The Five Most Common Decorating Mistakes
Not everyone has “the vision” to put a room together, but God bless them, they try! And that’s a good thing! However, sometimes things can end up looking a little off.
Over the last 6 years as a home stylist, real estate broker and general contractor, I’ve seen many houses with many different tastes and styles. I’ve seen the ugliest of the ugly and the most stunning of the stunning. And throughout my work, I tend to see the same decorating mistakes in many of the homes I see. Let me tell you a little about what I see most, and how to fix it.
Wall art that is hung too high on the wall.
Scale is uber important in design and in creating esthetically pleasing spaces. Art that is too small for the size of the wall or hung too high is what I see most often. A good rule of thumb is to hang your art around eye-level; eye-level of a person who’s about 5’7”, not 6’5”. Your art should be positioned in such a way that there aren’t huge gaps beneath it. For example, if you have a piece of art hanging above your sofa, you should hang it closer to the sofa than higher above it. See my illustrations below.
See how the illustration on the right looks more cohesive and creates a grouping, whereas the illustration on the right looks disconnected? Hanging art too high does nothing for a space other than make it look awkward. Let’s do away with that immediately!
2. Hanging curtains incorrectly. One of my biggest pet peeves is when I see curtains hanging that overlap the window because the curtain rod was hung at the same width of the window. Makes me cringe. When you hang curtains, make sure that the rod extends well beyond the width of the window, allowing your curtains to drape (when opened) against the wall. If the rod doesn’t allow for that additional space, the curtains drape over the window, blocking light and making your window look much smaller. Same size window, same size curtains. Notice how the curtain rod is the width of the window in the top photo, but extends beyond the sides of the window in the bottom photo. This allows you to let your curtains rest against the wall instead of covering your valuable natural light.
3. Matchy-Matchy furniture. While it might look appealing to some, matching everything is one thing I despise for home décor. I love matching wood tones or matching colors or matching styles. But I am not a fan of matching bedroom sets or furniture sets. Really sets of anything I think are kind of a bad idea. I think an eclectic look is much more interesting and pleasing to the eye. You could go with a matching sofa and loveseat, but it would be nice to add a contrasting chair, for example. Or go for the matching bed and nightstands, but find another design for the dresser. Mixing furniture can cause people a lot of anxiety because furniture is so expensive and such a big investment, but if you can stick to the same style, color or tone, pretty much anything should go together. And the best places to find eclectic pieces is the second hand market! It might cost you a little elbow grease but I’m a huge fan of upcycling, especially if your goal is to create an interesting-looking space.
4. Choosing the wrong size rug, or not placing furniture correctly on rugs. Rugs are meant to ground a space and bring in definition and visual interest. But scale can be a hard trick to learn and understand. With rugs, you want to ensure that they’re big enough (but not too big) for your space. You also want to ensure that the legs of the furniture are positioned properly on the rug, too. I’ll show you some examples below.
5. Trying to be perfect. Life is not perfect. People and things are not perfect. Striving for perfection will only lead to disappointment. Your home should reflect who you are: the things you love, your favorite colors, things that inspire you. It should never be a place that looks like it belongs to someone else. It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful. Decorating your home with the things that make you happy is what makes it yours. Be creative, enjoy the process, and ask for help when you need it!