Designing Your Room for Your Needs

So, you’ve decided to redesign a room in your house. You’re going to change everything, from the carpet to the windows, and everything in between. Unfortunately, you don’t have any idea how to design a room. While it isn’t an extraordinarily complex process, it does take some essential planning if you want the room to have the look and feel you’ve envisioned. A room-by-room guide will help you work through the design process and be able to make the right choices, leaving you with a well-designed room.

Where should you start?

• Use Pinterest as a reference. Start pinning the room designs that really stand out to you. Only pick the ones that truly speak to you.

• Think about how you want the room to make you feel. Do you want it to evoke feelings of coziness and warmth or of glamour and sophistication? Once you’ve decided what feelings you want the room to create, stay focused, and ensure that you won’t have any new items in that room that don’t match the feelings that you intend to create.

• Select one item as the main piece to design the room around. Whether it’s a fabric pattern you’re using for window treatments or a headboard for the bed, build the room around that piece.

• Look at different patterns and designs and how they fit together. Work with varied ones to see which combinations you like the best. You can even select a main fabric that you want the other fabrics to mesh with.

• Make a list of all of the items you think you’ll need. Keep it with you so that if you’re out and find something, you can purchase your great find right away.

• Don’t get the idea that you’ll need to buy everything at once. If you can’t afford to purchase something, wait to buy it. There is no point in creating a mountain of credit card debt to decorate a room.

• Buy pieces that have multiple functions so that you can use them in another room. This tactic works especially well if they are a temporary filler in the event that the piece that you really want just isn’t in the budget at the moment.

• Make sure that the pieces you purchase reflect your style. If you want to have a homey feel, don’t buy furniture that is decorative but lacks comfort. This will discourage your family from gathering in the room.

 

Designing the Kitchen

The kitchen is the hub of the home. It’s where families gather to celebrate holidays and important family events and just to discuss their days. Therefore, it’s important when designing the kitchen that it reflects the tastes of your family and creates a room that will be inviting for years to come.

While all of the previous tips apply to the kitchen space, some important considerations apply solely to this room. Though it might not seem very brightening, one of the most current kitchen design ideas is the use of slate gray cabinets as your focal pieces. They perfectly offset the nickel brushed pull knobs and faucets that are so popular. Faux marble counters and wall tile in a mosaic pattern add to the look, along with window treatments in a gray shade. A custom-designed Amish kitchen island/work station is the perfect addition to any kitchen space, as it saves space while keeping your counters in reserve. You can decide upon the size and pattern of the tabletop as well as the number and type of shelves.

White cabinets really brighten up the kitchen when paired with bright hanging lights over the sink and a backsplash of mosaic tiles. Picking appropriate lighting is as essential as any piece of furniture to create the proper mood and feel of the room. It’s important to note that buying an island to fit the center of the kitchen will allow you to choose the color and style that you want to create. As with the previous gray look, a white island matches this bright, sunny and casual style. Check out the custom-designed Amish kitchen island/work stations for quality that can’t be beat.

If you want a more formal kitchen and are intent on using it for entertaining rather than family gatherings, you might want to consider dark wood cabinets. A white porcelain backsplash offsets the dark wood perfectly. In addition, if you have a large kitchen, you might consider purchasing a kitchen/dining room table and dining room chairs, which will carry the theme into your dining room. You can view our variety of Amish dining sets to enhance your space with the solid wood and Shaker feel. Don’t forget about the tile, which will highlight the formal appeal of your kitchen. Because the wood is so dark, you’ll need to ensure that the tile or wall covering will contrast just enough, without compromising the formal appeal of the room.

 

Living Room Design Ideas

While the kitchen is often the hub of the home, the living room is the cozy space where family gathers to watch television, read or simply relax. Many modern living rooms highlight that comfort while maintaining the style of the person designing it. If you’re looking to maintain classic clean lines with modern comfort, look no further than modern Amish furniture. You can pick everything from rockers to ottomans and chairs and various different gliders. Pair any of these pieces with a Shaker style entertainment center as the focal point of the room. Simple P. Buckley Moss prints of Amish scenes add warmth to the lines of the Shaker pieces.

