Have you ever wondered how you could improve the décor of your home but struggle to get inspiration? Perhaps you’ve seen things on Pinterest, Houzz or Instagram, but can’t seem to replicate them at home. Not everyone is blessed with a great eye for decorating and design, but this article should help give you some handy hints to help you improve the décor of your home.

Create interest with odd numbers

There’s a reason photographers use something called the rule of thirds and it involves designing with odd numbers to help create harmony and visual interest. The basic concept is that odd numbers help draw more attention and are a lot more appealing than even-numbered object pairings.

To add to this you can group similar objects together, e.g. different heights of candles in different colours to create even more interest and make these more visually attractive. By avoiding even numbered patterns you help to stop things looking too uniform and boring.

Arrange your room around a focal point

No matter how big or small your room you can improve the décor by establishing a focal point. A lot of rooms already have a focal point and good design helps to bring these features to life. Some examples of natural focal points that you’ll find in a house include a fireplace, large window with a view or even your television.

You can make anything in a room a focal point, depending on what you want to use the room for. So if you’ve got a beautiful roll top bath in your bathroom then that could be the perfect candidate for a focal point. You can then decorate the room around the bathtub using colours that complement the style or design of this.

Centre artwork at eye level

Ever been in a room where the artwork seems off for some reason? Chances are that’s because it has been placed too low or too high. Hanging artwork so the centre of the picture is at eye level is a great way to help draw attention to it and help your room look more balanced. This also applies when you are hanging multiple pieces of art.

When hanging artwork above a sofa you should make sure that it is no more than two-thirds of the width of the sofa, otherwise, it can look out of place. You can also use artwork as a central focal point and use it to frame the rest of your room.

Using rugs

They seem like one of the easiest ways to decorate your home but it can be difficult to get a rug to look good in your room unless you follow these simple rules.

All on – Where you have a lot of space the all on approach can work well to separate an area and create a unique space, think of an open plan living dining area. By placing your entire dining table and chairs on a rug you help define the space. Make sure that there is enough room for chairs to stay on the rug when they are pulled out from the table and also that the rug has a clearance of at least 12 inches on all sides.

All off – For those with limited space, but a hankering for a rug, then the all off approach is the route to take. Your chosen rug should sit in the middle of your space and be a similar distance from furniture such as sofas and chairs. A small coffee table can be placed on top of a rug in these situations.

Front legs on – Placing the front legs of sofas and chairs on a rug is a popular way to choose a slightly larger rug and tie your scheme together. Like the rules above this is not a hard and fast rule, more a guide but should help you when it comes time to pick a rug.

Use layered lighting

Our final tip for improving your home’s décor, use layered lighting to help create the environment you want. There are a couple of main types of lighting that can be used when decorating and these are:

General – These are the main lights in your home that are used to evenly illuminate your rooms.

Accent – Spotlights are a popular choice for accent lighting as they can be used to focus light on a particular feature such as a painting or chimney breast.

Task – Lamps, under counter lights and kitchen spotlights are all what we’d call task lights. These serve a specific purpose and help provide light where and when it is needed.

By using all of the different types of lighting above you can help to create different moods in your house and help emphasise the décor in your home.