Ideas for Interior decorating

How do you get inspired when you are working on interior decorating?  What if you are remodeling, or need ideas for new construction?  What if you are looking for some interior decorating ideas--or exterior decorating ideas, for that matter?

Houzz has ideas for interior decorating.  It is a site that shows lots of different pictures with different interior decorating ideas.  You can find something you love and copy it as best you can, applying it to your home, bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, etc., or you can mix and match.  You can find wall colors you like, or wallpaper, or themes, or styles.  There are lots of very different styles, from rustic to very modern.  It's a great way to get ideas for remodeling, or even for new construction.

Once you find the picture or pictures that inspire you, you can print them out and take them to hardware and paint stores to get the pains and supplies you need, or show them to your handy man or contractor if you go that route.  You can also get ideas from Lowes or Home Depot.

Google Images can have ideas as well.  Go to http://images.google.com.  From there you can search for "Interior design ideas," for example.  You can also get ideas from friends and family.  There is also the parade of homes, where you can go to get ideas.  You can also go to open houses to get ideas.

Another thing to consider with new construction, or remodeling, when you are going to be moving walls, is traffic flow.  If you are designing your dream home, or moving walls around, you will want to think about traffic flow.  Get a drawing of your floor plan now, and a new proposal floor plan.  Draw lines from room to room, and draw lines where major traffic will go, like from the front door to the kitchen, out the back door, in from the garage, etc., and see where the traffic will flow.  This may help you decide to move a wall, remove a wall, or add a wall.  This same principle can be applied to moving furniture around.  You can draw out what it would look like with the furniture arranged one way, then draw the traffic lines, then try it another way.  Keep trying different things, until you find a plan that flows nicely.

For drawing up floor plans, you can use grid paper and pencil, or you can use the computer to help.  If you use the computer, you can keep a copy as a back up.  If you lose your pencil drawing, you are out of luck, but with the computer, if you lose a print-out, you can just make another print-out.  You should save different versions with different numbers.  You can even branch off.  For example, you could make a copy where the kitchen is smaller, and one with it bigger, then from each of these, make other changes, then go with the one you like the most.

If you go with the computer approach, Visio or Google Sketch-Up can be used.  Google Sketch-Up can be used for 2D or 3D designs.  It can be used for internal or external designs.  One nice thing about it is that you can download images, such as 3D bushes, flowers, trees, etc., and import them from the web into your file.  You can make a 3D model of your home, including landscaping.  That can be very helpful when trying to see what changes to your yard would look like.

How do you get ideas for interior decorating?