You’ve probably heard of the focal point—that one thing that catches the eye and pulls your room décor together. It can be a fancy centerpiece, an ornate piece of décor, or basically anything of interest. The focal point is one of the first choices you have to make when designing a room. Without a good focal point, your room is just a mess of furniture and fabric, color and pattern, with no real sense of order.

So how do you choose a focal point for your room? Here’s a little trick: walk into your room and note the first thing you lay your eyes on. That’s usually your focal point. If you can’t settle on a single object, you probably don’t have one—and now’s the best time to create it. Here are some elements that can make good focal points.

Architectural details
Sometimes the focal point can be built into the room itself. An odd protrusion, nice cornicing, or an elevated area can be decorated to create a good focal point. Rounded corners can hold panoramic posters or murals, which can instantly set the mood of the room. If there’s a large window with a nice view, consider leaving it bare—the view itself can be the focal point. Emphasize the view with a subtle frame or side window treatments.

Room fabrics
If your room is a simple box, add interest yourself by choosing fancy room fabrics. Oriental area rugs make great centerpieces for large rooms, and braided area rugs add a splash of color to solid-colored floors. Don’t have enough floor space? Get smaller kids area rugs and use them as furniture pads. Match them with other fabrics for a unified look. Red rugs can set off curtains of the same color, while black area rugs can bring out bright colors such as pink, blue and yellow.

Furniture
Simply take the biggest piece of furniture in your room and place it in a prominent spot, such as an open corner. Draw attention to it with plush wool area rugs or an attractive slip cover. Once it’s all set, it’s just a matter of putting the rest of the furniture around it. Place them so that they lead the eye straight to the focal point. It helps if your furniture has a unique design, but if it doesn’t, just dress it up with a nice drape or colorful pillows.

Wall art
If you have a lot of wall space, why not take advantage of it? Put up a nice painting, tapestry, or an interesting wall fabric. Hang large pieces at the center of the wall to give it more emphasis. Alternatively, you can take several smaller (preferably related) pieces and arrange the frames on your wall. Use different frame sizes to add interest to the collection. Don’t have anything to display? Create a feature wall—a section of wall that’s different in color, texture, or pattern from the rest. It doesn’t even have to contain anything—as long as it’s different, it works as a focal point.

5 Quick Tips for Decorating with wall decals

1.    Go simple.  Less is best for stylish decorating.  Like many things in life choosing high quality effective products will be more successful than multiple cheaper, non matching products.  Choose one or two focal point decal designs and remember to consider the space around the wall decal design to achieve the best effect.

2.    Research your surface.   Decals are sign writing graphics applied to a surface.  These are designed to be applied to hard, smooth, clean surfaces.  Choose a surface that will suit the application of vinyl.  Smooth painted walls.  Painted wood.  Glass.  Metal.  Formica. Plastic.

3.    Think “Single location”.  Proper wall decals are not repositionable.  They are made from ultra thin vinyl that when removed will be stretched and misformed- near impossible to reapply.  So if you are spending $200 on a design and intend to move in a month or two, then your money will go to waste.

4.    Choose within your skill level.  Applying a standard wall decal is manageable with clear instructions.  However, if you choose a detailed design with lots of small pieces, the application will be more complex.  In addition, larger wall decals require more “handyman” skills that smaller ones.

5.    Research size.  If you have a large wall to decorate, then choosing a large size may be appropriate, but it may not.  Make sure you consider the effect you are trying to create.  Secondly, double check the suppliers sizing.  There is nothing more annoying than opening your package and finding the design is tiny for the price you paid.  If the supplier is not clearly showing the size, then ASK.

By following these 5 quick tips, you will be well on your way to successful decorating with vinyl surface graphics.