You want your home to be as stylish, low-maintenance , and pulled together as possible. You want your friends to feel welcome (and to think you’re a decorating diva). As a designer, I’ve seen some popular decorating trends become big fails. To avoid looking like an amateur design enthusiast and more like a decorating pro, here are some newbie decorating disasters to avoid.
1. If you bought your first place, are renting, or inherited the basic flush mount round protruding ceiling light fixture that looks like – well, a boob. You know the ones, with the nib in the center you untwist to access the light bulbs. A decorating disaster because…boob. Need I say more?

 

2. In an attempt to make a small space appear larger, acrylic furnishings have become all the rage and considerably more affordable. All acrylic tables do tend to disappear in space. However, after your mother in law turns and careens over the top of it, face-planting into the sofa beyond, you’ll see how its disappearing act is not worthy of applause.

 

3. Styled bookcases look great. They provide a nice place to showcase books and collectibles. To obtain a uniform color palette, books have been placed on shelves with their spines facing inward and the white pages of the book facing outward for color continuity. This is all well and good and doesn’t become a decorating disaster until you want to curl up with your favorite book and beverage and have to dismantling your bookcase to find the darn thing.

 

4. Deep button tufted sofas and ottomans are revered for their stoic and neat appearance, especially when they’re upholstered in all white. Button tufting tends to have a no-nonsense approach to life. The problem with those deep button tufts is they become a magnet for lint, crumbs, and pet hair. That’s not a good look for anyone.

 

5. Pristine white on white kitchens are the darlings of Instagram these days. The appeal is timeless and fresh but can easily become a decorating disaster because the look can be boring, feel cold and sterile, and lack personality without the perfectly styled farmhouse sink full of  pink peonies portrayed on social media.

If you have one or more of these decorating disasters and want to know what to do about it, sign up HERE to receive my weekly blog post including next weeks where I provide solutions to avoid these decorating disasters.