If you’re moving into a new place or lived in your current one for a while, chances are that you’ve felt the urge to redecorate from time to time. After all, why should you have to live with that hideous mural from the last owner or keep the couch at an uncomfortable angle from the TV just to make the fireplace the focal point of the room? These day’s most are not allowed fireplaces due to regulations of smog. For most this problem has been resolved by the wall fireplace Pros that are available for hire. For the rest of the house however, it’s up to us and we can mess up bad!

But be careful before you just randomly start making changes or you might find yourself longing for those bad old days before your DIY instincts took over. Here are several of the most common decorating mistakes that people make.

Lots of trimmings – no patty
When decorating, too many people feel like they can spend whatever they want as long as they don’t make big-ticket purchases. For example, they’ll buy 100 things under $100, but refuse to pay $1,000 for one great sofa or coffee table (which, admittedly, would have to be a pretty fantastic coffee table at that price). Unfortunately, what happens is that these people end up with lots of thatches or mismatched odds and ends – clutter without any use, or (to go back to the heading) a burger with lettuce, tomato, and all the trimmings, but no patty. Before you look for accents, go for the big, important things you need.

Neglecting the test patch
No one should ever paint – ever – without first doing a small test patch to see how the paint really looks in the room once it’s dry. What if the light in the room makes it seem different? Or if it ends up clashing with the furniture? Be safe and paint a small area first so you’re not going in blind or you might regret it.

Photo Credit: Culture Instruments

Hugging your toilet
You wouldn’t want to be seen hugging your toilet, would you? Then why would you want a rug that’s doing it? Instead of buying one of those toilet rugs that is cut to fit around the base of your toilet (to hug it!), opt for a simple rectangular rug that lives on its own island away from the toilet for a classier look.

Photo Credit: Real Peek

Photo Credit: Sweet Home Design Ideas

Bright light! Bright light!
There is a serious lack of lighting in many homes, and this can be frustrating if you keep bumping into your furniture as soon as the sun goes down. Be careful about adding overhead lighting that’s too bright, though, because it can end up feeling like you’re under a spotlight. That’s not to say that you should avoid overhead lighting entirely, but that it helps a lot if it is softened with some sort of diffuser and your lights are on a dimmer.

Photo Credit: House of Decoration

It’s framing men… and, well, everyone
Just because you’re a photo person doesn’t mean that you have to have dozens of loose frames sitting everywhere, because all that creates is a cluttered mess. Buy a photo album or if you have to display your favorite pictures, group them together in an artistic design on the wall instead of having them live all over your tables and mantelpieces.

Photo Credit: My Lot

Ignoring function
Sometimes you have a room that will look better if you arrange the furniture in a particular way… but it keeps you from using the room the way you want. Function should always come before form, so if you plan on entertaining friends, group chairs and couches around tables so that chatting and playing games is easy. Or if you’re designing a TV room, do what you can to arrange things so that it becomes the focal point.

{Patrick O’Houlihan writes about grommet curtains and home décor accessories for Moshells. He enjoys playing board games and reading at home when he’s not writing.}