Seven interior decorating mistakes that should never happen

First time homeowners will inevitably make mistakes when decorating their homes. There are simply too many pitfalls to possibly avoid all of them. But at the very least, you can avoid the following six decorating mistakes that people continue to make despite many warnings.

Painting without testing the color

The paint color will never look exactly the same as it does on the paint can or sample. Ever. It might still be tolerable, or it might not be. Though you may be impatient to start painting, test out some different paints on the actual wall that you will be painting. Look at it throughout the day at varying levels of brightness to make sure it’s really the right color before you paint everything. This will prevent you being stuck with a color you don’t absolutely love or spending hundreds of dollars and many hours of time to redo it.

Shag rugs

Shag rugs are a mistake. Not matter how much you might think you want them, you don’t really want them. They shed, so you have to constantly vacuum up the stray fibers. Food particles and tiny odds and ends lodge themselves deep down in the carpet where even the most powerful vacuums can’t suck them up (though more powerful vacuums may pull out the carpet fibers themselves).

Marble countertops

Marble is the must-have material for upscale kitchens but quartz is a much better option. Marble is more porous which means over time stains will set in and it is also easier to scratch. While you may prefer the look of marble initially, within a few months you’d rather have quartz.

Aggressive color scheme

Before you buy that bright teal couch or paint your living room a vibrant purple, consider that for the rest of your life (or until you sacrifice the time and money to replace it) you’ll be stuck trying to match every décor item to it. If you want to incorporate bright colors into your interior design, find less expensive and more subtle ways to do it. Go with a neutral base like off-white, brown, charcoal, or black as you can match virtually any color to it. If you add color through accessories rather than main furnishings, they’re easy to swap out when you want to mix up the color scheme.

Purchasing all your furnishings in a weekend

While you’re understandably anxious to set about decorating your first home, the best interior designs evolve organically over a long period of time. Give yourself time in the space before you go out shopping. Be willing to live with fewer furnishings as you give yourself time to find all the right pieces for your home.

White carpet

If you have pets and or children and think you can keep your white carpets clean if you’re careful, you’re deluding yourself. If you’re a single germaphobe and you think you can keep your white carpets clean, you’re still deluding yourself. White carpet will become dirty over time whether you spill things on it or not because dirt settles it and slowly darkens it. That said, you don’t have to go with an ugly dark brown carpet either that will hide any and every stain.

Expensive solutions

There are often cheaper solutions to your problems if you give yourself time to think of them. If you don’t like the look of your kitchen cabinets, you don’t have to pay to have them torn out and then replaced with custom cabinets. You can replace the cupboard doors or simply repaint them. Even replacing the knobs and pulls can drastically change the look and it will barely cost anything. If you don’t like the look of old baseboard heaters, you can purchase baseboard heater covers rather than paying to replace them with central heating/air.

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