How to Solve the 5 Most Common Decorating Problems

01. Things don’t flow from one space to the next

We all want cohesive flow in our homes. We want one room to flow into the next seamlessly. Like every room belongs together…without looking exactly like the one next to it. So just how do we get that beautiful cohesive flow in our homes?

Cohesive flow doesn’t just happen in home decor. Although when it’s done right, it does look effortless. 

There are a few things that can help your home decor flow, of course. Like if you happen to be fortunate enough to have one or two continuous types of flooring throughout your house. Or if your wood and metal finishes (faucets, knobs, lighting, etc.) are all the same. 

However, not all of us are so lucky. We live in houses that have been updated throughout the years and are often a bit of a hodgepodge of finishes.

As more than one of our lovely readers pointed out, we aren’t all starting from scratch. We have to make do with what we have.  

With that in mind, there are two ways to get cohesive flow in any house.

02. The rooms and spaces in your home are small

Living in a small house can be challenging.

It doesn’t have to be one of those crazy tiny homes either.

Anything that makes you put on your thinking cap when it comes to space and storage definitely qualifies as a smaller home.

But you can make the most of your rooms, regardless of their size.

We’ve lived in small and slightly less-small homes over the last 25+ years of our marriage. If you’ve followed our home journey at all, you know that a decade ago – when we started this blog actually – the five of us lived in a 950-square-foot bungalow with no garage and no basement. And the house before that one was only a 1050 square foot townhouse. 

Although we do currently live in a 2000+ square foot house with a basement and a garage (with three teenagers, a dog, out-of-town family that normally stays over several times a year, and a growing work-from-home business), we’ve definitely experienced the small home thing first-hand in the past! And we made the most of it for the years we lived in those lovely little homes. 

03. You can’t seem to pick the right paint colors

It can seem like a huge task to choose a paint color. Especially if you’ve ever spent hours rolling paint onto the wall, only to realize it’s just not the right color at all.

I often say, “it’s just paint” and it can be painted over. But I do feel your pain because I’ve chosen the wrong paint color in the past too.

So, how do you choose the right paint color like a pro? By learning one common mistake almost everyone makes, plus a few designer tricks for how to choose paint colors for your home interior.

04. The area rugs you choose just don’t look quite right

A well-chosen area rug can add warmth and personality to a room. It can also serve to visually anchor your furniture layout and absorb noise in high traffic rooms. But more often than not people make the wrong choice for the size of their rugs.

Area rugs can be layered over wood floors, tile, broadloom (wall-to-wall carpet) and even other area rugs.

But the key is to find the right area rug in the RIGHT SIZE. Because an area rug that is the wrong size has the opposite effect that you want – it actually takes style away from the room.

More often than not, usually due to either a misjudgment of scale or just because a smaller rug costs less, people choose a rug that is too small for a space.

05. Your space has a room or two with more than one focal point

In order for a room to feel calm and comfortable, there should be only one focal point. But often spaces have more than one.

More than one focal point is a problem because too many focal points in a room mean that the eye has nowhere to “rest.” This can make a room feel unbalanced and disorganized and even leave one feeling anxious. Which is probably not the feeling you’re going for with your decor.