Decorating elements
Whether you are working with existing furnishings and fabrics or "starting from scratch" with an empty room, you should always use the elements and principles of design as a guide in choosing everything. The elements, remember, should be tools or raw materials. The elements of design include space, line, form, color and texture. The principles of design are balance, emphasis, rhythm, proportion and scale, and harmony and unity. Balance gives a sense or feeling of completion. A well-balanced room gives careful consideration to the placement of objects according to their visual weight.

Emphasis is the focal point of the room. The focal point should be obvious as you enter the room; it is the area to which your eye is most attracted. Whatever is featured as the center of interest - a fireplace, artwork or a window treatment framing a beautiful view - it must be sufficiently emphasized so everything else leads the eye toward the featured area.

Rhythm helps the eye move easily around the room, from one object to another. Rhythm is created through repetition of line, form, color or texture.

Proportion and Scale. Proportion refers to how the elements within an object relate to the object as a whole. Scale relates to the size of an object when compared with the size of the space in which it is located.

Harmony and unity encompasses all the other elements and principles of design. Unity assures a sense of order. There is a consistency of sizes and shapes, a harmony of color and pattern. And that's what interior decorating is really all about.