and orange and so on. This is a really high contrast color scheme, which is why it should be used sparingly in tiny doses to create emphasis. Feel free to de saturate the cool colors to emphasize the warm ones, but avoid the opposite. De saturated warm colors can end up looking muddy and may not work as well with the scheme . Now let's take a look at split complementary scheme. Instead of the color directly opposite on the color wheel, you will choose to two colors adjacent to it on each side. This color scheme also has strong visual contrast, like the complementary color scheme, but has more room for play due to the extra color. Use the same tips in this scheme with the warm and cool colors. As the previous scheme, a monochromatic scheme is probably the easiest one to execute an ideal if you want a simple and harmonious color scheme. It involves using only one color and creating variations through 10th shades or tones of that same color. Confused. That's okay, let's take a second and define what all these terms even mean. Hugh is synonymous to color when we say blue, green, red we're talking about Hughes or colors. Tint is what you get when you mix white into any color toe. Lighten it up. Shade is what you get when you mix black into a color. Creating darker shades of the same color tone is the same concept, except this time you're mixing gray into a color to create different tones. Now let's get back to the monochromatic scheme. As I mentioned earlier, The monochromatic scheme involves one color and creates variations through tents, shades and tones. The scheme is best implemented when mixed with neutrals, which means either blacks, whites, greys creams or browns. Don't go overboard with singular color. Unless you're making a bold statement. Try to mix it with a decent amount of neutrals and create a range of hues, tints or shades to create a layered effect. The scheme does well with textures, toe add interest to the otherwise simple palette thes days. It is especially common to see harmonious spaces with a monochromatic scheme consisting on Lee of neutrals, personally one of my favorite color schemes of all time. Simple, modern, easy, breezy and beautiful. It's hard to go wrong with it. Next, we have the analogous color scheme. This is also relatively simple to use thes air colors that are adjacent to each other on the color wheel. Unlike the monochromatic scheme, try to minimize variations in the scheme and stick to two or three colors in total, which are within the same color. Family. Avoid bridging cool colors with warm colors. The 60 30 10 rule is a good one to use. With this color scheme, we will be talking about that in just a bit. Let's move on to the next color scheme. Try attic. This involves three colors that are evenly spaced around the color wheel. This is another high contrast color scheme, but with a little more balance and harmony than the complementary or split complementary schemes. The scheme would also work well with the 60 30 10 rule, as too much of all three colors can be hard to balance. This scheme is especially great for bold, playful rooms like a Children's room, but of course can be used in a subdued manner as well. There are also two tragic and square color schemes, which involve four colors. But I personally think these tend to get too complicated and busy for interiors and are hard to harmonize, so we will be skipping over them. Now let's talk about the 60 30 10 rule that I mentioned earlier. This involves choosing a prominent color, which makes up 60% of the palette, then adding a supporting color that shows up half as often as the prominent color and finally pairing it with an accent color that Onley pops up occasionally to make guest appearances. This rule works well with the Triad IQ and split complementary color schemes and requires that all three colors air evenly distributed throughout the space to create an easy visual flow. Now keep in mind that this rule can be used with any color scheme or combination of colors to achieve balance in a space, you can use it with two complementary colors and a neutral or with two neutrals and one saturated color, or with any three colors of your choice. You can also do it with four colors. If you really want it to, you just have to feel out what works for you. It's okay to make tweaks to the rule. It's time to move on to paints. Let's get the most confusing part out of the way first, and that is Sheen's. There are so many of them and everyone's preferences very a little. But here is what I would recommend. Use a flat or matte finish for ceilings unless you're trying to do something special to achieve drama with the ceiling and for walls in low traffic areas as well, such as bedrooms, living room and dining room flat finishes air forgiving and conceal imperfections easily as they don't reflect back any light. They're also more pigmented, and thus are the most economical option for covering large surfaces as well as touch ups as you don't get flashing with Matt Surfaces. Flashing is when you see a distinction and paint color due to build up of layers. Flat used to be hard to clean, but a lot of brands thes days, have washable mats as well. They're also my favorite finish for that smooth and velvety look that they tend to give surfaces. Next, we have eggs show this is option number two for low traffic rooms and is a little easier to clean than Matt or flat finishes. If you want to be extra safe, opt for this, at least for walls instead of the flat or mat. Leave those for the ceiling. Now let's talk about satin ideal for high traffic rooms such as kitchens, bathrooms, Children's rooms and hallways. This finish is much easier to clean and starts giving the surface some noticeable gloss. So be careful because certain construction imperfections might show easier In this finish. You can also use this finish on doors, trims, moldings, cabinets and Wainscott ing again. If you want to be extra safe and for easier cleaning, you may want to choose the semi gloss finish for trims. Cabinets indoors. Finally, we have our high gloss finish. This is a great statement making finish, which cannot drama to any space, provided it is applied to a perfectly constructed surface. It is also a common choice for painting furniture to achieve a lacquer to look when selecting your sheen. Keep in mind that different brands will have different names for them. You might hear low gloss, pearl, soft gloss and other such names. He simply happened to be slight variance of the basic finishers. We just talked about. Simply ask your representative for clarification to help you make the right decisions. Also really important. Always, always. Always buy only low or no vio si paints. Volatile organic compounds contribute to the depletion of our ozone layer and are harmful to your health as occupants of the house. So please be conscious of the decisions you make when purchasing paint. The next commonly asked question is how to a transition paint. Given that most homes today feature an open floor plan, homeowners often wonder how to draw the line between paint number one and start paint number two. I would generally advice keeping the total number of colors in your house to a minimum. Not each room needs to be a different color, but for those who are color hungry and want to incorporate as many colors as you possibly can, here are a few transitioning tips for you. Try your best to terminate color at an inside corner. This will give you a nice and clean edge. Doing so at an outside corner would give you a rugged and uneven transition. Like this image. Use architectural features to help transition paint colors such as archways built in floor to ceiling cabinetry. Ah, floor to ceiling windows, soffits and so on, as I mentioned earlier, try to unify all spaces with a consistent color for the ceiling and trim work. Feature walls are a great way to bring more color into a space without overpowering yet, and also makes transitions easier to achieve. Some great locations for those are the wall behind your bed, your kitchen backsplash if you don't have tile, your fireplace well or the wall behind your couch. Cool colors are usually preferred in bedrooms and living rooms, while warm colors are popular in kitchens. But that's not always the case, so feel free to change it up if you'd like. Make sure you hold up your paint samples in different lighting conditions next to each other if you're going to be using them. Adjacent lee, sometimes an otherwise white looking paint color, can appear green when paired with a pink. Also, northern light and southern light can make a difference to the appearance of the colors. Northern light appears cooler as compared to southern light. Thus you might benefit from a warmer white for northern exposure, so check and triple check, which brings us to our next segment. How to test your paint colors before committing to them. Here are a few options you can choose from For this, depending on how sure you want to be, you can either just pin the paint trips directly to the wall and live with, um for a few days to make absolutely certain that you like the color. This is not the most accurate way to get a feel for the color, however, and also doesn't take into consideration the difference Sheen's will make to the final product. But it is free and quick. Don't forget to move the chips around on different walls to test them out in different lights in different lighting conditions like direct light, diffused light, shadow and artificial light at night. Benjamin Moore has large eight by eight and sheets that you can request from your retailer to better visualize the color in your room. Another, more time and money consuming alternative is to order paint samples typically available in one pint cans. For about $8. It's enough to paint a double coat of a 24 inch by 24 inches square. This will give you a more accurate idea and feel for the color. You can do this on white posterboard or foam board, but I would recommend painting the swatches directly onto the wall because posterboard simply does not saturate as well and also doesn't represent the texture of the wall very accurately. I would advise living with samples for at least a week to be certain that you love your colors. Hopefully, all that information was helpful, and you're excited to take up your next big paint project for the home. I'm going to share with you some of my favorite paint schemes and go to colors from Benjamin Moore to help you get started. Let's take a look. I'm personally a big fan of white. It just makes faces appear bright, fresh and airy and gives them a modern and clean look. You can then easily introduce color with furniture without worrying about color clashes. I prefer to use white throughout the house except in fully enclosed rooms, where it is easy to change the color up if you want. Here are a few of my favorite whites. They range from warm whites to crisp whites. If white is too boring for you, you can opt for a slightly changed option. Now this is where a lot of people go wrong. So listen carefully. A majority of