Decorating a living room can often feel like having a mountain to climb, standing at the very bottom looking upwards. Such is the size of the task, with planning, priming, actually decorating and tidying afterwards, that sometimes leaving the home in its shabby, unfinished state can seem like the easier option. Equally, rushing the job is very rarely the path to domestic bliss. Yep, there are pitfalls and tripwires waiting at every turn when you’ve got a paintbrush in one hand, a blueprint in the other and a hammer clenched between your teeth. Steer clear of these dangers with these; our 5 common mistakes to avoid when decorating your IDEAL living room.
ALWAYS MEASURE BEFORE YOU BUY
Not measuring before buying is one of the most common mistakes made in the domestic decorating world. This is most keenly felt when shopping online, as scale and size can often be misrepresented or misunderstood. If you’ve got your heart set on a sofa or other piece of furniture, and before you get carried away, it’s important to size it up.
Check all the measurements before making any decision. Ensure that the furniture you buy is proportional to the size of the room and will fit comfortably in the space you’ve designated for it. For example, some tv units are not only too big for the room, but also for the television itself, which makes the whole space feel out of scale. Be diligent here.
DON’T BUY EVERYTHING FROM ONE STORE
We’ve all seen that episode from Friends, you know ‘the one with the apothecary table’, where Rachel and Phoebe’s living room ends up looking like a ‘showroom’ from Potterybarn, and to top things off, Ross buys the exact same table! Oh, the merry japes.
The lesson here; if you buy everything from the same shop, it’s going to have that showroom feel, and look like it’s jumped straight out of the pages of a catalogue with no personality and individuality. Moreover, someone, somewhere out there, has done exactly the same and has an identikit livingroom to you; now there’s a freaky thought. So, shop around, mix new modern items with vintage pieces, and in doing so, you’ll create an interesting, individual living room that’s yours and only yours.
FUNCTION OVER FUN
Sure, that sofa may look gorgeous in the magazines. Hey, perhaps it even looks the part in your living room. But ask yourself; does it do the job it’s meant to do? That is, is it comfortable to recline on. Yep, prioritising fun or aesthetics over function is going to create an awkward, somewhat unliveable, domestic space. What’s more, such decisions may lead to less durable furniture. Investment wise, it’s definitely more prudent to place function on a pedestal.
PLANNING YOUR LAYOUT
We hate to be a bore, but that functionality should extend beyond just single items of furniture. It should also apply to the room (and house) and whole. As such, before any decoration or refurbishing project, you should carefully plan the layout of the living room to make sure everything fits and has a purpose. Superfluous items only make for clutter, stress and a sense of overdoing it, so envisage the ‘flow’ of the room to prevent this.
Ask some searching questions; would a corner of the TV be blocked by the potential position of that second sofa? Does the coffee table prevent a smooth transition from the doorway to your new armchair? Is your expensive new speaker muffled by its placement behind a stack of books? Every detail counts here, so make them count.
HEIGHT AND DYNAMICS
With so much focus falling on individual items and their functions, the nuance of height can sometimes be neglected within a room. But the dynamics of the living room are greatly enhanced by paying close attention to item placement in terms of height.
So, make sure that the TV is at a comfortable eye level. Ensure that speakers are at ear level when you’re sitting upright. Have seats available at diverse prominence and elevation; some bar stools juxtaposed with low slung bean bags, for instance, can give the room real character. Yep, the small details really matter.