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In this post, I want to address some common design mistakes to avoid when decorating your home. These six simple interior design rules can take your home decor to the next level if you want to do things right the first time.

Interior Design Rule # 1 Keep your base Neutral

Because neutrals are usually in parts of our homes we can’t change, like trim, flooring, and cabinets, they tend to be the base of your home’s colour palette. Keeping your walls and furniture neutral is a smart way to ensure your space ages nicely. 

Here are some great options for Sherwin Williams Neutrals:

• Agreeable Gray SW7029
• Pure White SW7005
• Aloof Gray SW6197
• Alabaster SW7008
• Mindful Gray SW7016
• Passive SW7064
• Ellie Gray SW7650
• Repose Gray SW7015
• Quicksilver SW6245

Interior Design Rule #2 Properly Scaled Rugs

Choosing too small of a rug makes a space feel crowded and makes the room look disproportionate. It would be best to have more-broken space and texture between your rug in the center of the room and the surrounding furniture. Make sure the length and width of the rug extend just past the dimensions of your sofa so that when you’re sitting on it, you’re feet touch the area rug rather than your flooring.
Get creative and anchor the rug in the center of your room with the edges of your chairs and sofa on the rug and watch how much bigger your room looks once you make this small change.

My Favourite rugs are found here https://ruggable.com/pages/ruggable-canada

Interior Design Rule #3 Cohesive Colour Palette

A colour palette, by definition, uses your choice of colour scheme throughout different areas of your home. And creating an interior colour scheme for your home will make your decorating choices much easier because it will narrow your choices.

Choose a palette and work it evenly through a room. More specifically, creating a colour palette for your home will ensure that one room ties into the next nicely, even if the style of each room is different.

Choose a White:

This white will be your go-to colour for trim, doors, the insides of closets, and maybe cabinetry and painted furniture. Be warned; not every white is the same. They may all look white in the paint aisle, but just like every other colour, whites have undertones that you will want to pay attention to.

Choose a Neutral:

Neutrals are just one part of making your whole house colour palette. A neutral can be a colour but a very subtle shade or hue of a colour. My neutral is considered a greige (a perfect blend of beige and grey.) Sherwin williams Agreeable Grey. This will be your go-to colour for walls that connect rooms like halls and open living spaces.

Choose an Accent Colour:

This will be the accent colour in some spaces but may be the primary colour in other rooms. It’s all about using the colours (or variations of the colours) you chose differently in each room. Feel free to use your colours uniquely, like painting an accent wall or a piece of furniture. As long as the same colours or shades of those colours are popping up throughout your home, you’ll have a continuous look, even if the style of the furniture varies.

Hang artwork at the correct level

The ideal height for hanging a picture on an empty wall ALL comes down to the size of the piece you’re hanging. The amount of space over your art matters less than the amount under it.
With very tall ceilings, you will have more space between the top of your frames and the ceiling than someone with 8-foot ceilings. The white space above your artwork does not affect the room’s design or appreciation of the area if pictures are hanging at an average person’s eye level and in close proximity to the furniture beneath it.

Vary Light Sources

I recommend every room have at least 2-3 sources of light. Using multiple soft lights enhances the space’s ambiance, creates depth and elevates the mood in every room. Lighting can also be very hygge.

Ambient lighting is the most basic type of general lighting. It includes the natural light from your windows and the lighting that substitutes for that natural light, like recessed lighting, ceiling fixtures, track lighting, etc. In our house, this lighting is on dimmers and allows us to control how bright or dim the room’s overall vibe is at any given time.

The second layer of lighting in a room is task lighting. This is my favourite because it’s functional without being as BRIGHT. Task lighting is the light that helps you perform tasks like reading, cooking, applying make-up, etc. Think table lamps, under counter lights, vanity lights, floor lamps, and desk lamps.  Check out these great under counter lights https://amzn.to/3X3eaT8

Lastly, accent lighting is perfect for adding to walls or areas that are missing something or too wide. If you want to add accent lighting to your space, consider how you want each room to feel. Because on top of adding extra glow and ambience, it can also be used to accent architectural features and to draw attention away from the things that aren’t as pleasing. Think of bookcase or niche lighting, picture lighting or wall sconces. 

Interior Design Rule #6 Avoid Awkward Curtain Lengths

Curtains can soften the look of a room, give the illusion of taller ceilings, create a focal point, and expand the width of a wall.

Make sure you position the rod 8-12 inches wider than the window frame so that when the curtains are open, they cover just the edge of the window frame. This does three things – it allows more light to fill the room, makes the window look more extensive, and enables your curtains to hang neatly without being squished to the side.

Your curtains should either be 1/2″ above the floor or lightly kiss the floor. 

Use panels on both sides of the window. This creates symmetry and balance within the room. Use four panels per window for a fuller look. This also gives the illusion of a wider window and wall.