4 Things You Should Never Do When Decorating Your Room

We often hear all about what we should be doing when decorating a space, but what we don't hear too much about are things you should never do when decorating your room.

I get it.  Who wants to hear about the other side of decorating, the behind the scenes aka all the prep work that goes into it and so much more.  Everyone would rather just mesmerize over the beautiful rooms on Pinterest. I mean ugly vs. mesmerize?  Who wouldn't choose mesmerize?

But let's keep it real,  if you want to end up with a beautiful room (and who doesn't), then you need to listen up to what I'm about to school you on because it's going to make your decorating project go so much more seamless and let's not forget to mention, save you money and who doesn't want to save money.

Exactly how are these tips going to save you money?  Well by getting off on the right foot with your project, you'll avoid having to start over, which saves you money since you'll only have to tackle this project once and not multiple times(like that time you had to start all over because you messed shit up when you bought that big ass sofa that was on sale and you've been living with it for the past 5 years even though you hate it, but you don't want to let it go because you don't want to get rid of it because you spent $300 on it.  yeah that time.)I’m here to keep you focused and in line so that you take the most important aspects about decorating into consideration for your decorating project.

Let's get to the list of tips.

Things You Should Never Do When Decorating: Forget To Plan

You don't know how many times I hear how people start decorating without coming up with a plan first and it always ends up in disaster.  They end up spending money on the wrong things for their space (whether it be the wrong size, color or style).This happens because people tend to get sucked in by the "pretty" stuff online.  They see a pretty tufted chair for example and fail to take into consideration whether it will go with the rest of the furniture in the room, if it's the right color, style, size or even if it's needed in the room all because they got caught up with the look of the chair.

Big mistake! You have to learn to stay focused so that when you are actually going to start decorating, you have a plan.

One of the main components of a plan is measuring your room and any furniture you plan on keeping in your room.  This is key because your want to make sure that you look at only furniture that will fit perfectly in your room.  Everything else, you need to ignore no matter how pretty or inexpensive it is.

So planning is crucial to you not catching a fit like a toddler during your decorating project.

Things You Should Never Do When Decorating: Not Budgeting

Kim K can afford a velvet sofa, persian rugs and lots of plastic surgery (did I just type that?! yup I did) and God knows what else she and Kanye are into, but us little people don’t have that type of money (or aren’t willing to show our asses on screen to get that kind of money) to splurge on fancy furniture so we, must budget.Let me tell you, things add up quickly even if you get all your things from Target or Overstock - it will add up.  Trust me.  I mean so fast, that after picking a sofa, coffee table, rug and curtains, you’ll start wondering how the hell you’re going to pull off your decorating project.

Do us both a favor and don’t end up spending more than you can.  You’ll avoid that by staying on track with a budget.

Come up with a maximum number that feels good and is also realistic.  So no budgets of $500 for a complete room design.  You and your room are worth more that some crappy fake compressed wood furniture from Ikea (unless you're willing to buy something new in 2 years and if you are, then by all means, shop at Ikea).  Don't get me wrong, Ikea is cool and has some pretty things, but it's just not durable and that's the truth.  So if it means that you have to save a bit more to get yourself some quality pieces, I suggest you do just that or just buy things little by little.

Now a budget doesn’t have to be something crazy.  A simple spreadsheet with a list of the items you’ll need for your room including estimated amounts of how much you’ll want to spend plus a section for actual amounts will do.  This will help to guide you so you’ll know how much you’re actually spending on your items versus what you’ve estimated.  You’ll be all organized and on track with your budget.

While we’re on the subject of budgeting, don’t feel shy about using coupons.You can grab a coupon code for most online stores by just doing a google search or by signing up to their email list (they’ll usually give a you a coupon as an incentive plus you’ll be the first to know about any sales! cool right?  You’re welcome!).

Things You Should Never Do When Decorating: Not Think About Function

You’ll need to decide how you will be using your room so that you can decorate it to match.  Let’s say for instance that you want to use your room as your mom cave, you know a quiet space for you to kick back, relax and enjoy some me time.

Goals right?!  I wish, but stay with me here.With that in mind, you would keep it moving when it comes to the bright yellow paint color swatches at Home Depot.  Why?  Because, to most, bright yellow is not a calming color.  It’s the complete opposite.

The lesson here, is to decide how you’ll be using your space and decorate keeping that decision in mind.

Things You Should Never Do When Decorating: Not Think About Others

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could have an entire space to ourselves and not have to take anyone else or their taste into consideration or is that just me?  In my case, I have to take my 4 kids and husband’s taste and just their mere presence into consideration. For instance, it would be nice to one day be like J Lo and have an all white room, but that’s not going to cut it with my family.  It’s just not realistic unless I want to spend all of my money on cleaning bills.So don’t be self centered when it comes to decorating your space.  Everyone should be able to enjoy the space.  Sorry, but it’s the right thing to do.

There you have it!

If you keep these things you should never do when decorating your room, you'll be one step closer to creating a room that makes you smile.If you’re still feeling stuck with decorating your space & need one on one help, hit me up here.