INTRODUCTION
We spend over 90% of our day in interior
spaces. Regardless of this, most of us take interiors for granted, barely
noticing the furniture, colors, textures, and other elements; let alone the
form of the space of which they are made. Occasionally, of course, the design
of the interior does catch our attention. Home furnishing refers to products
used for decorating a home, such as furniture/sofa sets carpets, curtains, cushions, tablecloths,
decorative craft products,
etc. Thus, home furnishing plays an important role in regards to how people
feel about where they live. One’s home must not only provide a place to return
to at the end of each day, it must also give an individual a unique environment
that enhances their comfort. The comfort of one’s family and guests are
determined by the different aspects of home decor incorporated in a home.
Thus, in summary, whether you want to decorate
your home by yourself or hire the services of a professional, make sure your
home accommodates your preferences and lifestyle. Before you embark on any home
decor or improvement project, consider the theme and vision. The
planning process is critical towards enabling you to accomplish your
goals. Determining the theme or concept of decorating your home will be
influenced by various factors. Think about the kind of home you own in terms of
classic, vintage or modern styles. Then comes the color and lighting. Color
is an essential aspect of home décor because of its impact on mood and
ambiance. Pay keen attention to the effects different shades and hues have
before making your color choices. Color ought to also reflect the overall
concept of your home decor.
The theme will also influence the type of
lighting used. Both natural and artificial lighting can be strategically
applied to brighten or tone down different rooms in the home. Both color and
lighting can be used to create illusions of size and space. Layout
is the next important feature of home furnishing. The layout of your
space will ultimately determine how functional it will be. Since most people
spend a considerable amount of time in their homes, it is always a good idea to
prioritize comfort. Use the space you
have resourcefully by maximizing on it, especially if you have a limited amount
of space.
Another important element in home furnishing
comprises furniture and other home accessories. When selecting furniture
and various home accessories, the shape and size of your space needs to be
considered. Accessories such as paintings play a crucial role in home
furnishings and ought to ideally complement the rest of the theme. Keeping the
basic principles of home decor that range from themes to colors in mind will
ensure that you create a home that is beautiful, comfortable and functional.
The
Nature and Concept of Home Furnishing/Home Décor/Interior Decoration
The unique identity of a home is determined by
its interior structure, furnishing as well as furniture. Shifts in social and
cultural life have a direct impact on people’s needs and ever-changing fashion
trends inevitably reflect on their tastes and requirements. The drive to
simplified living space and forms and the minimalist design that appeared at
the beginning of 21st century is combined with the desire for individuality,
the search for new solutions, unusual colors and textures. Technological
progress, characterising our modern times, can be largely observed in the home
furnishing industry as well. The new technologies and materials allow for
greater flexibility in terms of shape formation and function, and hence - for
unconventional design solutions.
To be creative is part of the human psyche. It
is one of those traits that set us apart from other animal species, and we have
practiced it for ages. Even when our prime need was to find food and shelter,
humans felt a desire to leave their mark on the environments they inhabited.
Whether this was to satisfy some deep spiritual calling or a method of passing
on vital knowledge to fellow group members, or whether it was simply a way for
an individual to satisfy an urge to leave his mark for future generations, we
will never know. For just as long, humans have turned inquisitive minds to ways
of solving problems and dealing with the issues that have faced them in the
struggle to survive: problems such as how to work more efficiently, how to live
more comfortably and how to be safe from danger.
Today, these primitive and fundamental
indicators of human nature may be expressed in more sophisticated and developed
ways, nevertheless the primal simplicity of human desire to make a ‘better’ and
more comfortable world for ourselves is evidenced through, amongst other
things, how we organise the spaces that we inhabit, and the aesthetic that we
make for them. As we have become more affluent and has more leisure time, style
has become more important to us and is something with which we want to instill
in our homes. However, ‘style’ is a very personal concept, so why must anyone
look to employ someone else, an interior designer, to tell them what is right?
Why should you as a designer presume to impose your ideas on a space that is
not your own? The answer is this; interior design is so much more than ‘what
looks right’. It is about taking a holistic view of the way people use and
enjoy the spaces they dwell.
It is about finding and creating a cohesive
answer to a set of problems and addressing the solution so as to unify and
strengthen our experience of the space. Many people appreciate this and the
fact that they do not have the necessary skills to tackle the job themselves.
Thus, the need for professional interior designers.
What is interior décor/design?
Good interior design adds a new dimension to a
space. It can increase the efficiency in the way we go about our day-to-day
lives. It adds depth, understanding as well as meaning to the built
environment. Thoughtful and well-crafted décor makes a space easier to comprehend
and experiencing such a space can lift ones the spirit too. It is,
consequently, not just about the aesthetics; it is a practical and
philosophical discipline. Beautiful spaces betray a logical and rational
questioning of the status quo and can be an honest attempt to find new and
exciting ways to lead our lives. There is often some confusion between the
terms ‘interior architecture’, ‘interior design’ ‘home furnishing’ and ‘interior
décor’.
What is the distinction between these
different professions? In actual fact, the distinctions are not absolute. Where
boundaries are drawn is contingent on several factors. In a professional sense,
it may well come down to a matter of which country the designer is working in
or more precisely, which regulatory system the designer is working under.
Although not absolute, the explanations provided below affords an indication of
the different roles and responsibilities of those whose work involves the
design of habitable space. Architects use planes (walls,
floors, ceilings) to define the volumes (spaces) that combine to make up a
building. They are trained to design structures from scratch. They usually take
intellectual and practical considerations into account, and the building design
will be informed by its location. Some architects will limit their involvement
in this, while others will also plan furniture layouts in detail and create
decorative schemes.
Interior architects are generally concerned with taking existing
structures and reforming them to suit new functions. They typically pay a great
deal of attention to the previous life of a building, and usually allow this
knowledge to provide some connection between the fabric of the building and the
newly created interior. Home furnishing refers to products
used for decorating a home, such as furniture/sofa sets carpets, curtains,
cushions, tablecloths, decorative craft products, etc. Interior decorators
commonly work with existing spaces that do not require physical alteration.
Through the use of colour, light and surface finish, they transform the look of
a space, making it suitable to function in a different way from that for which
it was originally designed, however, with very little or no change to the
structure of the building.
Interior designers span the ground between
interior architects and interior decorators. The scope of the projects
undertaken vary from the purely decorative, to ones where a great deal of
structural change is required to meet the brief. An interior designer will
competently handle the space planning and creation of decorative schemes at the
same time as considering major structural changes. None of these professionals
will necessarily be experts in all aspects of a project, and will call on other
specialists such as structural engineers or lighting designers to help fully
realise their ideas.