Common Design Mistakes

Decor aid has transformed thousands of homes into luxurious living spaces. Regardless of style, budget, size or location, our senior interior designers have found that there are common mistakes everyone makes when designing their homes (before seeking professional help). Whether your next project is a Manhattan penthouse or a studio, let our designer advise you to avoid 13 common interior design mistakes.

budgeting

Starting a new home design project can be an exciting time for anyone ready to change the decor. However, our interior designers have found that sometimes clients get lost in their eagerness and simply forget to budget the project in the first place. Before starting your project, you should have a pretty clear idea of ​​how much everything is going to cost. Plus, you don’t have to rush to buy more than you can afford right now. Great decor spaces are curated over time.

Measurements

While it is very common to see a piece in a showroom and fall in love with it, it often leads to a large and costly home decor mistake. Interior designers emphasize the importance of measuring everything, especially when buying furniture online. Many people realize too late that their favorite lounge chair is far too small or too low compared to their sofa. Make sure you measure all of the parts before you make this costly mistake.

Painting before buying furniture

Choosing colors and painting your walls before you buy is a common design mistake that can be avoided. Our interior designers want everyone with a home decorating project to know that it is much easier to choose a wall color that compliments the decor than the other way around. If you really want to use a specific color, try finding larger pieces of furniture in that shade.

Bringing different styles together

When renovating or simply freshening up your home, you can easily feel invested in just one subject. While coordinating pieces gives any living space more cohesion, an internal mistake to avoid is too big. Rooms without contrast appear boring and without personality. Decorators say avoid one-stop shopping to avoid over-customizing.

Contrasting elements

Just as extreme matches are a big mistake in interior design, a room where any object contrast is a mistake that you should avoid in any room. Rooms with non-coordinating pieces act as an eyesore and appear to have a lack of cohesion. A good design tip is a balance between parts and contrasts.

Furniture height

Like many facets of a beautifully designed room, the furniture in a room should be of different heights and sizes and raised in different ways throughout the room. Think of your favorite cityscape and imagine how unattractive it would be if every building were on the same level. Art, window treatments, and furniture should be increased, even slightly.

Including male or female pieces only

Decor Aid designers have found customers avoiding certain styles or colors assuming it will make a room too masculine or feminine, especially in personal spaces like bathrooms or bedrooms. If you want to make a room more masculine, it doesn’t mean just using darker shades and vice versa for more feminine rooms. Again, this is a common mistake that can be easily avoided if a balance between light and dark is introduced into the room.

Put your work of art high

Incorporating art into your home is a great way to display personality and style. However, when it comes to placing art, homeowners make a huge design mistake. If you place the art too high or too low, the flow of space will be disturbed. Each piece you hang should sit with the furniture. A simple rule to avoid this decorating flaw is to keep art only eight to ten inches higher than furniture.

Push furniture against a wall

Pushing furniture against a wall is a natural decor mistake. Depending on the room layout, there may be no getting around it, but if you can avoid it. In reality, furniture placed against the walls of a room will not help save space or create the illusion of a larger room. Designers suggest centering your parts and pulling them closer together to create a flow that doesn’t trap anyone.

Falling victim to new trends

Design trends are useful when you want to see other people design their homes and can provide great inspiration. Since trends are always changing, it is a big mistake to decorate your home with the latest trends. You will end up spending a lot of money just on a whole room of pieces that will be out of date in a few months. Instead, interior designers say you should go for timeless decorative items, and most importantly, choose furniture that suits your personal style.

Your living room as an exhibition space

Just like with current design trends, decor showrooms are a good starting point to get inspiration and collect ideas. However, interior designers see customers turning their living spaces into showrooms. You can avoid this mistake by choosing stylish parts that have everyday functions. Another great benefit to home decor projects is to focus on parts that you can live with for a while.

Too many objects

As with other aspects of a well-decorated space, your accessories should be balanced, not too few or too many. It’s easy to over-equip a room that you think needs more. Your accessories add personality, but too many disrupt the flow and look chaotic. Keep the accessories organized and decide which ones to keep for the next season.

Exposed cables

TVs, media players and various other electronic devices provide entertainment for the guests. Dangling cables and wires are not only dangerous to fire, they are also extremely unattractive. Although many make this decor mistake, it is easy to fix. Drilling a hole in media consoles will hide exposed cables, but it is not always necessary. An affordable design trend is to use cable covers or organizers. These easily hide all cables and wires for a seamless view of your entertainment areas.