Five Common Interior Design Mistakes to Avoid

There are several interior design mistakes that one can make. I am going to focus on some that I think are the most common. If you take these steps one by one you will have a successful interior.

1. Over furnishing a room. This is by far the most common mistake that I see. People buy furniture too large for the room or fill it up with too many items. This makes the space crowded and small. Purchase furniture that will allow a room to breathe and not over crowd it. Having furniture that is multi-functional will reduce the number of pieces in a room.

2. Hanging artwork too high. Hang art around 66"-72" to the top of the piece from the floor. This is most visually appealing in a room with an eight-foot ceiling. There are exceptions when the art is very large or it is hanging above a large furniture piece. Don't hang art in a diagonal line. Group smaller pieces together to create one focal point. Take a look in decorating magazines and study how art is hung for good visual examples.

3. Clutter and disorganization. If you organize your day-to-day clutter and eliminate stuff you seldom or never use, you will have much more living space. Purge unwanted items. Make room to display your collections and provide storage for things you want to keep.

4. Quantity versus Quality. Buy only what you love and avoid cheap knickknacks and art. Buy the best art, furniture and accessories you can afford. The quality of good items will last and may hold resale value if you choose to eliminate them later. Cheap stuff is always cheap and will become throw away items.

5. Bad lighting. Have several light sources in a space not just one overhead ceiling fixture. Incorporate floor and table lamps for reading. Chandeliers offer overall ambiance and illumination. Track and recessed lighting provide accents for art and tasks.

You can not go wrong with symmetry.

The chandelier over a dining table needs to be correct shape and scale.

Creating a cozy sleeping space and maximizing a sloped ceiling.

Kitchens need to be carefully planned as this one was.

The sectional components chosen fit perfectly in this space.

Julie Fergus, ASID, is a nationally published interior designer. Her studio and showroom is located in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. Julie's clients are primarily in the Lakes Region and Mount Washington Valley, however, she will travel throughout the state and North East.  www.JulieFergus.com | www.DesignByMail.com 

What makes an interior design successful?

There are lots of reasons, but the real reason is that there was some sort of plan or vision to carry a theme through. Things go wrong when people get off track of the vision or the plan. I’ve seen it happen to my own projects when clients go off on their own and get caught up in a “deal”.  Just because something is a “deal” does not mean it should be purchased.  That “deal” could compromise the whole design or space.

On a recent project my client and I worked out a furniture layout that provided flexibility to seating and kept the space open to the views. She calls me and says: “I can get the matching love seat for a great price.” There were many things wrong with a matching loveseat for her space. I had to respond by going back to her original needs and vision. She snapped out of it, and avoided a huge mistake. I’m grateful that she called me instead of just buying it. She knew it was wrong on some level, that is why she called.

Another example of potential mistakes is purchasing items to solve a temporary problem. I am working with my showroom manager / assistant on the home she just moved-in to. She was avoiding have me see her “disaster,” and she was getting frantic to solve storage. She was just about to spend $1000 on a HUGE hutch so she would have a place to put stuff. It is a good thing she showed me photos of it so I could save her the money and the hassle. She got the same lecture as other clients that start veering off track. Why spend $1000 to solve a temporary problem? So within the next few days I was over there and created a great layout that transformed the open living space. She is still overjoyed and amazed at how incredible the newly designed space is. She now has a plan and has invested that $1000 in furnishings that will make her new living space beautiful and functional,

The lesson is, before you buy anything for your home, think it through. Because if it doesn’t work you’ll waste money or be stuck with something that is wrong.

• A deal is not really a deal if it won’t work in your space.
• Buying pieces for temporary solutions should be avoided.
• Don’t buy items for no reason, have a place for them. This will save you from accumulating lots of things that will be in your way later.
• Avoid trendy decorating items and furnishings

Julie Fergus, ASID, is a nationally published interior designer. Her studio and showroom is located in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. Julie's clients are primarily in the Lakes Region and Mount Washington Valley, however, she will travel throughout the state and North East.  www.JulieFergus.com | www.DesignByMail.com