If you are completely new to interior design but are eager to start decorating your home with a professional designer’s eye and touch, Hickory Furniture Mart provides the following crash course. We’ll walk you through how to avoid pitfalls and give you the confidence (to appear) as if you’ve been doing décor your entire life.
Make your own design choices. Never rely on others to pick out important elements you will encounter every day like paint color, bedroom wallpaper, or a breakfast table. The home is the most personal of spaces. Therefore, each choice is a personal one. Even when working with professional decorators, insist on being consulted every step of the way.
Next, never making painting the room first on your decorating “to do” list. You can start buying paint but you need to make sure it matches well with upholstery, carpet, and other fabrics you will also be using in your design.
On the topic of buying paint, don’t settle on a paint color based on a single paint chip. We strongly recommend buying a small quantity of paint in the color that interests you and sample it in order to see how it really looks under real-life conditions, including lighting and wall texture. You can also use cardboard boxes to test paint if you’re hesitating on applying paint to your walls so soon.
Don’t throw your money at every interesting shade of flooring, paint, and fabric. You are bound to change your mind after. Your best bet is to ask for swatches and samples to see how they actually look like in real life conditions (see above).
Don’t be afraid to be bold if that is your taste. As we’ve mentioned, the home is the most personal of spaces. It can have red walls if that’s what makes you happy. Don’t let interior design magazines and TV shows tell you otherwise.
Finally, don’t forget to find a focal point in every room that pulls together all the room’s elements from paint color to furnishings. Arrange everything around this focal point. It will lift up the room.
Hickory Furniture Mart’s furniture galleries and showrooms know the “don’ts” of home interior design, offering an affordable selection of furnishings and accessories. What types of accessories or furnishings have become focal points in your rooms?