7 Elements That Add the Wow Factor in Home Interiors

August 31, 2020

Srikanth is quite popular amongst his friends. Funny, kind, and warm, he usually invites his friends once a month to his place to just hang out. They play board games, watch movies, and indulge in karaoke every once in a while. While Srikanth’s hospitality does play a key role, his friends love spending time at his place.

According to his friends, Srikanth’s home is inviting and comfortable. Although the place is a regular 3BHK flat of 1560 sqfts, the place never feels cramped up. Instead its interiors and overall ambience just mesmerizes his friends.

Why? Srikanth’s home is designed keeping in mind the 7 basic principles and elements of home décor. These 7 elements have added the wow factor in the home décor.

Let’s see what these 7 elements are.

  1. Space – Use It Wisely

While decorating a house, one needs to be mindful of the space it entails. Now, when we say space, we don’t just mean the length, width, and height of the rooms. Yes, they are the basic concepts of space in home décor. But what we also mean is the corners.

Corners of rooms are often ignored. Many people find them difficult to work with and hence just don’t include them in their design plans.

We on the other hand look at space in a comprehensive manner and do not cut corners – if you know what we mean!

Secondly, space needs to be divided into two broad categories – occupied and empty. The occupied space is where the furniture is planned and put up. This will depend completely on the use of the rooms. The empty space is just that – left empty – to make the room look spacious and functional.

It is this balance between occupied and empty space that is critical. Stuff too much furniture in the room and you will make it look cramped up. Leave a lot of space empty and you will make it look undone.

So, balance is the key here.

  1. Lines – Create a Balance

Each room has vertical and horizontal lines that guide the eye of the viewer. Add to this the concept of dynamic lines and you have a whole new view.

These lines are usually created by the way you place your furniture. The horizontal lines often made the room look spacious and wide. They also give the sense of stability. But if you overdo the horizontal lines then you end up making the room look boring and uninspired.

Similarly, vertical lines are used to create a sense of freedom. These are created by using doorways and windows. These also make the room look taller. But overdoing the vertical lines can make a person feel uneasy due to the illusion of void they create.

Dynamic lines are the curves that can be incorporated by way of say stairs. These lines make the space look energetic and hold attention for longer time.

An interior designer needs to know how to balance the use of these lines to create a visual balance.

  1. Color – Reflect Your Style

Colors are probably one of the most important parts of home décor. But they are also the most difficult to manage. The reason being they play directly with the psychology of people.

Colors can stir emotions and bring up memories. They can make a person feel a gazillion things within a very short span of time. They can stimulate emotional and psychological response. So, they need to be used smartly.

Each color has a certain energy associated with it. For example, green color is often associated with calmness, orange is associated with warmth, red indicated appetite, etc. An interior designer needs to understand how to use each of these colors in varying combinations. The more balanced the colors are in different rooms and areas of the house, the more balanced the emotions are.

Colors should also reflect the personality of the inhabitants of the house. They should be aligned to the behavioral traits of the owners and their temperament. In short, color should reflect the style of the owner.

  1. Pattern – Add Perspective

Pattern is something that goes hand in hand with colors. When used cleverly with colors, patterns can enhance the appeal of a room. They also add a unique perspective to the space.

Patterns are repetitive design style that we often see in wallpapers or fabrics. They can be stipes, motifs, geometrics shapes, etc. The use of the pattern would depend on the size of the room. If the room is small, then using huge geometric patterns may make it overwhelming. And if the room is big, then using small motifs would make them go easily unnoticed.

The secret lies in knowing what pattern would help achieve the objective of each room and then using the right color combinations to go with it.

Patterns are also tricky because if they are not used correctly, then they can stick out like a sore thumb and look very ugly.

  1. Texture – For the Sense of Touch

Many people often think that home décor is all about eyes and visual appeal. However, we believe that home décor should also simulate other senses. When a person looks at the room, they also feel the room and the overall space. Hence, texture becomes very important here.

An interior designer needs to focus on visual texture and actual texture. Visual texture relates to how a person perceives the surface just by looking at it. This can be achieved by using the right patterns and color combinations. Actual texture is the tactile surface of the objects placed in the room.

The visual texture and actual texture should be aligned to each other. For example, you do not want to combine a fluffy visual texture with an object that has rough or sharp tactile surface.

  1. Light – More Than Just Flipping the Switch

So much is said about light in the world of interior decoration and yet it seems so little.

When we say light, we do not just mean natural light. While it is indeed good to have enough natural light in a room, artificial lighting is also key to home décor. This does not mean you just thrown in fancy chandeliers and lights everywhere.

Light needs to be understood in conjunction with the task it is expected to fulfil. There is something called task lighting which is usually done to enable a certain activity like reading. Then there is accent lighting which is done to emphasize certain objects like a collection of antiques or paintings. Then there is mood lighting which is done to evoke certain feelings like competitiveness in gaming areas of the house.

In addition to this, light also has the ability to bring out the real sense of color, energy, and feel of a space.

  1. Form – Create a Shape

Form refers to the overall shape of the room and the objects within it. The lines you create through design and the furniture placed within the room will determine the form of the room. It can be geometric if a lot of vertical and horizontal lines are in use. It can be natural or accentuated if a lot of dynamic lines and curves are being used.

The form of the room will also depend on the amount of furniture placed in the room and the available empty space. If your furniture placement is claustrophobic then it will give a very bloated form to the space.


All these 7 elements influence one another in different ways. The more you play around with these elements the more ideas you develop. A good home décor is all about achieving a balance between these and not overdoing either one of them. A clean, well planned, and balanced home décor is what wins the wows these days.