In the first part of this series, we dealt with the interior design philosophy of "accentuating the positive and eliminating the negative". A good feature in a room should be accentuated or be given good attention while a bad feature should either be eliminated or camouflaged. Harmony in interior design can be achieved by creating a finished picture in your mind of how the room will look after the project is finished. By doing this you are simplifying the decorating steps and are right on track of putting things where they should be.

Once you have in mind the basic outline of a finished room, then it is time to start considering the decorative designs. Do you include decorative wallpapers, exotic rugs, beautiful upholstery designs and exciting draperies in your mental picture?

One basic rule of thumb in interior design is to feature only one dramatic pattern in a room. This pattern could be applied in the upholstery of a major piece of furniture or you could use this pattern in the rug or carpeting. Still another possibility is applying this featured pattern in the draperies or wallpapers. Although you can only use one dramatic pattern in a room, you can however repeat the same pattern in the room. Let's say, you might want to use the same pattern in both the upholstery and the draperies or in carpeting and draperies or in the draperies and wallpaper. Depending on how you want things to coordinate. The point being, by using the same pattern in different elements in the room you are introducing harmony that will otherwise be non-existent.

After knowing some basic philosophy and rule of thumb in interior design, where do you start planning that mental image of a finished room? Should you start with a decorative patterned upholstery or rug or should it be wallpaper or just simple painted walls? Should you match carpeting with the upholstery or with the draperies? All these questions and others can be endless.

Scale and proportions are the keys to creating good harmony in room décor. Where do you start using those decorative patterns then? You start by looking at the room's scale and its proportions. What is the scale of the room? Should you want to make it appear smaller or larger? An answer to this question will lead you to make the right choice of window treatments, upholstery, flooring, wall treatments and even furniture.

In a huge room, you can use fabrics with large decorative motifs on large pieces of furniture. In a small room on the other hand, small pieces of furniture are in better scale. You should also use small decorative patterns in the wallpaper, carpeting or window treatment.

Colors can make a room appear larger or smaller. Dark colors can make things appear closer together that's why dark colors are usually used in large rooms to make it appear cozier. On the other hand light colors can make things seem larger and farther away and these are usually used in smaller areas to give the illusion of a bigger space.

Large rooms can be broken into many different rooms to make it appear smaller while smaller rooms should minimize diverse details to make it appear larger.

Achieving harmony in interior design is easy once you know the basic principles. Therefore, why not use these in designing your own special room. Let the interior designer in you create something that you can truly be proud of. Let those creative juices flow. How about starting this weekend?