Interior designers have identified four simple decor mistakes that can make a living room look tacky and cluttered. From furniture that is too matching to decor that is the wrong size, small changes can make a surprisingly big difference.
Designers say the key is to create a room that feels considered and personal, rather than one that looks like everything was bought at the same time. If your living room feels a little off and you're looking to spruce it up, there are four things to work on.
Matching Furniture Sets
A perfectly matching sofa, armchair, coffee table and side table might seem like the easiest way to create a coordinated living room, but designers say buying everything as a set can leave the space looking flat and lacking personality.
Guillaume Drew, founder of Or & Zon, told Martha Stewart that matching furniture sets are among the quickest ways to make a living room look tacky, particularly when they all share the same aesthetic. Rather than buying an entire collection, designers recommend mixing different pieces that complement one another.
A Rug That Is Too Small
A rug might seem like a small detail, but getting the size wrong can completely change how your living room looks. Kate Fuller, an interior designer with more than 300,000 Instagram followers, said that a small rug can make furniture feel disjointed.
Ideally, the rug should help bring the main pieces of furniture together. If your sofa, armchair and coffee table are all sitting around a tiny rug, the different pieces can look as though they're floating independently rather than forming one seating area.
Too Many Small Pieces of Furniture
It can be tempting to fill every empty corner of a living room with another chair, a side table, a footstool or a little cabinet. But more furniture doesn't necessarily mean the room feels more complete.
The Spruce notes that furniture scale is just as important as the amount of furniture in a room. A room can therefore look more expensive and considered with fewer, better-scaled pieces. This is particularly important in smaller living rooms, where trying to squeeze too much furniture into the available floor space can make the room feel cramped.
Curtains That Are the Wrong Length
The Spruce noted that poorly chosen curtain lengths are a common decor mistake. Curtains might not be the first thing you think of when trying to make your living room look expensive, but getting them wrong can have a surprisingly big effect.
Curtains that are too short can make the windows, and therefore the entire room, look awkwardly proportioned. When they stop noticeably above the floor, they can make a room look unfinished, while badly positioned curtain poles can also affect how large the windows appear. Hanging curtains higher and wider than the window can help to create the impression of a larger window and give the room a more finished look.