folks want to add just a little bit of color to their space without saturating it too much. But what appears to be the perfect and subtle pale blue color of your dreams turns out to look like a baby's nursery color when actually applied to the walls. This happens a lot. It happens all the time. The trick is to not get seduced by those beautiful light blue colors in your paint deck. Because one applied at a much larger scale, it tends to become overwhelmingly saturated. Stick to the whites and grays section. Take a look at the whites palette from Benjamin Moore instead, if you're interested in a beautiful pale blue browse for white with a blue ish tinge to it . Initially it might appear like it's not blue enough. But trust me, you will thank yourself later. You can do the same with Grey's Pick, a grayish looking blue to avoid too much saturation. A do attests. Watch next to the other blues you're attracted to, and you'll be able to get a better idea. This advice applies to all saturated colors. Here are some of my favorites I love making bold statements and smaller rooms such as powder rooms, laundry room, home office or Children's room. I personally have a love for dark, moody colors. When it comes to enclosed rooms, there's something enigmatic about them. Contrary to popular belief that dark colors make a room of your smaller and light colors make it appear larger. In my opinion, color doesn't affect perception of size. It effects perception of light, which is why people formed the opinion that because the white room bounces light around and appears airy, it there for looks larger. That's not true, because dark rooms can create interesting perceptions, too. For example, dark ceilings tend to appear to recede into infinity due to lack of light bouncing back. I think this is a wonderful effect for some spaces. Black charcoal gray hunter green and navy blue in Matt or eggshell finishers are some of my favorite dark colors to experiment with. In such rooms, toe add extra drama in a dark room, choose to paint your baseboards trims and Wainscott ing the same dark color. If you're going the medium or lighter route. Leave these same color throughout the house, preferably white. That being said, I have seen darker Wainscott ing against letter walls, done fabulously as well. Feel free to find inspiration and experiment with it. And finally, I'm a die hard fan of neutrals. They're just simple, beautiful and very hard to mess up. And here are some of my favorites that exists to the end of our color palette and paint selection lectures. I really hope this information gave you the confidence you need to select the right colors for your home. If there's anything more you would like to learn about this topic, feel free to write to us and let us know. In the meantime, I'm sure you're going to impress everyone when you apply this new game knowledge to interiors. 8. Comprehensive Lighting Guidelines: welcome to the next lecture of the course. In this lecture, we will be covering everything you need to know to get the lighting design of your house perfect. It's going to be broken down into the following topics. When designing the lighting for your home, you should always think about it in three distinct layers for any given space. These layers are the following, the first being ambient lighting. This is the general layer of even illumination that produces minimal shadow, contrast and glare. It is typically achieved by recessed ceiling lights, flush mount ceiling or wall lights and chandeliers. This base layer of lighting should be even and centered in any space and should make up the largest percentage of illumination as well. The second layer you add on top is task lighting. This is the layer that directs attention and gays to identify the focal points in this space where daily activities take place, such as cooking, reading, shaving, tweezing and so on. Task lighting separates the important from the unimportant and establishes ah hierarchy and the lighting design scheme. It should be bright enough to prevent eyestrain when performing a task, but carefully installed to prevent glare and shadows, especially in a bathroom. When applying makeup or grooming, you want your face to be evenly lit, so make sure toe always balance out the task lighting on either side of the face. Commonly used task lights include under cabinet led strips, vanity lights, track lights, desk and floor lamps and offices, pendant lights and wall sconces. Accent lighting is the final and decorative layer of lighting to the scheme. This is what brings in the wild factor toe any space. Accent lighting is charming, entertaining and quite often awakens curiosity and guests. It is also referred to as directional lighting and is often used to highlight areas of interest in spaces such as wall art. Sculptures are architectural features, Ah, sculptural range, hood of built in bookcase and any other such objects of interest. Accent lighting is commonly achieved with led strip lights, track lights, dimmable chandeliers or pendant lights. Some common places you will find accent lighting above kitchen cabinets under countertops and toe kicks. Ah, behind floating soffits and behind bathroom mirrors to provide a floating effect. When properly proportioned, these three layers of lighting can add visual depth and interest to any space in your home . Keep in mind that all these layers should have the ability to be switched on or off individually. For avid control, it is a good idea to install most of your lights on dimmers. If you decide to do so, make sure the fixture and bulbs you select are dimmable and also ensure that you select the appropriate dimmer for your lights. Dimmers R rated for the amount of wattage they condemn as well as the type of bulb they condemn. Make sure your dimmer is compatible with your bulb type and water judge. Now, just so we're all on the same page. Let's take a minute to quickly define what all these confusing terms, such as wattage lumens led CFL's even mean Let's start with wattage. People often misunderstand this to be the measure of brightness in the bulb. That's not true. It actually represents the amount of energy above consumes in order to produce light. The measure of brightness and a bulb is actually represented by the amount of lumens. We will be looking into calculating the number of lumens needed in a room in just a bit. First, let's take a look at some common types of bulbs used in residential designed Today. First, we have incandescent bulbs, which were the most common type of ball abused in residential design until about a decade ago and have almost phased out now, the reason being they're high consumption of energy and heat output. In order to produce enough light, most of the energy in an incandescent bulb is emitted in heat, resulting in extreme inefficiency. Next, we have our compact fluorescent bulbs, commonly known as CFL's. These consume about 1/4 of the energy incandescent bulbs consume and last six times longer , with less than half the amount of heat output. They come at a slightly higher cost, though, which is recovered by lower energy consumption and a longer life span. Lastly, we have our led light, which stands for light emitting diode. This is the most energy efficient solution available to consumers today, and the future of lighting technology for a higher price tag they're worth the investment for life span that is 50 times longer than that of an incandescent bulb. For a fraction of the energy consumption led is do come at a slightly lower Lumen count, though, so you might have to increase the number of bulbs, depending on the rooms requirement. Let's also quickly talk about the super popular Edison bulbs, also known as vintage bulbs or filament bulbs. They emit a beautiful warm glow through their intricately twisted, exposed filaments and are available in a wide variety of shapes, including tubular globe, pair and candle, among others. Like the incandescent bulb, the original carbon or tungsten filament Edison bulb also performs extremely poorly when it comes to energy efficiency, which is why they're being replaced by their led counterparts, available in the same shapes, sizes and colors. Now let's take a look at calculating lumens for space. You can use the worksheet attached in the resource is section of the lecture to follow along or to use for your calculations. At a later time, we will start off by calculating the square footage of a space. For example, if I'm determining lumens for my bedroom, which is 130 inches wide by 150 inches long, all multiply the two dimensions to get the square inches, then divide the number by 1 44 to get square footage of the room, which gives me 135 square feet. Once you have your square footage, multiply it by the number of foot candles. Ideal for the room. Here is the reference table. For that, A bedroom typically requires 10 to 20 foot candles per square feet. Ah, holy needs much less at about 5 to 10 foot candles per square feet. A dining room. Kitchener Office space, where tasks typically occur, needs about 30 to 40 foot candles per square feet for ambient lighting and any area with a sink like the bathroom, kitchen sink and kitchen stove area will need the highest at 70 to 80 foot candles per square feet, which will act as task lighting. So if we go back to our calculation, you will find that to illuminate 135 square foot bedroom, we would ideally need a total of 1 35 times. Let's say 10 foot candles. So 1350 lumens, which means about 4 to 5 300 Lumen bulbs. Pretty simple right. Feel free to use the attached worksheet for reference for the rest of your spaces. And finally, let's take a look at understanding the different color temperatures that bulbs are available in color temperature is actually the measure of how yellow or blue, the hue of light is typically color. Temperatures for light bulbs range from 2200 kelvin for yellow er bulbs to 6500 Calvin for bluer bulbs for reference. A traditional incandescent bulb is about 2400 kelvin and color temperature. Ideal color temperature varies by room and the activities taking place in that room it is ideal for bedrooms, toe have lamps between the 2700 Kelvin to 3000 Calvin Range. This keeps them in the warm white range known to help with the production of melatonin, which AIDS and better sleep cycles and relaxation similar to living and dining rooms where it is best to avoid blue light emitting bulbs. Your home office, kitchen and bathroom, on the other hand, should ideally have bulbs with higher color temperatures ranging from 3500 to 4500 kelvin, which give out white light. Since these air spaces in which we typically perform tasks demanding focus color temperatures closer to daylight are ideal for serotonin production. Serotonin is a chemical produced by the brain, which gives us energy and helps us focus on tasks. Do keep in mind, however, that it is always a good idea to match color temperatures of adjacent connected spaces. For example, an open floor plan, living room, kitchen and dining room, all with recessed fixtures for ambient lighting. In