When it comes to decorating your home or giving a room a bit of a makeover it can all sound very exciting. You get to wonder around DIY store and pick out your favourite colours and you can flick through magazines to find inspiration but when it comes to the reality of actually doing the work, all that planning can quickly go out the window. Before you know it you’re left with a room that just doesn’t look quite right, you can’t put your finger on it but you know there’s something that either shouldn’t be there or is missing.
Too Many Colours
One of the first things you’re going to have done was pick out a colour scheme. Deep colours like reds and browns can make a room feel cosier and if you want to cool your room down you need to go for pastels like light greens and blues.
When decorating your room you need to remember the colour goes further than the walls, you also need to look at what colour is going on the floor and any prominent wall hangings. The worst thing you can do is have half a dozen colours throughout the room, having deep brown walls with a pink rug, patterned furniture and different pictures hanging on the wall is just going to leave your room looking messy and cluttered.
To Many Patterns
As with the colours you need to be careful you’re not going overkill with too many different patterns, unless you’re decorating a large room you really need to keep anything patterned to a minimum otherwise you’re going to leave the room feeling smaller than it actually is. If you’re hanging patterned wallpaper just do one wall and use a complimentary block colour on the other walls. If you’re going to have a pattern on your upholstery you ideally need to keep the walls and floors in one block complimentary pattern too otherwise you’re going to feel like you’re at grandmas every time you sit down.
Putting Everything On Display
As much as you want to show the world your golfing trophies, framed pictures from all your holidays, the kids school art work etc you need to be selective over what you’re putting on display. Try and keep it following your original theme. Display photos in frames that compliment your theme but everything else really has to be justified if you want your room to look fresh and clean.
If you have a bookcase use it for books rather than a general storage unit for anything that fits on it. The same goes for a DVD or CD unit, when you’ve first finished your new room everything needs to have a place where it belongs and some things are simply going to belong in a drawer or cupboard.
No Plan
Before you start on any room you need to have a clear idea of what you’re looking to achieve and how you’re going to achieve it. You don’t have to have an exact idea of what the room is going to look like when you’re done but you at least need to know what your budget is and what you’re looking to change. It might not be necessary to hang new wall paper or repaint the wall, you might be able to get the change you wanted simply by throwing in a rug, adding some new blinds and accessorising well. The most important thing to plan is your budget and your priorities – you’re probably not going to be able to do everything you want to.
Following Fashion Not Taste
At the end of the day this is your home, it’s not a show home and it’s not meant to look like it’s just jumped out the pages of a magazine. It needs to be somewhere you feel comfortable and happy so just because a celebrity or a magazine says white lampshades or leopard print rugs are in doesn’t mean your home has to look like this. Let it reflect your own tastes.
Jessica works for Ambition Blinds who sell an extensive collection of window blinds and Velux blinds in a wide selection of designs and colours to suit any home.
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