In my experience helping many men deck out their homes, there are some common mistakes I see on a regular basis.
Generally speaking, they have each been through at least 2 or more of these scenarios before they have called me in to take the interior ball and run with it, so they don’t have to:
1. Size, scale and proportion
Yep, size matters when it comes to furniture and more often than not, my clients LOVE furniture that is either too big or too small. The problem being, that it’s not the right size for their space. Proportion is very important in creating a well balanced room.
TIP:
Don’t just purchase something because you like the look of it in the store or online. First, use a tape measure to measure your room and the other items in it. Eg If the wall where your TV unit is going is 3m long, it is safe to say that a TV stand that is 1m long is too small and isn’t going to work.
2. Incorporating every interior design style
It’s not only bachelors who are guilty of this. Ending up with a mis-match of interior styles is more common than not. It can happen for many reasons – you may inherit furniture, it might be a gift, you might just be out shopping and like it, it might be from your house when you furnished it years ago, perhaps it was an item that you bought quickly and without much thought when you needed it….
Whatever the reason, it can result in a home that has the style of modern x industrial x traditional x coastal x vintage. In some very special (very rare) circumstances, this ‘eclectic’ look can work, but I’ve only seen it look good in perfectly styled spreads for home magazines.
TIP:
Choose a style (or 2 maximum) and stick to it. Eg contemporary and industrial or coastal and vintage. Use those styles to keep you in line with any purchasing decisions you are making.
3. Unsuccessful shopping trips
Another common occurrence is when men go shopping for furniture, get overwhelmed (or distracted by new TVs) and come home empty handed (or with said new big screen TV).
Furniture shopping seems like an easy concept. You get inspired by some furniture ads or home shows on TV, head out on the weekend with a coffee in hand and hope to conquer all your interior needs by finding what you need in one or two locations, place some orders and have it all delivered the following week.
Not a likely situation.
The ‘overwhelm’ of shopping and coming home empty handed does have a positive – it means you are not buying something for the sake of it, adding to the mis-match of furniture styles (see point 2) and ending up more confused about whether or not it is actually a good fit.
TIP:
Spend some time planning. The more prepared you are, the more focused you can be on ticking off your list. Find some photos of interiors and products you like and start compiling them – either print them out or put them together digitally to see how they work as an overall scheme.
Also do some research into the types of shops that will suit your style and budget.
I don’t know any interior designer who doesn’t spend as much time planning as we do executing an interior update.
If this all sounds too hard and time consuming, outsource it so you can spend your well deserved weekends relaxing, and not walking around in circles trying to make interior design decisions.