this case, it would be ideal to choose 3000 Kelvin for all recessed fixtures to create a smooth visual flow. In any case, my personal go to color temperature for most residential spaces is 3000 Calvin. But you should test and find what works best for you as everyone's preferences and utilization of rooms varies a little. So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen, all the information you need to tackle lighting design for your home. We will be covering more room specific information like ideal light, noting heights in the second section of our course, a room, my room style guide. For now, let's move on to the next lecture 9. How to Hang your Art Perfectly: This is a tricky topic to tackle because it has so many rules and many exceptions to the rules, depending on the composition of your space. Most of the time it just really comes down Teoh each room, its components and how the art reacts to those components. We will go over the rules in just a second, but I want you to know that these air general guidelines and aren't set in stone. So definitely move your art around until it feels perfectly positioned. These tips will certainly help you get started. The first thing you want to do is try to align middle of your art along the vertical axis. At roughly I level. I like to use 66 inches off the floor. Even though I'm 54 it just works well. In order to do this, you will have to measure 66 inches up from the floor and create a pencil mark. Now measure the distance from the top of the art to the hanging hardware. Say this is two inches. If your art is 20 inches tall, divide that number and 1/2. This will give you 10 injures. Now subtract that two inch distance from 10 inches. You have eight inches left. You will not add another pencil mark eight inches above your previous 66 inch mark and hammer your nail there. This process will ensure that the center of your art is it 66 inches. If you happen to be shorter or taller than average, feel free to change up your eye level accordingly. I've personally found 66 just to work well in most scenarios. There are exceptions to this rule. However. If you're hanging art up behind a console table credenza, couch bed with the headboard or above a fireplace mantle, you will have to take into consideration the height of these pieces. Ah, good rule of thumb is to hang your art 5 to 7 inches above the furniture. So the whole arrangement reads. Is one also considered the orientation and width of the peace in proportion to the wallet is going on or the furniture piece it is going above. If you have a skinny, tall wall, a portrait orientation is an ideal choice. If your wall is wide, then, landscape orientation is better suited when placing art above a furniture piece. It works well if the art is slightly smaller in wigs compared to the furniture, the 2/3 fraction is a good rule of thumb for this. Just don't go less than half. One of the biggest mistake people make is to use art that is too small for the space, in this case, using multiple smaller part pieces to compose a gallery wall. The same rules apply to it, though. If you're hanging a composition of multiple art pieces on a wall, treat the entire composition as one giant piece of art. Don't make the mistake of spacing the pieces too far apart, though this will result in a disconnected, choppy composition that fails to read is one entity tried experiment between an inch and 1/2 to 3 inches. Spacing. It will depend a lot on how larger pieces of art are. Also think about spacing around your piece or pieces of art. Negative space plays a great role in creating emphasis. If you want your art piece or gallery to have impact, leave clear space around the composition to draw attention to it. Ah, common mistake people make is fill up every single inch of wall space with frames. This will make your space and composition look cluttered. Give your composition enough breathing room, and it is okay to leave some walls in the house bear in order to direct attention to those that are not. If you're composing a gallery wall, it might help to think about a common theme for the composition. For example, if you have a collection of black and white photography prints all in the same size, consider doing a uniform composition. Choose the same frame, color, thickness and matting dimensions and hang them in a uniform. Agreed using the same spacing principles we talked about earlier. Notice how these air too far spaced apart and thus don't read as one composition. If you're looking to compose a more a collective gallery, change it up in all aspect. Very the frame colors, thickness, materials content. Use some pieces with matting and some without even throw in a couple of irregular pieces, like round mirrors, clocks or some sculptural pieces. It is always good practice toe. Either lay out your entire composition on the floor first or to tape up paper cutouts of the frame on the wall to visualize what it will look like. You can then easily shift things around a little until you strike that perfect balance. Then proceed with installation. This way you won't end up with 100 holes in the wall. This lecture concludes the first section of the course. I really hope everyone enjoyed it and, most importantly, learned something new from it. The sections meant to answer questions about the most basic and fundamental topics that residential interiors involved in the next section of the course. We will jump into more specific details, so come right back. 10. Entryway: Welcome to the next big chunk of the course in which we will be going over each room in detail and discussing furniture arrangement tips, dues and Don's ideal rug sizes. While the core and other such topics. This section will answer all your styling questions and help you think about the smallest details that go into achieving that ideal transformation and hands your guests first impression with statement making ensemble of warm and comforting elements in your entry way and set the ambience for the rest of your home. Think functional first, then aesthetic. Where will your guests put their shoes? Keys. Umbrella. What kind of rug lighting will you have these air? All the things we will be talking about in this lecture, So let's start with the central furniture pieces for a for your first. It is always nice to have a credenza or some kind of horizontal surface to unload your keys , mail and other items you carry in and out of your house. This conveyed the form of a wall mounted shelf or chest as well, essentially a standing zone, accompanied by a seating zone or great toe. Have a bench, stools or poofs where guests or family members can sit to take off their shoes or wait as they get ready to exit the house. It's a smart choice to get a bench that doubles a storage as well. This will help keep the entry clutter free by maximizing storage, large baskets or another great alternative for storage and entryways. An entryway rug. This is a very welcoming piece toe have just make sure it can handle wear and tear well, as it will be receiving a lot of traffic and, most likely, muddy dirty shoes. Another factor to keep in mind that people often forget is the thickness of the rug and ensuring that it will not obstruct the door from swinging open a rug is especially great if you have an entry that is barely a space of its own and blends into another living space. It will help define a zone, and it's practical to we will talk about some other guidelines on rugs, sizes in the living room section, since this is where I find most people get it wrong. If you have a long, narrow entryway, consider a runner instead. Always leave at least 8 to 10 inches of spacing between edge of rugs and wall lighting is an extremely important element in an entryway. You always want to have a small table lamp that you can leave on when you exit the house, so upon your return you're not shuffling around in the dark. It is also a nice warm touch When you're receiving guests at home, feel free to have other accent lighting as well, such as wall sconces or two above or on either side of an entry mirror. Chandeliers are the best option for ambient lighting in a foyer. If you have a large double heart foyer, creating a lengthened arrangement of staggering pendant lights or choosing one extra long fixture will visually elongate the space further, giving it more grandeur and establishing a focal point for a single story. For her mount the bottom of your fixture at seven feet off the floor, minimum for double height foyers stop at the end of the first story. It's also common to place a large statement making mirrors in the entryway, which are also functional because most people tend to take one last look at themselves on their way out the door or on their way in, especially if you're a guest. Plus, mirrors can help bounce light around and give the illusion of a brighter space. The variety of mirrors available leaves you with unlimited possibilities for design ideas. Commonly, a large wall mirror is mounted over the console table, but it would also be a great idea to have a large floor mirror leaning against the wall to open up the space A little further. If mounted over a table, keep the art hanging. Guidelines we discussed in mind 4 to 6 inches above the surface of the table is ideal. Or, if you have an odd sized mirror, try to position center at 66 inches. Some other entryway essentials include an umbrella stand, a coat rack or coat hooks, a tray for male and keys. In order to avoid your entryway from looking cluttered, try to gather messy items like shoes into large baskets or onto mats or mail in a drawer where it is tucked away out of sight. Just pick pieces that are practical for your home and daily routine. Some common items you can use to style your credenza are a lamp or two art or a mirror to create a focal point. A natural element, like a vase with flowers or to uranium. Cem stacked books for adding height and a trade or decorative box. Don't be afraid. Toe. Add height to the arrangement by stacking items instead of spreading them out through the surface. To avoid a cluttered look, It helps to visually divide your table into thirds and create varying heights. Toe add balance. Also pay attention to what's underneath the table. Try to anchor it with large objects such as baskets, stools and an umbrella stand. Put some thought into that first impression. You essentially setting the tone for the rest of the house and want to make sure your foyer reflects what you and the rest of your house is all about. Brighton. Bold, warm and comfortable traditional, minimalist or modern and find ways to express this through your decor. 