10 Common Interior Design Mistakes
We've all made mistakes when it comes to decorating our home or office space. Whether it's choosing the wrong paint color, rug size, furniture, or hanging artwork too high, below are 10 common design mistakes that people often get wrong.
Miss Alice Designs
1. Wrong Size Area Rug
Miss Alice Designs
Rugs are a great way to add color, texture, and pattern to a room. If a rug is too small or too large in size relative to the surrounding furniture and space, it throws off the balance and cohesiveness of a room. A properly sized rug should enhance the overall aesthetic and scale of the furniture. Either all of your furniture should be sitting on the rug, or at a minimum, the front 2 legs of your sofa and chairs should be on the rug. You can also layer rugs which have become quite the trend. You can use a jute or sisal rug in a neutral base as the more dominant size, and then layer a smaller rug on top with colors and patterns as an accent. Or, you can mix and match patterns (ex. stripes and octagons) if your colors work together.
2. Incorrect Scale of Furniture
Consider the scale of furniture in proportion to each other as well as in relation to each space. If you have a sofa that is too large and a coffee table that is too small, it throws off the balance of the entire room. Another common mistake is selecting table lamps that are too large relative to a sofa or a bed. If you are purchasing items online, please pay attention to the dimensions listed. One of my past clients had purchased table lamps that were too large for her bedroom and didn’t make a note of the size of the table lamps. Once you start to think about proportion, you’ll begin to notice if an item feels too big, too small, or just right.
3. Wrong Length of Drapes Or Curtains
Miss Alice Designs
I take a deep breath when I see drapes or curtains that don’t go all the way to the floor, especially when I see them stop at an awkward height or float way above the floor. It just feels unfinished and makes a window and surrounding space look smaller. I understand that custom drapes or custom curtains are more expensive than standard sizes, but you can purchase longer lengths and hem them to the correct length you need. Keep them 1/4” above the floor or as close to touching the floor as much as possible, but no higher than that. If you have taller ceilings such as 10’ ceilings, you can “puddle” your drapes or curtains. Puddling is the amount of extra length that is spilled or “puddled” onto the floor. It can be anywhere from 1” to 8”. Puddling creates a more formal and luxurious feel to a space, but only works for rooms with higher ceilings.
4. Matching All Furniture
Furniture that match each other in style, color, and shape creates no visual interest and ends up blending together and feels flat, especially when it’s a set. A mix of styles (along with scale and shapes) is important to creating a space that is comfortable yet aesthetically pleasing with depth, texture, and cohesiveness. Avoid purchasing all your furniture and accessories from one store or as a set, even if it’s a great deal. Mix different styles such as mid-century modern and traditional or farmhouse and industrial. For example, a contemporary round glass coffee table and a classic tufted Chesterfield sofa together adds visual interest and depth to a room. In the images above from Pottery Barn, the dining table and chairs to the right are much more visually interesting and have more depth and texture than the one on the left.
5. Not Finishing Tile Edges
Miss Alice Designs
On a previous kitchen design project that I consulted on where I helped the homeowner select colors and materials, during the walk-through, I noticed a big mistake that unfortunately wasn’t able to be fixed properly. The kitchen’s backsplash did not have trims and the edges of the tiles were unfinished. The kitchen didn’t look professionally put together. The contractor should have put either a bullnose or pencil trim to finish the edges of the backsplash tiles but they didn’t, and the homeowner didn’t know either. That’s why it’s so important to hire a good licensed contractor and a designer with experience to help oversee the design project because if this is your first renovation project, you only know what you know. Depending on the type of tiles you have and whether or not the edges are finished, you will need edge trim such as bullnose, quarter round, flat liner, pencil trim, architectural moldings, or Schluter (which leans towards a modern aesthetic). If you are doing any kind of tiling for your design project, make a note of the trim.
6. Tiles Stopping Short Of Ceiling
In addition to keeping tile trim in mind, make sure that you tile to the ceiling, if you are remodeling your bathroom. Don’t stop the tile 1/3 or 1/4 of the way down from the ceiling. I wince when I see tile that stops at a specific place on the wall or looks super short because it’s well below ceiling height. It feels completely unfinished. The same goes for the kitchen. If your cabinets go all the way to the ceiling, I recommend tiling to the ceiling if you can. It will draw the eye upward, creating visual height, and helps make a room appear larger. Tiling to the ceiling also creates a more customized and luxurious look and feel to any space.
