Decorating is one of the most exciting parts of owning a home. You finally get to put your personal touch on the space you call yours. But sometimes, doing this can be a double-edged sword if you’re doing it yourself.
DIY remains popular these days, letting excited homeowners create a space on which they can stamp their identity.
This trend helped with the surge of shops that sell ready-to-assemble furniture. These products have become so trendy that they achieved a global market share of USD$13.8 billion in 2020.
The thing with DIY is that your home can easily become a disaster if you don’t have the proper knowledge of executing it.
In the end, redoing a work can be troublesome and costly, especially if it involves your home’s exterior. Mistakes of that scale can ruin your home’s curb appeal.
Following the advice of experts, like the ones you can find on this site and others like it, can help you avoid the common dangers of going DIY. These include:
1. Not Using Space Wisely
Even if you have a small space, a few tricks can make your area look bigger and more extensive. Unfortunately, pushing furniture to the wall isn’t one of them.
Many people think putting their sofas and other furniture right up the sides can make a space bigger. The explanation is there will be more room to move about. While that’s technically true, it won’t make an area look sophisticated. Instead, it runs the risk of looking like a cramped studio.
Instead of pushing furniture to the wall, try arranging them to create a natural flow of movement inside the room.
Analyzing how people can move around in a space can help you devise a plan to position pieces of furniture in a non-obstructive way.
If you’ve yet to buy furniture, you might also want to think about how much space they will take.
Another thing is putting kitchen cabinets close to the ceiling without a soffit. It helps give a more polished and seamless look to the kitchen.
The kitchen soffit also hides industrial elements like pipes, vents, and wiring, keeping them protected and out of the way. Installing soffits can be tricky, though.
So, reach out to reputable home construction companies in your area for some professional help.
2. Making Your Space Look Like A Showroom
Your bedroom, kitchen and living room should not look like everything is on sale. It’s far too easy to copy exactly what you saw in showrooms while shopping for furniture.
But you don’t want guests saying your house looks like the display of a home retail shop.
If you can’t help being inspired by a particular showroom, get pieces similar to what’s on display. Then, mix them up with other things you already own.
3. Color-Coordinating Everything
The matching concept has long lost its steam in terms of design trends. Nowadays, an overly color-coordinated room is considered kitsch.
It creates a feeling of blandness that may signal discomfort with uniqueness to others.
When you see a space with red curtains, red throw pillows, and red accent pieces, you automatically think of Christmas. That’s well and good if it’s that time of the year. But if it’s still July, you’re giving off the wrong vibe.
Using colors correctly will give your space a sophisticated feel and add to its value. Try breaking the monotony by relying on a color palette instead of a single hue.
4. Ignoring Greenery
The choice of placement of plants can make a space look serene and calm. It also has other benefits, like improving the air quality and reducing visual stress.
If you ignore the use of plants, you’ll miss out on these benefits.
If you’re not sure where to place a potted plant, you can start with areas with a lot of negative space. Put one on a visible spot to naturally balance the room’s look and add a measure of vibrancy.
5. Stuffing Surfaces With Decorations
Except for Boho and eclectic styles, overdecorating surfaces can overwhelm the senses and make you feel trapped.
To maintain a touch of free-spiritedness, you can still use texture and decorate with knick-knacks. But it would be best to follow the rule of threes. This way, you’re giving off a laid-back vibe without stuffing everything.
Better yet, you can focus on a specific area in your home to highlight.
Conclusion
Home decorating can be fun. But if you want to do it yourself, make sure you know the pitfalls to avoid the hassle of taking everything down and starting all over.
It never hurts to reach out to professionals for advice. That way, you can make every purchase and placement feel worthwhile.
