Home Decor Mistakes & How You can Avoid Them!

Designing your own apartment sounds fun and exciting. Sometimes, the idea in your head may not necessarily shape up to be exactly in reality as compared to how you pictured it. An error as small as an artwork’s placement can flaw the entire appeal of your house! 

We are all filled with ideas and have set minds on our ideal homes already. So, instead of highlighting what you can do to design your home, here are some common mistakes and how you can avoid them while selecting and staging your home.  

1) Choosing dark furniture for small rooms: 

People tend to lean towards dark shades to try and give their rooms an ‘aesthetic’ vibe. However, a dark décor can instantly make the room feel cramped and cumbersome!  

Thus, we suggest you choose light fabric and possibly cheap furniture if you own a small apartment.

2) Adding way too many Accent Pillows: 

Avoid having an absurd amount of accent pillows, may it be on your couch or on the bed. Having too many pillows makes the room look piled up as even if a single pillow is out of place, the entire design starts to look shabby.

We suggest that two to three accent pillows on each end of your sofa are enough to give your room comfort and design. 

3) Opting style over comfort: 

A common mistake is that people try to follow the modern home decor trends instead of considering their own choices and comfort. It becomes a question of what people will like rather than what we like.  

Refer to trends but make the final call based solely on personal aesthetic. As it is all about staging a living space that you’ll love for years. 

4) Going for a large dining table: 

The most important step before shopping for your furniture in the first place, is knowing the size of your room. Not knowing what size home furniture you want, creates chaos and hampers your choice of important items like dining tables, rugs, curtains and drapes. 

Our suggestion is to choose a round dining table as the seating around it can be adjusted and during house parties, it can accommodate six people too. 

5) Not adding enough lighting: 

Following the recent trends, many people prefer overhead lighting as seen at offices and cafes. Overhead lighting does not provide enough illumination if not mixed with ambient and task lights.

Thus, use floor lamps, table lamps or even sconces to maintain proper lighting in your apartment. 

6) Misplacing the artwork: 

Usually, one mis-judges the room size which may lead to an artwork hung slightly higher than it is supposed to be. Art should be hung where everyone can see and enjoy it and where it can visually mingle with the other furnishings and décor in your room.

The trick is to bridge the gap between furniture with artwork that complements the design of your room. 

7) Hanging the curtains low: 

When you hang the curtain just above or directly on the window pane, it makes the window look smaller and blocks natural lighting in the room. 

A smart alternative is to hang the curtains just below the ceiling and allow them to extend all the way down to the floor making the windows appear larger. Make sure that the rod is long enough so that when you keep the curtains open, the window stays completely uncovered. 

8) Flushing furniture against the wall: 

A common misconception is thinking that you save space by having your furniture touch the walls. However, it neither creates nor saves any space rather makes the room look awkwardly scattered.

Sketching out the plan and arranging furniture by grouping the accents, creates a better seating. It also helps to maintain the traffic at your apartment. Meaning, a single room won’t look overly furnished.

9) Holding onto heirlooms (that you don’t like): 

Just because your grandparents passed on heirloom furniture over decades, does not obligate you to keep it. If a piece is in disrepair or doesn’t fit with your design style, it’s OK to let it go.

Or if your family’s sentiments are attached to it, there is always an option of getting the vintage furniture refinished to fit the style of your room. Other than that, there are other smart ways of discarding old furniture.

It is nearly impossible to stage a room without having a single error. However, you have an option of implying the trial-and-error method due to the availability of furniture rentals that make modern furniture available as a subscription model. 

Don’t feel obligated to buy the most expensive items either! Cheap home decor can add just as much flair if not more, when used properly.

To make it easier, Inhabitr offers curated living room furniture sets, bedroom furniture sets, and more so that all you have to do is select one and wait for the crew to assemble the set for you! Plan out various designs for home décor and see what suits you the best by trying various home decor styles every month.