Residential interior design is the planning and design of living spaces within a home, whether it’s a house, townhouse, apartment, condo, or any other type of residence. It involves the use of artistic, technical, and interpersonal skills to conceptualize and efficiently plan space layouts, select suitable materials and furniture, and coordinate color schemes and lighting. This guide covers the concept of space planning, its purpose, process, principles, and tips with real-world examples.
Residential interior designers are responsible for the layout, design, and decoration of residential building spaces. They revamp people’s homes, houses, or condos, taking into account the individual client’s taste and budget. These designers should possess an artistic flair and the business acumen necessary for planning interior spaces and managing projects.
Residential interior design imbues personality and economy of space while balancing comfort and usability to create a livable space. Residential interior designing helps homeowners create a space where they feel most comfortable and at home. Everyone has a unique vision for their home, and residential interior design is a comprehensive practice that revolves around planning and enhancing living spaces within homes.
Applied to private homes, residential interior design aims to create personalized environments that reflect the individuality and lifestyle of the owners. Designers create cozy and stylish spaces by exploring different styles and finding out how designers create comfy spaces.
In summary, residential interior design is the art and science of creating living spaces that reflect the individuality and lifestyle of the owners. By understanding the design process, principles, and tips, homeowners can create comfortable and stylish spaces that reflect their unique tastes and budgets.
📹 Interior Design:Residential Lighting and Electrical Planning
Where do you place your lighting and receptacles within a residential floor plan? What are the considerations prior to layout and …
What is the difference between residential and commercial interiors?
Commercial and residential interior design differ in their purpose and scale. Commercial interiors are designed for public use and can be larger, while residential interiors are for private use. Commercial interiors are based on a brand or business and user experience, while residential interiors are personalized and express individual tastes. Building regulations and standards for materials and products apply differently, with public spaces generally having stricter requirements.
Designers must be aware of relevant codes and comply with regulations to create unique spaces. Both spaces require thoughtful design and careful execution, ranging from intimate and comfortable residential spaces to grand, playful, thought-provoking commercial environments.
What is the definition of residential interior design?
The practice of residential interior design entails the creation of functional and aesthetically pleasing living spaces. Architects are responsible for the structural design, while designers are tasked with the interior aesthetic.
What is a residential design?
Residential design involves planning and designing spaces within a client’s home or apartment, often focusing on specific aspects such as kitchen redesign, home office organization, or custom furniture design. Projects can range from new construction to helping clients highlight, rearrange, and repurpose existing furniture and décor. Recommendations may include paint colors, furniture, or new décor to enhance the home space.
On a higher level, more substantial redesign recommendations may be made, such as adding or eliminating entire walls, installing skylights or ceiling designs, new flooring and floor design, trim work, or exciting light installations. In summary, residential design involves planning and designing spaces within a client’s home or apartment, with the potential to specialize in specific aspects of the design process.
What is a residential designer?
A residential designer, a profession that encompasses both interior and architectural design, is tasked with the creation and implementation of design plans for the renovation or construction of residential buildings. These professionals are also referred to as interior architects or building designers.
What is an interior space planner?
Space planning is a crucial aspect of interior design, determining the purpose, functional requirements, and basic layout of specific areas in a home or commercial building. It is an essential part of the design process. To improve space planning, it is essential to understand how to plan around existing focal points, determine if a new focal point is needed, or remove obstructions that can enhance functionality or versatility of a space. By following these expert tips, interior designers can impress clients and enhance their spaces.
What are the characteristics of residential interior design?
Residential interior design emphasizes the functionality of individual rooms, ensuring practical layouts for everyday living. Comfort, aesthetics, furniture placement, and adaptability are key features in creating a distinctive and holistic design. Premium materials like wood, marble, and quality fabrics enhance the aesthetic value, tactile experience, luxury, and class, while also offering a longer lifespan for furnishings and surfaces, enhancing living experiences.
What is a design planner?
Design planning is a strategic process that outlines and organizes the design approach for a digital product, setting clear objectives, defining design principles, establishing information architecture, and determining the overall visual and interaction design direction. It is crucial in digital product development as it provides a roadmap for the design team, ensuring design decisions align with user needs, business goals, and brand identity.
What are the roles of a planner?
Planners are responsible for managing project timelines, resource allocation, and scheduling critical milestones. They must analyze potential obstacles and devise proactive strategies to mitigate risks. Their duties include developing detailed project plans, collaborating with cross-functional teams, monitoring progress, providing updates to stakeholders, and using specialist software for tracking projects.
In the construction sector, they may conduct detailed risk analysis, facilitate team meetings, evaluate project success post-completion, and ensure compliance with industry-specific regulations and standards. They also provide regular updates to stakeholders about strategy, adjustments, and progress.