11. Living Room: This is probably your main space, and the one people often struggle with their so much going on in a living room, and different families use their spaces differently, so it is extremely important to think about the activities that go on in your living room. Do you use it for formal gatherings, or does your family lounge and it almost every day? Do you have kids or pets? This will help drive material decisions to ensure your furnishings stand up to wear and tear. Let's take a look at some of the furnishings appropriate for a living room. Keep in mind that depending on your family size function and lay out, you don't have to incorporate every single one. It will very per household. Once again, just think about the function of the space and determine the best fit. Let's start with sectional or sofa. Make sure you think about the upholstery of your couch. Practically. If your couch is going to be used heavily by kids and pets, it is advisable to select and easy to clean durable outdoor fabric. If it is going to be used in a formal living room responsibly, you can go for a more delicate choice. The style of your sofa is very important during selection, considered the style of the rest of the furnishings in this space, as well as the color palette. If you're going for clean and modern, look, picking a sofa that sets off the floor on clean, minimal legs will give it a lighter, less bulky feel as a poster traditional sofa that is more grounded. Like I mentioned earlier in the course, you want your furnishings to be the right size for your space. You absolutely need to visualize exactly where it will go and how big it will feel in your space, along with the rest of the furniture. Either do a drawing of your living room with all the furniture in it to scale. Or you can use masking tape to block out actual dimensions on the floor to see how it will all fit, Walk around it and get a feel for the size. Keep in mind that pulling your furniture a few inches off your wall will make your space feel larger, so leave Italy six inches off the wall. Circulation paths need to be at least 30 inches clear, so make sure your sofa isn't blocking any circulation paths to the kitchen or adjacent spaces. Also, consider the height of the sofa. Lower. Sofas are ideal for lower ceiling heights. You may want to make sure your sofas back isn't blocking the window also sounds obvious, but many people forget to ensure that upon delivery, your couch will actually need to fit through all your doors and passageways. This is very important, and above all, don't forget comfort. Only you can determine this. If you're going to invest in a sofa, you want to make sure it is actually pleasant to occupy. This will be your main and largest piece of seating in this space, and it is always a good choice to go neutral here unless you're making a statement with it . Bold floral or striped patterns aren't as diverse, and you will probably grow bored of it after some time. You can easily restyle a neutral couch with layers of cushions in different colors. Textures, prints, shapes and sizes toe. Add interest when styling your couch or sectional with cushions. Always start on the outside with the larger sizes and work your way in towards the centre with decreasing sizes. Here are some tried and tested Christian combinations. If you're going to use patterns, use patterns that are different in scale, like oversized plaid or stripes with intricate floral. For example, thes air easy to mix and don't result in clashes. Thanks to the contrast, they'll go beautifully paired with a solid colored pillow in between. If you're adding an accent color or two with your cushions, pair solid colored Christians with patterned Christians. This will ensure that your patterns don't clash or get lost in a mix of other patterns. Going neutral with your questions is another fantastic combination. Used textures to create variation here. Think white shrinking it pillows, natural brown leather pillows or maybe even burlap pillows when styling your couch. It is also a nice touch to drink a lovely throw over it, either in the on the back or on the side arm. I prefer simple, solid color or neutral throw without much pattern to it. Next, you will need a coffee table because there are so many options out there. This one is a particularly tough piece to decide on. Let's start with the size first. You want the distance between the coffee table and the couch to be 18 inches to allow for enough leg room, leave 30 inches for circulation around the outer edges. In terms of height, it is ideal for the coffee table to be a couple of inches lower than the seat height of your sofa. You want to pay attention to scale and how big the coffee table needs to be in proportion to your space. If you have a large living room, it might not be a great idea to pick a dainty little glass coffee table that will pretty much disappear. In its context. Opt for a bulkier, darker and larger piece. Think back to our lesson on visual balance. You want to strike a visual balance not only in the room but between the couch and the table pairing. If your couch is really Bolden statement, making tone it down with a minimal glass coffee table and vice versa similar to the artwork proportion. The length of your coffee table in proportion to your couch should be 2/3 in general square and round coffee tables go nicely with sectionals and rectangular tables. Function well in narrow spaces. If you can't find a coffee table that is large enough for your space. Consider a pair of coffee tables that complement each other. You can even layer a shorter coffee table under a taller one or join up to four tables to create one cohesive piece. The rest depends on personal preference and lifestyle. If you have kids, consider tables devoid of sharp corners. What material you select will depend on personal preference and your overall color palette and style of decor. Now let's talk about styling a coffee table. When styling a rectangular coffee table, you want to use the same principles as for the console table we talked about in the earlier lecture. Visually, divide the surface into 23 or five, depending on the size, and anchor with bigger pieces. Then stack the rest in varying heights with books, flowers, trays, sculptural objects or anything else that is unique. Defines you and your family and as a conversation piece, try to group the smaller objects in odd numbers and toward clutter, their best displayed in a tray. It's great to have practical items like a catch all basket for remote glasses and coasters to award clutter as well. To create interest, try to bring some contrast in texture, size and shape for a round coffee table. Think triangle. Essentially, you're making three groupings, but instead of arranging them in a straight line, you will place each grouping at the tips of a triangle. The same is true for square coffee tables. Ah, grid arrangement, formed by dividing the square into four equal sections, works well with the shape as well. If you have a two to your coffee table, treat the bottom tier similarly, except try to stay away from smaller objects here and stick toe large objects that will ground the coffee table. Even one large object on the bottom tiers is enough. If you're a true minimalist and prefer a more empty surface for your coffee table, opt for nice flower arrangement or other natural element with one stack of books, top for the unique object or simply a tray with some objects. Instead, side tables on another important piece of the puzzle. They play a supporting role in decor the space, so don't choose a piece that is too loud compared to the rest of the aesthetic. An ideal height would be a couple of inches lower than your sofa's arm height. If you haven't armless so far, it is okay to go a little higher. Also, if it's a laptop table, it can go higher as well. If you plan on using them a stools, they should be between 16 to 20 inches tall. The number of side tables you should get will depend on the rest of the furniture in the room. It is typical toe. Have one on either side of a sofa ever. Only one side of the sofa is fine for smaller rooms. If you have to arm shares, they can share a table in the middle. Try to avoid getting more than two of the same side tables as long as they complement each other and share a common trait. It is okay to mix and match side tables. In fact, I would recommend doing so for added interest and variety in your space. Make sure your side tables don't clash or disappear against your sofa. For example, a black side table against a black couch will barely be visible, so choose a little bit of contrast when it comes to styling your side tables. The principle of layers applies here is well, try to very heights for interest. Some common side table objects are lamps, books, candles and natural elements like flowers or plants. Keep it practical, though. Don't cover up every inch with an object. Side table. Surface is used for holding your drink, phone or other objects you keep in hand. Just one or two groupings should be plenty. The next piece, we will talk about his accent chairs. Unlike the sofa, which we talked about keeping neutral, I would recommend going a somewhat contrast ING route with your accent chairs. Feel for an experiment with patterns here if you like, they're great way to bring in that small dose of color and interest in the room. Make sure it's still coordinates well with the rest of the decor, though also keep in mind the height of the chair. You want it to be relatively close to the height of the sofa, so there isn't a drastic and awkward height difference between the two. If you have a smaller space, you might prefer a couple of ottomans or proofs instead, or opt for only one. Accenture. Let's talk about some guidelines for selecting your media consul and credenza. Now you're probably wondering what the difference between the two is. Let's take a quick look. Although often used interchangeably, a credenza is a 18 to 22 inch deep table with an unspecified winds. It stands on tall legs at typical desk height of 32 32 inches. Pretty much a skinny desk, if you will. A sideboard or buffet, on the other hand, is similar and dimension but sits on low legs with cabinetry coming all the way down to the floor. In some cases, it's in an effort to maximize storage space. It is referred to as a buffet when used in a dining table, setting to store dinnerware serve food, and it's called a sideboard when it is used elsewhere in the house, When a table is used from media storage purposes, it is referred to as a consul. Whether it is an entire wall Cabinet enclosing a TV or simply a low table that the TV sets on, they could both be referred to as a console. So now that we are clear on our terms, let's dive in if you're furnishing. A formal living room meant Onley to receive guests and decide not to include a TV, you can still benefit from considering a credenza. These go extremely well behind sofas or sectionals. It is great for resting a nice table lamp, toe actus task lighting, some books and a sculptural piece or some family photos. If you prefer a personal touch, it can also double as a desk for some light laptop work in the living room. Make sure the length of the credenza is between half to 2/3 the length of the sofa. The height of the credenza will most likely be either a couple of inches lower or the same height as the back of your sofa for a media console. There are many options out there, from entire wall cabinets to