Don’t forget the lighting. Avoid the traditional chandelier and think about purchasing a chandelier with shades made of either fabric or glass. This simple type of chandelier without ostentatious jewels or crystals will give you plenty of light without compromising the simple clean look and feel of the living room.

No room is complete without window treatments. Shaker-style shutters with a light wood finish will offer the final touches to the living room. They have a minimal amount of seams and no slats. These are the type of shutters that can be closed against a storm. The look of the wood, when opened, can be created in such a way as to match the furniture to perfection.

As with all of the fabulous furniture, window treatments and lighting, drab beige paint seems to hide the true beauty of your living room. But what color should you choose? You want something that is both bright and cheery, but also not too complicated in pattern (which would interfere with the Shaker style). Though this may sound too simplistic, classic bright walls may offer the bright cheery look you’re searching for. Alternatively, you might want to select a bright color that matches the pattern of the cushions, sofa or chairs. Remember, darker colors will likely cause the room to look smaller, while lighter colors can expand the room.

There are plenty of room styles to choose from, including:

• Bright and Bold: If the Shaker-style is too traditionalist for you, go with bright and bold. A sofa in a bright hue accented by throw pillows that pick up the color of the sofa will quickly become the centerpiece of your room.

• Artistic: So you’re an artist at heart? You may want to consider displaying pieces of art on the wall and building your room around them. Expertly framed pieces with black matting on neutral walls would go perfectly with a solid-colored dark sofa. If you don’t have any pieces, think about creating your own. While you don’t want every piece to match exactly, think about symmetry. You may want to try decorating with DIY matching coffee tables, matching lamps and matching accent pillows ensuring that if you have two lamps, you’ll have two of each of the other items.

• Collegiate: Maybe you really aren’t an artist at all, but someone who remembers and admires the preppy-style of your college days. Create that navy and pink look in your living room with accent pillows that reflect those colors against the backdrop of a neutral light-colored sofa. Don’t forget to add plants in classic wicker potters that will make the most preppy collegian green with envy.

• Summer Sun: If bold, preppy navy and pink really aren’t your thing, but you want to check out bright sunny colors, think citrus. Lemon and lime accented pillows on a tan sofa really brighten up a living room and give it a summery feel all year long. Add in some table lamps with jade green bases and green ottomans, and you have a complete room. Don’t forget that it’s important to learn that similar colors shouldn’t and needn’t match exactly to give the room a put-together look. Trying to match the similar shades of green exactly will end up giving your room a flat feel. 

• Classic Grey: And if you’re really someone who shies away from the use of bold colors, think about going grey. Classic grey colors can add both warmth and elegance to a living room. Consider a slate gray sofa with ceramic white lamps. Don’t forget to offset the look with cream-colored walls and a dark wood coffee table.

While a sofa is a great piece to make the center of the room, consider adding a floor-to-ceiling bookcase as your focal point. Not only is this an elegant practical addition, it’s a great way to display any collection of your most valuable possessions whether they are books or pieces of art.

 

Bedroom Design Ideas

Since the bedroom is the place where you sleep and relax, you’ll want it to have a sense of privacy and serenity unlike any other room in the house. You want the bedroom to be your sanctuary and to ensure that there is minimal sensory overload to allow you to sleep peacefully. Simplicity and the ability to change the room’s brightness are likely to be important aspects of your design scheme, whether you want the room to have a relaxed or a stylish and decorative feel.

If you’re designing a room for your children, you’ll want the room to be without frills. When selecting furniture, one of the most important aspects to consider is whether it will last through childhood and beyond. You may want to look at kid-proof Amish furniture.

With the simple solid wood look of Amish furniture, you might want to choose a vividly patterned hanging tapestry for the walls, or a comforter as the focal piece for your room. You can then choose accent pieces to match. For example, if you pick a patchwork quilt for a bed made out of sturdy oak wood, you might want to choose a window treatment that will enhance the vivid coloring of the quilt.

