A home is a haven. A special place where life happens. Where we find our energy to keep going, and where memories of a lifetime are made. There is no better place than home. Therefore, we always work hard to make our homes look better. However, creating a warm and lovely home can be expensive. It is more expensive when you are using the services of an interior designer. In the U.S, the average hourly rate of an interior designer ranges between $50 and $200 per hour. Obviously, this is a bit expensive for most people. In recent years, the concept of DIY (Do it Yourself) in interior design has been getting more popular. In this article, we will look at the tips on how you can use the DIY method to design your home.
Start By Reading
A good starting point for using the DIY technique in interior design is through reading. By reading, you will get an idea of how professionals do it. For example, you will learn about color combination and fabric selection. Fortunately, there are so many interior design materials that are available online that you can use. There are also hundreds of DIY interior design books in places like Amazon and Barnes & Noble. In addition, you should read local and international interior design magazines that are available to you. Further, if you have a friend who has a background in interior design, you can use their services.
Start Visualizing
If you are moving to a new home, the best place to start is to visualize how your home will look like. To do this, you need to look at how the house is built and then imagine how you want it arranged. As you do this, think about all the things that you love. Think about your favorite colors, the best fabrics, and every design feature that you need. If you can, it is recommended that you use a piece of paper of a note-taking app to place everything in order. Alternatively, you can use the various interior design virtual reality apps like Houzz to imagine how the house will look like.
Time to Go Shopping
After imagining how you want your house to look like, it’s now time to go shopping. There are so many quality home furniture stores that you can chose from. Many other online companies like Houzz, Homes Direct 365, Wayfair, furniture Limassol, Williams-Sonoma, and Amazon have a huge catalogue of the favorite designs that you might want. These companies provide a wide catalogue of products that you can chose from and they can deliver them to your home. If you are as old-school as I am, you can visit local furniture and décor stores in your area.
Take Time
Shopping is one of the most difficult tasks in DIY interior design. This is because of the huge costs of the home furnishing products like sofa, desks, carpets, curtains, and wallpapers. Therefore, you need to do a few things to minimize this cost. Some of these things are:
First, as mentioned above, you need to take time and do your research before you buy anything. For example, if you are buying online, you can search multiple platforms for the same product. In the past, it has been easy to find a similar product in Wayfair that is priced differently from another one in Amazon. Since the same price might be given a different name, we recommend that you do a reverse image search in Google.
Second, you don’t have to buy everything at once. As you will realize, it costs a lot to equip a house. A single piece of sofa might cost thousands of dollars. Therefore, we recommend that you should not buy everything at once. You can start by buying the main essentials like a bed, a good mattress, and a sofa. In the coming months, you can continue buying piece by piece like a leather recliner or an antique piece.
Third, if you are on a budget, we recommend that you avoid luxurious stores. The reality is that most of the items in the luxurious stores are usually not worth the funds. These companies usually sell their brands. Therefore, you can save thousands of dollars by buying in the normal stores.
Final Thoughts
Interior design might seem difficult. In fact, it is. However, if you do your homework, you will be at a good position to have an excellently-designed home even when you don’t have the experience. You will achieve this by reading a lot of magazines and books, watching home-design videos, and by taking your time.