• Balance in its simplest meaning is to arrange items equally or proportionately to be symmetrical in appearance. The idea of balance is to make things visually equal. One way to do this is to create mirror images in two halves of the room. Clever arrangements of visually weighted items and accessories that compliment each other.
  • Emphasis is creating an anchor in a room that is the starting point for the viewer to understand the point in the decorating. For instance, grouping things together as though they belong together.
  • Rhythm is the pattern of weak or strong accents that form repetition or the recurrence of the same pattern. This can be with accessories, colors, or other type of accent.
  • Movement is the progression of some accent that creates unity by guiding the eye around the room. A wallpaper border that circles around the entire room is an example of creating movement. When one looks at the wallpaper, they will follow it around the room.
  • Proportion or scale also brings unity within a room. Proportion and scale creates the proper relation between things within the room.

These five basic interior design or home decorating basics are extremely helpful when you fully understand their meaning and how they relate to decorating. When deciding how to relate these basic ideas to decorating, keep it simple. Focus on one idea at a time until you know how you want to portray that idea within your decorating. Once you get the hang of what these ideas actually look like, you can create designs that are more creative.