Anyone who has designed a room knows it isn’t easy and that mistakes happen. These are a few common design mistakes you can make and how to
When it comes to decorating a home, it’s easy to charge in, ready to create your dream room. But if you don’t have the know-how, your dream room very well may become a nightmare. If you’re trying to avoid designing mishaps (or are trying to fix the ones that you’ve already made), here are some common decorating mistakes and how to fix them.
Chaotic Color Schemes… or Lack Thereof
Faced with all the color possibilities available, some designers pick too many colors to feature in their room or choose not to follow any pattern and or color scheme at all, picking individual pieces without thinking of how the colors fit in with others in the room. The lack of a clear color palette in the room can make it feel busy, chaotic, or unfocused. The 60-30-10 rule is the easiest fix for a chaotic color scheme. The idea behind it is to pick three colors in the room. The first is the main color you want to feature, which will take up about 60% of the space. Then, pick a secondary color you can use for accents that complements the first and occupies 10% of the room. Then, for the middle part of the equation, choose a neutral color that balances the other two colors and occupies 30% of the room.
Neglecting the Trim
It’s possible to pick the perfect paint color, apply the right primer, use the right brush, and paint the right number of coats, and still have a paint job that looks amateur. The reason? The trim. We see the trim so often that we tend not to think about it, but the trim is the thing that frames the room. If the frame is sloppy, the room will feel sloppy, too. The fix here is to keep an eye on your trim as you are painting the rest of the room. Utilize painter’s tape to make sure your edges are straight. Then, make sure you go back and paint the trim as well.
Not Utilizing the Space Well
There are two directions when it comes to not utilizing space well. The first thing you can do is to try to cram too many things into a space. The second is having the right number of things but arranging them in a way that makes it feel like you don’t. Both can make the room feel smaller than it is. The first solution for this problem is to assess whether everything in a room truly needs to be there and adjust accordingly. Then try some rearrangements. Bringing the furniture, especially sofas and armchairs, away from the walls is often a simple way to make a space seem bigger.
Common decorating mistakes are common for a reason. A lot of people make them, and because a lot of people have made them, there are a lot of people who we can learn from. So learn from the homeowners who went before you, and go make your dream home a reality!