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BAD INTERIOR DESIGN EXAMPLES YOU SHOULD KNOW
You can never be in a hurry to rush through the process when it comes to decorating your home.
It is even advised that you work in one room at a time.
Get to see each room as an individual.
This will help you gauge its comfort, and it is then easy to pick out what you want to change when you need to.
The sad thing is that many people rush into trying to design their spaces.
In most cases, it is even without any professional guidance.
You, therefore, end up making so many bad design mistakes in the process
Getting to know what these mistakes are, helps you in a great way to know what to avoid.
Your home should be something that is both comfortable and easy to live in overtime.
You need to realize is that even in every home, there is a season where you need to change things up.
A change is as good as a rest.
Changing your home design and plan is a refreshing feeling, especially if you’ve had the same design for years.
25 COMMON DESIGN MISKTAKES
Over time, people have made numerous changes in the design world that have come to be seen as mistakes.
I cannot exhaust all of them, but I can indeed list at least 15 to help you out.
You could have your own opinion about them.
However, listen to my arguments first as to why I think they are design mistakes before disputing them.
Here is a list of some of the bad interior design examples that I have seen people make.
I hope you will also not fall into the same category.
Try to be as open and relatable as possible when you are reading.
1. USING SMALL WALL DÉCOR ON A BIG WALL
For most homes, your wall is your art space.
The way you can fill up space will differentiate you from someone else.
Ensure that you have a keen look at your area and then choose your décor ideas from it.
This will help you plan accordingly for it.
It is therefore essential to be as creative but reasonable as possible.
You need to make your home come alive, and this can only happen with creativity.
One of the mistakes that people make is placing a small art piece on a great wall.
This ends up leaving too much space empty and blank.
The décor itself ends up being so minute that it does not end up serving the purpose.
If you plan on doing that, you might as well don’t place anything on the wall.
However, if you feel that it is essential to put up something, ensure you have sized it correctly with the space you want to place it on.
In case the decor piece is something that you need or want in that house, then choose a different area to place it.
2. USING LAMINATED WOOD
Laminated wood has been layered with synthetic-like material that is aimed at preserving the wood itself.
However, many of the big design moguls in the market can attest that laminated wood is not the best for designing your home interior.
Unlike original wood, laminated is costlier, cannot handle specific amounts of weight like the standard wood, and has a habit of soaking on dirt and water over time quickly.
Many people even call it shiny wood.
For appearance purposes, it is advantageous, but it is a waste of time when it comes to the aesthetic values that it should have.
Most décor judges or experts say the laminated wood makes most of the houses look more plastic than it should.
If you need to use wood as part of your home décor idea, always go for real hardwood.
It could be hard to find but is more reasonably priced and more convenient as opposed to the laminated wood.
It will also be easy to re-shape it.
This is if you will decide on changing it with time.
3. BUYING GENERIC LOOKING FURNITURE
A good number of people generally do not have a specific design or brand of something that they want.
You will find them just walking into a shop, getting the first thing they see, and moving out with it.
Do not make the mistake of buying the first store display item you see; instead, walk a little and look around.
You need to have a better eye picture of your house before you get out of a shop with an item.
For most people, when it comes to setting it up in their home, they realize it does not complement well with the rest of the items in the house.
If you need your house to complement who you are and what you believe in.
You will need to have a set-out plan for it.
This will guide not just choosing anything but getting something that is right and works well with you over time.
Items like window panes, door structures, sofas, and even kitchen designs should have a touch of what you want.
Even if you decide not to have it custom-made, it should, at the very least, match up with all the other things you have around the house.
4. HANGING CURTAINS TOO LOW
The worst mistake you can ever make when it comes to the interior décor of whatever room is the curtains.
Ideally, they are supposed to be as high as possible to enlarge the room’s general space area.
Placing them low gives the opposite effect.
Low placed curtain rails mean that you will need to have shorter curtains to fit in the space.
However, this will make the room look slightly compressed.
A more temporary curtain length will also mean that the window will either be small or lower than average.
Such windows limit the amount of space that will be allowed into the room.
