Living Room Decor: 10 Common Mistakes

1. Hanging Pictures Too High

Many people try to hang pictures too high – you have to crane your neck. But this is not the worst mistake: sometimes paintings on one wall are hung at different heights! There's no aesthetics in that.

Remember that for harmonious placement of pictures, you should always hang them slightly lower than desired, so that an imaginary line – about eye level – passes through the center of the paintings (remember museums and art galleries). This advice also applies to plasma TVs and mirrors mounted on walls. Of course, moderation is key here: filling the entire wall with pictures or photos is a bad idea.

2. Incorrect Lighting

Mistakes in lighting usually come in two types: either too little or too much light, with the former being far more common. There should be several light sources in the room: in addition to natural light from windows, try using various types of lamps – wall sconces, floor lamps, table lamps. Also don't forget the basic but very important law of physics: dark furniture absorbs light, while light-colored ones reflect it.

3. Too Much Furniture

The living room is a place for relaxation, conversation and leisure, so when decorating it, simplicity should be the guiding principle. A minimal amount of harmoniously arranged furniture (for example, placing furniture along the perimeter of the room is not a good idea according to experienced designers; small zones with grouped items work better for spending time together with family and friends) is the key to your comfort and well-being. Besides, the room won't look cluttered. Avoid bulky items: they press down and steal the feeling of coziness.

4. Monotony

Monotony is a common flaw in many living rooms, perhaps precisely because of its obviousness and simplicity. It may seem like a monochromatic room is an error-free solution, but it's not true. Furniture, accessories, walls, floor and ceiling in one color and several of its shades, lack of bright accents – all this is boring. The living room becomes dull and lifeless, like a picture from a cheap catalog. Boldly choose several colors, and it's perfectly fine for two of them to be contrasting.

5. No Space for Your Collection

If you collect books, vinyl records or toys, that's wonderful, but don't clutter the whole room with your passion items. The best solution is to concentrate all items of your collection pride in one specially designated space for that purpose. It won't look too flashy, neat and will help you avoid wasting time searching for the right book or record. Creating an original shelf for your collection is also quite an interesting task.

6. No Rug

This oversight is quite understandable: people think their brand new floors are beautiful on their own and don't need to hide this splendor. But a rug is necessary for creating warmth, maintaining the color scheme of the room, and more importantly, rugs absorb unwanted sounds.

7. Bare Windows

There should be curtains and drapes or at least one of them on every window. Blinds don't count. Windows are, roughly speaking, just holes in the walls, and they need to be somehow played with or softened. Remember that curtains and drapes should match the style of the room, and their length depends on ceiling height. Don't fear lack of sunlight: cotton and linen drapes let it through well. Don't delude yourself into thinking that by not hanging curtains, you make the room darker. But it will definitely be less cozy.

8. Fear of Dark and Bright Colors

It's very important not to confuse the fear of using bright shades with the desire to decorate the room in all colors of the rainbow. Avoiding bright colors is not necessary, especially if it concerns individual items: accents are an essential element of interior decor. A bright dresser or a pair of vivid red cushions can refresh the living room's interior and become its unmistakable highlight. Twenty percent brightness will be quite enough. The same applies to the dark color palette: moderation here is your main ally.

9. Mixing Styles

Any room is a unified whole made up of stylistically connected elements. Even lovers of so-called eclecticism will agree with this. A pair of obviously mismatched stylistic items will make the interior look ridiculous, so try to stick to a single direction, whether it's modern, retro or country style. This applies not only to furniture and accessories but also to wallpapers and floor coverings.

10. Haphazard Accessories

It's easy to go overboard with accessories. Trying to maintain balance and striving for simplicity, some people decorate their living rooms so strictly that they look unwelcoming. Others go overboard: mountains of cushioned pillows where there's nowhere to sit, statues cluttering shelves, too many mirrors – all this tires the eyes. Try to keep only those accessories, plants and decorations that harmonize with each other and the living room's interior.