minimal low height tables with some storage. I personally prefer the lower tables with as little open shelving as possible. The more open shelving you have, the more clutter it is prone to collecting. But if you're disciplined and can commit to keeping it clean, go for the more open pieces. The most important thing to keep in mind when shopping for a console is obviously your TV. Television sizes are typically classified butts, diagonal dimension, so make sure you know the width and length measurements to ensure that the TV is no whiter than 2/3 of the console with keep the heightened mind to centers of TV's air ideal when mounted at eye level, which is at 42 inches. One seated, the larger your TV, the lower your table will get. If you have a small space, you don't want your TV to be too large, because the ideal viewing distance is between 1.5 to 2 times the diagonal dimension of the TV. So if you have a 60 inch TV, you should ideally be seated 7 to 10 feet away from it. While these dimensions are ideal, it is not always possible to a dear to them for numerous reasons, either aesthetic or other, so feel free to tweak them, make trade offs and determine what works for your condition. Other factors to consider the placement of the rest of your digital devices, such as speakers, and whether or not you will conceal them. If so, consider a console with perforated doors. Make sure you think about the placement of the entertainment center as a whole and avoid placing them in front of windows, which will block, light and make viewing difficult. Avoiding glare from windows is another factor to consider whether you're console doors, have enough room to open or if you need to consider sliders instead. And many other such factors can make a world of a difference and help you narrow down your choices. Style it minimally to avoid destruction with some art books and decorative elements as you would a credenza. But keep the TV in mind. You don't want to block it If you're installing wall art beside it, think of the TV as part of the composition and lay out your art accordingly. The wall behind your console is a common wall to install art on either balance of one or two large pieces with respect to the TV or opt for a gallery wall comprising of several smaller pieces. Another good wall for art in the living room is the wall behind your sofa. Use the guidelines from the art lecture to find the ideal size now forward on drugs. There are so many roads, size is out there, and so I totally get why most people get their rug arrangements wrong, but not to worry Let's get you all the information you need to get it right in a living room. There are a couple of ways to lay out your rub. You can either get a rug large enough to fit all your furniture pieces on it, front and back legs, plus a couple of inches of tolerance all around. Or you can get one large enough to hold on Lee the front legs of your perimeter pieces. What you don't want to do is get a rug that is Onley big enough to contain your coffee table and not your seating. This could cost tripping and discomfort and make your arrangement look disconnected and out of scale. Rugs are a great investment to make an entirely transform and unify the look of your space , provided that they are the right size. Also, consider the material color and pattern of your rug. Avoid pattern on pattern color clashes and use the principles we talked about in our first section of the course to help you make a decision. Window coverings is a super broad chapter, but let's talk about the basics really quick. If you want to visually heighten your space, mount your rod not directly above the window, but all the way close to the ceiling, just about 4 to 6 inches below the ceiling. Similarly, you want your curtains to extend almost all the way to the floor for a luxurious look Max out on the woods as well when your curtains were open. You don't want TEM obstructing the glass and limiting the amount of light you're letting in . Use wider rods to make sure that they only cover the window frames when open and not the glass when closed. You still want them to appear full with folds instead of lay flat against the window. To achieve this, multiply your window with by two or 2.5 to determine the total curtain. With that, you will need ironing your curtains before installing them makes a huge difference. They just flow more elegantly. How sheer or opaque your curtains are will depend on personal preference and how much light and privacy you desire in your um, it will vary by room type, of course. Another great option is double rods. You can hang shears closer to the windows and more opaque drips on the outside, giving you more flexibility and control. I also like the minimal look of woven blinds and Roman shades. They're very non distracting and almost disappear into the window. You compare these with shears as well to give you that added layer of control. The options are limitless. Just remember to keep it simple and avoid all the frills associated with formal traditional drapery for living rooms. I typically prefer light and airy a sheer curtains to maximize brightness. Now, finally, let's talk about lighting whether to have a chandelier, a floor lamp or a couple of table lamps in your living room. Or some combination of all is generally up to you. Living rooms need about 10 to 20 foot candles per square feet, which is pretty low considering that there aren't many focus oriented tasks to be performed in this space. But depending on your lifestyle, you will want to determine how much light you need and in what form you want it. Think back two or three layers of lighting, ambient task and accent. Ambient lighting in the living room is typically in the form of recessed ceiling fixtures. But if you often host formal parties or have a fairly muted decor, in your living room and need that extra pop of attention. Go for a statement making chandelier instead. If you prefer a dimmer, cozier setting for your living room, mostly for lounging than opt for a large floor lamp or a couple of table lamps for task lighting, perhaps a reading lamp beside an arm chair or sofa is all you need in a living room. Accent lighting in this space usually takes the form of adjustable recessed lights pointing toe either wall art, the fireplace or an accent wall wall. Sconces around the perimeter of this space or flanking either side of a fireplace is another great alternative. If selecting a chandelier for your living room like anything else in the room, consider the scale being one of the largest rooms in the house. The living room light fixture can be tricky. To get right, stay on the larger side. When making your selection, you want to light the coffee table and not the seating area. So take a clue from the center of the space to help you determine how large of a fixture you might need. Chandeliers in a living room should ideally be mounted at least seven feet off the floor, which is why they're better suited for taller space is a minimum nine foot ceiling height. 12. Kitchen & Dining Room: we're wanting the kitchen and dining room. Now let's start with furniture for a dining room. First dining tables are available in a range of sizes and shapes. Determine what fits best by measuring your room and allowing at least 42 to 48 inches for circulation all around the table. This dimension accommodates a seated person at the table and still leaves enough room for one toe. Walk around. Circular tables work better for smaller spaces and for intimate settings, which could make conversing easier. Square tables work the same way as round ones, and it recommended in square dining rooms. Rectangular tables work best proceeding larger parties as large roundtables make it difficult to reach the center when determining how maney chairs a table can accommodate. Assigned two feet of width per person more. If you're using armchairs, do keep the location of the dining table legs in mind, as thes can often hinder the placement of chairs. For tighter fits, consider a pedestal base instead, which allows for an extra chair. What material dining table you select is up to personal preference and your palate. They're available in a range including wood, glass, solid stone, concrete and metal. When picking your chairs, try to avoid buying them in a set with the dining table. This is a very traditional approach. Mixing and matching chairs. Finishes and forms will create more interest and variation in the room. Either choose the same shares all around, which contrasts with the dining table or go step further and switch. The end chairs up a swell to create accent pieces, creating a variation and rhythm. Either way, have a little fun with it. This is a great opportunity to bring some playful mess to the design. If you'd like, you can even break the repetition by opting for a bench on one side of the table. Whatever you choose, just make sure it is at the right height for your table. Ah, good dining table is 29 to 30 inches high and a chair is 18 to 19 inches, allowing for enough room to fold your legs underneath the table. The buffet is probably the only other piece of furniture you may need in a dining room. Besides a table and chairs like I mentioned earlier, this is the same as a sideboard, a long and narrow piece of furniture meant for storage of dinnerware or to be used as a surface to serve food off of buffets. Air usually taller than dining tables between 34 to 36 inches. These air available in a myriad of styles and materials. Pick a style that fits your decor. Think about whether you want open shelving in your buffet or closed cabinets if you have a collection of beautiful ceramics and serve where feel free to pick open shelving and put all that to display. If it's more for storing basic necessities and prone to clutter, keep it enclosed. You can style the top surface as the buffet, similar to a credenza, or set up a bar with some fancy liquor bottles and some nice barware on a tray. Ah, large mirror or piece of art mounted a few inches above the buffet can be the perfect complement to your decor. Ah, quick word on rug size is the easiest way to pick the right rug for your table is by adding 24 to 30 inches on each side of the dining table. So if you have a 36 by 36 dining table, your rug should be a 72 inch or 96 inch square. This will ensure that your chairs are accommodated onto the rug. Even when pulled out. Be sure to allow at least 6 to 10 inches of spacing between edge of carpet and wall. Avoid picking a red that is to small and only accommodates the front legs of your chair. This could cause tripping and gives the room and and complete. Look. Now let's talk about lighting up. Dining room can benefit greatly from his nice statement making chandelier to set the mood for your guests. Having the chandelier on a dimmer will allow it to be more versatile. The ideal mounting height for a chandelier in the dining room is 30 to 35 inches above the surface of the table. This creates a cozy, intimate dinner setting. If you'd like, you can opt for an ensemble of multiple pendant lights