You will be forced to invest in other light sources too, which will be tedious and costly compared to what you would have gotten from the sun.
In such cases, you will also notice that the curtains will drag on the floor.
This will add to the curtains getting dirty quickly, and you will need to either cut it shorter or endure the pain of continually removing them for wash day.
It is okay to have them touching the floor and not stopping your curtains at the baseboards of your wall.
5. PLACING SMALL RUGS IN LARGE AREAS
Rugs are aimed at making the room look comfortable and inviting.
When you choose the right carpet, it eventually acts as the pivot position for the whole room.
This is why it is essential to select the rug that you want carefully.
Choosing a small area rug is a lousy interior design because it means that everything that you wanted to fit won’t fit.
Preferably, the sofas and maybe a center table should sit on the rug comfortably.
If not so, at least the front legs of the furniture should be on the carpet.
The idea is to position the rug in that when you are seated; your feet rest on the carpet itself at any time.
Smaller rugs will either dance around on the floor or force you to use two mats instead of one large one.
This will be more costly to you as the homeowner.
Do not choose a small rug for the sake of convenience or cost.
A lot of space will be left in your large room, which will act as dead space.
This is never advisable for any space.
6. MIXING TOO MANY PAINT COLORS IN ONE ROOM
One other major design mistake that people end up making is using too many paint colors in one room.
This, in most cases, usually makes everything look too busy. Nothing classy is ever crowded or active.
With this in mind, the best idea is to have the utmost two prominent colors around the house.
If you need a slight change, play around with several neutral colors to calm down its effect.
You will, however, need to be exceedingly smart.
The end game is to make sure that it rhymes with the home interior design style you are aiming for.
Many interior design experts say you can add in one bold color; let’s say green.
However, you should know that there are many shades of green that you can play around with within your house.
The one thing you have to ensure is that you don’t overindulge that color.
As I have mentioned, play around with neutral colors to mix it up. It never disappoints.
7. MATCHING ALL FURNITURE, FABRIC, AND DÉCOR COLORS
The joy of designing any space is using materials that are not alike, but that adds up to give you that perfect overall cover that you were aiming for.
The beauty of mixing colors and materials is the authenticity value that is attached to it.
You get to have something unique that only you will have. Something that is only known and appreciated by you.
When you avoid working with the same materials for the furniture, fabric, and colors around the house, it gives you space to try new things.
You end up being more creative.
The idea of using materials that do not mix also allows you to change it up when you need to.
It gets easier and may not force you to change other things too in the house.
You don’t end up incurring too many cost charges just because you are tired or you have outgrown the design you began within your home.
8. TOO MANY ICONIC PIECES TOGETHER IN ONE ROOM.
Iconic pieces are usually significant to anybody who owns a house.
It is because it reminds you of an important place or stage in your life.
However, it would be best if you were very careful because having so many of them could clutter your room or house at any time.
The beauty of having them around the house is that it spices up the house.
It makes it look unique and authentic than the usual pieces that you keep buying from shops.
When you design your house, you also need to consider the security parameters that you make.
Placing too many iconic pieces in one room makes the room valuable even to potential thieves and robbers.
You wouldn’t want to put all your eggs in one basket.
It will also become one of the rooms where you will want to limit people who go into that room of the value.
The amount of damage you can face in one-day cold cause you stress for an entire lifetime if something terrible were to happen to that one room with all the iconic pieces.
9. SENTIMENTAL COLLECTION DÉCOR
The worst interior design you can ever try to do is the one where you make decisions when you are facing a particular emotional issue.
The décor will, in most cases, have so much sentimental value, which will be okay at that time, but what about later on?
When you are past the hurt and the pain.
Sentimental materials (i.e., your grandmother’s shot glass collection) are okay to use around the house but do not overdo it.
It would help if you always keep in mind that the hurt will pass, and you will need to move on.
Another mistake so many people make is placing all the sentimental collection in one room.
Eventually, it will act as a shrine.
It will then be impossible to be convinced that you need to change the décor in that room.
Don’t make this big mistake with your house.
