Improve your interior design game by avoiding these decorating mistakes
Spotting the latest trend or design inspiration on Pinterest or Instagram may have you excited to dive in and start DIY-ing your own home decorating project. But before you pick up a hammer and measuring tape, make sure you’re not making some of these most common interior decorating mistakes.
I’ve been inside a lot of homes where the design or decor just feels “off”. Often, the client can’t even put their finger on what exactly is causing the problem and not quite right. As a professional interior designer, I have an innate knack for feeling a space the moment I step inside and knowing what needs to be done to achieve a sense of home. I’m sharing some of my insider knowledge with you because I want to help you avoid making these mistakes in your home, and learn how to identify them if you already have.
Interior Decorating Mistake #1) Poor Spatial Planning
A well-planned space is the foundation of a beautifully-designed space. Spatial planning refers to the strategic organization and arrangement of your space to optimize functionality and elevate the aesthetic. You need to begin by looking at the available space, deciding how it will be used, understanding what functionality is needed on a daily basis, and determining from there how to layout and configure the space effectively.
One of the common interior decorating mistakes I see comes down to scale of furniture meaning the sofa, lounge chairs, coffee tables, etc. are either too large or too small. Picture this: you step into a living room with a massively oversized sectional and a tiny delicate coffee table in the middle of the room. Or a coffee table that’s so large it takes up most of the space, while the sofa and recliner are pinned against the wall, barely leaving room to walk through.
Proper space planning up front can help to avoid this mishap by mindfully and intentionally defining the scale of the furniture and choosing the placement of furnishings. As a professional, I use a technology called AutoCad to design great spaces from the start. There are also apps that homeowners can download and use when attempting to go it alone.
Here are three tips to help you improve your spatial planning and scaling needs from the start:
- Allow 10-12 feet for conversation settings. Consider placing furnishings far enough away from the television to allow separate space for connecting and chatting when it’s not in use. For areas that see a lot of foot traffic, consider allowing additional space (18-20”) so it’s not too cramped.
- Don’t feel like you need to line furniture up against the wall. Consider bringing your furniture away from the wall with a slightly smaller size of chair or sofa that allows for a nice, set-aside conversation area.
- Ground furnished spaces with an adequately sized area rug. Most area rugs are too small. I see this for furniture grouping areas as well as by the front entry. Here in Naperville, IL we tend to have large front entryways and I always encourage my clients to embrace the space with a large, welcoming area rug that allows guests to freely enter and feel there’s plenty of space to do so. An area rug in furnished areas that’s the right size will help to ground the space and create a mood within a mood. You want to ensure the rug is large enough for furniture legs to rest on it (if not all four legs, at least the front two!)
Spatial planning from the start is key to creating the ambience you desire and helps to pick out exactly the right too-scale pieces for the room you’re decorating.
Interior Decorating Mistake #2) Lighting Leaving You in the Dark
Most residential spaces are underlit. Many homes I go into have large living rooms with a ceiling fan as a light figure and maybe one or two table lamps. Lighting is a huge piece of the decorating puzzle and can set a tone, mood, and feeling within a space if you use it properly.
As an interior designer, I employ the three layers of lighting in every space I transform:
- Ambient lighting
- Task lighting
- Accent lighting
Ambient lighting is your baseline lighting. Think the light on that ceiling fan we just talked about, a central, a central chandelier, recessed lighting, or a close-to-ceiling mount fixture.
Task lighting includes reading lamps, strip lights under cabinets in the kitchen, and lighting over the sink or above specific cooking areas.
Accent lighting is where you bring in the decorative element with wall sconces, lights that operate on dimmer switches, and fixtures that highlight artwork or sculptures.
Thoughtful lighting design involves layering all three of these as well as taking into consideration how the space is being used to consider the functionality needed in dimmers and timers. These three layers of lighting can take a room from feeling dark and “like just another room” to a room with character, depth, ambience, and an experience in and of itself.
Interior Decorating Mistake #3) Unfinished “Finishing Touches”
Hanging art properly in your space is, well, an art and a science! One of the more common decorating mistakes is that artwork is having a bit of a Goldilocks crisis: it’s too big, too small, too high, or too low.
How do you get it just right?
A general rule of thumb is that artwork should be approximately ⅔ the size of where it’s going to be placed. For example, if you have a console table that’s 60” x 32” in a room with 9-foot ceilings, you’ll want to start by leaving about 18” from the ceiling. Then, you should aim to hang artwork so that it leaves about 4” above the console table (at least).
The focal point of the art (the midpoint) should be at eye level (between 57-60 inches). Some of this depends on the height of individual occupants of the space as well as ceiling height.
You can use this same technique with a single piece of artwork, a mirror, or a collage of photos and frames.
Since we’re on the topic of photos, if family photos bring meaning to you and are important to you, by all means feel free to use them on your walls as decor! Personalize your space with collections and objects that are precious and memorable for you. The result is finishing touches that welcome in personality and a positive overall sense, bringing the entire space together.
Ready to apply these tips for yourself?
As a professional interior designer, I have a trained eye and know what works and what doesn’t in a space. My goal is always to ensure your home feels exactly like that… home! If reading this blog has you excited to achieve this in your home, but you’re realizing there’s a whole lot more to consider than you thought, I’d love to help! Reach out with questions or to contact me to get started and let’s design a unique space that includes the very best parts of YOU!