Our goal at NW Rugs & Furniture is to offer the highest-quality rugs and furnishings. No matter how tight your budget may be, we believe everyone should have access to the resources they need to build the home of their dreams. We regularly update our style blog to help you better serve your customers. You can find useful tips, learn more about home decor, and get inspired by our work.
We realized that while we have written a lot about what you should be doing when creating your design, we haven’t really covered what you shouldn’t be doing. We often find that people make bad designs because they think they understand what they are doing but don’t. We’re going to try and do something about it.
We’ll discuss ten common mistakes we’ve seen in home design today and provide ten alternatives for each mistake so that you can create a beautiful design for your home.
IGNORE SCALE
How big do you think the furniture looks when you enter a room? You may have seen a huge couch with a tiny end table and thought, “That looks odd to me.” This is because the designer did not consider scale when creating the design.
What is scale?
When two objects are compared, scale refers to a general perception of their size. The human mind is accustomed to comparing objects with objects of similar size. We can detect when the balance is thrown and perceive that something is wrong.
Two items don’t have to be the same size to work well together. There’s no end table as big as a sofa. If you find one, please let us know. That would be interesting to see!
How to balance scale in your design
Professional interior designers use the Golden Ratio to account for scale. The Golden Ratio, also known as the 60/40 ratio, is a numerical equation that occurs naturally. It’s about 1:1.61 or a ratio. The ratio is evident when comparing the size of the human form, artworks, or even interior design.
Start by measuring the total floor area of your room. (Let’s say it measures 100 square feet.) Furniture shouldn’t take up more than 60 percent of the total area (in this example, 60 square feet). Accent pieces should also measure approximately 40% of the size of the piece they support. If you have a couch that is 10′ x 6′, your coffee table should be approximately 4′ x 2′.
The golden ratio can help you ensure that the furniture in your room is balanced and that no objects are too large or too small. House Tipster has a great post about the golden ratio. Use our sizing chart to gauge your scale.
Forcing everything to match
Many home decorators fear that things will not match. It’s believed that if things don’t match, the design is flawed. It may be true when choosing your wardrobe, but in terms of home design, everything matching can make it look bland. It doesn’t matter if we are talking about textures, colors, or even materials.
Introduce a little variety.
Even if two pieces don’t have the same texture and color, they can still look great together. Just a minute, browse through Joanna Gaines’s Magnolia Home Collection. Have you noticed anything? The colors of many rugs don’t match. In some rugs, a base fabric is used, and then a second, completely different texture is added to highlight the design.
This concept doesn’t limit itself to individual decor pieces. Mix and match multiple pieces to create an interesting and varied design.
RANDOMLY SELECTING DECORATION PIECES
You want to have a variety of decor items, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you should use whatever catches your attention. We’ve all seen rooms that look thrown together because the decorator chose whatever they thought looked good at the moment. They did not keep in mind the overall design concept (or didn’t even have one).
Start with a unifying theme.
Selecting a Theme Before you create your design is important. This certainly applies to this project. A clear theme can help you choose pieces that are in line with your vision without making it look random. You can select a style to bring harmony into your design while adding some variety. Some popular styles include:
Add too much decor
We’ve noticed that people aren’t able to say, “Enough!” There is a point where adding too much furniture or too many accents to a design can be a problem. This can create a feeling of overcrowding and claustrophobia in the room.
Leave a little white space in your design.
Do not underestimate the power that white space can have in a design. By incorporating some white space, you can allow people to appreciate the individual pieces. This allows for your pieces to breathe because they are not competing with one another for attention.
You can maintain balance by starting with a focal point. You can use a rug, photo, window, or anything else you like to emphasize in the room. When you are arranging your other decor, consider how visible your centerpiece will be. Ask someone to look at your arrangement. You should add more white space if they cannot easily identify your centerpiece or if they feel your room is cluttered.
USING COLORS THAT DO NOT FIT THE MOOD
Colors are an important part of any design for a variety of reasons. Many times, a beautiful design can be thrown out of balance because the designer chose colors that did not fit the mood.
Consider the emotional impact of colors before you choose them
Different colors have different emotions. Before selecting colors for a room design, you should decide the feelings that you want to convey. If you want to create a room that inspires passion and energy, warm colors such as red, yellow, and orange will be perfect.
Understanding color theories can help you choose the colors that suit your mood and create a pleasing palette when designing your home.
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