1. Your Dark Walls Need a Lift
If you’ve been tempted by the elegance and drama of inky indigos, gunmetal grays and midnight blacks but they’re making your room feel a little closed-in, here’s how to dump the dungeon feeling.
What to do: Good lighting is essential to reveal the tonal complexities in deep, saturated darks.
2. Your Shelves Are Bursting at the Seams
Putting every ornament you own on open shelves often leads to a distracting mishmash of nondescript items. Serious sorting is needed to create some focus.
3. Your Sofa Is Pale and Interesting but Impractical
You somehow forgot that a dog, a cat, two toddlers, sticky fingers, raspberry cordial and pet hair don’t go with light sofas.
What to do: Have the fabric professionally cleaned and treated. Be aware that no stainproofing is infallible and that its effectiveness depends on the fabric. Modern formulas penetrate fibers and enable most liquid and other residue to be removed.
4. Your Vignettes Look Like Bargain Tables
Vignettes are a lovely way to show off treasures and create character. They’re pocket-sized portraits of your personality, so if you haven’t mastered the knack, read on.
5. Your Living Room Doesn’t Feel Friendly
We want guests to be impressed by our home’s public spaces, but often style takes precedence over comfort and we end up with a dressy living room that feels stiff and unwelcoming.
What to do: The problem may simply be in how the furniture is positioned. Seating should be arranged in a way that encourages social interaction. When deciding where to put sofas and armchairs, imagine how sitters will communicate with one another. Put seating close enough to encourage conversation rather than back against the walls, which can leave you with a no-man’s land in the center of the room.
6. You Can’t Get the Hang of Hanging Art
Whether art to you means canvas or framed prints, blown-up photographs, a priceless original, a treasured heirloom or your child’s finger painting, its impact depends on the way it’s displayed. Are you getting the best out of yours?
What to do: If art is a defining feature in your home, calling upon the services of a professional hanger is a good investment. A common mistake is hanging art too high.
7. Your White Kitchen Is Practical but Lacks Warmth
Kitchens are in the limelight more than ever — and often open to other living areas. While all-white is common, clinical coldness can creep in.
What to do: Kitchenware has moved beyond functional to become something worthy of display. Appliances come in a rainbow of colors and styles, and cookware is designed to be seen. Don’t hide all this beauty away in cupboards: Hang great-looking saucepans from wall hooks, leave a stack of pretty dishes out on display or set a bowl filled with fruits or veggies on the counter.
8. Your Focal Points Are All Over the Place
If you walk into a room and nothing — or everything — catches your eye, then it has no focal point. This much-used designer’s term simply means a primary place for the eye to rest before taking in the whole space. A room without one lacks life, balance and harmony.
What to do: A focal point could be an architectural feature, a view, a piece of art, a fireplace (as in this space by 50 Degrees North) a statement furniture piece, a mirror, a textural surface or a stunning rug.
9. You Can’t Control Your Pillow Habit
We all know one: a pillow addict who doesn’t know when to stop. Perhaps it’s you? Get help here.
What to do: Pillows heaped high on sofas, chairs and beds don’t always add much to a room. If you can’t sit on a sofa or lie on a bed without putting pillows on the floor, they lose their purpose. As in this living room, try to restrict pillows to two at each end of a sofa, one (or none) on an armchair and three on a bed.
10. You Haven’t Changed Anything in Years
Has decor ennui crept in? You could just be tired of the same old, same old. We all have favorite styles, but it’s easy to get stuck in a groove.
What to do: Shake things up. Reignite your passion and inject new energy and interest into your home by mixing up what you already have or adding some inexpensive new accessories. Change bedding and pillows and move houseplants, chairs, lamps and rugs around.