What Are 7 Elements of Interior Design? | 1 Step Closer to Perfect Design

Interior Design is like a fine piece of art if an artist knows well all the principles and elements of Interior Design. These elements are essential in enhancing the look and feel of the room and also in increasing the functionality.

With the use of elements and knowing principles of interior design we can create amazing design spaces that we have dreamed about. Let’s find out how.

What are 7 Elements of Interior Design?

• Light
• Line
• Space
• Form
• Color
• Texture
• Pattern

You will learn all these elements in detail and how they are used by interior designers to design perfect dwelling spaces. This, together with principles are the foundation of interior design. Try to learn and understand them well.

1. Light

Light is an important element of interior design and the basic aspect of any place, whether it is a commercial or residential space. It may be natural light or light from the man-made sources, but it is the most critical thing that is required in the building of your spaces and of course to design the interiors. Without the proper use of lighting, every other element would be of no or little use.

That is why interior designers and experts lay special emphasis on lighting and the patterns and the layouts of the same. If you set it right, visual effects of all other elements will become up to the fore making your spaces truly beautiful and feel like a wonderful visual treat.

When working with lighting for your interiors the interior designers will have to pay special attention to the various activities and purposes for which the lights will be used.

Most important thing to consider when setting up lighting design is layering. At this stage, we divide lights into three main types:

• Ambient lighting – It is used to light the entire area or space. The main purpose of Ambient light is the visibility of your space.
• Task lighting – they involve illuminating smaller areas, where we need strong direct light such as reading purposes. I would use White 4000K light bulb color for this purpose like this on Amazon.
• Accent lighting – with them, we light specific areas and objects. With them we want to draw special attention to our Precious items or we want to create special effects lighting some nice textures in our house. Accent lighting makes or brakes our design.

Learn more in-depth about light as the most important element of interior design in my extensive blog post here. At the same time, if you are interested to learn more about smart bulbs click here.

2. Line

The use of lines in interior design is well known to help in guiding and navigating the eye through the interiors of your space.

These lines could be vertical, horizontal and dynamic which help the interior designer in shaping and designing the room with perfection and finesse.

Lines help you create balance and harmony threw your design.

1. Horizontal lines create a great sense of formality, efficiency, and stability. Dining table, kitchen Countertop’s and chest of drawers drawing horizontal lines make sure your room will look huge.
2. Vertical lines form a major part of your home’s interior as well. They are formed by the features in the house such as doorways and windows. These lines evoke a sense e of unlimited strength and freedom in your spaces. At a functional level, these vertical lines lend an illusion of making the room look taller. You must ensure that they don’t overly heavy and all over the place. That would spoil the look of your place and make the inhabitants feel uneasy.
3. Dynamic lines are also commonly used in our interior. These comprise of lines of all kinds be it diagonal, curved or zigzag. You can use such lines in various parts of the space such as stairs or even a railing. They provide an appropriate contrast to your house and to the various other structures and are very helpful if you want to catch an eye or grab some attention from your visitors or the inhabitants. But again, too much of these can get distracting and your other line structures would lose their importance.

Interior designers are learned to create perfect balance between all the different types of lines.

Lines help create an illusion of size making your space appear wider or taller in size. They are done to draw your attention to a particular focal point where the attention of the visitor or the passer-by is needed.

3. Space

When it comes to the elements of interior design interior, space is of fundamental importance. No plan or design would work if you do not have a proper space. To ensure that you make the most out of interior design, making the best use of the available space is the key.

In interior design space is like the canvas on which an artist starts his painting.

The interior designers have the skills and the luxuries of using the three dimensions in a room that forms the space which is; the length, breadth, and height.

Interior designers are trained and skilled enough to determine what can be done to enhance the functionality of this three-dimensional space and what changes, tweaks and other alterations that they need to do to get the required design. They will make sure they utilize your space in a manner and a way that best suits your requirements and conditions that you might have laid down at the beginning of the project.

In the science of interior design space can be conveniently divided into two types:

• Positive space – include the space where all the objects, the appliances, the furniture and everything else in the house lies.
• Negative space is the vacant empty spaces in your living space which also includes the empty space between the objects in your positive side.

Interior designer would know exactly what needs to be done in order to use these spaces effectively. They want to achieve perfect balance between the positive and the negative spaces to avoid overcrowding or even that empty, vacant, sparse feeling at the far end of the room. The balance is decided by the client and also to a great extent by the functionality that is required from the spaces.

For example, negative spaces may be needed in paths and passages in the rooms for traffic to move.

The interior designers also take into consideration the size and scale of various other objects and furniture. Apart from all these different styles and designs can be deployed to achieve the desired results, such as the minimalistic design, or the eclectic design. No matter what you choose, striking the right balance will ensure you make the best use of your space.

4. Form

The form is, in fact, nothing but the shape of your room. It refers to the shape that outlines your entire room as well as the objects that fill the room. While everything else that is two dimensional will merely have a shape, every three-dimensional thing will have a form.

In interior design, a form can be described either to be natural or geometrical.

Geometrical forms refer to the square edges and the hard lines that form the outline of your room. The geometric forms are a result of man-made construction or building of the space and as such the outlines and the lines are formed by the structure itself.

