Design a Room: Step by step

I’ve seen a couple of videos floating around YouTube of how to design a room from start to finish. It’s great to learn that everyone does this slightly differently, so I thought I’d share my process on the blog. I’m not an interior designer but I am a home stylist with a lot of passion for the field. Below is my step by step guide of how I take a room from bland to beautiful!

Source your inspiration!

Inspiration can come from a variety of places; Magazines, Social media, TV or Online. I personally start with Pinterest. If you haven’t ever used Pinterest, it’s a place where you can ‘pin’ images and create visual mood boards. You do have to open an account but it’s completely free and I highly recommend it as a starting point. You can find pretty much anything you like on there and for room design it means you can start to shape a style for your space!

Clipping out magazine pages, scrolling through Instagram and watching your favourite TV shows can also inspire your design. Start with everything you like and then hone in on your style afterwards.

Refining your style

So you’ve gathered everything and it can seem a little overwhelming, don’t fret! Look for similarities when it comes to your choices. If you’re looking at tons of vast monochrome spaces, you’re likely a minimalist. If iron accents and darker wood tones keep cropping up, I would assume you’d lean towards industrial. You could even be a mix of two or three different design aesthetics! Whittle down your inspiration by finding groups, such as; colours, furniture styles, accessories, patterns, textures. It will help to keep a cohesive space as you carry on.

I personally like to pop these in a moodboard. We can refer back to this throughout, sometimes this can change and that’s okay. It’s a starting point that can be manipulated without straying too far from the path.

Measure, material and money.

There are three M’s I like to work towards;

Measure your space! This is a really important first step towards your dream room. Having a floor plan to work from can help shape your vision. Include how tall your ceilings are, where your windows are, how wide the door opens etc. It really is all in the detail for this one. You'll see why later!

Materials can be what you have already and what you’d like to buy. If you already have a sofa for your living space, how can that fit into your inspiration? Can it be enhanced by other furniture pieces or soft furnishings? Curtains or blinds? Asking yourself these questions can help with the final ‘M’.

Money has to be included because you need to establish a budget. It’s always the dullest part of planning, just being honest but it’s good to set realistic expectations. Start with an overall budget and split that up into categories. For example, if you’re making over a bedroom chances are the bed is going to take a bigger slice of that budget than a side table. Rugs are also fairly expensive and should be taken into consideration here if you'd like one.

Floor plan prep

Now you’re ready to place some items on your floor plan. This is where all those measurements are going to come in handy! You'll be able to see where those larger items can fit perfectly into the space. It may even have you change your mind on the size of an item, if it fits in the room comfortably then why not?

For a recent design for an overseas friend, I drew out a plan that was to a smaller scale and added in furniture pieces she already owned or had on the way. Then it was a case of finding the rest. Having photos of the items around your floor plan can help to see the vibe of the room. If you don't have access to a program like Photoshop then you can even draw this by hand and add cut outs. I just personally prefer to have something I can edit quickly.

Play around with the layout and colours at this stage. It doesn’t have to be detailed, just an overview of everything going on.

Decorations and Dressings

So you’ve come this far and everything’s now in the space! The final step is everyone’s favourite part and that’s decoration. Everything from cushions to vases. It's the time to let your creativity shine! Refer back to your original mood board and make conscious decisions. Make it personal and unique to your style.

Tip: Working in rules of three can help if you're stuck. Using three items of the same colour help to keep balance across the space. When it comes to groupings, you can always choose to place one statement piece or layer more than three pieces but odd numbers tend to look more pleasing to the eye than even numbers.

I personally like my decor to breathe so I use negative (empty) space to highlight each piece. Some people are more eclectic or maximalist and may want a busier, cosy feel. Whatever you decide, have fun with this part and love the room you've created!

To watch the videos that inspired this post check out Lone Fox and Alexandra Gater to see how they like to design a room. If you feel you need a stepping stone on your style Mr Kate has a quiz called ‘Whats my Aesthetic?’ over on her blog.

Leave a comment or a like if you found this helpful or used it for any room design in your homes!Go check out The Coastal Native on Facebook and Instagram for more updates!