Decorating a house is hard work! What to do, what not to do, what you need, what you don't need and so it goes. I've pinpointed 11 common mistakes that we can easily make when we decorate our home. The good news is that are are pretty easy fixes! So without further ado, here are 11 things to avoid and how to fix them.
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1. Hanging Pictures Too High - Too many people hang pictures up way up high, you want to aim for eye level or just above. What you don't want it to strain your neck to look wayyyyyy up at something high. Place your artwork at eye level, not too high and not too low. When in doubt, go lower rather than higher.
2. Naked Mattresses - You know how we buy a nice bed, a set of mattresses, pretty sheets, and a beautiful comforter set? Everything gets put together and looks so nice but when we pull back the covers, what do we see? A naked box spring. Oh the horror! Don't let this happen to you! Dressing your box spring is pretty easy. Buy a basic fitted sheet in your mattress size and put it on there. Put your mattress on top. Boom! You are done and no more naked mattresses. Let's ban the naked mattresses once and for all.
3. Covering Up Your Windows With Curtains - This one I really don't get. We have windows to let in all the light and what happens? We cover them up with curtains. No, please no. Instead, curtains need to be hung "high and wide". Don't hang them right over the top of the window. Here's how I like to hang them. I will place the curtain rod about 2-3 inches below the ceiling or crown molding. I also extend the curtain rod 10-12 inches on either side of the window and only cover up 2-3 inches on each side of the window with the curtain. Please note that you will need curtains with a length of at least 108" or longer. Stores typically sell curtains in 84" or 96", these will be too short. If you have curtains that are too short, don't hang them high and leave "high water drapery". If your curtains are too short you can either 1. get longer panels or 2. sew a band on the bottom or top to make them longer. No high water curtains here!
4. Flat Pillows - This seems to be a thing with pillows. We buy them and keep them around for forever, way past their time. They get used, and start to get flat but we keep on using them anyway. No, no no! Please don't have flat pillows on your sofa or beds. From one friend to another, they aren't doing you any favors. Replace the worn pillows. You can also buy feather inserts and place that inside a pillow cover. I've replaced most of my pillow inserts with feather inserts and they last years! Totally worth it.
5. Incorrect Sized Rugs - This is a pretty common problem that I've seen a bunch. For some reason, people will only buy rugs in 5x7 or 8x10. Yet, many times our rooms are bigger than that and what happens is that we end up with a tiny rug floating in the middle of the room! Don't be that person. floating rugs are a big no-no. Get the correct sized rug for your room. This is going to be 8x10 and larger. If you must use a smaller rug, than layer your rugs by place a larger rug, like a seagrass rug, under it.
6. Unfinished Projects - How many of these do we have around our house? We start a project, get to a certain point, than life gets in the way and we leave a half-done project for later. To be fair, I don't think anyone starts something with the intention of leaving it half-done, but life happens and we get distracted. What happens a lot of times is getting all those things finished right before the house goes on the market to sell. Things get finished and then we move out of the house. Start finishing your projects today and enjoy them for the entire time you are in your house!
7. Keeping Furnishings You Dislike - Y'all, I am guilty of this! Why do we do this? Why do we keep things we dislike or no longer need? Give yourself permission to let it go. You spend a lot of time in your home and it should be full of things that you love, use, and that make you happy. Life is too short for hating the things in our house. List that "I-no-longer-need-this-item" on Craigslist or drop it off at Goodwill. Fill your space with things you love.
8. Not Enough Lighting -You really need more lighting besides overhead lights in a room. You need to have floor lamps, table lamps, and task lamps in each room. Notice that I said lamps, yes, more than one lamp in the room. In the bedroom, put lamps on either side of the bed. Place a small table lamp on the kitchen counter. Have 2-3 lamps in your living room. If you have a dark corner, try adding a lamp! It really makes all the difference in the ambience that the room has.
9. Putting All The Furniture On The Walls - Don't push all your furniture up against the walls. Some of it needs to float in the room. For example, your sofa can be against the wall while a couple of accent chairs flank the fireplace. Or try placing a console table in back of the sofa with lamps on either side (remember number 8?). Play around with your furniture arrangement and try to create intimate seating groups. Keep in mind the traffic flow. Make sure you have space for people to move around freely. Just don't place all the furniture on the walls!
10. Buying a Complete Set - I can fall in this same trap! We are shopping and see a bed we like and "look! There is a matching dresser! And night stands!" or "lets buy this coffee table and the matching end table" or "here's a pretty comforter, look, a matching pillow, and shams, and a dust ruffle. You get the picture. When you buy something, don't be afraid to mix it up. Use pattern and texture to gain depth and dimension. Not everything has to match. As long as things coordinate, it'll be fine.
11. Playing It Safe - Being afraid to take risks. If you like it, go for it. Give yourself permission to play around and take chances. Stretch yourselves. Go out on a limb. Try something new. Who knows, maybe it'll be just the thing that you needed to breathe some fresh air into your life!
Which one of these common decorating mistakes are you making in your home? Anyone else have a hard time with finishing projects 100% or playing it safe? How about keeping things you don't want?
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