Seven Sins of Decorating

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THE SEVEN SINS OF DECORATING

By Gabriele Campbell, A.S.P., C.I.D.                             www.campbellinteriordecorating.ca

1)           FORMULAIC – Any designer will tell you that the rules were made to be broken, but only after you fully understand why the rules exist. And the only way to really get good at breaking the rules is to experiment. Try playing with the pieces you have and moving them around to create new arrangements. Vary the heights and visual weights of your accessories, and if you typically go for symmetrical balance, really stretch and try asymmetrical balance for a change.

2)           CONTRIVED – Another word for this sin is “predictable”. Some people follow a recipe of ingredients like three patterns, three colours, and two textures. If your room looks like it is the exact duplicate of a picture in a magazine, where is the creativity? If you feel that the room is not a true expression of your personality or life-style, then whose is it expressing? My favourite tactic is to throw in an unexpected element – an unusual lamp or vase, a boldly coloured cushion or throw blanket, or a dynamic piece of art - to make sure no two spaces I design ever look alike.

3)           DATED – There are many classic styles out there that make it fun and nostalgic to decorate,  but there are some people who are dedicated to repeating the old and tired methods of decorating, such as arranging pictures exactly the same way they did 20 years ago (or heaven forbid, the way their mother did). Design is alive and constantly evolving, and there are new ways of decorating and creating compositions. Get the fresh ideas and throw away the magazines from yester-millennium. They are truly useless today.

4)           IMPERSONAL – Decorating personal spaces is about you. It’s not about your sister, your neighbour, or your best friend. The only person you need to please is you so if no one else likes it, and no else feels the joy and pleasure that you feel in the room, to heck with them. They don’t have to live in it or pay for it – you do! Surround yourself with items and colours that really express who you are, and remind you of people you love and places you’ve been.

5)           UN-EDITTED – As you acquire pieces, make sure the composition you create is A) current with your style, B) not such a mass of objects that no single item can be seen and appreciated, and C) not full of pieces that were given to you and are displayed out of obligation. Try rotating out your pieces like a museum. Start with one significant piece you really want to display, then accent it with smaller pieces. And make sure to group like pieces or collections to create impact.

6)           COLOURLESS – I once met a lively, vibrant woman who wore funky glasses, talked very animatedly, was devoted to her family and cooked liked no one I knew. But her dull colourless house was the farthest thing from her colourful personality. An easy way to determine what colour to include in your interior is to look at your wardrobe. Start with a cushion, a table cloth and napkins, or vase, and inject that colour here and there. And watch how your confidence with colour grows!

7)           PRECIOUS – Spaces are meant to be lived in, and if you have a room in your house that is never sat in or entertained in because the furniture and accessories are far too dear and valuable for anyone to enjoy, then what is the point of having that piece of real estate under your roof? It’s like getting a beautiful piece of crystal, keeping it in the box and storing it on the highest shelf in the kitchen. Things are meant to be used, touched, and admired. And people are far more precious than things.