7. Relying On One Light Source
A lot of people don’t think about lighting or allocate enough in their budget for lights when they redecorate or renovate. Lighting is so important to a space, affecting your mood and behavior. Don’t just rely on one light source like an overhead chandelier or pendant. A single light source for each room is not beneficial and does not take into consideration the shape, function, natural light, or furniture in the room. Layer your lights. Incorporate table lamps, floor lamps, or sconces in addition to your overhead light. Put them all on dimmers if you can. Dimmers allow you to adjust the lighting in your room according to your needs and help you create the perfect atmosphere for every occasion.
8. Hanging Art Too High
Miss Alice Designs
When it comes to artwork, there are many different ways to incorporate art into your space. Whether it’s a single large piece of art, or a gallery wall, make sure you hang them at the correct height. Hanging art is an art in and of itself! A common mistake when it comes to art is hanging pieces too high. If it is installed too low or too high, it throws the proportion of the entire room out of balance. If you walk into an art gallery, everything is installed at eye level (based on average height) and it should be no different in your own home or office space. A good rule of thumb is to hang artwork so that the center of each piece is about 57” to 60” from the floor. However, if you are taller than average height, hang it accordingly so that the center of the art is at your eye level. In rooms with ceilings higher than 8’, artwork can be hung higher. The only exception to this rule of thumb is when you are framing art over furniture. When placing art over a sofa or a headboard, hang art so that the bottom of the frame is at least 8-10” above the furniture piece. The art should be visually connected to the furniture, not floating high above it.
9. Installing TV Too High
A lot of people place their TV over the fireplace because they see it in design images and think it’s the right thing to do. Even I see beautiful luxurious living rooms designed by high-end interior designers where the TV is installed over a fireplace so I understand why people would think that it’s trendy to do so. However, the TV should be at eye-level where you are sitting. You shouldn’t have to look up at your TV and it does a huge disservice to your neck. Instead of installing your TV above a fireplace, place it next to the fireplace, on the opposite wall, or perpendicular to the fireplace (if there is space available to do so). If your floor plan does not allow for the TV to be placed anywhere else, I would highly suggest placing your TV in a different room, if you have the space. Anywhere else besides over the fireplace is ergonomically better for your neck, posture, and eyesight.
10. Too Many Negative Space
I have a friend who has lived in his apartment for over 5 years with his girlfriend and has a bunch of really cool and interesting artwork that has been sitting on the floor, stacked, and collecting dust all this time. I asked him why he didn’t hang his artwork. He said he hasn’t had the time (even after 5 years), and he doesn’t know how to put it together so that it all works cohesively as one collective unit. I also noticed that all the walls in his entire apartment were blank and it just didn’t feel like a home that’s been lived in. I think it’s important to leave some walls blank (called negative space). Negative space is just the space in between your items such as your art, furnishings, accessories, etc… It’s the space where there is only a wall or floor, or atmosphere. You don’t need to cover every wall with “something”. However, it’s important to have a good balance. Leave some walls blank and cover some walls with artwork, floating shelves, a large oversized mirror, a hanging tapestry, or wallpaper. If you have a large wall, you can create a focal point in the space with a gallery wall, a colorful patterned wallpaper, or hanging a large beautiful Persian rug.
If you make a mistake, it’s not the end of the world. If you chose a paint color that just didn't look right, or purchased a rug that just didn’t work for your living room, you can always fix the problem by spending additional time and money selecting another paint color or purchasing another rug. Or, just live with it for now if you don’t have more budget to spend.
If you already spent countless hours looking for the right piece of furniture or the right color and it’s not getting you anywhere and you are beyond frustrated, another option is hiring an interior designer as a consultant to help you with your design project. An interior designer can provide guidance, helping you make the right decisions so you avoid any further mistakes saving you time and money so you can continue on with your life. If you want a designer to help prevent you from any further costly mistakes, please contact me for a 30-minute discovery call. To schedule your consultation, click here.