Let the room reveal its charm!

You just moved in to your new home, and you’re absolutely thrilled at the prospect ofdesigning from scratch. This time, you’re going to do interior decoration that’s perfectly suited to you.

Looking at the empty rooms, though, you wonder where to start. The possibilities seem endless. You leaf through stacks of home décor magazines, and view your friends’ homes with a new perspective, identifying brilliant solutions and mentally filing them. You’re going to take your time with this, and do it right.

As you begin the job, you realize you can start from the rock bottom basics of light, color, and shape. Take the living room, for instance. It’s rectangular, with windows on two sides. The first thing you want to do is celebrate those windows,and let their light flow as freely as possible throughout the room.

On the other hand, you’d like some privacy in the evenings, so some kind of drapery is required.Armed with the twin criteria of maximum light matched with the capability draw the blinds, you find roll-up bamboo shades that do both tricks nicely.

This one solution then suggests several more. Wondering what color to paint the walls, you take your cue from the color of the shades, combined with the tones of daylight as it spills on the floor. Working both up and down the color spectrum from this base, you begin to get a good idea of the room’s color scheme.

You use color swatches for paints and fabrics, obtained free or on loan from paint and furniture stores, playing endlessly with the combinations. But you realize that you needn’t pour over them much longer,because you know what you like, and the right colors just seem to jump out at you. Often, your knee-jerk responses are the most reliable.

To boost the room’s lightness, you paint the walls a lighter color than the shades. You choose a rug that’s just slightly darker. And then, still captivated by the dominance of light, you decide that your furniture will be in neutral tones and simple patterns, with accents of very strong, bright colors.

But what kind of furniture? The choices of shapes in couches, tables, and armchairs are infinite. Again, you take your cue from the room itself. You’d like to break up the boxy feeling of the rectangular space, so you select a more rounded shape for the sofa, and set it in the middle of the room, rather than along the wall.

Continuing the open and airy feeling first established by your choice of window shades, you select additional pieces of furniture that give a very light, though comfortable impression. The larger pieces repeat the roundedness and neutral color of the couch, while end tables and lamps may be more fanciful and brightly colored.

So the important thing, when creating a new interior design, is to start with the space itself, and work from there. Don’t make the mistake of going shopping before you determine what the room calls for. Use the simple considerations of light, color, and shape, and the image of your perfect room will come together magically!