Your home:
20 decorating no nos - What not to do when decorating
By Coral Nafie
Decorating is fun! If you follow these tips, you’ll be able to avoid
most of the major decorating mistakes and have a home you love to come
home to! But it’s hard to learn ahead of time what things to avoid
before you even start a decorating project.
Here is a list of the top things not to do, not now, not ever!
1. Don’t Let Someone Make Choices for You Your home is your personal
space.Don’t let someone else tell you what you should do. If you need
help, ask for suggestions. But when the time comes to make decisions,
they should be yours. It’s your home and you should feel comfortable
with the choices.
2. Don’t Paint First You can buy paint in every colour under the sun.
In fact, you can have paint mixed in any imaginable colour you might
want. Choose fabric, carpet, and upholstery first.
3. Don’t Choose Paint From a Paint Chip A small chip of a paint
sample might look great in the fluorescent light in the paint store. But
a whole wall of it might be overpowering.
When you’ve decided on a colour, purchase a quart of the colour and
paint a small section to see how the colour looks in the room with
natural light. If you don’t want to mess up the walls, paint a piece of
cardboard and tape it on the walls in the room where you plan to use the
colour.
4. Don’t Decide on Colours in a Store Never buy fabric, flooring, or
paint on your first visit. Ask for samples of paint and carpet and
swatches of fabric so you can see what they look like in your home.
Check them out in natural light and in the evening with lamps.
5. Don’t Settle for Blah If You Love Bold A gallon of red paint
doesn’t cost any more than a gallon of white.
You get my point! If you love colour, find a way to use your
favourite colours in your home. Choose colours that express your
personality and coordinate with things you love.
6. Don’t Make Your Favourite Colour the Main Colour If you love red,
you don’t have to choose it for your walls. Instead, choose a more
subtle shade to provide a background that will let items in your
favourite colour really “pop.”
7. Don’t Ignore the Psychology of Colour Don’t think that you can
create a relaxing sanctuary in a room with red walls. Blue and green are
more calming and relaxing. Choose red and orange for play rooms or
family rooms where the action is. Select a colour scheme to create the
atmosphere you want in the room.
8. Don’t Forget Colour Undertones Not all blue is blue. Not all
whites are the same white. Look beyond the main colour to see if the hue
is light or dark, crisp or dull. Choose coordinating colours with the
same intensity.
9. Don’t Force a Colour Scheme Don’t “make” things match. Just
because you have a red print sofa doesn’t mean that it will coordinate
with any red stripe draperies.
Choose your colour family, identify the major pieces, decide what you
have that will have a place in the room, and then recover, repaint, and
coordinate all the elements. Find another place for or get rid of
anything that doesn’t fit your plan.
10. Don’t Ignore the Focal Point of Your Room Not every room has a
focal point, but if yours does, make it important. Arrange the artwork
and furniture around this important element.
11. Don’t Let Your Furniture Hug the Walls Don’t arrange the chairs,
sofa, and tables all around the room unless you have no choice. Make
groupings of furniture for conversations and pull pieces into the centre
of the room for a warmer feeling of comfort.
12. Don’t Build Barriers Don’t put a chair in front of a door or a
table in an obvious traffic area. Leave room for easy access and
movement within the room.
13. Don’t Settle for Cheap Don’t choose a piece of furniture because
of a pretty cover or fun colour. First, see if it’s well made, has
interesting details or classic lines. If it does, you can always recover
the upholstery in a fabric you choose or refinish the frame.
14. Don’t Invest in Trends Don’t break you budget on pieces that are
trendy. Trends come and go.
You’ll want to spend your precious resources on pieces that will last
for a while. If you are attracted to crystal studded or fur-covered
furniture, experiment with a less expensive crystal embellished
lampshade or faux fur throw.
15. Don’t Keep Mismatched Furniture If you inherit or end up with a
lot of pieces that don’t match, find a way to tie them together in your
decorating scheme. Paint odd wooden furniture frames to match or recover
pillows and upholstery with coordinating fabrics.
16. Don’t Be Extravagant on Useless Pieces If a piece doesn’t serve
some function and won’t last for years, put your money back in your
wallet. Save your funds for the necessities unless you just can’t
resist.
17. Don’t Keep Things Because You Think You Should Don’t feel
obligated to keep a piece you’ve inherited. If it doesn’t appeal to you
or it doesn’t fit your space, either fix it or get rid of it.After all,
it’s your home. They’ll understand!
18.Don’t Allow Ugly Anywhere Of course, ugly is in the eye of the
beholder. But don’t think you can learn to like something if you really
don’t. Get rid of it!
19.Don’t Display Every Personal Treasure Don’t overcrowd your home
with collectibles. Make each piece be important. If it isn’t or if you
don’t have room, store them away and change your collection from time to
time. You’ll be glad when it’s time to dust!
20.Don’t Forget the Details Don’t just paint the walls and put the
furniture around the room.
Learn about details that make your decorating style unique. Find
interesting lamps, arrange books neatly, add decorative pillows to
furniture, and include fragrant candles and flowers.Decorating is fun!
If you follow these steps, you’ll be able to avoid most of the major
decorating mistakes most people make. |