5 decorating mistakes you make in your apartment

Decorating mistakes are definitely in a category which shouldn’t really lower the quality of your life. But they cause your apartment to look not as good as it could: and this is significant not only

Some of the mistakes can also cause that your apartment won’t be really “your own”.

Where do decorating mistakes come from? Some are a result of ignorance: interior decoration is as much of a skill as any other and even though one can have a special intuition and natural talent, designing of an esthetical, functional interior is simply a matter of knowing certain rules and procedures. Another factor which clearly rises the risk of error are feelings: while arranging a new apartment we are clearly prone to give in to emotions instead of making a thought-through calculation or plan and try out everything carefully. Emotional approach does not always lead to a disaster, indeed- buying a tablecloth that doesn’t fit the dining room is surely a lesser problem than painting the living room the colour that hurts the eye- but it can quickly become a (dangerous) habit.

And so, those are the 6 mistakes that you probably made in your apartment in the past- and how to avoid them.

1. You rush things up

This is the typical mistake made by people moving into a new apartment: at all cost they need to get out of the “still in the box” stage and finish this tiresome, stressful and often not as nice as we expected process of settling in. So they buy everything at once: during one or two shopping trips they buy furniture, tiles, paint for every single room and a flower vase. Unfortunately, such approach is definitely pointless: not only most likely it will turn out that not many things fit each other, but also it’s very likely that the apartments arranged this way will look botched and chaotic. There’s no other cure than simply hold your horses: start from the most important appliances for each interior (bed for the bedroom, cooker and sink for the kitchen, couch for the living room) and slowly add more. Your wallet will surely thank you as well, since all of your decisions will be more planned out!

2. You start from the end

This is in fact a continuation of the previous mistake, and also probably the most common mistake of all. This mainly applies to wall coverings: you choose the colour of the paint, or regular or photograph wallpaper which you like the most, you paint or cover the walls and only after that you look for furniture, textiles and other elements that match the walls. That’s no good! Although it’s a more laborious strategy, the best solution is to choose the wall coverings when the interior is almost completely arranged: this guarantees that everything will create a harmonious integrity. And it will also save your nerves, since looking for the curtains that would match turquoise walls can be quite stressful...

3. You take too many advices

This may not sound too good in a guide article, but listening to advices from too many people could do more harm than help you out. The truth is, that even though your family and friends without a doubt wants what’s best for you, they are not the ones who will live in your apartment. And so, do not let your aunt to persuade you that net curtains are a must and that without them the room is cold and empty, if you’re more of a roller-blind person. The only people whose opinion you have to consider is of those, who will live with you: when it comes to others- you can thank them politely, think about their suggestions (or not) and keep doing your thing.

4. You don’t arrange for yourself

This doesn’t apply to people who arrange the apartment for sale or let, of course. So what is this about? The thing is, you worry too much about what your apartment “should” have, and too little about your own, actual needs. If you rarely organise parties for your friends and family, and you either live alone or share your apartment with a spouse, you really don’t need a table for 6 people. Or the whole separate dining room, since we’re at it. If you and your other half, for whatever reason, prefer to sleep separately, you don’t necessarily have to buy a king size bed for your bedroom. If the last time you cooked something was during home economics class at school, you don’t really need a kitchen equipped with every possible gastronomic novelty appliances. Instead of yielding to other’s tastes and expectations think about what you really need: maybe this expendable dining room would make a great living room or even a home gym? Maybe it would be a good idea to turn a part of the kitchen into an office?

5. You’re scared to decorate

Only a small group of people are the real-life minimalists by vocation: most of the people who own “minimalist” apartments are simply the ones, who for different reasons cannot decide upon taking more serious decor steps. They won’t paint the walls with an expressive colour, because it will soon pall. They won’t put a carpet on the parquet, because it will get dirty anyways. They won’t stick on the photograph wallpaper, since one day it could go out of fashion. In result, their apartments maybe don’t look bad, but certainly they lack individualism and personality. Solution? Stop being scared!  Decor decisions are not a life sentence: the walls can be repainted after some time, furniture rearranged, knick knacks moved up to the attic (or brought back from it)... If you won’t experiment with decor you will never live in your dream house!