If you’re designing the bedroom for yourself, you need to think if you want to carry the design of the rest of your house into the room. For instance, if your home has a relaxed beach feel, you may want to keep that in your room. One of the ways to carry this feel is to consider what type of prints you want. You could go with prints of shore birds or seashells to maintain the beach look.

Your beach feel could mean that you want to include the bright solid colors that you’ve used throughout the home in your bedroom as well. Muted shades of oranges and blues will encapsulate the beach and keep the joy of the home from the entryway to the bedroom.

However, perhaps you’re the person who loves the classic look in the bedroom. Blue and white patterns make wonderful curtains. You can also have the curtains match the headboard, chair and bed linens. Make the look complete with a light blue paint to pull all of the pieces together.

Maybe you would prefer to have a thematic romance design in your room. Consider how you want all of your pieces to mesh together, from the lighting to the bedding and paint. You might want to think of textured wallpaper that would match the mostly white quilting on the bed. While you’ll want your headboard to match your window treatments, don’t forget the window shade and lamp. Though you may not want the shade and lamp to match the headboard and window treatments exactly, a similar color or pattern will serve to give the room a feeling of tranquility and romance.

 

Designing Your Bathroom

A bathroom is a unique room to design, as you’re looking mainly at cabinetry, fixtures, flooring, paint and window treatments. You can find programs online that will allow you to customize all of your options and view the finished look before you even start the project. There are more bathroom designs than you’ve ever dreamed possible:

• Classic Spa: Consider wallpaper in a floral motif offset by a chair covered in a complementing floral pattern.

• Zen: Try simple clean lines and use plenty of natural materials.

• Nautical: Bring the beach to your suburban home by going for a nautical décor. Blue painted cabinets with a natural wood chair are the perfect pairing. You could even add unlacquered brass fixtures to allow for them to age appropriately and naturally tarnish.

• Art Deco: Marble, mirrors and mosaic in a creative combination will allow you to create a bathroom with style and panache.

• Clean White: Use white to make your bathroom décor pop. A porcelain white tub, bright brass fixtures and white marble walls will create the brightest space in your home.

• Calming: Similar to the white décor, use frosted glass with an open shower and a 180 showerhead to simulate a waterfall. This calming effect will make the bathroom the most relaxed room in your home.

• Victorian: If you really want to have a glamorous bathroom, try adding mirrors with gilt and floral wallpaper. This classic look is sure to please young girls as they grow into teens. 

Experiment with wallpaper samples that fit the mood you want to create in the bathroom or powder room. Different combinations of texture, color and pattern will create different moods. Add a citrus yellow wallpaper to brighten up a windowless powder room.

If you like the idea of a traditional-style bathroom complete with a solid wood vanity and customizable countertop, you may want to consider made-to-order furniture. Amish furniture will give you the opportunity to pick not only your wood but the material for your counter and bowl as well as the color.

 

Office Design Ideas

You may have decided that that corner office space you’ve been using needs an updated look. After years of putting up with the clutter, you’ve cleaned out the area and are ready to try something fresh and new.

While you’re looking to create a contemporary space, you may also want to consider if the space can function for a variety of uses. For example, some office spaces are similar to living rooms, used as quiet nooks for reading.

There are some great tips for incorporating these areas into multi-use zones.

• Add shelving if you’re looking to create additional storage space. You may even want to brighten up the room by adding color at the back of the shelving especially if the room doesn’t get much natural light.

• Think about adding some custom upholstery to help create the open multi-use feel of the room. Ideally, the upholstery could match the color of the paint at the back of the shelves to create the perfect accent.

If your office is your true workspace and a place where you can go to get away from the other distractions of the house, you’ll likely think about not only comfort, but also classic quality-made furniture, which you can design to your specifications. Durable, quality made Amish furniture is available in a variety of woods and sizes to fit your needs no matter how large or small your space or your budget is.

While these tips and ideas are a great starting point for your remodeling projects, you may be still unsure about embarking on a project. Or you may have decided to start a project but are hopeful that you’ll continue to get advice on future possible projects. Sign up for a newsletter, which will provide you with advice and additional tips as you continue on your path towards home remodeling.