11 most common mistakes in interior design

Recommendation points

• The first mistake is to try to leave everything as it is
• The second mistake is too colorful or boring
• Mistake three – poor lighting
• Mistake four – too few outlets and inconveniently located switches
• Mistake five – too much furniture
• Mistake six – sticking to traditional furniture arrangement
• Seventh mistake – making a mistake with the choice of style
• Mistake eight – an attempt to fit a random thing into the existing interior
• Mistake nine – too delicate or too brutal interior
• Mistake ten – artificial flowers
• Mistake eleven – trying to save money

In this article, we present the most common interior design mistakes that can lead to disappointment for home owners who were hoping for a completely different effect. We hope that our article will help you avoid rework and create a harmonious interior..

The first mistake is to try to leave everything as it is

Overhaul – too expensive and time-consuming, just re-glue the wallpaper, touch up the floor and that’s enough. And let the furniture stand where it was. This is exactly what many homeowners think, and it will do. Why redevelop, demolish walls and build new partitions – they lived here before and nothing, quite familiar and even convenient in some places! Meanwhile, competent planning allows even in a small “odnushka” to allocate several areas for recreation and receiving guests, and during the redevelopment, you can even turn a two-room apartment into a full-fledged three-room apartment.

Designers strongly advise to pay special attention to functionality and space planning, leaving beauty in the background. Indeed, you will always have time to repaint the wall, but expanding the bathtub by means of the corridor is unlikely. So start with redevelopment, do not be afraid to radically change the location of individual zones, and leave the choice of wallpaper and curtains for later.

If you prefer to dine in the living room, then you simply don’t need a large kitchen. Why not combine these two rooms to create a single space? Or how, in this case, to arrange the kitchen working area behind a light partition or column

The second mistake is too colorful or boring

When choosing a color scheme for an interior, inexperienced designers most often make one of two main mistakes – either they strictly adhere to one shade, creating a boring and inexpressive design, or they get too carried away, decorating the room with all the colors of the rainbow. Both options represent the wrong decision. If you have beige walls, a floor of a slightly darker shade, the same ceiling and furniture – all this will merge and the room will be just boring, banal. At the same time, the use of a bright red color, and even in combination with yellow or dark blue, will be too flashy and over time will start to annoy.

We have already written about how to create a harmonious color palette, which combinations look especially impressive and beautiful, so we will not repeat ourselves. Remember, even if red or green are your favorite colors, you shouldn’t use them throughout the room. The golden mean is what you should strive for when choosing shades for your interior..

It is immediately evident that the owner of this bedroom adores pink. Why a hostess? It is quite difficult to imagine a man in such a delicate bedroom. There is too much pink here, which makes the room dull and uninteresting.

In this living room, on the contrary, there are too many bright shades: orange, juicy green, red. Of course, it looks original, but over time, the feeling of novelty will pass, and the irritation from such a bright combination will appear

Mistake three – poor lighting

The chandelier in the center of the room is still one of the most common lighting options. However, if you think about it, what will it cover? Carpet on the floor? Luminaires must fulfill their main function – to illuminate individual functional areas. It is better to place several spotlights above the kitchen working area and a lamp with a lampshade above the table than to hang one single chandelier, even if it is beautiful and expensive..

Built-in, hidden lamps have become one of the fashion trends today, when it is simply not clear where the light is coming from. Designers are sure that, for example, a bedroom should have several light sources – near the bed to read before going to bed, by the closet and the mirror. But it is better to completely abandon the chandelier in the center of the ceiling..

If you have two lamps on the sides of the head of the bed, spotlights near the mirror and closet, would you also use a chandelier in the center of the ceiling? In this case, it becomes completely unnecessary.

Mistake four – too few outlets and inconveniently located switches

This mistake again concerns not the interior design as such, but its functionality. Today, every apartment has a huge number of electrical household appliances, each of which will have to be connected to the network somehow. In this regard, professionals are confident that only careful planning will allow you to provide the right number of outlets..

Just walk through the rooms and decide where the refrigerator will stand, the air conditioner will hang, the computer will take its place, there will be a floor lamp and a washing machine. Only in the bathroom there should be at least two sockets: for the washing machine, and also at the mirror – for connecting an electric shaver and a hair dryer. Moreover, they should be located exactly where you need.

Agree, it will be very inconvenient if there are only two sockets in the room, both are busy, for example, with a TV and a laptop, and there is simply nowhere to charge the phone. And the extension cord wires on the floor will look out of place.

When choosing a place for switches, think in which direction the interior door will open and the cabinet will stand. By the way, today there are so-called pass-through switches – you can turn on the light at one end of a long corridor, and turn it off at the other.

It is better to place at least three sockets above the work surface in the kitchen. What if you have to turn on the electric kettle, mixer and bread maker at the same time?

Mistake five – too much furniture

Most of the space in the room is traditionally occupied by wardrobes. These massive structures can take up half a room and will definitely not add beauty to the interior. What about storage locations, you ask? Things need to be stored somewhere! Of course, but it is better to equip one dressing room, for example, on the site of the former pantry, than to put a cupboard with mezzanines in each room.

Alternatively, equip one roomy wardrobe along the entire bedroom wall or disguise the wardrobes under the walls so that they are not striking.

