Without the help of one of the top interior design companies in your local area, you could quickly fall into a string of mistakes when designing your space on your own. It isn’t easy and requires a keen eye for detail and design that simply not everyone has.
But are there really any sins of interior design? Isn’t it all subjective depending on who lives in the home and what they prefer? It depends if you want your guests to enjoy the space as much as you do. Certain trends, or lack of creativity in design, can create an uninspiring and unappealing hang-out atmosphere.
In this article, we’re going to break down five cardinal sins of interior design that should either be left in the past or should never happen in the future. Your space will thank you if you provide some versatility and stick to some age-old design tactics that the pros use. Plus, you can create a beautiful indoor oasis that you can be proud of and that your friends and family can enjoy.
However, not everyone thinks the same way. In many ways, it is subjective, so screw the rules. For avid rule-breakers, Business Insider broke down seven design “rules” to ignore. If that’s your thing, go crazy. But let’s break down five things that will feel incomplete to almost any home below.
5 Cardinal Sins:
- Not layering your lighting
Having just one overhead, domineering source of lighting can really limit the vibes in any room. While it’s not nearly as important to layer lighting in a bathroom, any shared space where you hang out or visitors come to enjoy should have multiple layers of lighting. This allows you to diversify the space depending on the nature of your feelings or an event you’re hosting.
Maybe at night, you want to read in a dimly lit area. If you only have an overhead light with a fan, your options there are extremely limited. Having smaller lamps decorate the space around the room allows you to morph the room into the atmosphere you’re feeling at the moment.
- Doing too much
In other words, less is more. Too many items matching in a room can get overwhelming. You want to have a theme—we get it. But have certain accents bring your room to life compared to one dominating theme throughout. Simplifying your furniture and walls to solid, earthy colors that go well together will provide a much more relaxing atmosphere you’ll want to spend time in.
It’s true that a room’s layout and its colors change the way we feel, affect our mood, and can even affect our productivity. Create a room you want to spend a lot of time in, and one that isn’t overbearing to your guests’ eyes. Avoid neon colors or too much color in general, we suggest you to add neon wall art in genera that gives a positive vibe to you. For more information about how colors affect us as humans, check out WebMD’s article on how colors can affect us as humans. It may very well change how you view and decorate your space.
- Pushing everything against the wall
Maybe this feels like the best way to increase the space in your room, but in reality, it makes it look less creative and more cluttered. Having your sofas and coffee tables spread out throughout the room provides more space for intimate conversations, parties, and is more appealing to the eye than simply shoving them against a wall. Sure, in some cases this makes the most sense, but don’t think of it as your go-to design method or assume it’s the only option.
If you feel the need to push furniture against the wall to save space, perhaps your furniture is too big. Scale down and spread out. It will actually make the room feel larger. Add a large rug to tie the whole room together.
- Hanging distracting things on the walls
Hanging the wrong decorations, like a giant painting or overly large family pictures, can take away from the overall feel of the house or specific room. You want your hanging decorations to accentuate the house, not be the main act. Make sure your poster frames match your furniture or room colors (ex. Don’t pick black frames when all your furniture is brown wood). If you have a lot of sports posters or decorations, consider taking them to your room or the man cave.
The wrong wall art size can be distracting as well. Don’t hang your art too high where guests have to strain to appreciate it. Also, don’t use art that doesn’t flow and uses a bunch of different art styles. Pick a theme and stick to it.
- Playing it too safe
Don’t be afraid of color. It can be easy to lean too heavily into the less-is-more mentality. But in reality, colors are essential in bringing your room to life. Otherwise, it’s a boring, plain, office-looking space that nobody feels at home in. Also, don’t choose design methods that are particularly difficult to edit or transform. Bringing color to a room is the quickest way to transform a space, and can make all the difference in the world.
Just because there are some rules—or suggestions, if you prefer—to interior design, don’t be afraid to take some risks with your space. You’ll be surprised at how much you can do for your home. And if it doesn’t work, it’s no big deal. You can transform it again.
Conclusion
In reality, of course, you can do whatever you wish with your space. But these rules might help you feel more comfortable in your home, and add a sophistication you perhaps thought wasn’t possible before. You don’t need to spend a fortune on interior design to make your home blend together in a more cohesive way. Layering your lighting is the easiest way to make a change in your home, you’ll be surprised at how different you can make a room feel. When applying these few bits of advice, you’ll feel like a certified interior designer yourself. Once you get the basics down, it can get really exciting as you think of fun ways to transform your space into something that will impress and feel more like home than ever.
