13 Interior Design Terms You Should Know
Learning interior design terms is crucial when looking to renovate because it helps you communicate effectively with professionals, express your preferences accurately, and understand design concepts. Familiarity with terms related to color schemes, furniture styles, architectural elements, and spatial arrangements allows for clearer discussions with architects, designers, or contractors. It empowers you to articulate your vision, ensuring that the final result aligns with your expectations. Additionally, understanding interior design terminology enables you to navigate design resources, making it easier to gather inspiration and make informed decisions during the renovation process. Here are some words and definitions to remember and use:
Contrast: Creating contrast in a room's décor is achieved by using opposite textures (such as glass and wood), light and dark colours, solids and patterns, etc.
Elevation: A rendering or drawing that depicts the vertical angle of a design plan.
Advancing colours: This phrase is used to describe the optical illusion, often created by dark colors, of making a surface appear closer or larger than it actually is.
Focal Point: The place within a room that draws the eye intentionally. This is often the starting point of a design and inspires many other elements of the interior.
Layered: The art of adding design elements to create a cohesive room is called layering. Each level of the design, such as flooring, window treatments, furniture, and accessories, adds another layer.
Monochromatic: The opposite of contrast; monochromatic is a series of colors in the same hue with varying shades.
Scale: Designers apply this term to specific objects and entire rooms. Scale refers to the size of a design element in relation to the dimensions of the space.
Wainscoting: The term wainscoting describes materials (usually panels) applied underneath a chair rail. It typically covers the bottom third of a wall.
Moodboard: Are inspiration images/products that are layered together to reflect clients design style and room. Helps clients visualize finishes and furniture being used cohesively
Aesthetic: A set of principles underlying and guiding the work of a particular artist or artistic movement. Everyone typically has an aesthetic they like or want to create.
Coastal: Defined by seaside elements and colours. The sand, driftwood, rope, shells, and the light reflecting off the water create a soothing ambiance. Incorporate those traits in a way that's clean and simple.
Minimalism: owning only what adds value and meaning to your life (as well as the lives of the people you care about) and removing the rest. It's about removing the clutter and using your time and energy for the things that remain.
Mid-century Modern: (also referred to as midmod and MCM) flourished during the mid-20th century when newly affluent post-War families began expanding into America's suburbs. You can find teak wood, rich colour accents, and sleek lines.
