DECORATING Simple Room Design Plan Ideas

See how happy this face is?

Why?

Remember when I asked you if you needed help with a room or a design challenge?

If you missed the post, you can read more about it here.

Well, I asked?

And just like Amazon, FedEx, and UPS?

You DELIVERED.

I got dozens and dozens and dozens of email and a few comments and I’ve been working on some design plans. And along the way? I discovered something amazing.

I LOVE to put together design plans.

Maybe because it makes me use part of my brain that I forget about?

Maybe because I’m working with decor I don’t normally use to decorate with?

Maybe because it’s so fun to think outside the box?

Whatever, however, whichever, the fact remains that designing is filling up my heart and making me so happy. If you asked me these questions, I sent you a personal email with the details, but I thought it might be fun to post here in case any of you have the same challenges.

Here are some simple room plan design ideas you can recreate in your own spaces.

Just a couple of quick notes before we get started:

I’m just getting started–I want this to be a regular feature, but it might take me a while because there are so many requests
The paint colors are designed to go together—think accent walls, furniture, and inspiration colors
Some of the pieces are already in the homeowners’ pictures they sent me, but I don’t want to share people’s homes because there are over half a million people that read this blog every month, so I want to be respectful of people’s privacy
Some of the questions people sent don’t need a design plan, rather just creative solutions, so I’ll just list the solutions after the question
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the comments

Simple Room Design Plan Ideas

// shop sources here //

Diana needed help with her southwestern design plan in Arizona.

She wrote: “What an AWESOME idea! My home in AZ is decorated in a southwestern style, so it may be a more unusual design challenge for you. I need help injecting pops of color in the living room. ( I will e-mail a photo) I hope you are able to make some suggestions! Thx”

Some of these design elements were already in her space and I just expanded on them.

Diana asked for color and I turned to one of my favorite pops of color, SW Coral Reef. The walls in her living room are already a light green, so I wanted to add coral with pillows, artwork, a throw and even a rug.

You can shop the design plan I put together here.

// solutions for a vent on a wall //

Q: Vent on a wall

Mitzi asked: “Here’s my problem. I have a register vent on the wall above this piece of furniture and would like to make it blend…somehow. I do not think the picture I’m using is big enough and have considered doing a huge piece of artwork with “cutouts” for the vent. I’m not very good at explaining things so I’ll just send you a picture! Any help will be so much appreciated!!!”

I asked her if the vent needed to remain open. If so, here are a few ideas:

1. Could you paint the vent to match the wall color? They have those wood vents that look like art and then it would just blend in!

2. Create a mini gallery around it!

3. Add a ledge across the top and add photos and artwork (less expensive than the big piece of artwork)!

If you can cover the vent, here are a few ideas:

1. I like the idea of the larger piece of artwork! It could even be a canvas that you paint yourself.

2. You could also add a row of three separate pieces of artwork.

3. They also have magnetic covers for vents that you could match to the paint color, so it would blend into the wall.

You can see all these solutions here.

Q: Bay window curtain ideas

Eve was looking for ideas for her bay window. She wrote:

“Good morning! What a fabulous idea. I have a bay window facing the street. Under the center bay there is a radiator. The window treatment I have now are shades (which I keep up and lower if it get too much sun–faces East). I have valances and half curtains on the lower half–which covers the center radiator. On the side windows I have half curtains as well and long curtains on either side. This works for us but looking for newer ideas. Thanks!”

Here are a few ideas for the bay window:

1. What about shutters? You could add shutters (the kind that fold out and in) on the bottom half for privacy and then add roman shades on the top for pattern (and you could always lower them if you had too much sun or needed even more privacy. If you wanted a really clean look, you could add shutters on the top and bottom and open the top only.

2. What about double rod sheers? Add a curtain rod where you can add two sets of curtains. Then keep the longer curtains on either side and add sheers to the center of the window for privacy.

3. What about fabric roman shades? You could always swap out the valence for roman shades set inside the window for a cleaner look. This is so pretty, especially if you have pretty molding in the bay window.

4. What about matchstick (or woven) blinds instead of the valence? You could keep the long curtains and just swap out the valence in the middle of the window. It’s a great way to add texture and you could match the blinds to your floor.

// Christmas staircase design plan //

And now?

Is it too early for Christmas? (For me? NEVER.

ZiZi wrote: “Each Christmas, I decorated our straight stairs with fresh magnolia swags from the 4 trees in our yard. Sadly, the new yard does not have even one magnolia. So here is my challenge for you: can you work on some ideas for my new stairs? I will need to use faux greenery. The stairs consist of a short rise to a small landing and then a turn back to the second floor. If possible, I would like to make a definite change from my magnolia swags. I am ready for something simple. Thank you for considering my question.”

I gave ZiZi four different ideas and ultimately we settled on a pine garland with velvet ribbons and mercury glass ornaments (champagne tones and burgundy or green velvet ribbons).

You can see the sources for the design plan here.

// outdoor pergola design plan //

And now for an outdoor challenge.

Rachel asked about help for her outside deck and pergola. She wrote:

“The deck gets a lot of hot, Illinois, afternoon sun. I am thinking that plants or a screen/fence panel would be good between the septic stuff and my hubby’s lounge chair. I can’t picture where to place what. The rocked bed goes all around the house- the last owner didn’t want any maintenance! We added the hostas that you can see, and we are updating the all-boxwood street-side. I am looking forward to your creative solution!! You always share such fun and useful ideas. Thanks!”

1. I love the idea of a screen with plants growing up a bit! Not sure if you would be open to this – – but they do sell panels with fake plants. I only suggest it because sometimes it takes a little bit of time for real plants to grow up!

2. We had a porch similar to this, and I added curtains that pulled across so that might be another option.
3. I think the real challenge if it’s hot, is what to cover the top with! I did find this article with several solutions.

You can see the outdoor pergola design sources here.

Wasn’t that fun?

What do you think?

Were you inspired—did it give you ideas for your own spaces? Did any of these plans give you some ideas or make you want to decorate a little in your own spaces?

I’ll be sharing more soon. I have tons more design plans to get to and besides…

….it’s really hard to keep a design planning decorator down.