Have you ever spent hours changing your furniture around or adding new bits and pieces yet you still feel the look is wrong?

Maybe you’re making mistakes with the way you have used furniture and accessories or maybe the look isn’t as you intended. Here are some tips to avoid some very common mistakes in interior design.

Clutter
You might have some nice pieces of furniture and accessories. But, if you fill the whole room up with ornaments, chairs, tables, cushions and plants it’s just going to look cluttered. Any statement pieces you want to show off will be lost amongst all the other items you have in the room.

Size
If you want to put down a rug then it’s best if it is the same size or larger than your sofa. The rug should be big enough so that any tables and chairs fit properly on the rug. A chair with the two front legs on the rug and the two back legs on the floor is unstable and looks odd. A coffee table should be useful as well as attractive. Make sure it is at least half the size of the sofa
and that’s it’s placed close to it.

Shelves
Shelves are for showing off your favourite things. The key is not to stuff everything you like on a shelf. Be selective. Add colour and height. For example, you could lay a couple of books down to create a step, add a candle and a small plant and then finish it off with a favourite photograph or a postcard.

Lighting
Lighting creates atmosphere and wall lights can help to show off shelves or a piece of art. Don’t make the mistake of thinking a ceiling pendent is enough. Yes. It will give you light, but it won’t create an ambience like layered lighting.

Minimalism
It’s fine to be minimalist, but don’t go too far. Pieces of art, vases, sculpture, postcards and photographs give your home character. What you have in your homes says a lot about your
personality. If you have a room with no accessories it will appear cold which may not reflect the person you are at all.

Layout
Watch where you put your furniture. For example, if you have a long narrow room you shouldn’t put your furniture up against the wall. Your room will look like a tunnel and will appear longer and narrower than it really is. Instead, use your furniture to break the room up into two distinct areas and place your furniture away from the wall or across the room.