Tell us a bit about fav colours, what budget you have, 1 being v.v. Low and 10 being v.v. High where does your budget fall? What do you want to keep vs what do you want to replace? What r yr room measurements.

What would you like to say?Well like I said I'm young and broke so my budget is I say 2 :( for now still I find a steady job but I wanna step foot in the field and learn. I love neutral colors just painted the brown to bring in light and left the red wall. My room is 9 x 14 and I my favorite styles contemporary and modern. I'm really not sure what to change I will like a better futon and modern low bed platform. I know a friend that works for a antique/funiture store so I get help with things if I return the favor.

OMG thank U those tips are really making me think. Have to make mistakes to learn. Ok change and switch around the art and dots. Check!

Great start! Do you need your futon for an extra bed for guests? If not, have you considered using the futon (laid out) as your bed base? Then lay your mattress on top to take your mattress off the floor. Then I would look at a couple of small matching chairs (try Ikea) in a fun graphic pattern, where your futon is currently placed with a round ottoman in front. Think about moving the art piece (currently above your desk and put it on the wall to the left of the window (where you currently have the small shelves). Move the piece above the bed to above the desk. See (after getting the chairs) if the combination of all the dots and shelves would be sufficient on the wall behind. Also, I agree with getting a dresser. Try Ikea again, maybe black so it would tie in with your desk. I would try to get a long, low one. This would also allow more counter space to display some items. If you would like to create a sense of separation between the seating and bed, try getting a sheer or fun drape and hang from the ceiling. Then finish it off with a rug! I know this seems a lot, but it gives you something to shoot for. Good luck!

I'll try the futon trick and mess with the art. I'm a artist and I slapped together that 5 piece wall art but I'll look for better art. X) I like the twin chairs idea and I currently only have one little ikea side table with the lamp on. And really I'm learning from all the tips everyone sends me so thanks

I have fiddled with your clock wall a bit to illustrate a couple of points. The clock is the centre of attention, so put it at eye height. Then consider the balance of black and white, sizes, and positioning above and below the clock. Don't be afraid of profusion if it's not muddle and mess.

Not so much for now -- as your main aim is to make a room you'll love -- but for your future, inform yourself as much as you can, not just by reading design mags, but also by raiding your library for books. Read, sketch (pencil in hand!), and practise with design software, incessantly. In the meanwhile, save up for formal design education later. A great piece of advice from a mentor of mine in another art: Learn the rules, then you can break them. And good luck. You have a delightfully original approach, I'd love to see what you can do in a few years' time.

OMG I shed a tear for those wise words. I guess I can head to school for some years and as a visual learner it shouldn't be much of a struggle to catch on I learn this much without so I can imagine with some real training I'll be a cool designer one day so thank you!!! And if you don't mine I'll kidnapped your clock circle idea and make my own X)

Have a look at Ikeahackers online.

Cool thanks I'll check it out!

http://lifehacker.com/when-ikea-is-great-for-diy-and-when-it-isnt-499158925

Delighted to have you kidnap the clock circles. :-))

Awesome! I got Rina's original digital circles! XD thanks much I it and it looks cool

aix23 - quick msg to say that the more you can build your own resourcefulness and develop your own standards for your work performance and design aesthetic, the more capable you will be. While certifications and formal training can be important, I encourage you to watch and learn what works and doesn't, not only in a design sense, but in terms of how you will run your professional self, with whom you would and would not work, developing your sense of values that give integrity to your business. These are things you can note every single day and build the confidence that will take you a step above--assuming a love of learning! All the best on the journey.

Garden Oaks Fine A. - another one of wise words and I take it all in and learn so I really understand. That's why with the assistant work I do now I really like to jump in and get dirty and always eager to help and learn. And to get better I'll have to bite the bullet and go to school for further training but in the end I get to do one thing I love to do. Design! Thanks much

Tickar series dinnerware from Ikea has dots in it in black and white. Tvis mat in green, black or red is round and cheap. Best thing for artists, is the Alex drawer unit on castors, code 201.962.42 which has lots of wide shallow drawers to hold paper or dry works. For easy chair, try out Nolmyra in birch and polyester, 302.336.06. Artist desk can be made from their adjustable legs and table top with a lip. Ikea hackers have a lightbox made from Lack table, from memory.

Thanks chookchook2 I had a little Brain overload on where to start on the site but now I have some directions. I'm liking the idea of chairs replacing the futon and not sure on the rug color?

Mate, use the colour wheel in conjunction with what you are going to keep. There is also school of thought that start with pattern such as art/rug/fabric and take all room colours from that. Three is usually the norm. With colour wheel, decide what u want room to do. If to be soothing, choose complementary colours and not much pattern . If a stimulating space, go to opposites on the colour wheel. Have a balance of pattern and plain, so the eye does not get too tired. I like your dots and would reference that with the round rugs. But you might prefer a wool rug. Ikea has its competitors, look online. We buy a lot of vintage, ask your friend for " junk" that comes in with the antiques, that you can refinish. I love the freedom to be able to paint again at whim. Get friendly with sample pots! Also if you want a laugh, look up banned Ikea ads.

chookchook2 - thanks I'll look into the plain colors to go with the circles and it's late and I needed those laughs XD thanks ikea just so funny!