Natural forms are made and created by nature. Your interior designer will make use of these structural and geometric or natural forms meticulously for a foolproof and good interior design. 

Another way of form types are open and closed forms.

Open forms are related to the objects that are visible and are in the open. With open forms, the designer can make the required changes to the placement of these objects along with any necessary enhancements to add to the look and feel of the space.

It is pretty obvious that when your interior designer is able to look at objects are in there in an open form, he surely has better accessibility in terms of planning and working out the best design.

Closed forms contain objects that are closed and self-contained.

The scale and proportion of the space or the room is also one other thing that needs to be taken into consideration. The objects that are placed inside the room should be as per the room dimensions and form.

That is simply because placing small objects in large rooms will make it look very small and full of negative empty spaces. As such keeping objects that are as per the size of the room ensures the right balance and harmony.

5. Color

An interior designer has to master the anticipation and use of colors in order to ensure success in his projects.

Where Space is the canvas of the painter in an interior designer, the colors are certainly the color that an interior designer can use to make a masterpiece out of the space he has at his disposal.

It is more of the creative acumen that comes into play here. It is more to do with the skills with which interior designer is able to anticipate and figure out the perfect blend of colors that will enhance the space, make it playful and bring it to life.

Colors, in fact, have an amazing impact on the minds and the moods of the dwellers of a house or space.

There are a certain science and psychology behind them and their importance can never be underestimated. A skilled and creative interior designer will ensure he utilizes this powerful aspect to create an effect that will leave you mesmerized.

Though color schemes and choice of colors for your rooms will depend more or less on you, there is a general perception around what colors suit what rooms the most.

As per common perceptions, the green and the blue shades trigger calmness and hence are commonly used in bedrooms. Similarly, the red shades are said to entice and stimulate the appetites and so are often used in kitchens or NOT:). Having said that, many choose their own colors and schemes that suit their needs and usability. 

While selecting a color you should keep in mind this few things:

• The activities for which the rooms will be used.
• Keep in mind the availability of both sources of lighting in there, i.e artificial and natural.
• Consider the size of the room when choosing your color palette. Interior designers will use bright colors for small rooms to create an illusion of size and make it look big.

6. Texture

Texture is usually referred to as the surface of the wall that is created to give it a perfect finish. The way it feels when you move your hands over the wall defines the quality of the fine work done by designer. 

It is often one of the most overlooked elements of interior design.

Those smooth, glossy, or coarse textures in almost all your objects, walls, curtains, and fabrics lend a subtle sense of certain depth in your interior design. Be it your furniture or accessories or walls, textures have the ability to add that level of interest and minute detailing that makes it a visual treat to the eye.

They can be classified into two types:

Actual textures also known as the tactile textures – are the textures that you can touch and feel by hand. They are available in three-dimensional space and can be experienced by means of touch and sight.

Interior designer will ensure your room has enough materials and components that have the actual textures. These actual textures are easy to create as it involves the use of physical material.

Visual texture , on the other hand, is more about creating a visual illusion of texture in the three-dimensional space. Nowadays there are many wallpapering techniques that make the walls and other interiors look like they are textured. However, in reality, they are not. It is all a game of perceptions. 

A skilled interior designer will be able to recognize this lack of texture and then will make sure to carefully place each object with respect to the other, adding perfect contract and finish to the design.

Here You can read an extensive articles about textures in interior design and learn more useful tips.

7. Pattern

Patterns are created by making use of a certain design in a repeated manner in a way that it looks visually appealing and attractive. Interior designers usually make use of patterns in designing materials such as wallpapers, rugs, fabrics, and soft furnishings.

We know different types of patterns such as: stripes, pictorial, geometric, motif, animal prints and organic. All of that and much more of these computerized types are available based on the design and layouts you select.

While implementing a pattern there are certain things that you need to consider:

1. The size and dimensions of the room. You need to keep in mind the overall styling of the space. When it’s a small room you need to ensure that the patterns are not overdone so that they are all over the place. But you can use a mix of patterns to lend an illusion of bigger heights to smaller rooms.
2. You need to ensure that the colors that you are using are also appropriate and suitable. The use of some complex patterns that comprise of colors and lines that produce a contrasting effect can make the room lit up with life.
3. Patterns are best used by the interior designers in what is known as the feature wall. This is the wall of the living room where wallpaper or pattern is done to present a contrast to the rest of the color scheme in the house.

It is important to know and understand the category of the patterns in order to ensure that the purpose of the room is maintained.

You can opt for various stylings based on the needs and the purpose which can be traditional, organic, floral and for a more contemporary look, you can experiment with abstract and geometric prints. They are an absolute treat to the eye and when combined with a few other elements they can change a room into a fun and lively space.

Final Words

So by now, you would have a fair idea of all the seven most important elements of Interior Design. Whether you want to try doing it yourself or whether you hire an interior designer for your next house or home improvement project, you will surely be in a better position with all the knowledge of how all these elements put together can transform your ordinary dwelling spaces into an extraordinary spectacle. Don’t forget to read my extensive blog post about principles of interior design. Join this knowledge to create an amazing designs by yourself.