Everyone makes mistakes, right? Here is a list of the 5 most common interior design mistakes that I find when I enter a client’s home for the first time, and my solutions for fixing them:
Furniture Scale
Too often do I enter a large space and find that it has been sparsely arranged with oversized furniture. Scale and proportion can do wonders to your space; making small spaces feel large and making overwhelming large rooms feel cozy. Furniture should have a combination of sizes and scales, creating hierarchy and mixing items of different sizes to strategically fill a space, while keeping your natural circulation in mind.
Hanging Art
From gallery walls to single large pieces, I’ve seen all kinds of interesting ways to hang art! With large pieces, you really want to keep the proportion of the wall in mind, consider your “head space”. If you have a long corridor and want to hang art pieces throughout, instead of aligning the top or bottom of each frame, find the center of your largest piece and hang that first comfortably at eye level. From here, use the same center measurement for all pieces, creating a cohesive and easy trail for your eyes to follow.
Paint is Always Last
I love a client who has a favorite color, or multiple colors, they want to see in their home, but so many times do I find these bold colors painted on their walls with no real connection to their tile, floors or textiles! With so many paint color options and shades, choosing the perfect shade of your favorite color can be really overwhelming; shades of white alone are endless! If you’re working towards a beautiful color palette, select all your textiles and hard finishes first, then pull common or complementary colors from your palette to narrow down your paint options. From here, the endless options of neutrals or bold colors won’t be so overwhelming and your answer will be much easier to find!
Too Many or No Focal Point
Every room deserve a purpose, and the eye needs a place to rest when it enters a room. A room without a focal point can sometimes feel like a treasure hunt for your eye, finding endless new features throughout the space. In a Living Room your focal point may be a fireplace or TV, with everything else in that room oriented around the focal, supporting it. In a Bedroom, the headboard could be your focal, with lamps and and draperies guiding your eyes to this resting point. In a Kitchen, it may be your range and range hood that defines that space and captures your attention first.
Show Your Personality
At the end of the day, this space is your home and should be not only inspired by you, but be a reflection of you. I have never met a client who I would consider beige-on-beige-on-blah. Everyone has been gifted with a personality and a story to tell; and their guests should see that when they enter your home. Whether you want to bring out your personality in color, patterns, found items or custom architectural features, there is no wrong answer.