Good Design Practices For Your Home Interiors

“Design is not what it looks like. Design is how it works.” Steve Jobs’ words apply as much to electronic devices as they do to homes!

All designers and architects work towards increasing the aesthetic appeal and usability of your home. However, no one knows your needs or lifestyle better than you. It’s important to consider these time-tested design practices before you set up your home.

Here are the best design practices that you should keep in mind when decorating your home.

The layout of your home should be based on your lifestyle. Begin your design project by assessing the space, what can be optimized, and what it lacks. Consider what you need in your routine every day, and how a day in your life flows. The goal of space planning is to increase your day-to-day efficiency and not to hamper it. You may not always need more storage, more seating, and so on. Sometimes you may just need less of it. Use smarter solutions which an expert designer can help you with.

It’s a good practice to create focal points in each room. So you’ll not design a boring room with no interesting elements again. As soon as someone enters your room, their eyes should be drawn to several focal points. Artworks on the wall, a beautifully arranged bookshelf or a stylish seating corner, are some good additions to space.

Quality and durability are key, even when you want to stick to a budget. You can choose materials like wood veneer for your kitchen cabinets if you want budget-friendly cooking space. Pick natural materials like wool, silk, linen, and metals to decorate your space. At HomeLane, we take special care of our homeowners’ budgets while suggesting interior designs, core materials and finishes.

It is essential that you plan the layout of your kitchen for easy workflow and maximum utilisation of your space. Remember the kitchen work triangle is the most important. The three most-used spaces — the hob, the sink and the fridge — should be in a triangle. All sides of the triangle should be more than 1.2m long and less than 2.7m long. The sum of all sides of the triangle together should equal between 4m and 7.9m.

There’s another way to create work zones in the kitchen. For example, if you love baking, create a baking zone. This way all your baking appliances, utensils, etc. will be stored in an organised manner. This will give you maximum efficiency when you bake a cake next.

Pro tip: Don’t let a tall unit or appliance come in the way of two focal points.

Get rid of the tangled mess of wires behind the TV. The entertainment unit in your living room is bound to have many things plugged in. TV, DVD player, speakers, set-top box, gaming consoles and more. That’s a lot of wiring! Get wall panelling done for your entertainment unit so that the tangled mess of wires is out of sight. This way, the entertainment zone is easy to clean and adds character to the room.

Decide between hinged versus sliding wardrobes if you have a small space. With urban homes becoming smaller, it becomes challenging to make every inch count. Make sure your room dimensions can handle the shutter width of your wardrobes. Often, people wind up with wide doors on the wardrobes in small rooms. This restricts movement and occupies a lot of space. If you want to stick to a hinged wardrobe, add more doors to decrease the width of each shutter. We recommend sliding doors for smaller rooms if you’re willing to spend a tad more. It will prove to be cost-effective over longer periods of time.

Declutter the seating arrangement in your living spaces. This can go a long way is ensuring you have a more spacious room with an open and fresh vibe. If you add too many elements or pieces of furniture you will keep bumping into them. The room ends up looking cluttered as well. Stick to the less-is-more approach and you’re good to go.

Using varied textures and patterns can add a light playfulness to space. At the same time, it adds layers and depth to your space. The contrast between textures like metal and jute, silk and wicker can enhance their innate features. Mix plenty of textures in every room, and play with big and small patterns in a limited colour palette.

This is the most important of all – stay true to your story and let your home do the talking. There’s no point trying to emulate someone else’s house if it doesn’t speak of who you are or doesn’t suit your lifestyle. Let your décor showcase your personal memories, travels, and other moments in your life.

Pick your décor accents over the years instead of going shopping for it one go. Layer in antique elements passed down to you from your parents or grandparents. Keep editing your accessories as you ensure to recycle some of the old ones, give a few away, or sell some. Hold on to the ones that hold the most meaning for you and your family.

Keep these design tips in mind, and you’re sure to create a harmonious space. Need help? Get in touch with our designers at HomeLane. They are sure to help you design the home of your dreams.