After years of working with numerous clients, interior designers Michael Smith and Mary Cook have seen many design mistakes over and over.
The Los Angeles-based Smith, who was appointed by the Obamas to redecorate the White House residential quarters, has written five decorating books, including his latest, “The Curated House.” Cook is president of Chicago-based Mary Cook Associates and author of “The Art of Space: The Seven Fundamentals That Guarantee Great Interior Design.”
They revealed decorating mistakes that drive them crazy.
• Mistake No. 1: Ignoring scale and proportion
Cook: Scale and proportion are the holy grail of design. Scale is the size of things, and proportion is the relationship of those sizes to each other and the room as a whole. That is probably the biggest issue we end up fixing. The way American homes are built today, with open floor plans and volume ceilings, you have to integrate good scale and proportion into all the layers of your design, starting with the backgrounds and ending with the last accessory.
Smith: This is a really, really terrible one. To have a 9-foot sofa in a small room can be kind of treacherous. Make sure furniture decor has similar scale. It’s all about scale, proportion, measuring, being conscious of the overall plan. People buy things in isolation and don’t think of how they work together.
• Mistake No. 2: Neglecting the function of a room
Smith: People get trapped in the way things should feel and less focused on the way things should function. Making a dining room into a dining library gives it function. You could make the living room a study or put a TV in it so you could actually use it. Think of how much furniture you need.
Cook: You have to know how you want the room to function. Are you going to entertain there, dine there, do you have a large family, is it just the two of you? Drill down into how you want the space to function. As you assemble and select the pieces of furniture, think about enhancing the way you will live in the room. Think about multifunction and multitasking as you design your rooms. Chances are your rooms will function differently at different times of day and different times of the year.
Working from home, entertaining, multigenerational living, family gathering spaces and technology are big drivers. Keep flexibility in mind. Rooms with layouts that can be moved around to accommodate last-minute gatherings, guests or different chapters of life will allow you to live better in your home.
• Mistake No. 3: Using inadequate lighting
Cook: Lighting is a very key ingredient. You have to think about the color of light, the quantity of light and where to place it. You have to think about light at various times of the day and various times of the year. The best way to design your lighting for success is in layers with as many of those layers as possible to be switched separately and on dimmers. So now you can adjust your lighting for whatever kind of mood you want.
We just designed and installed a model home for Toll Brothers called Trotters Glen in Olney, Md. The lighting is done in multiple layers with recessed cans in the ceiling on dimmers for overall general lighting, chandeliers and pendants to highlight a dining table or kitchen island, and table lamps to help light within seating groups.
In two-story foyers or staircases, we will often use clusters or groupings of fixtures together to add impact at the right scale. In the dining room, we’ve integrated chandeliers or pairs of chandeliers to light the space and add decorative interest. Table lamps are next to the living room sofa or on a nightstand in the bedrooms.
• Mistake No. 4: Buying poor-quality furniture
Smith: Avoid spending too much on one thing. Be judicious with your budget and buy things that are going to last. People buy very badly made furniture and fabric. Instead, buy a beautiful dining table, well-made upholstery. It’s almost like dressing for success.
• Mistake No. 5: Not testing paint colors
Smith: Avoid too much intense color. Make sure you mix colors and try them out. It’s always good to do a swatch.
Cook: Color is your biggest cost-to-impact ratio. Color has the ability to do so much. But remember that color is one of many layers.
I just overheard a woman at one of my model homes tell her friend: “This is the room that they changed/repainted the color in. It used to be hot pink and they repainted it this softer shade.”
Actually, she had walked through the room when it was just painted and none of the other layers were in. When she returned to the fully furnished room, she thought the color had changed. In fact, it was the impact of the color with and without the other layers that changed. Sometimes color comes off very strong at first, but once it’s all together, it’s perfect. So don’t panic at first.
