Interior Design Tips For Smaller Living Rooms
Living room in every home generally has the largest volume. The simple reason behind this is a living room is considered as a “gateway” to all other internal spaces. But in case of an apartment block in crowded city, scarcity of space is an issue resulting in compact architectural planning. This gives rise to apartments with bare minimum spaces.
Whatever be the case we can make minor changes to internal design and presentation to create a look and feel of a bigger living room.
There is one very important thumb rule when it comes to playing with internal spaces. The more light you will allow to enter a room, the more it will be perceived as a big room as far as volume is concerned. Also if you use brighter color shades that will help a uniform and smooth reflection of light equally in all the corners of the living room, it will be easier and effortless transition from small to big
room perception.
There are certain points we can consider here.
1) Avoid using heavy furniture such as big stuff sofas, wardrobes or bookshelves that have closed shutters. Instead if you use sofas with sleek frame (like the one in bamboo furniture) this will create more transparency and will help in perception of more space. Also storage units such as TV unit, book shelves if kept open will reveal more wall surface behind them and reduce the “bulky” look.
In an interior space that is empty the perception of “small or big” is usually decided depending upon the dimensions of the space. The volume of the space defined by the boundaries of walls, floor and ceiling defines the space. The openings in the walls further help in reducing the bulkiness of the space. Next when the furniture fits in its place the importance or influence of the walls reduces and all
attention gets focused on the furniture facades.
That’s why it is necessary to use sleek furniture in smaller rooms, that will help in revealing the true nature of a space.
2) Allow more light to enter the living room by using light curtains. Instead of using heavy looking “valances” use simple and if possible semi transparent curtains that are just enough to reduce glare that might be caused because of direct sunlight.
3) Use brighter color schemes commonly known as “hot” color schemes. These create a very good transmission and reflection of natural as well as artificial light inside the living room.
There is one more different approach to defining the perception of the living room (or any interior space) and that’s the empty volume left behind after all the furniture and other accessories have been fitted. Because anything in our living world is always “relative”. The perceived volume is always relative to the empty volume that is normally used for circulation. The more empty volume you get, the bigger the room will look.
This also applies with transmission of light in all the spaces. The more you can get inside the room better it is for the healthy habitat inside the living room.
I hope this article was informative and will help you understand the concept of smaller and bigger perception of internal spaces.
Copyright Shrinivas Vaidya
Interior Designs
If you are going to start on your first interior design challenge inside your house, chances are you’ll wonder how important it truly is to know the modern trends in interior design. You want to make sure that whatever decorating scheme you select will enhance the resale price of your property.
Many designers will say interior planning should reflect you and your individuality, not necessarily the trendy and fashionable. However, if you are the kind of person who’s first in line to shop for the latest electronic gadgetry in a constant quest to be up to date, the newest trends in interior design are really appropriate.
It can be tough to maintain with all the most up-to-date fashion simply because they have a way of changing rapidly, often from year to year.
Designers also inform us that sorting through modern day decorating fads and assessing them with classic designs helps us to establish what we like.
Assume you take a moment and explain (blank) the way in which you would like to make use of your home along with your lounge room. You allow it a lot of thought and produce a big checklist, the final item being: it has to be easy to maintain clean. As an operating principle, that could be a bit of a stretch; yet it is vital that you you, so it’s appropriate.
For your lounge room one of the latest trends could be the usage of natural stone look wall panels. These are extremely dramatic, giving a 3D effect by their own varying use of stone-look raised designs. The grooves and nooks and crannies provide depth and texture for the stunningly dramatic effect.
Now it’s to the kitchen area, where natural stone countertops carry on growing in popularity. However, the shiny glazed finishes of granite tops are getting to be less fashionable as well as the most recent fashion is the granite finish.
This finish is produced by very fast device buffing which yields a minimal luster finish that resembles stone in the natural environment. The stone must be thoroughly sealed with the expensive sealer and repeated often. Even when covered properly, the countertop could be more challenging to clean compared to less fashionable polished marble top. The extremely refined glow resists adhesion of food particles to the surface, that the lower luster finish doesn’t. Finally, if the seal fails, the countertop can spot.
Some interior designers advise trend lovers to play it safe with the expensive decorating items – like the countertop – and opt for the newest trends in your choice of room accessories.
Eco-friendly Interior Design
Interior design is all about creating aesthetically pleasing spaces that are safe, practical and in harmony with the rest of the surroundings. In order to carry this out effectively we must source the best materials, furniture and fixtures and fittings for the job, and in doing so, we inevitably have an impact on the environment albeit inadvertently.
These days with so much emphasis being placed on global climate change, reducing consumption, and recycling, interior design can be a bit daunting if we want to limit our carbon footprint and still get the effect we want. However, armed with the right information, it needn’t be a big challenge and we can still create beautiful rooms that are stylish, healthy and that are environmentally friendly too. So where do we begin?
First of all it’s important to note that every single thing we buy has an impact on the environment somewhere along the line either, from the way they are extracted, manufactured and processed, or from the distances they have to travel to end up in our home. Take for example paint, wood, glass, metal, textiles and furniture, each of which can have a negative impact if we don’t know what to look out for but with a little effort and forethought, we are able to find eco friendly alternatives.
Paint
Conventional paint contains solvents and lot of other harsh chemicals and toxins but it is possible to source paints that have a reduced effect on the environment and that don’t contain solvents, which are not only a much healthier option as they won’t release harmful gases into your home and the atmosphere, they can be just as effective.
Wood
If possible, try to buy wood that is grown in a local forest so it doesn’t have to travel long distances to end up in your home. Also, choose woods that don’t have a negative effect on the environment. Look out for the FSC symbol which stands for Forestry Stewardship Council, an international non-profit organisation that will ensure that when you buy you will not be contributing to global forest destruction and threatening the livelihoods of people who depend on the forest or timber to survive.
Glass and Metal
Glass and metal are fairly easy to recycle and one of the advantages of both is that in most cases they can be recycled over and over again without losing any quality. Using recycled glass and metal helps reduce the amount of resources needed to produce these materials from scratch, also the process of recycling uses a lot less energy than what is required to make new glass and metal.
Textiles
Textile production can include processes like dying and bleaching which uses a lot of energy and will produce toxic gases which are then released into the environment not to mention the harmful pesticides that are often used whilst growing the raw materials. The main things to consider when choosing an eco friendly option is how renewable the product is, in other words, can it be replenished quickly, whether the product is dyed or if natural dyes are used, and whether a lot of chemicals are required to produce it. Some of the more eco friendly choices include organic cotton, wool and hemp although there are many others available too.
Furniture
How eco friendly your furniture is will depend on the material it is made from, how it is processed and what finishes have been used, so choose carefully. Consider buying second hand furniture or items made from recycled or reclaimed materials and doing them up as this helps to keep existing items in circulation and reduces the amount of perfectly useful items ending up in landfill.
When sourcing eco friendly materials for your interior design project, try to stick to the following guidelines:
- Buy from local producers and suppliers as much as possible as the less distance an item has to travel, the lower the impact on the environment
- Consider the type of materials you choose and whether they come from renewable and sustainable energy sources
- Avoid materials that contain chemical additives or that use a lot of energy during manufacturing processes
- When buying new items, try as much as possible to choose products that can be readily recycled after use or that can be disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner
- Consider low energy or energy saving devices and buy as much as you can from recycled or reclaimed materials
Finally, as a result of the massive amount of publicity given to global warming and the need for conservation of energy, many producers make claims about their products that are misleading or even false so check out the credentials of any suppliers claiming that their products are certified as natural, organic or eco friendly.