The most exciting part of moving to a new home is decorating. At the same time, it quickly becomes the most frustrating part, once you realize that not one of the seven rugs you bought and copied from renovation TV shows complement your walls and furniture. If there’s any consolation here, know that it happens to everyone. Rookie design mistakes are common, but they can be avoidable. Here are some of the booboos most homeowners make that you should avoid at all costs:
Overlooking the big picture
The usual first approach when it comes to decorating homes is divide and conquer. Tackle the home one room at a time so as not to get overwhelmed. This is a good strategy, but be careful not to lose sight of the big picture. Often, people get caught up with the details, forgetting to consider how one space flows seamlessly to another or how to tie every element up. The result is a hodgepodge of design, which obviously isn’t aesthetically-pleasing, not to mention that it’s also confusing.
Before you divide and conquer, decide on the general motif of your interiors. Consider the atmosphere you’re trying to create. In this frame of mind, you’ll be able to plan strategically the details and accents of the home.
Daydreaming while decorating
Most people design the space they hope to have (you know, those at the renovation TV shows), and not what they actually have. For instance, they would install a bar, an island, and a breakfast nook — only to cram all those up in a small kitchen — or get renovation-TV-approved furniture, surprised that the space looks like a showroom.
Embrace your home, with all its strengths, limitations, and quirks. That’s the only way you can bring out the best in it. If you have limited space in the kitchen, do away with the bar and the breakfast nook and just prioritize having some good quartz kitchen countertop. Utah interior designers share that the aesthetics of these materials is enough to give the room the pop it needs. The bottom line is to decorate your actual space, not the imaginary one.
Not trying out colors
Colors are the ever-present element in the space, so they’re a big consideration when it comes to decorating. The common mistake people make here is going for a color without testing it first. The result often is a space that looks out of place from the rest of the home.
Before you paint the entirety of your walls blue, test it out in one corner. After letting it sit for about a week or so, that’s when you decide if you’re going for it or not. If it’s a bad color, then you don’t have to do a major overhaul to undo the switch. Less costs, less energy wasted. Of course, if you really want to be sure about your choice of hue, ask an interior designer to plan your color palette.
It’s understandable to have some slip-ups in design for your first home. As much as possible, beware of the mentioned mistakes above. You’d surely drain a lot of money and energy when you run into these boo-boos.