instead of a large chandelier. For more casual and informal look, don't forget to pay attention to the lumens and color temperatures we went over in our lighting lecture. Now it's time for the kitchen. The kitchen is probably one of the most important rooms in the house, and thus you want to make sure it is pleasurable toe occupy Brighton area kitchens are a pleasure to work in, but that doesn't mean one should shy away from color or dark finishes. Browse the Internet for tons of inspiration on bold kitchen cabinet colors like this beautiful green that I'm absolutely in love with. Many factors go into designing a kitchen, including but not limited to countertops and flooring selection, backsplash, cabinet style, material and color type of sink and faucets, appliances and, most importantly, configuring an efficient work triangle, which involves placement of sink, refrigerator and stove. These are all very broad and technical issues for another course that I would love to hear . If you're interested in in this lecture, we're going to be talking more about the superficial design of your kitchen that does not involve reconstruction or reconfiguration. Let's start with some tips on color schemes specifically for kitchens. You can either have a one tone kitchen or a two tone kitchen. One tones are probably the most popular kind, with Hughes of whites, grays, blacks and browns. Wood cabinets are classified under the scheme as well. If you're more of an adventurous person, opt for a bold accent color like blue or green. You can introduce this color either with the backsplash or with the cabinets. Sometimes even a bold wall color is enough to make a kitchen pop. Just one accent color should be more than enough. Go neutral on the rest of the kitchen. Ah, one tone color scheme a simple, easy and elegant both light or dark countertops can work with this scheme. Just try to avoid introducing an additional color. You can add that color with greenery, which are highly recommend in any kitchen, especially by the window and sink. Decorative canisters and ceramic ware can bring in extra pops of color if you desire is well, however, if you want to add a little more contrast and interest, opt for a two tone color scheme with either upper cabinets in a lighter color and lower cabinets in a darker color or all cabinets in the same light color and the island cabinets in a darker secondary color. Choosing darker lower cabinets will ground your kitchen visually. Why light uppers will give the illusion of a brighter space like colored countertops go well with the scheme. Stay like with the backsplash here. Lower cabinets or enough of a focus point, Unify the look with the same finish hardware and make sure the color you pick for your lower cabinets works well with your kitchen floor as well. If you're going for it to atone. Scheme with a different island, it is okay to switch up countertops here if you wish. Again, make sure your island Cabinet hardware matches the rest of the hardware in the kitchen for unity. In terms of furnishing your kitchen, there isn't much that goes into it. Perhaps a few bar stools or counter stores and a nice runner. If you have a longish kitchen or a couple of small floor mats by the sink and range measure , the height of your counter is to determine the right height stool. If it's countertop height, get a stool that is 24 inches high. If it's bar Hyatt, get one that's 30 inches high. Space them so that each occupant gets at least 24 inches of counter space and with be sure to have at least eight inches at the end of the counter, or whether counter terminates at a wall for a runner. Make sure you give it some breathing room and that it doesn't go cabinet to cabinet. Leave at least 4 to 6 inches around the perimeter. Consider a washable material since it's going in your kitchen. Finally, let's look at lighting your kitchen. Most of the information you need on this is in the lighting lecture, but here are some supplemental tips on decorative lighting like pendant lights. If using pendant lights over your island, mount them similar to your dining room chandelier 30 to 35 inches from the top of your counter to the bottom of the fixture, spacing them the same distance apart from each other. Leave at least 6 to 8 inches from edge of counter toe edge of light. Fixture over your sink is another great location for a pendant light, especially if your sink is centered with a window. Use the same mounting height here. A swell. Another great option for lighting above the sink. Our downward wall sconces, which are also perfect above open shelving in kitchens as well. In order to lighten up your kitchen visually and give it that airy feel, opt for open shelving instead of upper cabinets, store all the clutter in your lower cabinets and display the nicer items that kick stands, plates and canisters on your open shelves. 13. Bedroom & Bathroom: Unfortunately, many bathrooms end up in the middle of your house with no natural light. But if you're lucky to have a window, it makes it a lot more pleasant. Fret not, if you don't. Here are some tips on how to perfect the lighting in your bathroom, starting with the vanity. When getting ready in front of the mirror, you want even lighting on your face, which means you need symmetry in your lights placing to a wall. Sconces on either side of the mirror will give you this, but if you don't have the room to do that, place one sconce above or on your mirror. Instead, be careful with pendant lights or ceiling lights mounted directly above your head at the vanity. This can cause shadows to appear on your face. Either move them back a little, so they're lighting you from the back. Their balance it out with another light source, pointing directly at you like a wall sconce on or above the mirror, or even led strip lighting from behind the mirror. This will also give the mirror a nice floating effect. Don't forget to add task whites in the shower area as well for a typical bathtub or three by three shower pan. One light is probably enough for a shower area. Any larger you will need to lights. Make sure the lights that go in your shower or bathing area are wet. Location listed. If you want something more luxurious to go with a freestanding top, for example, consider a large pendant light over your tub. This will create a beautiful focal point in your bathroom. Ambient lighting is Justus important. Larger bathrooms will typically have recessed fixtures, while small ones will have one central ceiling mounted fixture. Just use your Lumen Kalac's to make sure you have enough overall brightness in your bathroom. And finally try to stay with frosted or paint bulbs instead of clear bulbs for a softer glow that minimizes harsh shadows. Powder rooms, on the other hand, are ideal spaces for making bold statements with color lighting and finishes. This tiny room, believe it or not, is a great opportunity to really make an impression on your guests. Because of its small size and limited time of occupancy, it is a fun room to experiment with and really bring out the creativity in you. Don't be afraid to try funky wallpaper, dark, moody colors or bright poppy ones, and create mood with your lighting powder. Rooms, in my opinion, are better. When dimly lit, it creates mood and drama. Opt for either a couple of wall sconces and an optional dim overhead or simply one large statement. Chandelier pendants over the vanity also work well in powder rooms, especially if they're mounted in front of the mirror. They create a beautiful layering effect. Make sure they're mounted high enough to allow for standing clearance, though if you're more of a neutral fan, that is absolutely okay to it's always a safe and elegant approach to design. Let's talk a little bit about bathroom art. People often undermine the effect that art has on the space. A nice piece behind a freestanding tub or a contemplate of peace behind or opposite the toilet is a great attention grabber. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate something as simple as a world map in a bathroom. I have learned location of many countries this way. It's a small detail, but probably one of my favorite to think about visually compelling art that warrants some study and holds attention makes for a perfect fit in a bathroom. An example other than the map would be something like vintage posters or interesting, detailed illustrations. The rest of the styling and bathrooms is pretty basic and functional. Tiles, baskets, soaps and lotions and some greenery is always a great option. Now let's jump into the last space bedrooms. This is a very personal space and should be designed accordingly. Now let's jump into the last space. Now let's jump into the last space bedrooms. This is a very personal space and should be designed accordingly. It's the best opportunity toe. Add those personal touches that speak to you and are a reflection of you. Whether that's in the form of art, furniture, color palette or linens. Pick a style that appeals to you. It doesn't have to be the same style you used in your common spaces. It is okay to change things up in your room. We're just going to discuss some basic guidelines and tips that will apply toe all styles. For example, excises an ideal queen size bed rugs should be eight by 10 inches for king size bed, preferably nine by 12 inches. If you prefer smaller rugs go for two on either side of the bed or a really large one that can contain everything, including the bedside tables. Ideal height for bedside tables, you're either the same height as your mattress or a couple of inches. Plus or minus is fine, too. Don't get bedside tables that are more than 24 inches deep, though you might bump into them when getting out of bed. Consider your lifestyle and determine where and determine whether you need one with sturgeon or if you're disciplined enough to keep one without storage clutter free. Since it's your bedroom, feel free to show some personality with your choice of night stand. They don't have to match the bed or each other. For that matter. One unifying element would be enough to link them visually. If you're going to be placing table lamps on it, think about the size and make sure it is large enough to accommodate the table lamp and still leave room for other items. If you would rather maximized tabletop space, consider pendant lights or wall sconces on either side of your bed Instead, these work well for reading to and is another opportunity to add a character to your room. There are deal when mounted 30 to 34 inches off the top of your bedside table. Some people prefer a large chandelier as their overhead fixture. In this case, it might be better to select something more low key for the bedside tables. Think about what appeals to you when selecting the perfect lighting combination for your bedroom. Some ideas for additional furniture in your bedroom include a dressing table paired with the stool or chair and a mirror or a console table. If you have a TV in your room or even just a sideboard for some additional storage, a bench at the foot of your