Decorating & Design
H&H Editors Share Their Biggest Design Mistakes — And How To Fix Them
Updated on September 23, 2019
At House & Home, our editors are no strangers to the colorful, striking and functional elements that make rooms sing. However, like many of us, they’ve had their fair share of design bloopers. From swathing a room in the wrong hue to miscalculating the amount of wallpaper it takes to envelop a space, read on to discover our editors’ decorating slips and how they ultimately made it work!
“It happens to the best of us. Before you buy, ask yourself where you’re going to put it and try and visualize it in your house — like in this kitchen, which is a great example of cohesive style. If it doesn’t work put it down and walk away. I have Pinterest boards filled with furniture and lighting that I love but don’t suit the current style of my house. Learn to love from afar!” – Emma Reddington, Editor-in-Chief
“A few years ago, I ordered some wallpaper for our den from the U.S. I lowballed how much I would need and came up short by about four feet of bare wall. It took six weeks to get more, so I had to stare at my mistake every day and hope that the colorway matched. Always order more wallpaper than you need to be safe!” – Wendy Jacob, Features Editor
“When furnishing my first apartment (which is all of 500-square-feet), it was tempting to drop $200+ on faux plants, fancy ceramics and other overpriced knickknacks (I contemplated it many times), but I quickly realized I was putting my money in the wrong place. Investing in big ticket items — like a couch, coffee table and bed — that you can take from home to home is the smartest design move any first-timers can make. I made sure to save on fun prints, cushions and throws by shopping second hand, digging through sales bins and getting hand-me-downs from family. And my space is as cozy as ever.” – Victoria Christie, Digital Editor
“Years ago, without thinking twice about its impact, I dressed my bedroom from wallpaper to drapery to linens in a moody plum hue. My infatuation for the rich color left my once light-filled space cocooned in darkness. I ended up swapping out the monochromatic drapery and linens with fresher, perkier tones of powder pink and sage and included buttery hits of brass in accents throughout. A brand-new coat of white paint tied the room together and gave my purple wallpapered feature wall the compliment it needed not to overwhelm.” – Harleen Sidhu, Assistant Editor
“My country place is a log cabin. When we bought it, the plumbing for the kitchen and bath were in place — I could move some pipes but not all of them. To hide plumbing pipes, I would have had to build them into drywall, which was something didn’t want to do, as it would have hidden the log walls. In my bathroom, I chose instead to embrace the pipes and wrapped them in rope. White for the sink drain and a heavy sail rope in jute for the toilet stack that could not be moved. I think it adds character to the room, which is sparse. It would have been a shame to lose that corner with a built-in box, and it’s a cottage after all.” – Morgan Michener, Senior Editor