The more I look at your room, the more I enjoy it. I like the way the red wall references the painting of the woman. It gives a nice focus and presence to the room.

I agree about some of the art being hung a bit too high, especially the pieces over the bed. They could almost imply a headboard, but they are just barely too high, where they disconnect from the bed. If they were centered over the bed, both top to bottom of wall and side to side over the bed, I think they would relate to the bed better and compete less with the other groupings of art.

You don't need expensive things in a space, they just need to have interest. That isn't always achieved by having things equidistant and centered, though sometimes it is. But if there is thought behind what you do, then a composition emerges.

Speaking of composition, check out some art and ask yourself why something speaks to you in a painting or photo, this will help with composing rooms too.

Also, I like your wall shelves/plants/dots grouping on the window wall a lot.

Ingakarina- thanks a lot I really will look into the art. I'm still figuring out how high or low to put painting. What kills me is if I put it too low then I say there's a lot of spaces in between the art and to the ceiling and vise versa.

A good starting point might be halfway between the top line of the furniture and where the wall ends at the ceiling, if there is furniture.

Hi again Aix -- more fiddling, to lower paintings. I hope you can see that by bringing the eye down, you also make it pretty well ignore the higher part of the wall. In any case, space has its own beauty.

Wow. The art space tips are really handy. I can now see what you guys are talking about to just let the eye be drawn to the art instead of having it workout by looking up or down. And really after a while your eyes adapt to the art lever and I don't even notice the space above or below the art anymore. :) wow

Guys do often have issues with hanging art - I think they believe "eye level" means where their eye is as they're hammering in the nails. Stick to centering pieces 60" above the floor when not sure. If seating is extra low, then art would need to be lower to fall at seated eye level. Unless you are wandering around an art gallery, eye level usually refers to being seated and enjoying the art from that position. You might benefit from picking up a library book on scale and proportion in design. It will save you a lot more time than straight visual learning, but combine the two and you'll learn what "feels right" usually is right.

Another very cool (I think) tip is being aware of how things "reference" each other in a space. So, the fern like print "references" the plants on the wall shelves, as they are both green, both have similar shapes and are both the same kind of object - in this case, plants. Similar shapes reference each other, such as each wall shelf to each other wall shelf, or the various square and rectangle shapes in the room. Similar colors, or even textures, likewise, allude to each other.

Why is this important? Because it's an easy way to help create balance in a room. Think about them in terms of layering into a room. So the fern print is on a wall, and the shelves are on a different wall. They are both at roughly similar heights in the room and on similar planes (the walls). In order to balance them, you could introduce a green plant that is more three dimensional but still reference the shape (say, fern like) of those other things and balances them for the eye Ina different part of the room (for example on the desk under the woman painting). As you get better at this kind of referencing and layering, the way you relate objects and spaces to each other becomes more advanced and subtle, but it really is based all on this.

Additionally, if you group a number of like things together, or one very large and/or prominent thing together, it shifts the balance towards those objects. When you do this on purpose , those become "focal points". Take your painting of the woman. The painting is a large object and you have done the very clever trick of leaving the wall behind it red, which gives it more "weight" in the room, and expands it as a focal point. If the wall were a different color, or there were a number of pieces of art there, it might not have that same weight.

Anyways, my point is that being conscious of how object reference each other to balance a room and playing with that balance is the joy of design.

Oh, and lastly (I promise!), not having a budget can be a good thing. Learning to look at and arrange the objects you already have into a pleasing and purposeful manner is a very important skill for a designer. A lot of people can go buy whatever pieces of furniture or art they want, but the spaces still look lifeless because there is no expression, thought and personality behind why those objects are there.

decoenthusiaste- I see where you're coming from and I'll start picking up books and jump in which I find hard in just keeping focus in reading X) but I can do that and look into the eye lever trick plus...

Ingakarina-you can keep the tips coming all u want. Great tips and they get my brain working. Great points on balance and blending objects with similarities together. And the big Lady art piece should she walk alone on the red wall? And the two plant art pieces should they move toward the shelves?

Absolutely not a fan of the circles,,,too juvenile,,,but I loved the suggestion of the clock wall with them as it makes sense & makes a statement. Ledges flying in mid air with no correlation bothers me, but I get where you're going. And keep going,,,you have good guides here!!! Good for you for wanting to learn!!!

You don't need to move like objects together necessarily. Just repeat the reference (color, shape, texture, or object etc) in various places around the room for a balanced look.

Ah ok I see just kinda bleed one pattern or style from one wall to the next but don't force. Just smoothly let the styles blend and your eyes flow right along. I think I got the idea. X)