Blog

Home décor is what homeowners often think as the most easily manageable aspect after buying a home. And that’s even more so if there is someone whose artistic sense and creativity are celebrated in the family.

With all due respect to any such person, home décor needs certain practical considerations. Those may not be part of common or artistic sense. If they were, we would possibly not have a profession called interior decoration.

Whether we like it or not, there is major faux pas that one can commit in terms of decorating one’s home. Here’s a guide to the 20 most typical mistakes that people commit. And the way out of them, of course.

Blunder # 1: Falling in love with the paint

This is more common than you may be ready to believe. People fall in love with a particular paint so much that they do not stop to consider how apt it would be for the walls where they want to use it. The result can be quite dismaying, indeed.

The problem is worse if it is a large space, as you can imagine. Just think about it – you must have seen it somewhere or the other: a huge wall painted in a color that simply does not look right there. Eyesore, right?

What to do to avoid it?

Just as a lot of makeup items need a spot allergy check, it is a good idea to do a pilot test with the paints you want to use. It’s simple, really. Most paint companies would be happy to show you a simulated picture of what your walls would look like with the paints you want to use. You could even paint a small patch on a wall if simulations don’t convince you.

Blunder # 2: Selecting paints independently for each room

This, too, happens more often than one would like to. It is similar to the first blunder, but not quite the same. You select the paints for each room as per your choice. You are careful also to do a test run through simulation or small patch painting. You make readjustments if necessary.

Even after taking all these precautions, your entire house may somehow look horribly wrong once it is painted entirely. Why do you think that could happen? Well, because you may have missed checking how the paints of each room look together with each other.

What can you do?

This answer is simple and it must already be staring you in the face. When you choose paints for your house, be careful to check them against each other. Of course, you may have different thematic ideas about different rooms and choose colors accordingly. There’s absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t do that. Just make sure that you check how they all look together. A simulated picture is the best way to go about it.

Blunder # 3: Buying furniture without considering how well it blends with the decor

Yes, unfortunately, that also is an issue. You may have taken all the care with the colors to use in your new home interiors decor. You chose the colors carefully, you checked how they all look together and felt super happy to have got it all right.

And then, nothing looks right once you move your furniture in. Not even when you change the bed linen, the dining table cover and cushion covers in the living room to match the walls of your new rooms. That can leave you flummoxed.

But that is not really unusual, for every piece of furniture has a character of its own. And these characteristics match with some colors and don’t go so well with others. Dark wood or dark leather sofa set, for instance, may just not look right against a dark wall, for instance.

But there’s a way out

So, another extra step in the preparation phase. You need to carry photographs of your major furniture items to match them with the color scheme you have in your mind. Simulation is the answer of course.

It may well seem like too much of a hassle - all this thinking, matching, simulation, and the whole hog. But you’ll thank yourself for taking the trouble when you finally end up with a great looking new home that everyone goes gaga about.

Blunder # 4: Not thinking about some greens

Forgetting to put some plants in various places in your home is a serious mistake. Especially so, because there are plenty of indoor plants. That said, first-time homeowners still choose not to get any plants in, because they simply don’t have the time to take care of them. The result - their homes lack a connection with nature, and that’s always hard to ignore.

The way out

Go for artificial plants. Silk flowers? trees?  plants? Just name it, and you’ll find it here at silkplantsdirect.com.

These decorative artificial plants and flowers for home decor are affordable, look as beautiful as the real ones, and don’t require any kind of maintenance. Just dust them every other week, and you’re done.

Blunder # 5: Making the TV the center of your living room

Some people do not like their television in the living room. But there are others who think that the living room is the right place for a TV. Both are fine. But to make your brand new TV the centerpiece of your living room would be an absolute blunder.

Think about it. What are living rooms meant for? Gathering together and conversations, right? Some TV watching together with your spouse after dinner is one thing. TV watching may even be the agenda on a particular day for friends to gather. But to make the TV the main point of attraction in your living room is to kill the scope for conversations.

The way out

There are two things that you need to keep in mind. Design your living room first the way you want it. Don’t design it around your TV. Second, if you want to keep your TV in the living room, create a space for it. But make sure it is an unobtrusive corner that you have marked for your TV. A corner that allows you to sit and watch while you relax. But not a space that dominates the rest of the room. Give conversations priority over television shows.

