The livelihood way is the unsung paladin of any given house . It is the key location for all the family unit members to get together and enjoy board and/or video plot , a good television show or motion-picture show , or loosen up on the couch with a secure record .
But some decorating mistake will turn your living way into a cluttered , unwieldy nightmare . And , believe it or not , more people make these mistake than you gain .
If you ’re in the market place for a refurbishment or a redecoration , do n’t make one of the following 25 mistakes .
1. Buying Furniture Without Measuring the Room
It occur : you see a couch , you fall in love , and you immediately pilfer your recognition carte du jour and get it deliver to your house . Then , the lounge gets there , and it accept nothing short of a miracle and the posture of God to get it in the room , where it readily overwhelms everything else .
Before you make that must - have purchase for your living room , measure the total square footage and make trusted that what you want is n’t too big … or too small , for that topic .
2. Buying Area Rugs That Are Too Small
If you have gem or Ellen Price Wood floor , it may be tempting to grease one’s palms a small area rug to add a moment of “ interior decoration ” to the quad .
But if the carpet you get is too small , it will look inept and out of position in the space . It will , in essence , be worthless .
3. Buying Area Rugs That Are Too Big
Likewise , purchase an area rug that ’s too openhanded will overwhelm the way and make it look messy .
A good rule of quarter round is to get a carpeting that “ touches ” every spell of furniture in the room , so it can be insert under it befittingly .
4. Not Enough Overhead Light or Lamps
Living rooms do n’t postulate as much light as other suite in the house , but that does n’t stand for it want to be darker than a cave .
Make indisputable you have sufficient overhead lighting , or lamps , to contribute in sufficient visible light to the room .
5. Painting the Walls White
There was a prison term in the not - too - remote yesteryear when shows on HGTV encouraged homeowners to paint every bulwark in their house white . Every shade of clean , from shell to ecru , was promote .
Today , however , homeowner actualize the importance of choosing colors that reflect their personalities . Unless you go in a hospital , do not paint the wall in your living way white .
6. Decorating Around Something You Can’t Stand
Whether it ’s a family heirloom , an old piece of furniture from your college age , or just something that does n’t work anymore , there ’s nothing bad than prevent something in your life room that you just ca n’t endure .
Do n’t decorate around it — just fox it out or donate it to Jacob’s ladder . Habitat for Humanityaccepts furniture donations nationwide .
7. Not Enough Functional Storage
The living room is the lieu where everyone congregate to relax , play , and watch video and movies . If you have young children , this also means that they ’ll be bringing toy dog and games around … and not hold enough functional storage , or no usable storage at all , will make the room look messy and littered .
Functional storage , such asthis credenza , will go a long way in providing store that keep thing tidy and pretty .
8. Too Many Tchotchkes
Either you ’re atchotchkeperson , or you ’re not . If you ’re atchotchkeperson , do not get every type oftchotchkeand put it out on the tables , chairs , and every other surface . Not only will it make the room reckon cluttered and mussy , but it will be impossible to dust and keep clean .
Fivetchotchkesof your option are more than sufficient in any given room .
9. Sacrificing Comfort for Style
The dot of a living way is to have a place where everyone can assemble up , relax , and have fun .
As tempting as it may be to get a voguish , uncomfortable sofa — or any other piece of piece of furniture — do n’t ever sacrifice ease for style . You are not fail to appear on the covering ofArchitectural Digest , and no one will evaluate you for securing a comfortable , low-cost couch or else of a eminent - oddment piece of music of art .
10. Designing Around the TV
As telly get bigger and bigger , and cost less and less , it ’s become tempting to make the television the focal point of the living room , and to select every slice of article of furniture around it as though it ’s a statue of a Catholic saint ( or of Buddha , or Krishna , or Cthulhu , or the divinity / demon of your alternative ) .
However , the way will flow much better , and make more logistical signified , if the idiot box is simply a functional part of the overall interior decoration .
11. Hanging Artwork or Photos Too High on the Wall
If you have to crane your neck up to see the artwork , or the photos , it ’s too high-pitched on the wall .
alternatively , advert the artwork , or the photos , at or slightly above center stratum . This direction , your optic will be naturally draw to it , and it wo n’t overwhelm the way .
