10 Interior Design Do’s and Don'ts
It’s time for another episode of Do and Dont’s. We always get great feed back when we do these blog posts. Do you want to play? Basically, we post images of vignettes that we see that have something wrong in the picture and then you see if you can figure out what is wrong.
Ready? Let’s do it!!
In this living space, the art placement is too high with the result that it doesn’t feel like it is part of the sofa and furniture arrangement. Source: Unknown
The glaring misstep here, for me, is the height of the paintings. They are “floating” in relation to the sofa below. Ideally, art is placed about 8” above the sofa so it will all read as a unit together. I’ m also not super fond of the cushions, they seem a bit calculated to me. I’d rather see a larger lighter cushion with a couple more colourful smaller ones. I’m also not a fan of the folded blanket on the sofa. I prefer a more casual throw over the end of the sofa. It feels to me like it was just folded for the picture.
Changing the rug and art placement in this room would make a big difference in making this space feel more cohesive. Source: Unknown
This image has me a little perplexed. I think it is a beautiful image to be sure, but there are a couple of things that throw me off. I feel like the carpet is kind of floating away from the furniture. I’d rather it be pulled in towards the furniture, under the coffee table and right up to the sofa legs. That creates more of an intimate space for one relaxing in the space. Now, I will admit we really don’t know what is going on in the other parts of the room but just going from this image that is my feeling. Also, I think the art piece above the sofa is too high and too small. It looks like they were tying to line up the art piece on the other wall with the one above the sofa but I don’t think that works as well as if they had chosen a larger piece for over the sofa and then lowered it. The two smaller art pieces could then be installed one over the other on the left wall. It would fill the space more and because the two are the same size and are both black and white, it would read as a very interesting art installation.
Bedrooms are generally calm spaces, the vibrant orange and geometric pattern is probably to stimulating for relaxed sleeping environment. Source: Unknown
Hmmm…what do you think of this? I’m thinking it’s a little over the top! I feel like this needs some serious editing! Too much of one fabric and too much orange. I would have trouble sleeping in this pumped up bedroom!
Pattern overload! Choosing one large pattern and other smaller patterns, would have made this space feel a lot less overwhelming! Source: Style at Home
This is a good example of pattern gone wrong. All these patterns, although are the same colours, they really don’t work well together. The reason is, they are all the same scale of pattern. The rule when working with pattern is to have one large, one medium, and one small scale pattern. These patterns are all fighting each other for attention. If you vary the scale size then they will not compete and it will read much more cohesively. I will also point out that the mirror above the sofa does not appear to be big enough and is a bit too high.
Having a rod above the top trim would make such a difference as it would frame the doors and small windows perfectly, while at the same time draw the eye up. Source: Unknown
I am not at all clear why they hung these curtains here. The rod should be above the top trim. Actually about 6-8” above works well. Read our blog on curtains here. This just cuts the windows and makes the room feel smaller and more closed in.
Using a patterned fabric like this would look lovely on the sofa or just the window treatments - using it for all the upholstery and curtains is creating a very busy and overwhelming feel to this living room. Source: Veranda
Here is another example of using too much of the same fabric. This is a good fabric to use ONCE. Then you can pull colours from this fabric for all the other pieces. This room is reading very busy at the moment even though the layout looks appealing.
In this example the two curtains rods are not at the same height, making this bedroom feel quite unbalanced. Source: Unknown
Ok, let’s see if you get this one…lamps? bedding? carpet? Hmmm…this is a tricky one. Look at the curtain rod height. They are different! Both should be hung at the same height. The windows are the same height so I am not sure why they hung the one on the right higher than the one above the bed.
By bringing the height of these curtain rods up to be inline with the crown moulding would make this room feel so much taller. Source: Unknown
I think these curtains should have been hung in line with the crown moulding. Right now they are bringing the eye down and cutting off the paint colour.
The ideal table lamp height next to a bed should allow for easy reading and not be too high, as in this example. Source: Unknown
There is a lot I do like about this room work for me- but the table and lamp, although they look great together don’t really work that well for reading in bed. The lamp is very high and the light would shine in your eyes if you were trying to read. Either the table could be lower or the lamp shorter.
How did you make out on this quiz? Let us know how you did!