Top 5 Décor Items To Inspire Your Interior Design

Pulling together a space that both meets your family's needs and reflects your unique, individual style can sometimes be a daunting task. How to select furniture, rugs, accessories and art that "works together" may seem like a never-ending quest. Here are 5 straight forward items that can supplement what you already have going, or serve as an inspiration piece to build your home décor scheme around, such as a rug or work of art.

When it comes to interior design, you can find inspiration just about anywhere, but these five products are guaranteed to get you on your path to a perfect space! A plan like the one below can serve as your guide as you check off items on your list.

Rugs: If you’ve ever searched for the perfect rug for a room, you know how overwhelming it can be. But once you find the right piece, it can really inspire the entire look of the space.

The first question you need to ask when selecting that “inspiration” rug is how big it should be. NW Rugs suggests leaving at least a 1.5' to 2' border around your rug to show off the floor surface underneath. With standard rug sizes running from 3.5'x5' to 12'x18', finding the perfect size shouldn’t be difficult, but make sure to measure your room to know which size you need. SEE RUG SIZE GUIDE.

Next, you’ll need to consider color. Do you like warm or cool colors? Do you prefer something bright and colorful or subtle and meditative? Colors such as reds, oranges, and yellows encourage energy, ambition, and laughter and may be perfect for your great room or kitchen design. Colors such as pale blue, purple, and green may be better for bedrooms because they encourage calm. There are so many tips to help choose a rug that stays clean and lasts longer.

When it comes to style, is yours more traditional, contemporary or transitional (a mix of the two)? Check out these descriptions from NW Rugs to find which best fits your style. The pattern of your rug can say a lot about your space. A highly detailed design will force energy into a space, while a solid color will blend into the background. SEE HOW TO CHOOSE A RUG INFORGRAPHIC

No matter the style, color, or pattern, choosing a rug that is appropriate for the room’s foot traffic will ensure that it will stay clean and last longer. With proper planning, your investment should be around a long time. Make sure that you find something you love.

ART: Even the smallest piece of art can inspire the design of an entire room. Here are some things to keep in mind:

• If you have an antique print or painting, you might want a design that includes other pieces from the same time period. For example, ultra-modern furniture may not mesh with a Victorian-era painting.

• Is your art piece a sculpture, painting, photo, or tapestry? Draw inspiration from the medium. A smooth marble sculpture might work well with a gold-antiqued table, for instance.

• The color of your art can inspire your room’s entire palette. Whether your piece contains large solid fills of color or more intricate work in a rainbow of color, it never hurts to allow the color of an art piece to dictate the other colors in a room. Choose your sofa from one of the secondary colors in the piece, or select lamps in the same tone as the frame.

ANTIQUES: When it comes to antiques, you could either base an entire room’s design off of a specific piece, or you could simply incorporate several antique pieces within your modern design.

Basing your entire space on an antique follows the same concepts as if you were taking your inspiration from your art piece. However, if you choose to incorporate antiques into a modern space, there are several ways to go about it:

• Introduce antiques that have similar colors, textures, and designs that are similar to what isalready in your home.

• Warm up your modern space with classic architectural ideas such as antique flooring or beaded board wainscoting.

• Mix time periods — a beautiful antique-filled space should look as if the items have been collected over time.

• Simply recover or reupholster your antique furniture to give it a more contemporary look.
  
  

THROW PILLOWS: Yes, even something as small as a pillow can influence the design of a room! Throw pillows often have beautiful lines, tones, and patterns that can inspire a single room or an entire home.

A beloved pillow boasting a unique color palette might inspire your choice of wall color or a complementary rug. And the pattern of your pillow can really impact the mood of a space — a complex, bright pattern can be stimulating, while a muted shade can inspire tranquility. Friend and Martha Stewart American Made Finalist  Deborah Main makes gorgeous one-of-a-kind pillows that would be sure to compliment many styles and tastes.

Huntington House Furniture - Over 1500 Different Fabric & Leather Choices to Create Your Unique Style

UPHOLSTERY FABRIC: Whether used on a couch, a chair or an ottoman, the upholstery fabric you choose can have a major impact on your surrounding space. Look to its weight, style, and color pattern for guidance.

• An eye-catching upholstery fabric can quickly become a focal point of your room. If your sofa has a floral pattern, the color and style of the room would do well to follow this feminine style.

• Designer Carla Aston put it best when she explained: “When we start a design plan, we begin with the patterned/colorful fabrics first. Those are the ones that will telegraph the style and contain the palette we will work with. The rest of the project is then filled out with solids, textures, and, perhaps, some supporting patterns.”

No matter what your inspiration is, if you work within the style, color, form, and period of your inspiration piece, your room’s design is sure to come together in a cohesive way. What inspiration piece have you used to design a room?

Guest Blogger: Laurie Laizure is the CEO of Customized Walls and founder of the largest online community for design pros, Interior Design Community. Laurie’s work has been featured on various TV networks such as Bravo and HGTV as well as top publications in the interior design world. She also writes on her own blog, on the Williams-Sonoma Designer Marketplace and for Shutterfly.com’s home décor team.