12. Having Too Many Photos All Around
We ’ve all been to Grandma ’s house and seen all the old photo , in every type of bod , here there and everywhere . But advert photo frame indiscriminately can make the area look littered and unorganised .
alternatively , see a photo bulwark , and make that your “ accent wall . ”
13. Choosing the Wrong Lampshade
The last affair you require is for everyone ’s care to be drawn to a uncanny lamp shade in the middle of an otherwise calm , functional keep room .
ensure to get a lampshade that equal the residue of your color and decor scheme .
14. Not Updating Your Crown Molding
peak molding can be difficult , if not impossible , to take down from your walls . It can therefore be tantalising to forget it in plaza when you ’re redecorating your living room .
But if your jacket crown molding is damaged or highly outdated , keeping it on your wall will make the room look damage and out-of-date , no matter how modernized it becomes .
15. Cords Hanging Everywhere
In today ’s technologically advanced domain , it ’s all but inevitable that your aliveness elbow room bulwark will be overflowing with cords , cords , cords everywhere .
Avoid make your way look like your office space by investing in somecord coversthat easy confiscate to walls , or the back of furniture , and blends in with the place .
16. Too Many Focal Points
A shiplap paries . A exposure paries . A wallpaper bulwark . A chalkboard wall .
Too many “ different ” walls will lead to too many focal points in the room . Pick one “ particular ” bulwark and make that the focal point .
17. Matchy-Matchy Prints and Colors
We realise that people have their preferable color palette but make everything all one color — whatever that colour may be — will make the room face like something out of a playscript . Literally .
Do n’t be afraid to mix up colors and patterns , within reason , to give that room a fun and funky look .
18. Clunky Furniture Everywhere
Even if you have a living room with gamey ceilings and more hearty footage than a New York City studio apartment , hale unwieldy piece of furniture everywhere will make it see small and crowded .
Choose one big spell of furniture — for a living elbow room , that article of furniture should be the couch — and keep the rest of the article of furniture modest and gratuitous .
19. Cheap Window Treatments
You know those $ 29.99 curtains at Walmart that seem like a in force bargain at the prison term ? They ’re not .
Not only will poorly made , brassy windowpane treatment settle apart quickly ( thus be you more in the long run , as it will be you to keep replacing them ) , but it will kill the vibration of the whole way . Instead , splurging on skillful , semi - permanent window treatment will lay aside you money in the long running game .
20. Playing Too Much Into Modern Trends
There was a clock time , not so long ago , when HGTV renovation show featured open concepteverything . It did n’t matter if the home could withstand the pressure of getting walls ripped down from stem to stern , or if it even made mother wit with the age and the vibration of the house — just open concept everything , it will be fine !
The reality is , everything was decidedlynotfine . Playing too much into modern trends , especially if you have an elderly home , will pressure you to redecorate your support room in 5 geezerhood or less . Would n’t you rather economize your money ?
21. Making the Space Too Formal
It can not be stated enough : the living room is the place for everyone to relax , get together , and have fun .
crap the infinite too formal will take away from the fun , playful nature of a living way .
22. Too Many Colors and Patterns
On the opposite end of the “ matchy - matchy ” spectrum are hoi polloi that throw every color and formula together , and hope for the estimable .
permit ’s not do that , shall we ? A good formula of quarter round is , no more than two colors and patterns in a given way , and that include the living room .
23. Too Many Wood Tones
If you ’re someone that care the “ wood ” looking at — be it in the class of furniture , floor , wall shiplap , or some compounding of all of the above — it can be tempting to get wood tincture in every spectre and dash .
That , however , will make your life room look messy and sloppily adorn . Choose one , or two , wood whole step at most to give your room a warm , welcome feeling .
24. Plastic Couch Covers
This is not 1975 , you are not staying at your grandmother ’s sign , and you do n’t postulate those formative sofa covers . ( Why . Just why . )
Today ’s couches are made with easy washable framework , so you do n’t have to bestow this ugly , unnecessary addition to your living room . Your kids will give thanks you for it .
25. Doing It All in One day…or Trying To
HGTV has brainwashed an entire coevals of householder into conceive that anything and everything can be done in the home in one hour or less . Therefore , it seems all but a yield that one would think redecorating a living room would take a day … or less .
The realism is , redecorating a keep way can take week , or even calendar month , to finish . Be patient with yourself , and others , and trust the process .
