Common Mistakes People Make When Decorating A Room

Once you’ve fulfilled your dream of homeownership, your next mission, is creating a home that’s a reflection of who you are. Right from the colors on the wall, to the kind of furniture and upholstery and decorative items, your new home should be a space that defines you.

However, this purpose often becomes counterproductive as the choices you make don’t match your home. The perfect home decor accessory that you saw at the store looks hideous when put in place, or the world’s comfiest sofa doesn’t fit in your living room. One way of avoiding these expensive mistakes is by hiring an interior decorator.

Interior decorating is a line that takes a very keen and knowledgeable eye. Interior decorators can pick colors, patterns, and textures, as well as have a great sense of how furniture works in a space. They can tell when something is off, whether it's the orientation of a rug or the amount of light in a room. They also know plenty of ways to make a space better than others might not notice or think of.

However, as a homeowner, if you’re planning on re-doing your home’s decor by yourself, there are certain mistakes you should avoid at all costs. As interior decorators, with years of experience, we have compiled a list of three common mistakes people make when decorating a room, that you must avoid.

1. Starting your decor re-do with a wall or paint color. Paint is inexpensive, and as there are so many options of colors, don’t start with paint first! Instead, you should start with a rug and work up from there. Depending on the carpet you choose it will make the rest of the process of selecting furniture much easier. Because now you can choose your furniture fabric colors from the colors in the rug, then once you know what those colors are, you can pick a paint or wall color or treatment last.

2. Shopping for furniture without knowing your home’s dimensions. The second most common mistake committed is when you’re shopping for furniture. You need to know the size of your room and where the window and door placements are. Before you go shopping, do a rough sketch of the room with all the pertinent measurements on it, and bring this to the store along with photos of the room you wish to decorate. This will give the decorator or salesperson a much better sense of the space and make it easier to figure out what pieces will fit in the room and the configuration of the furniture. Based on your photos and measurements, a decorator or salesperson can figure out whether a sectional will fit or what size sofa you can accommodate in your room and how many pieces you can actually use in your room.

3. Hanging a picture too high. People still make the mistake of hanging a picture too high, when they should be hung at eye-level. When a picture is hung too high or low, you need to strain your neck to see them. The general rule is to make the center of the picture roughly five feet from the ground. This will ensure you are neither looking down or up at it. In rooms where people are usually sitting down, such as a living room or dining room, pictures should be hung at the eye-level of a seated person. This means a picture should be hung lower than five feet, but roughly around a foot above the sofa or chair in the room.

To avoid these and other home decoration pitfalls, reach out to the experts at Arlene Best Interiors. We offer professional, affordable decor options to suit every style. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to work with an interior decorator regardless of budget or size of the project, or whether it is a whole home renovation or a special room rejuvenation. For a complete list of services we provide, please click here. If you have any questions about Arlene Best Interiors, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us here.