Common Mistakes People Make With Their Interior Design
When designing and decorating the interiors of your home, it’s essential to find the right balance between the three most important aspects of interior design: style, functionality, and space. As a layperson who has no experience in designing the interiors of a home, you might find this task difficult. Moreover, committing even the smallest of mistakes could end up affecting the ambiance and functionality of your house and may even cost you thousands of dollars to fix.
Therefore, it’s best to enlist the services of an interior design profession that will help you design and decorate your home according to your needs, preferences, and lifestyle. To help you steer clear of these errors and design your house and turn it into your dream home, Sage Key Interiors has made a list of the most common mistakes people make with their interior design that you should avoid.
1. Getting too caught up in the latest trends
A common mistake that many customers make when designing their home is to get too caught up in the latest trends. While looking for inspiration on Pinterest or HGTV is a great place to start, make sure to add in your own personal touches. No one wants a cookie-cutter design, something that your neighbors have too. Your home is supposed to be a reflection of you and your family. Adding in items, photos, collections, etc., that mean something to you creates a personalized environment while still having touches of the latest trend.
2. Using monochromatic color incorrectly
A monochromatic color scheme is another trap that is easy to fall into. Thinking that if you use just one color, or shades of one color that decision making will be easier can leave a room feeling flat. Creating a successful monochromatic room is a challenge for even seasoned designers. Texture takes the place of color, and close inspection will show that there are actually a number of different shades of the chosen color within the room. Balancing the finishes of wood, glass, metal, and fabric will help to create a successful monochromatic room.
3. Selecting patterns without planning
Just like some people have a fear of color, others have a fear of pattern. Mixing patterns can be as challenging as mixing colors. However, mixing patterns and textures is really the only way to create a dynamic, personalized, and interesting space. Most people choose to have a solid pattern as their main pattern, like on the sofa or bedding. Choosing a floral fabric for pillows is a good compliment since pillows are small and easily changed. An accent chair in a stripe or plaid is a good addition. Since window treatments can be large, choosing in a tone on tone pattern will keep them from becoming overwhelming. If you find that you have inadvertently created a one pattern room, select a slipcover in a patterned fabric with pillows to match. That will help get you started on bringing patterns into your room in manageable steps.
4. Not deciding the focus of the room correctly
A room without a focus is another common mistake. With our busy lives and smaller houses, many rooms have more than one function. However, each room should still have only one focus. For example, in the dining room, the focus should be on the table with rugs, other furnishings, window treatments, etc., complementing the table but being in the background. While a bedroom might double as study space, the bed is generally the focal point. Living rooms are usually the biggest challenge because of the fight between the tv and the fireplace as the focus of the room. My thought is that even though TV’s aren’t the most attractive item in the room, we do use them every day. The fireplace might be used sporadically, even in colder weather, unless you live in the northern climates. If your room doesn’t have an automatic focal point like a fireplace or a dining room table, creating one isn’t too hard. Place whatever you want to be the focal point on the largest wall, across from the door to the room, or center it in the room. The geographical placement will automatically state that this item is the focus of this space. Having other pieces of furniture facing this item will reinforce this idea.
5. Placing all the furniture up against the wall
Pushing all the furniture up against the wall, thinking that it will make the room appear bigger, is an easy design mistake to make. No rule says that furniture can’t “float” in the middle of the room. Very large rooms should be zoned or even sectioned off to create cozy, more human-scaled areas. Bookcases can be lined up next to each other in the middle of a large room to partition off a cozy reading area or to create a private office space, the backsides painted, or covered in artwork to provide additional “wall” space. A bed can be pulled to the middle of the room with a room divider placed at the headboard to create a study or hidden play space behind it or even a closet area. Unless you need a dance floor or a large play area for kids, unoccupied floors make a room feel unfinished and cold.
6. Not using their space efficiently
If you can’t go out, go up! It seems like there is never enough square footage in a house, no matter how large it is. We, humans, are space tzars, filling up every inch. And floor space is always at a premium. But don’t forget that you have 8’ - 9’ of wall space. A 12” deep shelf unit the length of the wall, from floor to ceiling, can hold a lot of stuff - books, collectibles, pots, and pans... whatever you need while leaving plenty of floor space for other things. Some furniture is easily stackable too! A bookcase can be stacked on top of a cabinet. If possible, screw them together to make a whole unit and secure it to the wall to keep it from falling over. A smaller chest can be stacked on top of a larger one. Wall space isn’t just for hanging artwork, cabinets, smaller bookshelves, and almost anything can be hung from the walls or ceiling if mounted securely and safely. Loft beds allow furniture to be stored under them, adding more functionality and floor space to small bedrooms.
To avoid these and other mistakes, reach out to Sage Key Interiors. We offer enriching and aesthetically pleasing interior design to clients and help them build the home of their dreams. Our services include residential interiors, aging in place, commercial interior design, and staging and model homes. We offer unparalleled design services and are committed to clientele satisfaction. Our service areas are Pendergrass, Athens, Buford, Duluth, Alpharetta, Gainesville, Toccoa, Hartwell, Snellville, Winder and Johns Creek, GA.
To learn more about the services we offer, please click here. To get in touch with us, please click here.