10. A HOTEL-INSPIRED ROOM
One of the bad interiors design examples is using the hotel-inspired look.
You might be a great fan of the hotel theme, but you don’t need to use it all over.
Your house is not a hotel. It is your home.
One thing about hotel themed rooms is that they all look alike.
Same color bedspreads to even the design of the room.
This is a terrible idea because you will fall into the one-themed house club.
How would you differentiate between the guest room and the children’s room?
Over time people change, and you may not be into the hotel theme.
It will therefore be costly for you because you will have to change the entire house.
11. TOURIST ART ON THE WALL
Did you happen to find an Eiffel Tower canvas online this week?
The power in having art has something that is unique and stands out.
Many of the readily available tourist art is usually cheap improvisations of the real thing.
In most cases, such types of art are available in so many copies that it no longer looks inviting.
This is one of the worst mistakes you can make in your home.
You will notice that it won’t even add any flavor or spice to your home décor.
Go out and get artwork that is either ordered depending on your specific like or one that has some sentimental value.
This way, the art won’t look undervalued in your home at any time.
It won’t also get boring to you over time.
12. OVERPROTECTING FURNITURE BY USING LINEN OR PLASTIC
Linen and plastic on chairs are the safest methods you can use to prevent the chairs from getting dirty or chipping off.
Many people opt for this design style if you have very young children or animals in the home.
However, it would help if you understood that the linen and plastic idea could generally be easier to work within protecting your furniture, but it will limit you on what you could do around the house as far as your decor.
The plastic feeling makes the chairs very uncomfortable and limiting. It, therefore, defeats the purpose.
You could use them maybe for one or two chairs mainly in the sitting area or the kitchen.
Most of the houses that have implemented this style are generally cold and not inviting.
13. ONE DESIGN STYLE IN ONE ROOM
Using too much of one design on one room acts the same way as using one theme for the entire house.
There are so many design styles in the market.
You can even be creative enough and come up with one of your own.
Using one style tends to prove to whoever enters your house that your authenticity is null and void.
It is also a clear indication of how you are a catalog fanatic.
It also shows that you didn’t take time to design your house individually, which is a major mistake many people make.
The styles should be complementary and not dominating.
It gets boring over time if it is dominant compared to other ideas.
14. FRAMED PICTURES OF THE FAMILY AS DECOR
Lately, many families value the importance of pictures and drawings.
However, placing too many of them all over the house makes it look creepy.
On one wall could be understandable, but every room is a problem.
I have seen a trend where people create a mural from their family photos on a blank wall in the sitting area or the corridor.
It could be in the shape of maybe a tree or square or rectangular shape.
But then you should be careful not to fill the entire space. Just give it a relatively proportionate space to the wall.
Pictures are not meant to replace the wall surface completely, but they are intended to spice it up.
Give it some actual purpose and interest.
You should be very careful.
There is a thin line between perfect amount and too much when it comes to wall pictures.
15. WORDED DECOR PIECES
This tends to be a theme in farmhouse décor (i.e., Farmhouse Kitchen, Love Lives Here).
A modern trend I have also seen is the use of word pieces either placed or hung on surfaces or walls around the house.
These pieces do not have much value, except that you are stating something without speaking.
Therefore, using too many of them around the house will make your house look like a kindergarten classroom.
This should be the last thing you end up doing when redefining your home space.
There are areas of the house that such pieces are useless.
Therefore, areas with less traffic on most days, like the living, dining room, or the kitchen, should not have such pieces hanging there.
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MY FINAL THOUGHTS ON BAD INTERIOR DESIGN EXAMPLES...
Interior designing your house is one of the most relaxing activities you can do.
More so for women, it is usually our haven.
Therefore, it needs to be as relaxing and time headache-free as possible.
However, because of the different ideas and methods that people try out in the market, we have some bad interior design examples.
I wouldn’t want you to fall prey to them. This is why I decide to write this article for you.
Not all of them are terrible. It will depend on your style.
However, think twice before deciding on something that is featured in this article.
I implore you to be as creative as possible.
However, seek professional help if needed.
We are here for you.