We know that many of you have great artistic taste and enjoy decorating your apartment on your own. If you decided that you don’t need a professional interior designer to decorate your living room and can manage this work by yourself, be aware of these mistakes that amateur decorators often make. And we wish you good luck in solving this creative and challenging task!
1. Don’t buy unusable furniture just because it looks good
We bet you have already seen the furniture of your dreams on various interior decoration websites and in your favorite stores. But first, think of whether it will be useful enough and is right for your room or apartment. We mean, will you feel good enough relaxing with a cup of coffee on the dazzling white sofa you’ve decided to buy or will you enjoy making breakfast in the kitchen where there is a “perfect” huge table preventing you from moving from the fridge to the cooker? So, please, imagine what the room will look like with this or that piece of furniture and decide in what way you are going to use it.
2. Don’t put your sofa against the wall
This advice can sound strange at first. But indeed, many professional designers go crazy when they see a sofa against the wall in a large room as it is considered to be outdated. If you don’t have enough space, it might be the safest option, but nevertheless, try to find a better place for your sofa – it will make your room look bigger.
3. Don’t hang pictures too high
There is quite a strict rule concerning the level at which you’d better hang your pictures. The optimal height is 60 inches from floor to the center of an image as it is the average human eye level.
4. Don’t limit your room to one source of light
It is one of the most widespread mistakes made by amateurs. When you enter a room with only one source of light (usually a chandelier hung in the middle of a ceiling), you don’t feel like you are in a cozy place. Such a room may even provide an impression of an office where people don’t usually care about the interior design. The solution is rather simple – consider placing several sources of light, such as extra chandeliers, floor lamps, table lamps and others.
5. Don’t collect memorabilia
If you have a lot of memorabilia which you don’t know what to do with, don’t place them all in your living room. The first (and the main) reason why you should avoid using too many small items is that they always collect dust and you are going to spend hours cleaning your room. Moreover, practically all the professional interior designers are “promoting” minimal styling now as it has recently proved to be the most trendy one. So, get rid of your memorabilia – photos on your smartphone or computer are a much better way to save good memories.
6. Don’t forget about extra seats
It might be one of the minimal styling disadvantages. When you have just two chairs for you and your husband and a sofa, it may seem enough – it’s really minimalistic and saves much space, doesn’t it? But tell us, what you are going to do when your friends or relatives come to your place. So, getting too addicted to minimalism may lead to an awkward situation when you don’t have enough seats for your guests. Make sure you have as many seats as fit your dining table.
7. Don’t skimp on your upholstery
Consider choosing a fabric of high quality if you are planning to change the upholstery of your armchairs or a couch. Expensive material is not a waste of money but a guarantee that it won’t look worn out in a few months.