By the way, did you know that a massive wall in the living room is bad manners? Choose a lighter modern option with a variety of open and closed shelves, and the TV panel can even be hung on the wall, eliminating the need to buy a cabinet for it.

Since the days of the USSR, when buying a wall was the dream of many homeowners, this piece of furniture has remained very popular. But modern living room sets do not look so massive at all, while allowing you to organize the right amount of storage places.

In this living room, storage spaces are almost invisible, as they are successfully disguised in the wall behind the sofa. Moreover, there is clearly a lot of space in these cabinets.!

Mistake six – sticking to traditional furniture arrangement

Where is the furniture in your house? Along the walls, as our parents used to? Try to abandon such a banal decision. For example, the center of the kitchen can be given to an island, which will become both a dining table, a work surface, and a bar.

And the sofa in the middle of the living room can be an excellent divider for different functional areas. Experiment, most likely, the new arrangement of furniture will pleasantly surprise you with its functionality and convenience, and the room will look completely different.

In this living room, a sofa corner divided the room into a dining and relaxation area, taking an honorable centerpiece

Seventh mistake – making a mistake with the choice of style

If we have already figured out the functional side of the interior, it is worth paying attention to the style of home decoration. The choice of design style depends primarily on the wishes of the homeowners, but should also be combined with the characteristics of the home itself..

For example, you’ve visited a historic manor house or visited a friend who lives in a country house, and were delighted with the lush baroque in which the interior was decorated. But, believe me, an attempt to transfer all the ceremonial beauty of this historical style into an ordinary “kopeck piece” will end in failure.

As well as the design of a high-tech wooden house. Remember that if you decide to decorate a room in a certain style, you will have to “play by the rules” and strictly adhere to the principles of the chosen direction. So think again before deciding – classic or modern.

This kitchen-dining room is clearly retro-styled. If you are also a fan of mid-century interiors, this is a great option. Otherwise, you will quickly get bored with such a vintage, and you will have to change the whole environment completely

Mistake eight – an attempt to fit a random thing into the existing interior

Many homeowners simply cannot pass by a beautiful painting, a charming vase or an elegant console in the Louis XVI style. However, it can be problematic to enter such items by chance, depending on the mood, into the already existing interior of the room.

Firstly, a large painting or statue is in itself very distinctive and self-sufficient, so that neighborhoods with other decorative elements will not be tolerated. And secondly, the item may be completely redundant, non-functional, or take up too much space..

Before you buy this cute fluffy upholstered armchair, imagine what it would look like in your minimalist room! Especially often such a mistake is made in relation to retro items that the owners cherish and are not going to throw away. At the same time, you can fit retro things into a modern interior quite harmoniously if you adhere to the simple rules that we have already talked about..

An ultra-modern light fixture plays the role of a highlight in this living room. However, it should be noted that against the background of the otherwise calm interior, both he and the massage leather chair look alien

Mistake nine – too delicate or too brutal interior

The struggle between masculine and feminine principles in the interior can lead to the fact that the design ultimately turns out to be either sugary-sugary, or deliberately strict and too cold. We have already written about the peculiarities of the male interior. A striking example of a feminine approach to room design is, of course, shabby chic.

Choose the golden mean, a real “interior unisex”. Or leave the owner of the house one of the rooms, for example, an office or a billiard room, which he will turn into his male kingdom.

Would a man be able to feel comfortable in such a cute pink living room? Hardly. In the same way, a beautiful lady will be uncomfortable in a room with an abundance of chrome, glass and a complete lack of decorations

Mistake ten – artificial flowers

Of course, the use of artificial colors in the interior cannot be called a critical mistake. At the same time, designers from all over the world are so fiercely opposed to such a decor option that we could not but include this mistake in our list. Indeed, it is better to put one modest pot with a violet, decorative rose or dracaena than to hang plastic garlands in the form of wild grapes around the room. Such “decoration” will immediately turn into a dust collector and will look like a dull fake.

Only fresh, real flowers are worthy of becoming a decoration for your home! Leave plastic fakes to people who don’t know design

Mistake eleven – trying to save money

But this error can really become critical. Of course, there is such a thing as “reasonable economy”, so no one bothers you to choose the most advantageous offer of a construction hypermarket, take advantage of a discount or favorable conditions of the promotion.

But you can’t save on the services of a master! Do you consider yourself a specialist and are sure that you can independently install plumbing fixtures, arrange a multi-level plasterboard ceiling or change the wiring? Think again! Insufficiently high quality of repair work can ultimately result in additional costs, so it is very difficult to call such savings reasonable..

The interior should not only be beautiful, but also durable. It will be very unpleasant if cracks appear on your wall after a few months, the faucet in the bathroom starts leaking, and the seams between the parquet boards disperse. So do not skimp on the services of professionals, it is better to do it once and “for centuries” than to fix problems later

Of course, this is not a complete list of mistakes that inexperienced designers and homeowners can face. Almost every person after the completion of the repair has a feeling that something is wrong, but here it would be necessary to be different … Well, do not be afraid to take risks, heed our advice, think over each stage of the alteration again and believe me, you have everything it will turn out!