DIY Interior Design Ideas for Your Home

So, you’ve decided that certain rooms in your house are not up to snuff. Or, perhaps you just moved and need to make some updates to your new home. Either way, you should get excited about the challenge! Yes, it can be daunting with where to start, and how to go about the process of home interior decor and design.

But don’t worry! We have interior design tips and tricks to transform any room in your house, whether you’re remodeling or redecorating your home.

Interior Design and Home Decor for Every Room

Any journey is made easier with a roadmap. Before we dive into how you’d tackle specific rooms, let’s chat about how to approach each. From the “big picture” to tiny details, read on to find out how to redesign residential rooms from start to finish.

Set the Mood of your Home

It sounds funny to set the mood first, as this isn’t a date, but the mood plays a significant part in all the decisions that follow. The mood dictates the colors you choose, furniture, and amount of material you devote to that room.

After that, get inspired! This is the fun part. This is where mood boards and Pinterest come in handy.
As you scour the internet, watch TV, or visit local, open houses for interior design inspiration, be sure to notate the big and little features that you like along the way.
The last step before you start designing is to get real. That means think “functional.” For example, if your goal is to declutter your kitchen, you’ll have to part with your beloved countertop appliances and accessories.

Map Out Your Interior Design Idea

Get that tape measurer out, and start drawing. Whether you’re using design software or paper, you don’t want to buy something only to realize later that it doesn’t fit.

Next comes the hard part of home decor -- making choices! Choosing your mood early helps you in this process. Choose your color scheme, then decorate with rugs, curtains, accessories and lighting.

Interior Design for Your Kitchen

Whether you’re just redecorating your kitchen or engaging in a full remodel, the steps are virtually the same. You’d be surprised how much you can change your kitchen without ripping it up entirely.

Create your Functional Dream Kitchen

The kitchen is the most social room in the house. Think about the mood you want in your kitchen. If it is entertaining, then open it up. If not, make it functional for your needs.

You can go online and look at pre-owned kitchens, browse Pinterest, or check out the kitchens at your friends’ and families’ houses for ideas.

When we think about getting real in your kitchen, functionality plays a huge part. What is your kitchen missing? What do you like? What do you hate? How do you feel when you’re cooking -- confined or inspired?

Home Decor Color Choices

This is where some design software can help, especially as you go through multiple iterations of different ideas. However, you do not necessarily need software or a contractor when you spot a great DIY project.

Color choices are crucial. Pick opposing colors for drama, but know that neutral colors are a big 2021 kitchen trend.

For lighting, you can choose spot lighting fixtures or pendant lights. Even just one pendant light can make a great difference, especially if you don’t have anything hanging from the ceiling (such as your cookware, or a hood vent for your stove).
The list of kitchen accent accessories is almost endless. If you’re thinking about redecorating your kitchen, then you’ll need to make choices regarding color, lighting and tiling. Tile work can go a long way to transforming your kitchen, as you can add a backsplash behind your stove, or have it wrap around your entire kitchen.

If you’re remodeling your kitchen, you’ll need to think of everything just mentioned, but also brainstorm your dream flooring, cabinets, storage and shelving, then narrow it down by figuring out what you can actually afford.

Living Room Interior Design

The living room is perhaps the most versatile room in the house. Its main function is to provide a large gathering space for your family. The kitchen is for cooking, and the bedroom is for sleeping, but the living room could be for, well, just about anything else.

Match the Room to its Purpose

The mood selection here is perhaps the most important. Consider how you want the living room to function. Some envision a group of family and friends watching the big game, while others opt for no television at all.

As with any room, hard choices need to be made in terms of space. You may want dual couches that face each other. Alternatively, an “L” shape may fit the room better. The couch, or any large ticket item, is the first piece of furniture you’ll want to choose.

Sizing Up the Space with Furniture

Tape on the floor to outline furniture does wonders. In the living room, big ticket items such as a sofa take up a lot of space. Figure out how that’s going to affect the room before you make decisions on lesser details.

The living room offers a myriad of interior decorations. Aside from the obvious sofa and end tables, you’ll probably need a coffee table, and other accents like rugs and curtains that bring a living room to life.

You’ll also have more wall space to work with in your living room than your kitchen. Mapping it out in conjunction with your theme is important, and again, tape can help with that.

With walls, sometimes the approach is opposite, as you may have a beautiful piece of art that you want as your centerpiece. In this instance, you may want to pick your colors based on the art. Then, you’ll have to make the crucial choice of paint or wallpaper, and while wallpaper is slightly more difficult, both make for great DIY projects.

Bedroom Form and Function

The bedroom serves the same basic function for everybody on the planet, so it’s quite interesting to see the different ways people go about decorating it.

Create a Relaxing Environment

Most likely, the mood in your bedroom is to power you down, and relax you. It may be distracting to have a workout bike or office desk in the same room as your nightly rest. But of course, many people have limited space, so it’s advisable to create partitions from these distractions, such as curtains, room dividers or plants. Generally, eliminate clutter, and try to keep it simple.

You Spend One-Third of Your Life Asleep -- Get a Good Bed!

The floorspace in a bedroom is typically dominated by your bed, so picking furniture should be your first consideration. You may want a California king but could possibly cover the entire span of the room. You can always pick frames, and different color sheets to match the mood and theme, but pick your bed first.

Then measure the space and tape it off so you can fit the right end tables, lamps or dressers in the room. You may want a large dresser and drawers but if it cuts off a small walking path to the bathroom, just imagine navigating that while you’re disoriented in the dark. If you can, try to fit your dresser in your closet, as it will free up more floor space than you think.

Bedroom Decor Decisions

Remember that you’re designing your bedroom exclusively for yourself. Neutral colors are considered relaxing. Bright colors are uplifting, inspiring good cheer. It really boils down to whatever your heart desires.

Bedroom lighting can be fun! Bedside wall mounted lamps are trendy and popular, and recessed ceiling lights are a nice luxury if you can afford it.
If you're blessed with a huge bedroom, you can use accent rugs to break up the space. Just remember that the bedroom is a place for relaxing, so keep those bright colored, loud designs for another room.

And that goes for the walls too, as you’ll likely want neutral, or warm colors. Wallpaper that is more design forward is still welcome in the bedroom, as long as it’s used as an accent wall behind your bed. As for the art on the walls, space it out a lot more than you would in your living room to keep that mood of relaxation.

Interior Home Decor For All

Interior decorating and design isn’t rocket science, but it sure is an art. As we’ve outlined above, your approach should follow three general steps: Set a mood, size up the space and choose items that support the mood and size (and your budget). After that, it’s a combination of hard work and fun, followed by spending every moment in your redesigned room knowing that you designed it yourself.

Will redesigning your kitchen take too much time? Get help finding the kitchen that fits you best with Little Green Kitchens.

Interior Design for Your Home