After purchasing that empty canvas of a new home, it’s often not long before the design bug starts buzzing. As this desire to personalize, modify and accentuate the positives of your new home takes over, it’s time to explore your deepest design wishes.
Even with uncertain goals and a small budget, you still can start taking positive steps toward the design of your dreams.
Designer Paola McDonald, owner of Creative Elegance Interiors in Northern Virginia, says that a little planning and preparation can blaze a trail toward your personal design goals.
“The first step to starting any interior design project, big or small, is to give thorough consideration to how you and your family intend to use that space,” she says.
Realize that you control the pace of your efforts, break your design plans down to individual projects, then move forward one step at a time.
Where do you start? Why not at the beginning? In her recent post “Creating a Warm and Inviting Entryway,” McDonald insists on making that first impression “special.” She then recommends a variety of options to make that often small space pop with useful and functional effects.
Some of her recommendations include a runner that “draws guests into your home,” a small console table with a slim-based table lamp to add a warm glow and possibly a mirror in darker entryways to “catch the light on an opposite wall” and bring in more natural light.
“Make a list of what is and isn’t working in that space and add to it what additional functions you would like for it to have,” she says. “This will give you a solid foundation on which to build the space, allow you to determine what furnishings are needed and lead into developing a budget for your design project.”
An entryway is just a good first step. Take a methodical and deliberate approach to design, organize your thoughts and then continue to build on that foundation as you move from room to room. It’s a great way to truly “own” the space and provide your touch to your new home.
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