Some Decorating and Remodeling Mistakes We’ve Learned to Avoid and Survive the Process

Although we’re far from design professionals, we have moved and remodeled and furnished multiple homes and apartments. We’ve also written about the topic.

As a public service to our readers, friends and family, we’ve compiled a list of dos and don’ts to help you avoid some of the mistakes we’ve made through the years.These are not Third World Problems but more annoyances that in some cases are quite expensive to correct and can be very upsetting at the time.

If we can spare even one homeowner from using the wrong paint color as the cost of gallons climb or having to replace 25 knobs on kitchen cabinets when we purchased the wrong size, shape and color, we think we’ve done a good deed.
Not all problems can be corrected in advance, however. The new high, sculptural kitchen faucet we wanted for its graceful look may not work well. It isn’t because of its design, but rather the water pressure in our home isn’t great. So, we may need to try to correct that first, another cost and a major one.

Here’s our list of a dozen suggestions, in some cases, a sampling of what we have learned through the years.

1. Do research before you begin. It’s better to be safe upfront than sorry after. Decide on an overall style and color scheme. Gather magazine clippings, visit blogs, comb through Instagram and room décor stores, antique markets and even estate and garage sales. Ask professionals, many of whom work in retail stores and are there to give you advice and ideas. Using these inspirations lay a foundation of basic items like a sofa, coffee table, dining table, dresser, bed and more. It’s akin to writing an outline before you begin writing a document. Once you have that outline, the rest will follow.
2. There’s a reason small cans of paint are sold, as are large rectangular swatches with the paint colors on them. You can paint a large area of your wall or ceiling, not a tiny corner, or tape the swatch to a wall. Study it for days and nights so you see it in different colors of artificial and natural light. Paint also changes color due to different colored furnishings. That Bunny Gray from Benjamin Moore looks bluer than you hoped rather than gray but rehiring the painter and buying more paint just wasn’t in the budget. Stick with the blue; it’s a nice soothing hue we’ve found. Reminds us of sky, water and patriotism.
3. Don’t rely on someone else’s taste for knobs. Buy one and try it out so you see if the scale, color and finish work. After you’ve opened the package, you’re stuck with it, but one ”lost” knob is way better than 25 that can’t be returned or can be returned with a re-stocking charge.
4. Try out the stools at the right counter height. Those backless ones that look great in the magazine picture won’t work well if you’re sitting for long periods. Oh, your aching back. And if not the right height for eating, you’ll never sit on them. The same goes for any desk chair, especially if you do lots of sedentary work and at a computer keyboard. Be sure the seat height, legs and arms are adjustable.
5. Test any couches and chairs you plan to sit on for long or even short periods. Also be sure you can sit down and get up easily, that you like the backs and type of stuffing used in the cushions and arms if you plan to rest your elbows. Unlike our parents’ homes where living room furnishings were mostly for show and not comfort, many of us really live in these rooms. We seek not just good looks but COMFORT. The type of fabric also matters for the long-term wearability so ask what the fabric content is and know that linen wrinkles just as it does in clothing. Cotton can wear out more quickly than other fabrics such as microfiber or leather. Finally, ask if you can wipe up stains or easily remove them rather than reupholster. Performance fabrics perform well for kids and pets.
6. Go to a marble or stone yard to pick out slabs if you’re going for the real McCoy, marble, granite or quartzite. A tiny piece won’t show you the graining and how different it can be when it’s a natural material and the grain or pattern isn’t repetitive throughout. On the other hand, with manmade stones such as quartz and other variations, also don’t rely on little squares that you see on a shelf. Go see kitchen vignettes that use them on kitchen counters and backsplashes, so you get the full picture in a large space. One little area may seem fine; throughout may be overwhelming.
7. Be sure you’re prepared to learn how to use some of the new Wi-Fi-enabled (or Smart) kitchen appliances if you’re paying extra for those features. Yes, it’s great you may be able to program the range to turn on and off when you’re not yet at home so the oven starts to preheat or have the refrigerator let you know you’re out of milk or strawberries, but if you’re tech phobic and won’t use those, why pay for them? And make sure you know where to get these items fixed if they’re not working right. Maybe stick with the basics unless you’re a techie. And if you only like cooking with gas, don’t buy a condo in a building that has outlawed it for electricity. Or perfect ordering take-out and just heating up food in your microwave. Against using a microwave or not sure how to program it? Master dialing for restaurant reservations.
8. The custom rug you ordered based on what you thought would work arrives, and it’s so small it barely covers the seating arrangement you wanted it under. Measuring with a tape measure or even making a paper template takes extra time but saves so much anguish afterward since anything custom can’t be returned. Maybe, it can be used in another room where the color or pattern works, or one of your grown kids would love it in their home. They may not care for your taste, but it’s amazing how a freebee might change their thinking!
9. Try a folding screen; it’s easier than erecting a wall. You may face this problem with an open floor plan with no walls separating the rooms and need privacy when you have guests. Rather than start putting up walls, try a folding screen. It’s neither a wall nor a door, but it can add a dash of glamor to your home and be quite effective at creating the illusion of separation. Putting up permanent walls can make the rooms feel small and confined and be an expensive change. This is a quick and much less expensive fix. Some furnishings can also act as a partial wall such a console table that visually separates areas.
10. All those beautiful fluffy pillows you saw in a home furnishings store looked great on the bed that was made up so perfectly. With that in mind, you buy a good sampling—seven or another odd number is better aesthetically than an even number, take them home and arrange them as you remember. They look great but after having to remove them at night when you go to sleep and put them back just so each morning, the routine becomes old and a burden. In this case, you may be able to return them. Here the lesson is that we don’t live in showrooms but real houses without a staff except for you!
11. Don’t over furnish any room. Too much furniture and too many accessories gives an overcrowded look. Better to start with some basics and fill in over time. Even though we’re at a stage when we’re not buying much, we just might see something on a trip if we travel or spy it in an antiques or fun store. Leave holes in areas is our new motto!
12. Don’t over curate those bookshelves. During Covid-19, all those bookshelves in back of people being interviewed or doing the interviewing looked so neat and organized—books arranged by the colors of spines or maybe by subject matter (books on President Roosevelt or Jane Austen tomes) or alphabetically with some collectibles mixed in. Oh, they had a decorator’s touch. Well, we don’t live in showhouses, however, so get real. If you start doing that whenever you take something out, you’ll drive yourself crazy to put it back and keep it just so. Make it neat but not fussy. Our settings should calm and relax us rather than make us nuts!