Look Like You Hired an Interior Designer: Brad Roemer’s Pro Tips

Brad Roemer's Guide to Interior Design for Beginners

While interior designers have an unequivocal eye for magically transforming your home into something that belongs in a magazine, some interior design enthusiasts would simply prefer to tackle the project on their own. Why expense a project you’d love to make your own? We get it. That’s why Brad Roemer and his team of designers decided that creating an interior design guide for beginners would be a great way to introduce newbies to the role.

While the project is definitely a fun one for we design lovers, it’s not an easy one. If you don’t follow these pertinent rules then you can easily find yourself with a cluttered room that becomes confusing to the eye.

Get Inspired 

When deciding to re-decorate your home from bland to beautiful, you should first get visual with it. This is where Pinterest comes handy. If you don’t know where to start, don’t fret. Brad Roemer has created his own Pinterest account with boards that range from beach homes to fairytale garden for you to get inspired here. Have fun with this by creating your own personal boards. Once you’ve got an idea of what kind of interior design style you are the most attracted to, that’s when you can begin planning for it.

Brad Roemer's Guide for Interior Design Beginners
Choose between three colors and shades for each room

Make a Plan 

Take this project to the drawing board by outlining all the elements you’d like to make apparent in your home. For each room, choose three main  prominent colors or shades to work with. Depending on the mood that you want to evoke, decide between a warm and cool palette. One shade should be the most prominent, evident on the walls. The second color will be dedicated to the large accent furniture pieces, such as your dining room table and large L-shaped couch. The third color should be reserved for small knick-knack pieces, found in pieces like a flower vase, picture frame or coffee book.

No matter which colors you choose, consider re-vamping your light sources. Floor to ceiling windows are a heart-throbber for most interior designers as they work to accentuate any room’s color. If this renovation project isn’t accessible to you at the moment, simply focus on lighting up your room with sand-alone light fixtures.

Texturize It Up

There’s nothing more boring than a home with no texture. Texture brings in the pattern and character that your space deserves. While it may appear that your room is composed of a stand-alone color upon first look, closer insight will showcase the soft cotton or dark leather of your textiles. A more luxurious home will often include silk drapery and linens. It doesn’t matter what style you choose for your space, texture is a must!

Brad Roemer's Tips for Interior Design Excellence
Mixing Small and Large Accessory Decor Items

Choose Statement Pieces

If you’re not an interior designer, it can be easy to get swept off your feet with spindly pieces that you’ve found by chance at your local flea market. Follow the vision that you have planned for your room and focus on mixing it up with a few large items, such as a statement armoir, and a few smaller items (think matching end tables). Brad Roemer also suggests following this same tip for decor accessories, such as bowls and flower pots.

Add in Some Greenery

There’s nothing that says home more like a fresh bouquet of flowers or hanging plants. Bring the greenery inside with a natural arrangement of hydrangeas, peonies or roses in every room of your home. Another option for those who aren’t into flowers is DIY-ing your own arrangement of natural elements. If your style is rustic, cabin-fever like then you’ll enjoy feathers, acorns and twigs tied together in a large urn.

Brad Roemer suggests zesting up your space with some green
Brad Roemer suggests zest-ing up your space with some green

Brad Roemer’s Tips for Minimalist Style

Brad Roemer Blog

When it comes to minimalism, it’s easy us at Brad Roemer Interior Designs to sit here and spew out the latest home decor trends to implement into your home. However, we’ve come to realize that adopting a minimalist mindset is a fully encumbering task. You may want to declutter your home come spring and opt for sleek, polished furniture instead of the fading armoirs and bookshelves that you have around your apartment. Perhaps you’ll say no to any piece of furniture that doesn’t have multiple drawers to store your baubles away. If you’re really serious about using 2018 to be more simply and less frou-frou, then it’s about time that your style mimics your home.

Brad Roemer Style Closet

You’ll be astonished to find out how expensive you can look with a simple wardrobe. One thing that people often do is confuse a simplistic style with boredom. But have you ever noticed that some of the world’s most successful people wear the same types of clothing day after day, month after month? All you’ve got to do is refer back to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wardrobe of the same t-shirt and hoodie ten times over. Or how about Bill Gates who likes to wear a nice blouse with dress pants day in, day out? And no one can ever forget Steve Jobs’ black turtleneck and jeans. The world’s most successful people have tried to eliminate any possibility of decisions–from what they wear to what they eat. This way, they can focus on making decisions for things that matter the most to them, such as world politics, the climate of the stock market or the introduction of the new iPhone.

Here are a few pieces that you should consider implementing into your capsule wardrobe if you haven’t already (all brought to you by Brad Roemer’s lovely team of interior –and exterior– designers):

  1. A high-quality satin camisole in black and white. This item is so versatile and classic that you might as well spend a prettier penny on them so that you get more wear out of them. Nothing looks worse than an old, ragged white camisole. What’s great about this option is that you can pair it with a palette of different colored skirts– pencil or peplum, your choice — as well as jeans and dress pants.
  2. Shoes, shoes, shoes! Here’s what we at Brad Roemer Interior Designs believe you definitely need in your closet: A pair of classic, close-toed heels in black and nude; Heeled booties for the winter (black or brown); black work flats; rain boots; sneakers (for the gym and everyday casual style); and high flat boots (for in between seasons).
  3. Invest in your outerwear. A great leather jacket and trench coat will act as statement pieces in themselves for the fall and spring seasons. While a heavy-duty coat is what you need to survive the winter months, aim for one that cinches in at your waist to prevent yourself from looking unstructured.

The overarching goal in the journey to your minimalist style is to focus on timeless pieces as opposed to trendy items. No need to spend hundreds of dollars on bags and statement necklaces from Forever21 when you can buy one sturdy, everyday purse once and stick with it. Invest in your long-term style and think wisely before you get your credit card out.