Looking to design your dream house? It’s crucial to have a strong vision of what you want to achieve when designing your own house, if you want your dreams to translate into a beautiful finished product. This is true whether you plan to design your own home, or hire award winning home designers; whether you’re doing light renovation, or are looking to build & design your dream house from the ground up.
Modern House Design
Contemporary home design offers many exciting concepts and trends sure to incite passion from anyone with a strong affection for visual aesthetics. Driven by a desire for striking minimalism, clean lines, bright colors and open space, modern house design epitomizes the mantra that “less is more”.
Another parallel trend in modern house design, particularly in dense urban centers, is the shift towards eco-sustainability. The eco-sustainability trend goes well beyond solar panels, energy efficient appliances and double paned windows. The heart of the eco design philosophy is simply that a small efficient living space can live much larger than the limits of its square footage. Whether you’re designing a cramped Manhattan studio apartment or a two story urban living space in crowded Tokyo, you can draw inspiration from modern eco design ideas and create an urban oasis by aiming to maximize every inch of space you have to work with.
Home Design Software
One of the great things about contemporary home design is the availability of affordable and even free home design software. The ability to see your ideas come to life with a click of the mouse is truly revolutionary, and can play a huge part in the success of your home design project. Every aspect of your vision, from exterior design and landscaping ideas, to house plans/floor plans, to interior design, can be easily be rendered in 3d for you, your family, your friends, and/or your designer to see. This allows for quick feedback and the ability to spot design flaws before they cost you money.
We highly recommend the use of home design software in your design journey. Even if you plan to hire a professional, playing around in home design software can still give you inspiration and allow you to convey your ideas and vision more accurately to your designer. Envisioneer Express & Smart Draw, are just some examples of free home design software programs that can help actualize the design process.
Home Design Ideas
So now you understand that having a strong vision is a key to successful home design. That’s great if you’re artistic or inspiration has already struck, but what if all you know is that you want something…different? Don’t let that discourage you. The following are some home design ideas and concepts that will help you get started towards designing your dream home.
Home Interior Design
Great interior design can transform even the frumpiest room into an uplifting, beautiful living space. When you walk into a room that’s put together just right, there’s something about it that tends to brighten up your mood, even if just for a moment.
So what is the key to designing great rooms? You might be surprised to know that it doesn’t have to be complicated. Sticking to the modern home design principles of minimalism and bright colors means that with some basic knowledge and a little trial and error, you can design a fantastic living space that feels just right.
Easy To Apply Home Interior Design Concepts
1. Create a Sense Of Equilibrium
One of the primary aims in interior design is to create balance through the arrangement of the shape, color, patterns and textures of the elements in your room. Whenever you’re arranging elements in your interior space, keep in mind the following three kinds of balance in order to maintain a sense of equilibrium in your living space:
- Symmetrical Balance: symmetry is the most basic kind of equilibrium. Every room needs a basic amount of symmetry to look “right”. Whether its two chairs on either side of a table, or a speaker on each side of the television, aiming for visual symmetry is an easy way to achieve a nice, well put together look for any room.
- Asymmetry: When used sparingly, asymmetry can be applied to delight the eye and accent parts of the room. An example of asymmetry would be staggering pictures, mirrors, or shelves, rather than having them lined up horizontally or vertically. Asymmetry is more difficult to implement than symmetry and requires some artistic sensibility, but when done right, it can really take a room from plain to absolutely spectacular.
- Radial Balance: Radial balance is where pieces & elements revolve around a central point. Examples of radial balance can be found in dining rooms, in the form of a table surrounded by evenly spaced out chairs.
2. Establish Rhythm
Rhythm applies especially to elements of color and patterns in your room. You achieve rhythm by spacing elements of different colors or shapes at regular intervals. This helps move your eye across a room and accentuates the sense of balance you will create.
3. Aim For Harmony
Harmony is the unification of all the elements of your room to make it pleasant on the eye. Harmony is a more intangible quality and can be difficult to achieve if you don’t have a keen sense of style. However, a simple way to achieve harmony is to pick a simple, complimentary color palate. Sticking to white and black and choosing another color as an accent is a great, though simple way to achieve harmony. The more colors you have in a room, the more difficult it is to achieve harmony.
4. Pay Attention To Proportion And Scale
The final basic principle you should pay attention to is proportion and scale. Luckily, this is the easiest principle to grasp, even for those who are style-challenged. It simply refers to the fact that elements of a room should be relatively proportional. This is can be greatly affected by the size of your space. For example, a large sectional couch may look out of proportion in a tiny Manhattan Studio, while a 22”plasma TV may look just as out of scale in the living room of a suburban mansion.
Exterior Home Design
The exterior of your house is its face to the world. While interior design is important for you to enjoy your living space, the exterior design of your house is what most of the world will see. What do you want it to say about you? This is an opportunity not only to design something beautiful, but to share a little bit of your artistic side with the world. Another great thing about exterior home design is that you’re given inspiration each and every single time you leave your home. Take a look around your neighborhood, or a neighborhood you admire and draw inspiration from the houses you like.
Even though you’ll want to get creative with your exterior design (or at least, as creative as your budget will allow!), keep in mind that the style you choose should at least partially match the tastes and styles of the other homes in your neighborhood.
Additionally, the exterior design of your home may play a large factor in determining its resale value. If resale value is priority, you may want to consult a realtor to determine the home styles in your area that will reap the greatest returns. There are 5 house design styles these days that make up the bulk of the market. These are: country style, traditional, Mediterranean, Victorian, as well as the aforementioned contemporary style.
Designing Your House Is Not Just A Destination
We’ve covered modern home design trends, discussed tools that can help your bring your visions to life with the click of a mouse, as well as popular styles and concepts in interior and exterior home design. This should give you the basic tools you’ll need to get started towards designing your new house. Though it may seem far away, one day in the near future you’ll be enjoying your dream home. But until then: get to work, enjoy the journey, and let the creative juices flow.




























