Daniels Design & Remodeling is excited to embark on a blog series which our readers should find quite useful, whether you end up enlisting our home remodeling services for yourself or not. We are confident that the vast majority of us will need to recall at least one or two of the following principles at some point in the future. Now, we aren’t as sure about which ones will be called upon, and this is precisely why we’ve decided to turn this into a mini-series of sorts; there are too many fundamental principles of interior design to only have a single blog on the topic!
Before we dive into the meat and potatoes of interior design principles, we’d like to take a few moments to describe who we are as a boutique home remodeling company in Northern Virginia. While many of our readers are well-versed in our process and offerings, we’ll never turn down an opportunity to highlight what separates our home redesign contractors and team from others in our area.
Why Daniels Design and Remodeling?
Founded in 1997, Daniels Design & Remodeling is Northern Virginia’s top boutique architectural home remodeling firm, offering a wide variety of expertise and experience in home renovation projects. We don’t simply aim to provide our customers with stunning results, but we strive to show what true customer service looks like in terms of process as well.
Our contractors work tirelessly to make sure that our customers get a superior home renovation experience. Each of our customers is unique, and that’s why we only describe our process in structural terms — we tailor our home remodeling services based on your unique needs and requests. That said, our process is best described in three steps:
- Feasibility Study – Let us show you what is possible
- Choose Your Design – Choose from up to three concepts
- Build Your Project – Let us create a space that you will love, aesthetically and functionally!
One nominal deposit will see you receive three design concepts from Northern Virginia home remodeling company that has a 97 percent customer satisfaction rate, has won 25 industry awards, and is a NARI Certified Remodeler.
Now, without further ado, it’s high time we lead off this blog series with three of the most important interior design rules you will come across: the 3/3 vertical rule, the 10-30-60 rule, and the rule of threes. Let’s dive in!
The 3/3 Vertical Rule
In his book, Color Therapy at Home: Real-Life Solutions for Adding Color to Your Life, home designer Mark McCauley has pioneered a modern concept of interior design which, like many contemporary ideas, plays with the idea of capturing the natural beauty of the great outdoors in an indoor setting.
Essentially, the 3/3 vertical rule points to a concept most often found in nature — darker shades are found toward the ground, such as stones, dirt, or dark grass. Moving up in the frame, you’d find more neutral tones of plant life and trees. Continue moving up and you’ll see brighter tones, akin to the sky.
Applying this natural principle, McCauley posits that interior design can achieve a classy yet comfortable aesthetic when being intentional about your pallet in this way. Having the darkest shades toward the floor, medium tones in the middle, and the light shades toward the ceiling works well for both monochromatic shades and diverse palettes.
The 10-30-60 Rule
After you’ve selected your preferred colors for the room(s) you are designing, the next step is to decide which colors will take the mainstage in their roles, and which color will serve as bit-part, complementary players.
This is where the 10-30-60 rule helps significantly. It helps you select an accent color, secondary shade, and, of course, a dominant shade. The dominant shade should comprise roughly 60 percent of the room’s surface area. The rule suggests that the shade should be neutral, seeing as how so much of the room will be this color, so it shouldn’t overpower. Wall colors, floor coverings, and other areas with plenty of surface area prime choices for allocating the dominant color. The secondary shade, on the other hand, is usually more eye-catching and bold, making it an excellent choice for furniture selections. This should cover roughly 30 percent of the room.
We are left with ten percent of the room to work with. According to the 10-30-60 rule, the accent color should be the most striking color of the three. Keep in mind, however, that you should only use the accent color for accessories and other subtle touches.
The Rule Of Threes
We’ve given you two rules based on color, so we trust that you are well on your way with selecting pallets that fit your own style.
However, if there were only one rule you walk away from this blog remembering, we’d recommend it be the rule of threes. This rule concerns how one should choose their accessories. More specifically, the rule of three states that grouping decorative items in groups of three (or, really, any odd number) is more eye-catching than an even number.
Seeing as the rule isn’t called “the rule of odd numbers,” you probably already inferred that the number three carries special significance. For psychological reasons unknown (to us), three is the best number for choosing quantity of decorative accessories. The point is to create visual interest without overpowering the rest of the room. While accessories vary in many characteristics, this is a rule worth remembering — whether we are discussing pillows, candles, vases, or what have you.
Work with the professionals to turn your home redesign dream into a reality!
Contact Northern Virginia’s Choice
Whether your home is in Fairfax, Alexandria, Springfield, Prince William County, or elsewhere in Northern Virginia, we hope that you consider us among the home renovation contractors on your shortlist. We are passionate, capable, and dedicated to giving our customers a world-class customer experience.
Home remodeling isn’t always streamlined or stress-free, but we do our best to come as close as humanly possible to make that a reality! Speaking of, we’d love to turn your house into a dream home. Schedule your conversation with us today!