Color in Interior Design: 8 Common Mistakes

In our article, we cover the most frequent mistakes made when selecting color combinations. It's not a big deal if you find some of these in your home — we'll help you fix the mistakes or avoid them.

Not accounting for natural light

Before choosing wall or fabric colors, take samples and look at them in different corners of the same room. Observe how the shades change throughout the day — color may become more saturated or fade, revealing unexpected undertones.

Design: Marina Zhukova

Disrupted balance

The formula that all designers know: 60% of the room should be base color, 30% additional color, and 10% can include accent color or bright accessories. Disrupt the balance, and your interior risks turning into an Eastern bazaar.

Design: Galina Yurieva

Excluded dark colors

They make the space feel smaller and evoke sadness — that's what most people think, and they're wrong. In fact, dark tones look noble, add coziness and depth to a space, even a small one. Overuse of decor and mixed color palettes can make the room feel cramped.

Design: Anna Muravina

Mismatched colors for different rooms

Think of your apartment as a whole space and always keep that picture in mind.
Start simple: let each room match in color with adjacent rooms. That way, your home will look more harmonious. Ideally, use a single color palette throughout the entire space.

Design: Daria Vasileva

Rejected contrasts

Don’t go to extremes: all rooms the same color is too much. A house or apartment should look organic, not monotonous.

Design: Maria Piliipenko and Ekaterina Fedorova

Separated shades into warm and cool

Division into warm and cool colors is conditional. It's a bit more complex: different shades of the same color can be either warm or cool. Compare emerald and grass green.

Design: Dots & Points

Overused white color

A completely white room doesn’t look elegant and refined but sterile. Although white adds light and air to a space, that’s not a reason to overuse it.

Design: Dots & Points

Ignored floor and ceiling

Colors for these surfaces should be chosen in parallel with the overall palette, not afterward. Often, how the interior looks depends exactly on the floor and ceiling.

Design: Irina Krascheninnikova

On the cover: design project by Daria Vasileva