15 DIY Home Decor Mistakes That Make Your Living Room Look Cheap

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The living room is without a doubt one of the most important rooms in a house, as it fulfils the functions of a living area as well as a recreation zone and as such is perfect for expressing the owner’s personality. Do it yourself home decorating may be a very creative idea to add personal touches to your home interiors but like any other projects, it also poses certain problems which affects the result of the project.

Everything from getting the furniture wrong to not understanding the potential of a unified color scheme can decrease the level of elegance that is being sought after. It’s important to note these 15 DIY decor mistakes to make your home design charming and at the same time sophisticated without overspending.

Selecting Cheaper Products

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In most home improvement projects, cost is always a major consideration when looking for home decors. But this way you can often make a mistake and get the cheapest items for your house. It is essential to remember that while purchasing furniture and accessories on a budget, many of such items will degrade faster, and you will need to purchase new pieces much sooner than if you were to invest in higher quality furniture and accessories in the first place. Always look for products that are long lasting when buying the items you need to put in your living room.

Evaluating the Significant Aspect of Scale

Scale relates to the extent of correspondence of the sizes/shapes of objects and features in a particular space. A major blunder that people can make while undertaking do-it-yourself home decoration is to get furniture sets that are either too big or too small for the house. In general, large furniture is too imposing for a small area, while small accessories are not very noticeable in large spaces and look quite awkward. Pay attention to measurements and overall size and arrangement of your living room while thinking of purchase or making decorations.

Consider Functionality

Although people pay great attention to the appearance of the living room, it is crucial to remember functionality. When designers undertake DIY projects and do this purely for aesthetic reasons, they can end up with a space that is aesthetically unpleasing as well as being simply impractical. Be sure that you’re blending the look of your designed room with functionality by including effective storage spaces, comfy seating, and adequate lightning to your layout.

Using Too Many Trends

Yeah, trends may be overused, and adding too many of them to your DIY home decor may result in the decor of your living room looking old-fashioned. However, “choose several trends that you really like and combine them with classic pieces, so that you look more stylish”. This way your living room will never appear stale and at the same time, it will not be cyclic and look like it lacks taste.

Neglecting Lighting

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An evaluation of the most crucial aspects of living room design points towards lighting as an important component since it creates the entire mood of the room. However, this perspective of DIY decor is usually underestimated or, on the contrary, not paid sufficient attention to. The best natural light can do is add a lot of warmth to space or make your living room appear dull and cheap. One should set the lighting in the room to the ambient, the working, and the focusing to visually create a nice space.

Not Following a Color Scheme

According to Housebeautiful, another devastating mistake that homeowners make is lack of a set color scheme in their attempted home decoration. It is sometimes better to pick colors that would form a complete and well-coordinated range rather than choosing colors that you like, for instance, putting complementary color next to contrast colors. This will effectively eliminate the chances of your living room appearing disorderly.

Overloading With Too Many Accessories

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Ornaments are also very vital for any living room feel but care should be taken not to over-accessorize the room. When it comes to DIY décor, little do people know that they can freely go overboard adding all sorts of trinkets and knick knacks. However, the season to accentuate and not overload the room with the numerous accessories is all the same important. Pick out only those accents that will reflect your personality together with the memorable moments so that the room does not look too cluttered and closed.

Lack of Realisation of the Concept of Texture

According to Truetreasureinc, Adding texture is one of the areas that many people tend to overlook in Do-It-Yourself projects for their homes, yet it can go a long way, in the transformation of your living room. Incorporating different kind of textures like smooth , rough woods, polished metals make the interior also rich and provide the room with depth. When flexibility in texture is not given much consideration, the decor of the living room may appear uninspiring and dull and have a cheap and unpolished feel.

Rushing the Process

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Do-it-yourself home decor is fun and people would like to see the project come to life as soon as possible. That being said. This means that it is very easy to create a living room that looks more like it has been haphazardly assembled without much forethought and planning. Spend time with each of them, think about what material would be better for design, and check the sizes and installation. This will help make the final product look more professional.

Not Personalizing the Space

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As creative as it is to try and include trends into your do it yourself home decorating, you should also be mindful to add some of your personality into the living room. Failing to bring the small and special details can make the space look indifferent and unremarkable. You will replace the items with what you and your family consider most special, for instance, family photos, artwork, or other sentimental items and thereby transform your living room into a warm one.

Overlooking the Ceiling

The ceiling is also considered the fifth wall, but it is rarely used as the focus of home decoration for DIY projects. While some may require more work, easy fixes like changing the hue of your walls, putting up crown molding or even papering your walls can help give the living room that required facelift. This simple and often overlooked surface can bring about a dramatic change to your space if treated correctly.

Not Considering Entryways

Some of the points of interest one contemplates with regard to the general design of their living room include the entryway. The integration of this transition area to the other living space needs to be well done and harmonized. It can have a great console table, a coat rack or a mirror to give the necessary curb appeal while respecting the look and feel of the room as well as its usefulness.

Ignoring Window Treatments

Windows are always a center of attention, if not enhanced, the living space can use the windows and damage the overall appearance. Regardless of your choice in drapes, blinds or shutters ensure that your signals accord with the exterior designs. They should harmonize the interior and shelter required amount of light and privacy in the room.

Overusing Monochrome

Solemn staking of monochromatic hues however may make the place look cool and sophisticated but could also blank out the zing of the room. To avoid this, simply use different shades, tones, and textures of the color you’re using within the family. Another way is also the correct usage of different materials and gloss levels to avoid monotony in the space.

Placing Rugs Incorrectly

Rugs may help bring a room together, but improper positioning will generate the opposite impact. Below, make it your priority to look at the size of the rug with regard to the furniture and size of the room. The rug should suitably cover the room, allowing the main pieces of furniture – the sofa and chairs to be placed entirely on the rug and thus define a clear living space.

Disclaimer: This list is solely the author’s opinion based on research and publicly available information.