bed, an armed sure repaired with face, side table and reading lamp or a chest of drawers for additional storage. Some might even have a work desk with chair and table lamb. The pieces of furniture you select for your bedroom will heavily depend on the activities you perform in it, so it will very greatly. But regardless of what you picked, keep in mind the common circulation dimensions I previously mentioned and make sure your furniture is skilled appropriately for your room and that it leaves at least 30 inches clear on circulation paths. When choosing your bed, keep the size of the room in mind and budget space for decent size bedside tables, plus a few inches of breathing room on either side of the arrangement. Also, think about orientation. You don't want to block any light coming in from windows with a bed and a headboard. If you have a special architectural feature in your room, such as a fireplace, a grand window with a view or anything else, you ideally want your bed to face that feature. Don't forget to leave ample circulation around the perimeter of your bed 24 inches minimum . And if you have a closet door adjacent to your bed, make sure it has enough room to open. If they're sliding doors, consider leaving at least 36 inches in front of the doors. When it comes to styling your bedroom, the wall behind your bed is literally the most ideal spot for some amazing eye catching art . If you want to display an array of different pieces, go for an eclectic gallery while instead, if you only have one piece in mind, pick something large and in proportion with your bed like we discussed in our hanging art lecture. Something we haven't talked about is how to style your bed. Selecting the right bedding can make a world of difference to your decor and your sleep. This is one place I would definitely recommend investing in for good quality. Once you have picked out your perfect soft sheets, it's time for pillows. How many pillows is entirely up to personal preference? Some people love a bed full of fluffy pillows, while others prefer minimalism and practicality. Whatever approach you decide to take one or two accent pillows or five or six, you can use the same tips we run over in the living room. Lecture for styling your sofa. You want to create contrast in interest with varying colors, shapes, sizes and textures. Try to pick up on existing colors in your bedroom, either from the art rug or other furnishings. Adding a throw to the foot of the bed will add an extra cozy touch if you're going to for more formal and traditional arrangement, thinks symmetry. If you're thinking eclectic and casual, think the opposite and shift pieces around the rest of the furniture in your bedroom. can be styled using the same guidelines we've covered in previous lectures. Happy styling everyone, and that brings us to the end of our room by room styling segment. This detail packed section will help you add that final layer of refinement to your space that will really pull it together. I hope that all your design questions and curiosities have been satisfied in the content provided, if not simply write to us and ask, We would be more than happy to offer our two cents of advice. The upcoming final section of the course is going to be absolutely essential in establishing a method to the madness. It will outline a simple seven step process on how to execute your project. Finally, we will work through a bedroom redesign project together so you can see how to implement the process as well as the design knowledge from the previous two sections. So keep watching 14. How to Execute the Transformation in 7 Steps: Okay, so now you have all the knowledge you need to design your transformation. But where do you actually start? This is always the hardest part. Well, don't worry. We will talk through the steps one at a time, and by the end of the course, you will be as ready as ever. We'll go over the seven step process to implement the information we just covered for your big project, after which we will tackle a little example Project and retrace the same steps together so you can see and practice the process. Designers usually go through Step number one. Establish your budget on Lee. You can do this. No one can help you here. You need to think about the scope of your project and determine how much you're willing to spend on it. Is that a full of innovation? Are you going to need to involve a contractor? Is it just a repainting job? Maybe it's just a quick Band Aid job for the common living spaces. This will probably involve making a few phone calls for quotes and some quick Internet surfing. To familiarize yourself with the price tags, you need to make these initial decisions and make sure they reflect in your budget because as little as possible is not a budget you need to actually write down a number or a reasonable range that you're comfortable with. Diving into a project without a budget often results in overspending, which is why you need to give yourself a clear constraint toe work within. Don't forget to factor and contingencies for delivery charges, taxes and unexpected surprises. Even though you might not know exactly what Couch or which lamb you want at the stage, simply assign allowances to each item or category. This is where step number two and three come into play. Step two is determined. The keepers What are you keeping and what are your tossing? Your reason for keeping something could be sentimental value or because you simply love this piece or budgetary restrictions. Whatever your reason is, you need to make a clear and concise list of what you're keeping and one of what you want to purchase, which is step number three. Compile your purchase list. You may need to do some back and forth between the 1st 3 steps to make sure your budget is covering everything you need to purchase or determine if you need to eliminate any item from the purchase list in order to comply with the budget, which may in turn mean that you're adding an item to the keepers list. When you're working with a constrained budget, which a majority of people usually are, it is very important to prioritize your purchases, invest in the large impactful pieces first and collect the rest of the smaller accessories over time. It is absolutely okay to achieve your transformation and phases. Step number four. This is where the fun starts. Start thinking about your desired style and color scheme. Browse and browse for inspiration. Get the creative juices flowing. Don't forget to think about the pieces you're keeping, though, and how they can be incorporated into your new design. Once you have your concepts and ideas brewing, it is time to move on to the fifth step. Visualizing it. Creating mood boards is a great way to start realizing your vision in this step. It is also important to measure the space you're working with as this would be required if you're planning on building a digital model of it or simply to sketch out some layout plans . There is a wealth of programs out there that you can use to envision your transformation. Here's a few you can look into. If you are already a designer or photographer and are familiar with Photoshopped, it has a great number of tools to help you visualize your room. I find it best to start with a photo of the space that you're working with and editing over it to reflect the new paint colors, furnishings and other changes do keep in mind that you need to purchase a licence to use Photoshopped, though another program. You can use this sketch up. The basic version of this is free and equipped with enough to carry out this task. It might take some getting used to and maybe a few tutorial videos before you can get comfortable with it. Floor Planner is another free online tool that is similar to sketch up and might require a couple of tutorial videos as well. But it is known to be quite user friendly and boasts an array of tools to help with any size project. One tool I particularly like is the Houses sketch tool. It's a great way to make quick sketches of your idea or create a mood board. You can start with one of their blank templates or upload a picture of your own room and simply start plopping furniture into it. Keep in mind that these are real products that you can purchase from their website in case he happened to find the right fit. But for the purpose of visualizing, you can simply input whatever it is that you're looking for into the search box like, um, light blue armchair and pick one that is close enough to your vision. And if you're not sure what you want, you have the option of browsing by category. Once you're satisfied with the look and feel of your design, it is time for Step number six actually picking out the finishes and furnishings. This is probably the most time consuming that exciting step of all. Making the final selections is a really involved process. You will have to be confident in your design decisions and make your choices wisely. Start by defining your parameter. This will help you narrow down your choices tremendously. For example, if it is time to pick your living room couch, start by identifying your constraints. Firstly, Budget say you allowed it an allowance of $1500 for the couch. That is your first constrained. Now say your design color scheme demands a dark colored couch, and you have decided on a navy blue that is your second constraint. Your third constraint is your size. Would you determined after measure in your room and laying out all your pieces? Now, when you go browsing a catalog store a website, you can quickly start eliminating choices until you're left with your pool of complying options to choose from this vital step will keep you from getting overwhelmed by choices. I have attached a resource to this lecture that you can download. It is an Excel sheet full of my go to vendors for all kinds of furnishings. For literally any budget. Each vendor is categorized by price range and comments noting if they specialize in anything like lighting, art, rugs, kids, furniture or anything else. It is a super helpful tools you use when you're browsing for your pieces. If you decided you to shop for a lighting fixture and are ready to splurge on it, simply sort through the lighting vendors by price tag and browse the 2 to $3 sign price range. Similarly, if you were in search of an item you want to spend less on, browse the $1 range vendors. So I hope this is helpful for you, especially when you run out of ideas on where to shop. One last piece of advice on making your selections is research and read reviews. Don't ever buy a product that has less than three stars because no matter how beautiful it looks, you will most likely regret your decision. Try to do your research before committing to your purchase, especially for the expensive items. And finally, that brings us to our last step of the transformation. Step seven. Order and Install. There isn't much to the flash step except for pure joy when you see your vision slowly coming to life. Just be attentive when you receive your deliveries to inspect your items thoroughly, because