What is planning in interior design?
Space planning is a pivotal phase in interior design, guaranteeing that a designer adheres to the intended use, functional necessities, and configuration of a residential space. In some cases, this process may result in a design that differs from the client’s initial preferences. Therefore, interior designers must apply space planning principles to achieve the optimal design and align it with the client’s vision.
What does an interior planner do?
An interior designer is responsible for providing advice on the layout of a space or building, generating 2D or 3D design plans, and coordinating furniture, fixtures, and fittings for implementation and procurement. They also provide projected timelines and product schedules to coordinate trades, purchase orders, and deliveries. The main goal is to improve the effectiveness, accessibility, functionality, and aesthetic appeal of an environment while ensuring safe and optimal use.
The designer must consider the intended function of a space, understand how an interior design scheme can positively impact the end-user, and address sustainability and minimize environmental impact. They must also comply with health and safety codes, building regulations, and installation requirements.
What is the difference between a space planner and an interior designer?
Interior design combines functionality with aesthetics to create visually appealing spaces. Interior designers collaborate with clients to understand their tastes, preferences, and goals to develop cohesive design concepts. They work with furniture, fabrics, lighting fixtures, and accessories to create a harmonious and visually pleasing space. With their knowledge and creative skills, interior designers can transform ordinary spaces into unique, personalized environments, reflecting the client’s personality and preferences. For instance, a homeowner renovating their living room would collaborate with an interior designer.
📹 Interior Design Basics You Need To Know
In this video I am sharing the basics of interior design and why you need to know them! The first 1000 people to use this link will …
This was very helpful! I like symmetry, but am also aware that one heavy chair on one side of the room could be balanced with two lighter chairs (“airy”) on the opposite side. I also appreciate that you identify that you are trained in this area; although many things can be left to “personal taste”, it’s important to note that there are principles to design that are aesthetic, and not just “personal opinion”.
Great basics article for someone who is starting out or revamping a space. How about a vid on scale of baseboards, mouldings and door trim? Have to comment, Garrett that your attention to the pace of your articles is one of the many reasons I subscribe. Many other “decorators” speak too fast and appear that they are perusal an egg timer and content gets lost in their hurried delivery. You are gifted in the ability to be clear and concise within your allotted time.
THANK YOU for this!! Especially mentioning hanging artwork higher or in line with architectural features! I also never understood the whole eye line “rule” I would hear from others. In my opinion, I like things that catches me to look up because I feel like we’re always looking down at things—phones, computers, etc. Anything that makes me keep my head up a little bit more automatically makes me feel “lighter” too.
New sub here! So glad I found you bc I feel like I’m hearing the same “trendy” suggestions from the YT design community. I appreciate your formal education with actual design knowledge. I’ve started following a lot of smaller YouTubers whose aesthetic I appreciate bc it’s not all the same and isn’t trend overload. love u and your website!
Love love love this article! It was so informative, especially the segment on drapery. I love that you really know your stuff and have concrete tips on how to make design and planning work. Also really appreciate the explanation of scale. This was like attending a really good classroom. Love your articles more and more every week! Keep them coming Mr leChic!
What I like about your articles is that the pictures are lovely yet attainable by the average person. I tend to ditch articles of 20 foot ceilings with wall to wall ceiling to floor glass overlooking amazing scenery. These examples do not help me style ordinary rooms with standard windows and 8 to 9 foot ceilings. Your articles do.
Thanks so much for an actual rule on the curtain “fullness!” I knew mine were too thin, but couldn’t figure out appropriate measurements to prevent in the future. LoneFox shared a great tip for eyelit curtains to look fuller. Put toilet paper rolls between the hidden sections and they always look full. The only issue is if it’s a smaller window, I had to cut them down because when opened, the curtains were taking up 50-70% of the window space and not allowing light in.
You’re a great teacher, Garrett, do you know? Thank you so much for this. FINALLY, someone actually explains the hanging curtains at the ceiling thing, instead of just dictating it. Bless you for that! Also, love your outfit, in this article – so elegant. The quality of your pullover comes through even in YouTube-grade article.
I’m in the middle of purchasing my first flat and I just save all your articles. I’ve watched for a few months now, you have so many tips that are actually useful and it’s a rare thing to find. I love that most things you say can apply to every design style as well (I think you’ll hate my flat as I toe the line between eclectic and tacky loool) . Big love from the UK ❤️
I live in a classic tract house and my ceilings are 8 ft. When went to hang my new rods I realized that I needed 90-92 inch curtains and they are standard 94-96 inches. I am not in the position to hem my jeans much less 8 panels of curtains, so I relented and put them in the place for the standard 84 inch panel.
