Decorating your home can be an exciting yet daunting task. With so many rules and guidelines out there, it’s easy to feel restricted and hesitant to try new things. However, rules are made to be broken! When done thoughtfully, breaking decorating “rules” can result in creative, personalized spaces that truly feel like home. Here are some tips for breaking decorating rules successfully.
Mix Styles and Eras
Traditional decorating advice often dictates sticking to one cohesive style or era. But blending favorite pieces from different styles and decades can add character and keep your home from feeling flat or cookie-cutter. Eclectic mixes work best when there is some continuity, like a common color scheme or repeating textures. Start by picking a couple of key antique or vintage items you love as focal points, then complement them with modern and contemporary accents. The blend of old and new can feel fresh and inviting.
Embrace All Your Favorite Colors
Using too many colors is another decorating faux pas. But limiting yourself to just one or two colors can get boring. If you’re naturally drawn to bright, vibrant shades, include them all! The key is repeating colors throughout the space for cohesion. If your palette contains five colors, make sure each one is featured in at least a few spots. Work in some solid blocks of color via furnishings or paint to anchor the scheme. Your home should reflect your color-loving personality.
Break the “Everything Matching” Rule
Having all matching furniture sets feels stale and predictable. Mix things up with some eclectic pairings! You can still achieve a pulled-together look with coordinated colors and textures. So replace a matching chair with a great vintage find in a complementary shade. Use an antique trunk as a funky coffee table. Mix wood stain finishes within a single room. The imperfect mix feels livelier and tells a story.
Use Furniture “Improperly”
Rules say sofas are for sitting, but using one creatively as a room divider or placing chairs together to make a DIY sectional can open up fascinating possibilities. A clawfoot tub makes a charming garden planter. Vintage luggage stacked up becomes abstract wall art. There are no real limits on reinventing furnishings and adding unique flair to your rooms. The “wrong” way can turn out incredibly right.
Overlook Feng Shui and Flow
Strict feng shui principles and decorating guidelines aim to optimize energy flow in the home. But don’t agonize over getting it “right” if portions feel forced and inauthentic. Do add thoughtful organization and comfort, but certain rooms may benefit from a more eclectic, free-spirited look. Use your intuition to create spaces that make you feel content and energized. In the end, that positive energy matters far more than textbook formulas.
Fill Up All Your Wall Space
Walls covered in a thoughtful salon-style display with various sizes of artwork can have so much more life than sparse, evenly spaced pieces. The denser arrangement creates visual impact and draws you in. Mix media too – try paintings, prints, photos, tapestries, mirrors, shelves, and wall sculptures clustered creatively. Aim for balance without being too precise. Follow your instincts to build captivating, one-of-a-kind wall displays.
Make Your Bed the Showstopper
Your bed is often the centerpiece of the master bedroom, so an ornate headboard and luxe bedding ensemble are must-haves. But custom details like dangling beads, lamps, greenery, and eclectic textiles can transform your bed into a true showstopping sanctuary. Layer patterned throws, add floating nightstands, hang macramé on the walls, and turn your headboard into a gallery display. Make this space distinctly you.
Use More Patterns and Textures
Too many patterns or textures can certainly overwhelm a space. But judiciously blending and layering your favorites prevents a flat, monotonous look. Start with an overall subtle pattern like a tone-on-tone wallpaper as the backdrop. Then bring in bolder patterns in furnishings and fabrics. Repeat some textures like wood, velvet, leather, and linen for cohesion. The layered richness feels cozy yet still polished.
Play with Proportions and Scale
Oversized art, furniture, and accessories can make a dramatic design statement and create a sense of whimsy. One king-sized accent piece like an imposing cabinet or giant wall art anchors the room. Surround it with properly scaled furnishings. Alternatively, choose one area like a reading nook and use all miniature furnishings for an ingenious vignette. The unexpected proportions are design magic.
Feel Free to Break Some Decorating Rules
Decorate according to your own creative spirit, not someone else’s rigid rules. Thoughtfully blended eclectic decor, abundant color schemes, repurposed furnishings, and dazzlingly personalized spaces reveal the story of you and make a house feel joyfully like home. Trust your instincts, embrace what sparks joy, and don’t be afraid to break away from traditional guidelines. In the end, a home filled with things you genuinely love always works.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are some popular decorating rules people break?
Some popular decorating rules people love to break include mixing styles and eras, embracing lots of color, using furniture in creative new ways, overlooking feng shui principles, filling walls with salon-style art displays, making the bed the showstopper of a room, layering many patterns and textures, and playing with proportions and scale.
How do you successfully pull off an eclectic look?
The keys to successfully pulling off an eclectic decorating style are to ensure there is some cohesion through a consistent color scheme or repeating textures, balance the old with the new, feature a few key vintage or antique focal points, and display your unique pieces in a thoughtful, coordinated way instead of randomly.
What are tips for using multiple colors in a room?
When using lots of colors in one room, repeat hues throughout the space for continuity. Incorporate solid blocks of color via paint, furniture or accent pieces to anchor the scheme. Use a neutral backdrop like white walls or natural wood to allow the colors to pop. And limit the number of main colors to avoid looking too chaotic.
How can you use furniture creatively?
Some creative ways to use furniture include: turning sofas sideways as room dividers, making DIY sectionals from separate chairs or sofas, using clawfoot tubs as planters, stacking vintage suitcases or trunks as sculptural wall art, turning a dresser into a bathroom sink vanity, and mounting a bookshelf on the wall to become floating wall art.
What are tips for creating an eclectic gallery wall?
Tips for an eclectic gallery wall include: using a variety of frame sizes and shapes, mixing different media like paintings, photos, mirrors, wall sculptures or textiles, clustering pieces closely together for impact, repeating some colors from your overall color scheme, ensuring good condition and visual cohesion, and arranging pieces intuitively instead of too symmetrically.
How can you make your bed a showstopping focal point?
Make your bed the star of your room by choosing a commanding headboard, piling on luxe bedding in layers and textures, adding floating side tables for drama, hanging macramé or greenery above the bed, installing pendant lights or sconces, displaying art and mirrors above the headboard, and draping bold patterned textiles at the foot of the bed.
What mistakes should you avoid when breaking decorating rules?
When breaking decorating rules, avoid going overboard with no cohesion, cluttering instead of thoughtfully decorating, choosing pieces in poor condition, hanging salon-style walls haphazardly, letting bold colors clash instead of coordinate, floating furnishings that are too large and dwarf a room, mixing glaringly mismatched styles, textures and colors, and placing furniture in ways that are illogical or unusable.
How can you make a small space feel grand?
Using oversized art and furnishings, opting for a tall and commanding headboard, selecting large-scale patterns like a bold chinoiserie wallpaper, lining the walls with floor-length curtains, hanging a statement chandelier, incorporating large mirrors to reflect light, and keeping furnishings minimal can all make a small space feel expansive and grand.
Conclusion
Decorating conventions exist for a reason, but they need not restrict your creativity. In fact, breaking the “rules” thoughtfully can result in stunningly personalized, dynamic home spaces that tell your unique story. So embrace bold colors, blend styles, think outside furniture’s intended uses, cluster salon-style wall art, and make other unconventional decisions based on your own intuition. Your home will reflect your originality and feel genuinely welcoming. What “wrong” decor choices will you get delightfully right? Let your heart and imagination guide you into joyful decorating rule-breaking.