depending on where you order from, returns are very difficult, especially with the larger items, and you might end up getting stuck with damaged goods or with the wrong color or wrong size , which means check, double check and triple check all the product specifications before finalizing your order because he went to make sure it is the right material size, height, color and just everything you're hoping it to be. A good way to check size is by using painter's tape in the actual space your item is going in roughly. Mask out the dimensions of the peace. Walk around it, make sure it is not too large or too small for your space. You don't want surprises upon delivery. And finally, once everything is in place, take a picture and tag us. I absolutely cannot wait to see what wonderful creative things you do with your space. But before I let you go, let's do one last fun thing together. We're going to design a room from scratch as a refresher on how to put to use all the lessons you have required in this course. So let's transform this bedroom together 15. Bedroom Redesign Project: Welcome to the last lecture of the course. This is going to be a really fun segment in which I'm going to retrace all the steps from the previous lecture and actually apply them in a bedroom redesign project so that you guys can get firsthand insight into my process. I drafted up a quick budget to get a started, a figure of 2500 for furnishings and 500 for other improvements such as painting and electrical work as well a Cem cushion for delivery and unexpected expenses. In general, I'm assigning larger allowances to this statement pieces and distributing the rest among accessories in a 75% to 25% pressure. I have determined that the armchair bench and side tables are going to be my statement pieces and as they will potentially make the most impact since their large, I'm willing to splurge on them. For now, I roughly distributed my 2500 budget to the furnishings I compiled in my wish list for the bedroom, like an armchair, a bench at the foot of the bed, Submersible accent lighting and a large floor mirror and some nice site tables. After a little bit of back and forth between my budget and list of desirable Zai determined that I will be keeping a couple of things. The first is the bed, which is just a simple black eye Kia King size bed along with the mattress. And the second is my favorite piece of art, which is a beautiful, fine art photography print of Lake Louise from the Shut early shop. I love the colors in this print, and I'm really excited about incorporating them into the design later on. So without much delay, I jump into the design phase and start gathering inspiration. As I mentioned earlier in this course, I have a love for dark, moody rooms, and these images really struck a chord with me. If you recall back to our first lecture in which we talked about styles, I mentioned that a modern French style can be done very elegantly with a dark palette as well. So this route seemed to be an ideal fit for me. Thinking about the activities I would carry out in my room, I determined that I would like a well it spot for reading, Ah, full length mirror for dressing and a long bench or surface other than my bed, in which I can get comfortable with my laptop and some coffee. Now back to the color palette. I didn't want to draw any attention to the I Key Abed and wanted it toe have a disappearing effect. So, out of my dark wall color options, I eliminated the blues and greens and narrative down to either a charcoal gray or black. I decided to leave the window frame white so it would read as one element and be that pop of brightness in the room for my accent colors. I took inspiration from the shut early photo print. It has a range of these really beautiful light blues and deep greens that I thought would work beautifully as accent colors against a dark backdrop. I determined that adding some Wainscott ing would bring more visual interest and richness to the design and give it that linkage toe ornate French molding. But on a much, much lower budget at 13 bucks per four feet of Wainscott ing, installing it by yourself would cost you about $140 for materials. A D. I y paint job for this room would run about $200 materials leaving the rest for any electrical work and shipping, which was mostly free fall the furnishings except one, which came out to about $49. So all of this would fit within the $500 budget that I assigned for improvements. So after countless hours of browsing online shops, I came up with the following furnishing selections. First, I picked this really beautiful floor mirror for $150 with a gold frame that matched the art frame. I positioned it across the window toe, add some counter visual weight and to help bouncing light around the room. Next, I wanted a piece, which was characteristic of French style interiors, but without breaking the bank, of course. So I came up with this beautiful light blue piece for 3 $50. And while it's no authentic Louise style chair, you can tell that it is inspired by the feminine curves, high back and tufted pattern that is so characteristic of French style furniture. Plus, it came in a gorgeous blue color that paired really well with the existing art that I was working with, so I needed one more accent color and chose this rich forest green hue, which correlated well with the art and came in a luxe velvet like material. I also really like to the movable bolsters that can be slid along the length of the bench or detached to rest along the back. Now, in order to strike the 60 30 10 proportion, one of the two accent colors needed to be more prominent than the other. So I chose to distribute some greenery through plants in the room to create a nice visual flow, which makes ones I kind of bounce around the room with ease. Everything else, I added, would now be neutral. The next big pieces of furniture were to be the bedside tables I noticed to the legs of the green bench, where this rich dark chocolate color and I wanted to bring out the warmth and the floor a little bit too. So I picked out these patina bronze drum bedside tables for 2 49 each, and finally I picked out a nine by 12 gray shag rug for 2 49 That was just simple, non attention grabbing and functional to pull the room together. Then came the lighting as we talked about earlier in our relighting chapter, I tackled it in three separate layers before I started shopping for fixtures. I calculated, though quite lumens, in a 10 feet by 12 feet bedroom to be about 1800 lumens, so I could study the specifications of the fixtures and make sure that they were bright enough. The first layer that I tackled was ambient lighting. I did this with a large ceiling, mount led light fixture, which was also dimmable and specified at 1300 lumens. I didn't want to spend too much on it, but wanted its scale to be appropriate for the room. So I picked out this 20 inch diameter, drum like fixture for $180. Next was my task lighting layer. I needed some extra light by each bedside table as well Aziz the chair for reading. So, after some consideration, budget evaluation, trial and error, I made the decision to splurge on the bedside pendants to make them the statement, making pieces that create emphasis and a focal point in the room, which obviously meant I was compensating for the splurge by getting a cheap reading lamp, which was okay because I absolutely loved the bedside pendants that I picked out that would also act as accent lighting in this design. In the first lecture of this course, I talked about crystal chandeliers being a characteristic of the modern French style. So I browsed around for small sized crystal chandelier pendants that would be appropriate as bedside lamps and found these for 2 99 each. I loved the idea of a crystal chandelier because the brightness of the glass and the contrast that it creates with a dark backdrop really makes a statement. The position independents were perfect to in relation to the window for creating these really interesting shifting reflections on the wall, which added glamour to the design even at night, when they would create a delicate pattern on the adjacent wall. Finally, for lighting, I picked out this old pharmacy style antique looking floor lamp for $40 a breast, finished to match the floor mirror and the art frame, and that is how I completed the design of this room. Now let's study some of the design principles applied here. Um, feel free to pause here and take a guess. If you'd like to the first principle applied is asymmetrical balance. You'll notice that almost everything in the room is symmetrical except for the outer bid of the room, which comprises a visually heavy large objects, the plant and the mirror, which are balanced out nicely by a grouping of a light colored share, a small lamp and a medium sized plant on the opposite side. You will notice emphasis and focal point with the pendant lights, which was so distinct in character that they draw her eye to them as well as to the objects that terminate the central axis. The artwork, the choice of a black indistinct ceiling light along the central axis, was intentional in order not to distract the visual focus from dependence and art, you'll also notice the scale of the art, which is appropriate and proportion to the bed at a fraction of about 2/3 which we discuss to be ideal in our previous lectures. The principle of repetitive rhythm is also present with the wainscoting around the room, and finally, you will also see unity and harmony at play in some of the colors and materials in the design, like the brass accents throughout and the mix of curvy shapes with orthogonal shapes distributed evenly throughout the room. 16. Conclusion: we? Well, that's all I have for you guys. In this course. I really hope every single person was able to learn something new from it. I also hope you're excited to take on the challenge of designing either one room oil your entire home on your own, using the principles and design guidelines from this course. I would love to hear from you guys regarding any questions or constructive feedback for the course and definitely about any topics you would like to see me address in the future. Courses. Don't forget to tag us in your transformations on Instagram or Facebook so we can see all the beautiful results that you've achieved. If you want to keep receiving new tips and lessons about interiors, you can do so by subscribing to a newsletter on our website that we periodically publish design articles on and finally, designing a home and developing an eye for design can take a little bit of practice in time , so keep working at it. And if you find yourself overwhelmed and feel you could use a professional helping hand, we would love to assist you no matter where in the world you're located. We can do this through our design service that you can easily learn more about on our website by contacting us. I want to thank you guys again and congratulate you on getting through this course. I absolutely cannot wait to see the wonderful results that you achieve.