Top 3 Interior Decorating Mistakes to Avoid

Don’t let the fear of making “design mistakes” keep you from creating a room that you love and one that you can live in happily for many years to come. Just make sure to avoid feeling like you HAVE to do something in order to create a picture perfect room. However, below are some of the most egregious decorating faux-pas you should avoid like the plague.

Keeping Something You Hate

Some interior designers may incorporate various things into their design plan, even something you hate. Whether they do this because you ask them to (“Help me love my funky wall color” or “Distract me from the ugly tile in the bathroom”) or they take it upon themselves to incorporate it, it’s often a big mistake. If you truly hate something, you’re not going to love it no matter what your designer does to make it more appealing.

The biggest mistake is asking the designer to incorporate something major, like ugly flooring, because you don’t want to pay to replace it. Your designer will base all of his or her design ideas around this one central thing so deciding down the road that it has to go means you’re going to have to redo all of your decor as well. Pony up the dough now to save more money down the road.

Don’t Pick Uncomfortable Furniture

Sounds simple but it’s a mistake a lot of people make when decorating a room. When you see a pretty piece of furniture that you just absolutely fall head over heels for, it’s hard to keep from buying it even if the cushions are a little hard and the back makes you sit straighter than a pole. Sure, this couch is going to look fabulous in your living room but you’re going to avoid that room after a while because that couch is about as comfortable as the Flinstone’s couch made of rock.

Make sure your dining chairs are comfortable, too. You’ll be spending lots of time in them every day. When you test them out, sit in them for a few minutes and decide if this is somewhere you can sit in for extended periods of time. Make sure you’ve measured your table’s height as well to ensure your chairs aren’t too short or tall.

Don’t Be Too Matchy Matchy

We love flipping through Houzz or Better Homes and Garden where these impeccably staged rooms match down to every last detail. Some old school designers will still drift towards this trend but students fresh out of interior design colleges will usually avoid this slightly outdated technique. They’ve been taught that this decorating method is best for selling a home or showcasing certain furniture pieces but it’s not ideal for people to live in.

Visit Herzing College for more information about interior design colleges.

Patrick Quinn is a Copywriter at Higher Education Marketing, a leading web marketing firm specializing in Google Analytics, Education Lead Generation, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media Marketing, and Pay Per Click Marketing, among other web marketing services and tools.