How to Find and Use an Inspiration Piece and Elements in the Interior Design Process

Step 1: Who is this space for? If this space if for yourself or another, first decipher you or your client's needs, wants, style, and desires. What clothing does this person wear? What is their lifestyle? Do they read a lot? Do they entertain? Do they watch movies at the theaters often?

These are all questions to be answered as well as many more that can be grounded on intuition as well as an analytical assertive approach into finding these solutions.

Step 2: Brainstorm!

Now that these ideas and preliminary questions are swirling through your head, it's time to brainstorm. Based on their needs, what kind of colors would suit the clients at hand. What style would fit this person or people? If you don't already know how to distinguish separate styles, do some research and see what your clients gravitate to. To do this for yourself, I would look through magazines, art, architecture, fashion, really anything that gets your energy going. Take a picture of possible inspiration pieces. You will need these pieces as a basis for the color, texture, and partial elements of your room.

Step 3: Choose your inspiration

Once you find that one piece you feel is fitting for the project, choose it. This will now be your basis for everything you want your project to embody. Look at what the piece is. Is it a piece of fabric with thin purple stripes? Analyze the piece in the most rational and recordable way you can. What specifically about this piece do you like? What makes this piece fitting for the project in the analytical sense? Is it because the client likes purple? Does the client like lines? Make sure to note all of the pluses and minuses for the piece. Once you're confident enough and have evaluated that this is what you will use, now is time to put it into action. Figure out the elements to use, and start implementing it in the plan of the design. Use thin lines where you can without it being too much, use the purple in correlation to the rules of color theory, and apply all the interior design principles to the project. You can make this clearer by building an inspiration board. The board will show how different pieces relate to the inspiration piece and how they will work together and complement each other in the final design.

Good luck and have fun!