Does a fireplace count as a light source? 🙂 Our sunken family room has pot lights, an IKEA Ranarp floor lamp, and a big fireplace. I turn on the pot lights when working from home (my small office space is in a corner of the family room) because they make the space bright, but like the fire and floor lamp at night. Also love your articles, as I move into my mid 30s I am ready to move on from trendy “fast decor/ design” to “slow design” that lets me really consider what comes in my home, invest when needed, and not feel like I have to throw the whole house together in a day with whatever I can grab in single trip to Homesense.
Thanks for all the tips really help me out especially the rug one all the furniture don’t have to fit my living room is small and I have a corner fireplace so when I put the rug down it goes against the fireplace and that really bothers me so I can’t get no more than a 7by9 size.. I just purchase a navy,grey, and ivory rug need to know what tones would go with it .. Thanks
Thank you for this article! So I know next to nothing about home design/decoration but I’m learning now and I’m glad I found your article to watch first to get into it! My long term goal is to invest into tiny home airbnbs. I want to do this for many reasons but my first reason is if you keep thinking about something and it brings you excitement, stick with it! I went on 😂 but again, thank you! You made it really easy to understand. If you want to suggest another article of yours thats for beginners, I’m open to it!
I find scale to be particularly difficult for myself because I tend to move houses rather frequently- what works in a 3,000 sq ft home with 12 ft ceilings tends not to work as well in a 800 sq ft apartment… the average American moves homes every 2 years! How does one invest in pieces that you love and can keep for a lifetime, while remaining flexible enough to work well in a variety of different spaces?
My only complaint with the living room pictures that flash is always the missing TV. 90% of all living rooms have one, and even though they look awful for decorating purposes, most do have one. I could do wonders if mine was missing. Wish someone would come up with something to hide it when company comes that’s not a massive piece of furniture.
Perhaps this is more of a question than a comment: May I count daylight coming in through my windows as one of my three sources of layered lighting? Also, which do you think are the best kind of lights to highlight artwork? I have seen people use both the little overhead ones, and up lights to go to fact, but I don’t know how they made that choice. Which are your favorite fixtures for this purpose?
I subscribed and have been binge perusal your articles, and omg they are eye-opening and brilliant. THANK YOU for giving us the key elements of interior design in this article. These foundational points will make a huge difference in our spaces. I’m buying a small, old home in France and cannot wait to apply what I’m learning from you!
Ohh Garrett, I have good questions for you! 1. How can you know the stacking width of a particular curtain size before purchasing it? Is there a method to figuring this out? 2. Should you also consider rug size per sofa size? For example if you have a 96″ sofa and say two side chairs, can you get away with an 8×10 rug or should you size up to 9×12? (provided you have the space) 3. What size coffee table should you get relative to your sofa size? Should you look at a particular shape of coffee table depending on what other pieces you have ie: sofa and 2 chairs or a sectional and one chair, etc. Can you do a how to chose the right coffee table shape and size article? Thanks! 🤍
Oh thank god! I was starting to go into withdrawal without a new article! LOL. Love, love, love the cable knit sweater but where do you live that it’s cool enough it + a collared shirt? LOL Way too warm for that in Chicago still. I wish whoever designed/built my house understood the importance of lighting. There is literally no built- in lighting in our living room. I have a floor lamp for now but it’s not enough. Hoping to add some can lights eventually.
Your articles are always interesting and informative. Your illustrations speak volumes and underscore the point you’re making. I always learn something, like the stacking depth of draperies and WHY one example looks right and another doesn’t. This website provides practical knowledge and useful tools to mere mortals who aspire to a higher esthetic than we could attain without some sage advice from a friendly professional. Thanks.
Again we are on the same… I just updated my curtains to be thicker…. I wear hearing aids so don’t always hear correctly… I just got some Frogz ear buds and I hear extremely well…. I thought you were saying formerly trained but today I heard formally trained… much different lol great article thanks for sharing
Garrett, Thank you. You are amazing! I love how you know your stuff! I love your ideas! One idea I would like to explore is how not to be like everyone else when designing your home. I wouldn’t anyway, but I feel like there is something to creating a beautiful space with your unique style and how it can still be comfortable and usable. What tips can you give us to design a space we ourselves will love.
Great article. What do you think about people who hang different drapes? I walk in some people’s houses. No judgement ever, but for example: they have 3 panels on each side..Dark Blue, White then a print. Do you think that’s too gaudy? Should they all be one color and then maybe a sheer in the middle in case you want to close? I see it A LOT. It doesn’t look bad, but curious on your take since you’re the designer.