When it comes to interior design even the pros make mistakes. It’s simply a natural part of the process. However, instead of letting yourself live with a design mistake you should use it as a learning experience and find a creative way to fix it. Designer Diana Kennedy has made her fair share of mistakes but she’s also become a better designer because of them. Over her career she’s learned some of the “dos” and “don’ts” of interior design and has shared that knowledge with the world.
When Diana first decorated her living room she realized that her dark color choice for the walls and furnishings was making the room feel a little too cramped. Rather than throwing in the towel she allowed herself to fix the problem. She repainted the room and refurnished it with a lighter, breezier color palette and – most importantly – gave herself permission to splurge a bit more on the window treatment for her uniquely-shaped windows. The original curtains were too heavy, dark, and long. The new roman shades let in much more light and add a ton of energy to the space. She recommends that you don’t get married to a design idea you saw somewhere else if it’s not right for your own home. For instance, her dark color palette for the living room was inspired by an outside source.
Diana has also learned quite a bit about how to choose the right furniture for a room. She suggests that you test out the fabrics you plan on using in the room to make sure they withstand pilling and staining. Grab plenty of fabric samples if you can! Diana also encourages you not to feel pressured into using furnishings in your home that you’ve gotten for free. Just because they were free or gifted to you doesn’t mean that they’re the right item for your home! When it comes to shopping for furniture, Diana stresses the fact that you should really think about the arms on furniture and how much space they’ll occupy. Plan ahead so that you can avoid a mistake altogether!
Design mistakes happen. However, if you learn from some of Diana’s mistakes then hopefully you’ll be able to dodge some design bullets! Take a look at all of her advice in the full article below!
Read the full article here: Avoiding Decorating Mistakes: A Design Pro Shares Her Do’s and Don’ts