In interior design, a motif is generally defined as a decorative design, image or pattern repeated regularly, giving a home or space a theme or uniting characteristic. Image motifs can lend a lot to room design. More than just centering your accumulated artwork and decor around a theme - say, nautical, with plenty of shells, retired buoys, paintings of sailboats, etc. - it allows your space to find its center through the repeated use of a specific image. Adopting motifs into your room-by-room design, you can help each space form a very defined personality.
Of course, you don't want to just jump into image motifs without considering how to bring the best of out of each print, sculpture, photo or knickknack. One of the best ways to really capitalize on your motifs is with gorgeous hardwood flooring, like the sort that Anderson Floors has been producing for over half a century. Just think how the engineered hickory boards of the Eagle Lodge collection could elevate your room design and motif arrangements. With beautiful and chiseled evidence of the immense woodcarving skill that went into each plank, you'll want these hardwood floors gracing your home.
Looking for some great motifs for each room? Use this helpful guide.
Kitchen
Most motifs chosen for the kitchen will have a culinary theme. You may want to go with something simple and charming, like tea sets. Paintings of people enjoying teas, a line of gourmet tin tea boxes, prints and wallpaper design or even tea pot-styled salt and pepper shakers would be great. Or perhaps you'd prefer to do something like citrus fruits - that way, everything from still lifes of bowls of oranges to lemons and limes themselves can become useful decor items.
Bathroom
For the bathroom, you may want to go with an aquatic theme. Fish would be a fun motif, and can be included on the wallpaper or via old-fashioned prints. In fact, bring a few fish into the bathroom itself! For a kid's bathroom, perhaps you could choose submarines, from modern subs to those of days gone by (or even a few sci-fi drawings or prints in the tradition of Jules Verne).
Dining room
Outfitting a dining room can be hard, but choosing from various landscape imagery can be great. Perhaps you'd like to go with a bucolic motif, so that each meal feels a bit like a picnic. You can find plenty of pleasant arcadia-inspired landscapes, whether in prints of classics or original paintings!