4 Decorating Don’ts That You Actually SHOULD Do!

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4 Decorating Don’ts That You Actually SHOULD Do!

Jacy Meyer · Oct 3, 2016

luxury living room with sofa and white table on carpet

Do this, but don’t ever do that. That’s tacky, but this would look chic. Design seems to come with a lot of rules that aren’t really fun. But, rules are made to be broken from time to time, right? Right! That’s why we’ve got four apartment decorating dont’s that you should seriously consider doing!

1. Don’t Mix and Match Materials

If this is your first apartment or you’re on a budget, you’ve probably collected a lot of your furniture rather than carefully purchased each piece. That might mean a light wood kitchen table in your kitchen with dark cabinets or an eclectic chair collection in your living room with no sofa. It doesn’t matter! The mix will actually grant your home ‘free’ character and give it a cozy lived-in feeling.

2. Stay Away From Large Furniture

Modern living room

Most apartments are a bit on the smaller side, and placing furniture in a small space is not always easy. If you’ve been reading apartment decorating magazines or blog posts, you might be left with the impression you need to scale your furniture to the size of the room. Generally speaking, this is true. However, don’t toss out the idea of a statement piece. Having a large beautiful sofa will anchor the room and make it welcoming for people. The idea of scale is important because you don’t want to also add a massive coffee table that makes it impossible to freely move about the room. If you put furniture that ‘fits’ too much in a room, you might create an uncomfortable atmosphere for guests who have to squish onto miniature chairs.

3. Don’t Combine Different Decor Styles

You might be a big fan of shabby chic or sleek industrial and might be drawn to items that fit these different styles. That’s great, but if you are a little unsure of what ‘style’ you are or you love to mix and match – that’s great too! You don’t need to have a three piece living room or bedroom set to decorate ‘correctly’. Pairing a modern couch with an antique table will give the room design interest. As long as color, pattern and scale are appropriate, there’s nothing wrong with your functionalist chairs sitting next to your shabby chic day bed. Having a common theme like shades of grey or small patterns will give the room the link it needs to feel decorated and not like an ambiguous mess.

4. Avoid Matching Everything

colorful couch pillows

Having a color scheme is not a bad thing; you want your home to have a relaxing environment and color is very important to creating the vibe you desire. But matching your furniture, colors and artwork will give the room a much staged appearance, one that seems to lack personality and is actually not lived in. Choose colors that blend well together to avoid a look that’s too startling. Also, you do need to be careful with patterns – a zebra print couch paired with floral curtains might be a bit much. Do throw some bright cushions around; buy a geometric print rug, hang that crazy painting you found at a yard sale on the wall – it’s these surprise touches of buzz that make a house a home.

If you love the color, couch, rug, painting or whatever, it’ll work in your space simply because it is your space and will make you smile every time you see it. And that’s the only decorating rule you should follow.

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