Blunder # 6: Creating a clutter

Think of a situation like this: you have been touring all over the world for some years now. For work or for pleasure or both. It is most likely that you have collected a lot of keepsakes from different countries. You want them all your brand new home. 

But naturally! There’s nothing wrong in that. But if you want all of them displayed in the living room, that may cause quite a bit of clutter. Such clutter may actually ruin the look of your otherwise nicely decorated living room.

This is what you can do

You have to give up on your wish for everyone who comes in to see them all. Spread out your mementos across your home. Choose nice corners and showcase tops or wall brackets, depending on the kind of keepsakes you have. Give them a nice home where they look best.

If it is a special friend that you really want to see them all, give her or him a tour of your new home. You might actually be doing that for many visitors who come in after you have just set up a new home. So, there is a chance that many of them will get to see all your showpieces anyway.

Be confident and spread your keepsakes around. Let them be the things of beauty that they surely are. Don’t make them contribute to clutter by putting them all together in the living room.

Blunder # 7: An over-decorated fridge

What we mean by that is a refrigerator that has fridge magnets stuck all over it. Directly related to the problem above, as it happens.

Many of these fridge magnets may be the ones that you have picked up in the course of your own travels. Many of those may be gifts that friends and family members have brought as gifts. Each one of those would surely be beautiful. But you see, the refrigerator you buy for your new home, or the one you already have - that also has its own looks, right?

You must have selected it as much for how it looks as for its other technical features. Why clutter it up with too many fridge magnets? Clutter is an eyesore, wherever it happens and with whatever items.

Be creative

There is certainly no reason why you should be throwing your beautiful fridge magnets. Just don’t put them all on your fridge. Be creative instead. Have a steel almirah? Put some there?

Are there grilles on your windows? Think of sticking some of these magnets on the window grills in different rooms. If you have metal door handles that magnets stick to, use some of those handles.

With a little creative thinking, you can make your fridge magnets do a lot more than dot all the walls of your refrigerator.

Blunder # 8: Pushing all your furniture to the wall

As it happens, this is one of the commonest mistakes. People do it all the time. The general belief is that furniture against the wall will make the rooms look bigger. Yes, it does. But there is a cost to it.

Pushing all the furniture to the wall in the living room is especially problematic. It takes away the coziness and makes conversations difficult. Too much space is not necessarily the right choice. Utilizing the space in a manner that makes your furniture stand out is. Your living room must have character. It must have an inviting air about it, right?

Pay attention to which arrangement looks best

Seriously, that is the simplest answer. See how your furniture looks best. Note which arrangement makes your living room look just right. That is the one you should stick to. Forget about space and let that arrangement stay.

Blunder # 9: Overmatching

After so much talk at the beginning about matching the paint with your house, with your furniture - now we are talking overmatching. It might sound kind of anomalous, but overmatching can be a problem indeed.

What does overmatching mean? Think of the study in your new home. Just draw a mental picture: light blue wall, light blue furniture, light blue tablecloth, and cushion cover...

You must be feeling nauseated already. That is exactly what we mean by overmatching. And that is precisely why it is a blunder.

The way out is obvious

Use colors with imagination. Mix and match walls, furniture, and other accessories in a manner that looks pleasing to the eye. Match some. Use some contrast. Be creative and trust your own good sense. You’ll surely have a great looking home.

Blunder # 10: Wanting to keep it all

Wondering all of what? Well, furniture, of course. It may well be that you have some family heirlooms that are great pieces of furniture. They may have looked great in an old fashioned room with 30 feet high ceilings and big spacious rooms. You may have been sharing that with your parents or in-laws.

When it comes to moving to your new home for the first time, you would naturally want to take those pieces with you. But that might prove a big problem, especially if you are moving to one of the modern-day apartments. They typically have low ceilings. They are also often designed for space utilization in a manner that does not allow big old-time furniture to fit in. Suppose space is there. Even then, grand old furniture simply may not look good in a modern apartment.

The obvious way out

No matter how bad it makes you feel, the next option may be to leave your old furniture where they currently are. Or, maybe you can take one of them like a really antique looking cabinet and set up your living room around it.

But it is most unlikely that in a contemporary apartment house you’ll find space for them all. If you are building a palatial home for yourself, then, of course, it is a different story. You can then build the place around these grand old pieces of furniture.

As we sign off

We sincerely hope that after reading this article, you will totally avoid the possible blunders. Have a great home to show off!